Some Jets news articles 5/15

[Kentucky Jet]

JET QB BATTLE REVISITED

By MARK CANNIZZARO

May 15, 2008 -- Today begins a series of four JetsNew York Jets practice sessions that will provide a first look at the quarterback competition that's a lock to be the theme of training camp once it begins in July. Since the end of last season, Eric Mangini has said the starting QB position is an "open competition" between Chad PenningtonChad Pennington , 31, and Kellen Clemens, 24, and that makes today open season on the public portion of that competition, though it's merely a voluntary camp.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to who will emerge as the starter. First, after the Jets signed a number of new players to more than $140 million on contracts this offseason, it would be easy to deduce that they're in a "win-now" mode. That would suggest that Pennington, who's proven he can win in the NFL with a competent cast surrounding him, might have the edge.

No one will say it publicly, but the organization is clearly pulling for Clemens to emerge as the starter for several reasons, beginning with the fact that this regime drafted him in the second round two years ago and would like to be right in its talent assessment.

[Kentucky Jet]

October 2006 Enough with Spygate

Posted by Bob Bullock May 14, 2008 9:42PM

Categories: News

It was pretty funny when it first came out, Belicheater and the Pats get caught taping signals and lose a draft pick. It was great, now it's time to MOVE ON!

I am so tired of hearing about this crap over and over again. I know the media wants to keep football in the news all year round, but cover some OTA's or something, forget this stinking tape crap PLEASE!

I have to agree with Bob Glauber, which should show you how much I'm tired or this story. As he wrote in today's column, "Let's hope that's it. Enough already. It's over."

Now, Sen. Arlen Specter wants an independent investigation? GIVE ME A BREAK!

I hate the Patriots and nothing brings me more joy than to see misfortune come their way, but please end this non-story now!

There really isn't much going on in Jetland at the present time, which makes it a very sad time in the land of Jet bloggers. Here are some links to keep you busy though, until the next OTA is underway.

Scout.com has the Rookie Power Rankings for you. Gholston gets ranked 13th on the list.

The team also added another kicker to the roster. No, Mike Nugent is hardly in trouble, but Gang Green will need another leg in camp and Mark Myers will certainly help out in that regard.

One other note, in case you missed it, the Big Bug, a.k.a. John Clayton from ESPN, actually picks the Jets as a possible "sleeper" team in his Five surprise teams to watch in 2008 article. I don't care too much for Clayton, but it's nice to see him actually give the Jets some positive press for once.

[Kentucky Jet]

Buzz: The Jets Were Taping Too?

Posted on May 14th, 2008 by Bassett

Sen. Arlen Specter said during his press conference that Matt Walsh indicated he saw the Jets taping signals at one point during a Jets-Patriots game, but Walsh did not say anything about it at the time.

As far as I can tell, it wasn

[Kentucky Jet]

Franks Likes His Position as a Green & White TE

Published: 05-14-08

By Eric Allen

Senior Managing Editor

Article Permalink: http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/articles/show/2190-franks-likes-his-position-as-a-green-white-te

This is the seventh in a series of stories reviewing the Jets' 2007 season and previewing 2008, position by position.

After eight productive seasons in Green Bay, Bubba Franks is excited about the possibilities of his new job with the New York Jets.

[Kentucky Jet]

Forging a Newer, Stronger Offensive Line

Published: 03-28-08

By Randy Lange

Editor-in-Chief

Article Permalink: http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/articles/show/2115-forging-a-newer-stronger-offensive-line

This is the third in a series of stories reviewing Jets' 2007 season and previewing 2008, position by position.

The Jets' 2007 season was a trial by fire, and no unit was more singed than the offensive line.

But out of the ashes have come learning and growth, not to mention the off-season arrival of a few burly firemen and a new assistant fire chief to make the group more flameproof in the coming season.

"There are plenty of things to take from last year to learn from," center Nick Mangold said. "You learn your best when something goes wrong, so there's plenty of stuff to learn from. But you can't dwell on the fact of what last season was. You have to be able to not only learn from it but to put it behind you and move on. We're all 0-0, starting fresh."

Spring is a time for freshness, of course, and two unrestricted free agents now at work in Weeb Ewbank Hall have a lot to do with that. Alan Faneca comes from the Steelers to replace Adrien Clarke and play left guard, something he's done at a high level with a streak of seven consecutive Pro Bowl appearances on his résumé.

