Jets' LaDainian Tomlinson says team-building 'more of a challenge' with training camp at home

[F.Chowds]

In his first season with the Jets, LaDainian Tomlinson appreciated the trip to upstate New York for training camp last summer. The veteran running back felt his new teammates unify and bond in the small town of Cortland, N.Y. -- and worries the team-building may not come so easy this year, as the lingering NFL lockout has forced the Jets to stay home at their Florham Park facility, if and when camp begins.

"I think it will be more of a challenge, yes," Tomlinson said today in Times Square, at a promotional event for USA Network's new TV series "Necessary Roughness." "Guys have more access to things that they really know: bigger city, their homes, whatever. So that will be more of a challenge. Whereas in Cortland, we were all we had, so we kind of had to stick together."

Tomlinson, entering his 11th season and second with the Jets, recognizes as a veteran he'll have to play an active role in building camaraderie by organizing team events like bowling or movie nights.

"Just because we’re here doesn’t mean we can’t still do things together," said Tomlinson. "It’s still training camp, so we’ve got to make sure we build that team first."

The Jets are coming off their second straight appearance in the AFC title game, momentum they hoped to build off this season. But the lockout imposed by owners more than 100 days ago has kept players and coaches apart, and wiped out the offseason training program, organized team activities and mini-camps.

Now, they're just hoping for a labor resolution to be reached in time for training camp.

"It is frustrating, because we expected to build on what we did last year, and the way you do it is being around each other again and starting back up and going through the offseason workouts," Tomlinson said. "But at the same time, I think we have done enough to keep us in tune to the playbook, to that camaraderie we have as a team. So I’m not terribly concerned as if we were one of the teams who haven’t done anything."

Tomlinson participated in quarterback Mark Sanchez's "Jets West" passing camp in California in May, as well as three days of full-team minicamp-style workouts at Farleigh Dickinson's campus two weeks ago, attended by about 40 Jets players

He said the players did work above and beyond Jets West, since they could do team drills against their defense. While Tomlinson said he and Shonn Greene didn't discuss Greene's intended role as the primary ball-carrier, Tomlinson said he believes Greene knows what the coaches expect of him and is "ready to take that next step."

Now, Tomlinson said, players are beginning to disperse to take summer vacations or visit their families, as they normally would before heading off to camp -- with one eye on the status of talks between the league and former players' union.

As a future Hall of Famer, Tomlinson said his name being included as a plaintiff on the players' lawsuit against the NFL "definitely came up," but he preferred not to be front and center in the dispute.

"I'm kind of at the point where I wanted to be low key with this thing," said Tomlinson, who has one year left on his two-year deal with the Jets. "Not that I didn’t want to be a guy that stated my opinion at times, but I just didn’t want to cross both sides. Call me a politician or whatever. I think sometimes players can mess things up, so I think sometimes we need to just let the people who have expertise at it handle it; that’s kind of what I did."

He said he has tried to be "realistic" as the lockout has dragged on, understanding there was no pressure to get a deal done in the weeks after the CBA expired in March. With training camp now right around the corner, Tomlinson is optimistic the intensified talks will lead to a resolution, so he can get back to playing the sport he loves.

"That time clock in your body goes off as a football player that it’s time to start hitting again," Tomlinson said. "You kind of just feel like that. I really believe that they're increasing talks, and we have to be optimistic. It went from not talking at all, to a couple times a week, to now three, four times a week. So you’ve gotta say something’s going to happen."

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2011/06/jets_ladainian_tomlinson_says.html

[Maxman]

Everyone is in the same boat though....so the teams with coaching continuity should get off to the best starts....