Live Chat with Erik Boland

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with Erik Boland(09/02/2008)

10:51

Moderator: Hi all. We'll get going at around 11 a.m.

10:59

All right everyone. welcome to Live Chat V from...well, you know where. Favre's first game, hype for the Dolphins, o-line depth, PSLs, the projected weather in South Florida, the Democratic and Republican conventions...whatever you want. let's get it going

10:59

[Comment From Crazy Eddie]

Hi Erik, Thanks for the quick response on the blog about Clowney.

11:00

[Comment From Crazy Eddie]

What do you make of the talk to get another safety? Is it just for depth or are they not happy with Smith/Elam? Who would get cut if a pick up was made?

11:01

no problem, crazy eddie. it's a combination of them being unsure of what they have but also because it's a position you need some depth at. So their pursuit of lynch is for both reasons. as for who would get cut, i wrote spencer or even barrett the other day as possibilities but those things are tough to call.

11:01

[Comment From Danny Coffey]

To the best of your knowledge, how much of the playbook will Favre have available to him on Sunday? Also, how has he looked with the in game adjustments such as audibles and the 2minute drill?

11:03

danny, he'll have a not even half i'd guess. if you do the math based on what he said from his first week - which was about 14 plays - to double that for the giants game the following week. maybe a little more than half the book i guess but not much more than that. as for the two-minute drill, we only saw him do a couple of those in training camp and then after that, they dont let us watch full practices so i've haven't seen him in two-minute since the last training practice. he did look good in that one, firing two nice balls to cotchery from what i remember

11:03

[Comment From John Z]

Well, preseason's over and we've seen all we can before the real games start. What's your opinion on a realistic season for the Jets? 10 & 6 and make the playoffs as a wild card? Can they actually beat the Patsies?

11:05

well, john z, if brady's foot keeps him out, yes! seriously though, i think the jets are as well set up to beat NE as they've been in a while. look at last year's second game between the two: the jets were awful, the pats were unbeaten and the Jets took that game deep into the fourth with a chance to win. the Pats are a year older and the Jets, by any objective means of analysis, are better. not saying the jets will beat them out for the division title but i dont think its a stretch to say the jets could get them at least once this year

11:05

[Comment From AOLSTBO]

Hi Eirk, did you have a good weekend? Since none of the qbs were cut, do you think one of them will be traded?

11:05

[Comment From Sheets]

How long do you expect the Jets to keep 4 QB's on the active roster?

11:08

aol and sheets, first off, i never thought there was a chance in you-know-what the Jets would keep four so i was way off on that. I think they actually might keep all four now. mangini the other day on conference call said barring something "earth-shattering" clemens would be the No. 2 and he wouldn't say that publicly unless he meant it. he would have said nothing instead if he wasn't sure. they still very much like clemens. ratliff, obviously, isn't going anywhere and they see something in ainge the rest of us haven't seen i guess. though ainge, to his credit, did play well against philly. i'm always pulling for him because he spells his first name with a "k"

11:08

[Comment From Mike from Foxboro]

What do you expect to see from Ellis and Thomas now that the JETS have added the "proper" pieces to the Defense

11:09

mike, i liked those two all camp even though i know a lot of people were down on them. remember, they weren't allowed to fulfill their true roles as DE's in a 3-4 last year because dewayne was such a drag around them, not occupying two blockers at the point the way he was supposed to. you've seen in the preseason both guys play well with jenkins there. i've said it before, i like the look of this front seven a lot.

11:09

[Comment From Al Toon]

Erik, what is the sense of this team from league scouts? Are we good enough to compete for a WC? Have we closed any gap on the San Diegos, Indys, and New Englands that are the class of the AFC?

11:11

the sense is that everyone loves jenkins, harris, pace, rhodes and revis on defense.the question marks are DB depth and on offense, how quickly will favre adjust to the jets system? and, of course, depth on the offensive line, which to date, hasn't been addressed. Really, the concerns the "insiders" have are the same ones most of you have!

11:11

[Comment From dmb88886]

When will Barrett be cut? Does he have incriminating info on someone in the FO?

11:13

dmb! you're usually the helen thomas of our chats (she usually asks the first question as presidential news conferences). anywhoooo, i'm starting to come around to your way of thinking on barrett. while i don't think he's quite as bad as you do, he's not very good. i watched every training camp practice and, obviously, every preseason game, and hank poteat, who was cut, was better. period. i'm not arrogant to think i know more than mangini or any of those guys when it comes to evaluating talent but barrett is a head-scratcher to me.

11:14

[Comment From Matt]

Can the Jets compete with the Pats for the division this year? And will the Bills and Dolphins compete with them in 2-3 years?