Part of the idea in quickly signing Faneca was to have his experience and skill rub off on his new next-door neighbors, Mangold and left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson.

"I've talked to them both a little bit, and I've worked out with them," Faneca said last week in an interview from the training complex on NFL Network. "We're just getting to know each other. We've just begun that process of growing into an offensive line."

"Alan's a great guy and his track record is very nice," Ferguson said in a Q&A on NBCsports.com. "We're excited to have him. We're just going to get to work on chemistry and bonding."

Bonding will also take place on the right side of the line with the addition of Damien Woody, a mere one-time Pro Bowler. He started the last five games with Detroit at right tackle last year and so with the departure of Anthony Clement, the general assumption is that Woody is the Jets' new RT.

But Woody was also a right guard for the Lions and a C/LG/RG for the Patriots before that. As general manager Mike Tannenbaum could say, when you assume ...

"We do see Damien playing at tackle as well as at guard and center," Tannenbaum said. "His versatility is one of the hallmarks of what we were looking for as well as him being a tremendous person. Eric [Mangini] was in New England with him and so was [QBs coach] Brian Daboll, so we knew some people that were familiar with him."

Wherever they all line up, they join RG Brandon Moore plus several other holdovers who saw playing time late last season: Will Montgomery played the second half of the season and started vs. Tennessee and Kansas City at LG, and Robert Turner at LG and Clint Oldenburg at RT saw action in the last two games as well.

Then you can throw in Jacob Bender, last year's sixth-round draft choice who played only on special teams in two games; Matt McChesney, who's been around for a while and still is game to earn a spot on the active roster; and Wayne Hunter, a former third-round pick (by Seattle in 2003) who joined the Jets' practice squad late in the season. Plus any other players who arrive in this year's draft or as undrafted free agents.

It's an interesting mix of new and old, and the new chief, as we said above, or perhaps chef is more appropriate as he searches for the right blend, is assistant head coach/offense Bill Callahan.

“I was really excited to get Bill," Mangini said at his news conference at the NFL Combine. "He's a guy who has experience not just with the offensive line but he’s been a coordinator and a head coach in the NFL and in college football. I really liked the things that he’s done offensively throughout his career.”

If you think this all means the Jets will be looking to run more, you're not alone.

"Talking to [coordinator] Brian Schottenheimer and the guys on the offensive staff," Faneca said, "they want to get back to running the ball. Getting in there and helping that out, being able to aid in that process, is part of what I'm here for."

Big blockers such as FB Tony Richardson and TE Bubba Franks have been added to the mix, too. But besides running the ball, the OL also will be charged with keeping the Jets' QB, whether it's Chad Pennington or Kellen Clemens, upright and clean in the pocket.

The Jets struggled with both those elements of line play last season, as was well-documented. Thomas Jones and Leon Washington provided yeoman efforts as the ground game scuffled to 19th in the NFL in rush yards per game (106.3) and tied for 22nd in yards per carry (3.8). And the 53 sacks allowed produced the third-worst sack rate in the NFL (10.3 dropbacks per sack) and equaled the 2005 Jets' total for the most given up by the team in the past 18 seasons.

But that's in the past. Call it a learning process. Look at the season, through the eyes of one of the new guys, as some other OL that has made this potentially new, improved line possible.

"I'm feeling like a rookie again," said Faneca, 31. "I'm excited and enthused. A new place, a new situation — it gets you revved up again."

[Kentucky Jet]

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Bears' Olsen didn't live up to billing

By KC Joyner

ESPN Insider

Because we have covered every passing position except tight end in the "best of/worst of" 2007 series so far, it seems only right to review that position in this week's segment. The previous installments detailed the vertical impact of various players, but for this article I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how well each tight end performs when he is flexed out as a wide receiver.

Glossary of terms

There are usually only a few tight ends who have high pass-attempt totals, so the qualifying mark here is 48 total attempts (i.e., an average of three overall attempts per game, regardless of whether the tight end was flexed out). The yardage totals once again include "pass in the air" penalty attempts and yards (i.e., penalty yards from pass interference, defensive holding, illegal contact, etc., have been added to each player's receiving yardage stats).

(I did make a qualifying exception for Quinn Sypniewski of the Ravens. Sypniewski had only 47 attempts, so he technically wouldn't have qualified, but I wanted to see the potential impact his loss to a knee injury for the 2008 season could have on Baltimore and thus decided to include him.)