11:15

matt, i think the jets will finish second behind the pats at 11-5. that was my prediction after the favre deal was made and i'll stick with it. as for the bills, I think they still have QB issues this year. i was never sold on edwards last year but they're closer than the dolphins to being respectable. still, if you're a jets fan, this sunday be afraid. be very afraid. they're going to treat this as their super bowl.

11:15

[Comment From Mr. Green T]

Erik, do you get a feeling of confidence from the Jets? A quiet bravado, if you will.

11:17

Mr. Green T, I do. Nothing bonds a team better than shared misery and the players who experienced 4-12 do not, and are committed to, not going through anything close to that again. That, more than any reason, was why the Chris Baker thing never proved divisive. The feeling I got from most players was "Chris, you're bragging about how good a season you had last year and we went 4-12. enough with the talking." no one said that, to be clear, that's just the sense i got.

11:17

[Comment From R in CT]

Hey E! Do you think the Jets were surprised about Nate Garner being snapped up by the Phins? Was he going to be practice squad material?

11:19

R in CT, always good to hear from you! I don't think they were surprised but I understand they had planned to put him on the practice squad had he cleared waivers. But, look, with the Jets coming up in week 1, they couldn't have been caught off guard that the dolphins would pull the old sign-pump (for info)-and-dump on garner. sign-pump-and-dump, i like that. trademark.

11:19

[Comment From John Z]

Forgot this one. What justifies keeping Clemens in the number two spot over Ratliff, with Ratliff plainly outperforming him in the preseason, and Clemens showing nothing impressive during the season last year?

11:21

john z. i think that one comes down to this: clemens started eight games last year. Ratliff, impressive as he was this preseason, never has taken an NFL regular season snap. but let's be realistic, Favre has started 253 straight regular season games. as clemens said before the philly game, "if everything goes well, this will be the last time I play this season." or something like that. i'm paraphrasing.

11:21

[Comment From MYDXOUT]

Erik, has the o-line gelled enough that Ferguson will actually have a good year next to Faneca or are there going to be growing pains early on?

11:22

MYDXOUT, ferguson quietly had a good preseason and i think is benefitting from both faneca's presence and that of new o-line coach bill callahan. during the giants game, osi, before he got hurt, beat ferguson once early but D'brick held his own after that. that was a good sign.

11:23

[Comment From Colors_That_End_In_urple]

First off nice call on the UCLA game. Second have you heard anything from the NFL or the Jets about a plan they have in place if a hurricane hanna was forcast to hit south florida?

11:25

Colors, first off, very nice SNL reference, Trebek....

anyway, I asked the league about that this morning actually. it's not up to the teams on what happens with the game. It's one of those things the league monitors every day and they're a long way from making a decision on this particular game. the sense i get is they'll do everything to get the game in, in miami and on sunday. but there's no news on that one way or another.

11:25

[Comment From upstatejetsfan08]

PS..Erik, you do an awesome job. Please don't forget all us true Jet fans when you go on to bigger things

11:25

[Comment From Sheets]

Will either John Lynch or Ty Law end up on the Jets?

11:28

haha. upstate, what's bigger than New York, right? but thanks.

sheets, I think the Ty Law ship sailed weeks ago and I'd say 40-60 on Lynch coming. If Lynch had a secred handshake agreement will bill b. to rejoin the Pats, which both men's quotes seem to indicate, i can't see him backtracking and signing with the hated jets. but the jets are still working on it; i just don't think they'll be able to pull it off and i'm really not sure how much it helps them if they do. i liked wilson, the guy cut from tampa, better for safety help

11:28

[Comment From SquishtheFish]

Do you think the Jets will be coming out running or are they going to come out gunning to open up the running game and get brett involved early?

11:29

squish, great question. Based on the fact the running game was so non-existent - other than J. Chatman against the Iggles - this preseason, i think they will come out running. they'll want to see if they're going to be able to push around the dolphins on the line and then go from there. And thomas jones HAS to carry the ball at some point, right? no time like the first few series of game 1

11:30

[Comment From AOLSTBO]

Wayne Hunter looked pretty good at the beginning of camp. I haven't had a chance to watch him during the rest of camp so I don't know if he got any better. Did the coaching staff rave about him at all?

11:31

aol, short answer: no. but they kept him so the coaches obviously saw something there. i will say that backup o-line unit, after a hiddeous start against Philly, actually improved as that game went on. hunter included.

11:31

[Comment From dmb88886]

Yeah I got caught up in work and forgot to ask the first question, d'oh. Who is the 1st NT off the bench, Pouha or Mosley? How about the 1st DE off the bench, Brown or Mosley?