Let's start by taking a look at the flex tight end totals from 2007 on a yards-per-attempt basis. Because only 25 tight ends had enough attempts to be considered qualifiers, we'll just list the entire group rather than break it up into top 10/bottom 10.

Rank Player 2007 Team WR Att WR Yds WR YPA

1.Heath Miller Pittsburgh 14- 189- 13.5

2.Vernon Davis San Francisco 11- 132- 12.0

3.Zach Miller Oakland 12- 124- 10.3

4.Owen Daniels Houston 18- 181- 10.1

5.Ben Watson New England 27- 263- 9.7

6.Jason Witten Dallas 33- 308- 9.3

7.Tony Scheffler Denver 28- 261- 9.3

8.Antonio Gates San Diego 68- 594- 8.7

9.Tony Gonzalez Kansas City 59- 482- 8.2

10.Kellen Winslow Cleveland 105- 849- 8.1

11.Chris Cooley Washington 51- 400- 7.8

12.Desmond Clark Chicago 16- 122- 7.6

13.Jeremy Shockey N.Y. Giants 35- 262- 7.5

14.Chris Baker N.Y. Jets 43- 321- 7.5

15.Dallas Clark Indianapolis 62- 447- 7.2

16.Eric Johnson New Orleans 29- 204- 7.0

17.David Martin Miami 15- 98 -6.5

18.Randy McMichael St. Louis 13- 73- 5.6

19.Quinn Sypniewski Baltimore 20- 112- 5.6

20.Alge Crumpler Atlanta 15- 83- 5.5

21.Jeff King Carolina 44- 223- 5.1

22.Bo Scaife Tennessee 25- 118- 4.7

23.Greg Olsen Chicago 30- 137- 4.6

24.Bubba Franks Green Bay 3- 4- 1.3

25.Marcedes Lewis Jacksonville 4- 0- 0.0

The top wide receivers in a season will typically average somewhere around 10 YPA, so the top 10 in this group does a terrific job as faux wideouts.

On an individual basis, Benjamin Watson and Heath Miller stand out because of their improvement in this category over their 2006 totals. Miller nearly doubled his 6.8 YPA and Watson added more than 2 yards to his 7.4 total.

Two big-name tight ends who underperformed as wide receivers were Randy McMichael and Alge Crumpler, but they have historically performed badly in this area (McMichael had a 4.2 YPA in 2006, Crumpler 6.2). So this showing was not unexpected.

One player whose poor showing does come as a surprise is Greg Olsen. Olsen had highly touted receiving skills coming out of the University of Miami, and it was thought that he would be able to serve quite effectively as an alternate wide receiver in the Bears' offense. It turns out Olson wasn't even Chicago's best flex tight end; Desmond Clark notched nearly as many yards as Olson (122 to 137) on just more than half as many attempts.

The other item of note is how often Kellen Winslow was thrown to from a flexed position. His 105 attempts nearly equaled the flex attempt totals of Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez combined. They were also 74.5 percent of his overall attempts.

That seems like a phenomenal total, and it led me to wonder how Winslow compares with other tight ends in this category. The top 10 in that area are above.

It turns out that Winslow's number is very impressive, but it doesn't quite put him in a class by himself. Chris Baker's 71.7 percent showing here and his equal showing to Jeremy Shockey in the flex YPA total may be indicators as to why Baker feels his value to the Jets is higher than the team seems to think it is.

One other barometer of flex tight end performance is how well these players perform as flex tight ends versus when they're lined up as a standard tight end. I decided to track this on a plus/minus YPA basis, with "plus" meaning that the player did better when flexed out. Here are those totals:

If this chart is any indicator, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Oakland should do all they can to flex their guys out more often.

KC Joyner, aka the Football Scientist, is a regular contributor to ESPN Insider. His core coverage metrics for all skill-position players and cornerbacks will be available in the ESPN Fantasy Football Magazine, which will be released this summer. His 2008 releases, "Scientific Football 2008" and "Blindsided: Why The Left Tackle is Overrated and Other Contrarian Football Thoughts," are available for preorder. For more, check out KC's Web site, www.thefootballscientist.com.

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[Kentucky Jet]

May 14, 2008

Bowling with Mangini for a good cause

Eric Mangini will be hosting a charity bowling event a week from today to benefit his family's foundation and two other causes. Here's the release:

New York Jets