11:32

dmb, i can only base this on what we saw during the preseason. i asked mangini for the depth chart and he declined. pouha during camp was typically the first NT in and mosley the first DE

11:32

[Comment From MiracleattheMeadowlands]

Erik, which do you think will be more important on Sunday: Chad's knowledge of the Jets' tendencies, or the Jets' knowledge of Chad's tendencies?

11:33

miracle, ooo, i like that one: i think ultimately the jets will benefit more on that because, let's face it, pennington's o-line down there is terrible. i'm not sure he'll have the time to take advantage of what he knows about the jets

11:33

[Comment From Lam Jones]

E! Great blog - is the team serious about Chansi Stuckey as a DB and does Ahmad Carroll look as good in camp as he does on tv/preseason --- he just seems bigger than our other DB's?

11:35

lam jones (nice SN), i think mangini just wanted to experiment a bit with stuckey to see if he could play DB in a pinch. the answer was a definite yes and, just my opinion, automatically was an upgrade over barrett. carroll alternated between making plays and getting burned. feast or famine with him, but he's not bad for depth purposes. that was a good pickup

11:35

[Comment From Mike]

Are you for or against the NFL making the regular season 18 games and having the Super Bowl in mid February?

11:38

i'm for anything that eliminates preseason games that are a rip-off for fans. how can anyone justify philly fans paying full price to watch a guy named kolb to play almost an entire game at QB? and it's that way almost league-wide for game 4 of the preseason. anyway, that's another issue. i dont object to the added regular season and i'd say shave off one of the weeks between championship sunday and the super bowl. Two weeks off isn't necessary other than for hype and cash.

11:38

[Comment From Tom]

Which Jets Cut ON saturday Do you think got snubbed off the practice squad?

11:40

tom, i'm guessing you mean that should have been added to the practice squad. i apologize if i didn't pick up on your meaning. one name that comes to mind is WR david ball. I thought he actually had a little better preseason than paul raymond, who did make the practice squad. But they liked Raymond's speed a bit better. keep WR brackins for the practice squad surprised me a bit, but his size (6-4) intrigues the jets.

11:40

[Comment From Antonious78]

Erik, how do the Jets plan on addressing the kicking game since it looks like Nugent is Brien reincarnate?

11:41

antonious, the jets just don't see nugent that way, even though a lot of fans obviously do. the short answer is they don't see nugent as a problem and i'm not ready to declare him one quite yet.

11:41

[Comment From Cooperstownjetsfans]

Hi Erik, do you think that TJ and LW are enough RBs for the year?

11:42

cooperstown, no. short term maybe, meaning sunday, but there's no way the jets go deep into the season with two running backs. even though mangini did mention saturday that brad smith has played there in a pinch, he's looked too good at WR to screw around with him as some kind of utility guy again. the jets will do something there coming up, guaranteed

11:42

[Comment From Sloppy Joe]

What happens with special teams coach O'Dea now that Westhoff is back?

11:44

sloppy joe, mangini said yesterday o'dea was keeping the title but that when it came to game-time decisions, those would be westhoff's. they two will work nicely together this year and then i'd be shocked if o'dea is back next year. But i also think o'dea knew this was a possibility - however remote - when he signed on with the jets this offseason. in the end, this isn't a negative by any means.

11:44

[Comment From RM]

Wil we see Dustin Keller and Marques Henry on the firld at the same time? Having two tall recievers out there would be a chaalenge for the other team.

11:46

RM, we saw it at times against Philly but that was because Keller was one of the only front-line guys who played against the Eagles. I think in the occasional four-wideout package you might see them out there together but probably not too often. that said, henry looked really, really good on those two catches against the Eagles.

11:46

[Comment From Will62]

Hey Erik, any chance they try to sign OT Anderson from Cincy?

11:47

will62, the problem is cap room. the only reason anderson was released was because he refused to take a pay cut. the money he wanted from cincy, there's no way, as the cap is now, the jets could take that on. but if he was willing to negotiate, there could be some interest there. certainly would help depth-wise, no question.

11:47

Moderator: Last question ....

11:47

[Comment From JetsFanDan]

Erik, Chatman will be coming back at RB right? I can't see us not bringing him back after his suspension. Going with 2 RBs for 4 games isn't as bad as going a whole season with only 2.

11:49

jetsfandan, yes, mangini said chatman would have a roster spot waiting for him when he gets back after the suspension. he made that very clear saturday night during his conference call with us.

well, everyone, thanks as always. we'll try and do another one of these next week to review the dolphins and preview the pats. great job, but i've come to expect that! i'm always on the blog, too. interesting weekend coming up, to say the least.

11:49

[Comment From truti]

Erik I live in Brazil and i think you are the best jets beat writer, thank you for your work, is really difficult to gath

11:49

Moderator: Thanks all for reading and participating. We'll be back next week.

11:49

thanks, truti

[Jetscode1]

Thanks for the post...good intel...