E-Boland & Gang Green

By Tom Rock

A person familiar with the situation confirmed a trade that will send Jets QB Brooks Bollinger to the Vikings in exchange for DT C.J. Mosley and an undisclosed draft pick. Bollinger was expected to start Friday's preseason game against the Eagles. His departure leaves rookie Kellen Clemens and veteran Patrick Ramsey to compete for the backup QB job behind Chad Pennington. The deal also fills a Jets need along the front defensive line.

By Tom Rock

Doug Jolley, who just 16 months ago was introduced as the answer to all of the Jets tight end problems, was traded to Tampa Bay in a deal that gained momentum on Wednesday night and was finalized this morning. It represents the end to a disappointing chapter in Jets tight end lore and a reversal of the most debated if not the most egregious personnel decision made by the Jets’ previous regime.

Jolley’s stats were not terrible in his one season with the Jets – he caught 29 passes for 324 yards and a touchdown – but they hardly lived up to his tout and certainly not to the perceived pricetag of a No. 1 pick which the Jets dealt for him just before the 2005 draft. His inconsistency did not help endear him to fans – he had catches in 11 of 16 games and accumulated 102 of his season’s yards in the Dec. 18 game at Miami.

Jolley scored a perfect 800 on the math section of his SAT, so he must have been bright enough to see this coming. After he lost his cool and head-butted Giants cornerback Sam Madison in last week’s preseason game, he drew the ire of Eric Mangini. While Jolley’s stock fell, Chris Baker’s rose with solid play. The Jets brought in veteran Walter Rasby last week to plump out the position. They also drafted TE Jason Pociask in the sixth round this spring, though a shoulder injury will keep him out of action this season.

There was a chance the Jets would have cut Jolley on Saturday when they trim to 53 players.

By Tom Rock

After biting his tongue for most of training camp, Eric Mangini began dropping names today. Not only did he single out DE/LB Bryan Thomas and TE Chris Baker for their play this week, but he said Brooks Bollinger will probably be the starting QB for the Philly preseason game. That’s quite a look behind the curtain compared to the usual feedback we get. Too bad the news didn’t filter down to the players.

Thomas seemed stunned to have a flock of reporters around his locker after the Mangini press conference, and when asked what he had done to deserve the coach’s praise he shrugged and (force of habit?) directed that question back to Mangini. Bollinger seemed equally surprised by the attention granted him, especially since he said he hadn’t heard anything from anyone about starting on Friday. Baker was only at his locker for a few minutes early and late in player availability.

So Mangini was willing to toss the names of those doing well, but it remains to be seen how he will handle it when the opposite is true. Cuts need to be made by Saturday afternoon, and Mangini said he and Mike T. are still working out the logistics of how those will be announced and whether or not the coach and GM will be available for comment. The first three preseason games were pretty standard in terms of availability – the day after the game was without access to players and coaches and we had to wait until the following day to get Mangini’s impressions. That’s fine, but when the team makes so many cuts, there should be some availability. Hopefully that’ll be worked out. It sounded like it would be.

Just a few notes: Mangini didn’t rule out the possibility of carrying 4 QBs, but that seems odd considering how many players the Jets need to have at other positions. Plus, WR Brad Smith played QB in college so if it gets so bad that the Jets need a fourth-string emergency QB, they can throw him under center … Pennington will not play on Saturday but the rest of the starters will see time. The Eagles traditionally do not play their starters in this final preseason game, and Mangini said he spoke with Andy Reid this morning (more name dropping!) … Jets PR man Doug Miller is leaving to become Sr. Director of Media and PR for the Saints. Congrats to him. His was always a friendly face … AP writer Andrea Adelson is also on the way out, joining the Tribune Family at the Orlando SunSent. She keeps crying about leaving and I don’t know why, I’ve only known her for about a month … A Dave Hutchinson update has him possibly getting out of the hospital in a day or two. Get better, Hutch!

By Tom Rock

The charades are over.
The quarterback competition that seemed to be won before July ended was officially cancelled by Jets coach Eric Mangini when he named Chad Pennington the starting quarterback. And Curtis Martin, who had been rehabbing behind closed doors for the last five weeks without practicing during the entire training camp, will not be on the roster for the regular season opener.
Big surprises? Hardly. Anyone who has spent a lick thinking about the Jets this summer could have come to the same conclusions. The news here is that Mangini announced the decisions – both of them – today. While it seemed the Jets would just let the Chad and Curtis situations flutter into the league-imposed deadlines of next Sunday’s regular-season opener and the roster cut-down date of Saturday, the team decided to make its decisions public.
Well I’ll be.
“It’s become really clear to me he's distinguished himself in the way I was looking for,” Mangini said of his decision to name Pennington the starter. Pennington will not play in Friday’s preseason game against the Eagles. Patrick Ramsey, Brooks Bollinger and Kellen Clemens will split time in that game and continue to compete not only for depth chart placement but a spot on the roster. The final cuts on the roster will be made on Saturday. That leaves three players for two spots. They won’t cut Clemens, a draft pick, so that leaves them weighing their options between keeping experienced Ramsey in case Pennington gets hurt during the season or saving a few bucks and keeping Bollinger.
We knew something was up when Mangini opened his press conference with his usual “housekeeping” announcements, then said it could take a while. Gulp! Then he announced that Trey Teague would be taken off the PUP list and added to the active roster and that DT Tui Alailefaleula would be put on injured reserve. Then he went into his decisions on Pennington and Curtis.
Talk about burying the lead!!!

By Tom Rock

About the only consistent aspect of training camp this year was the weather. There were a total of 17 raindrops that fell in the nearly four weeks the Jets held camp at Hofstra, all of them during one evening practice on the back field that was closed to the public. Other than that, sunshine every day. Maybe having fans at practice was a sort of umbrella, because since camp ended and the practices began to be held in secrecy, it’s been rainy.

That seemed to be a welcome twist for Eric Mangini, who said Sunday’s wet practice went well. He said it was a good chance for quarterbacks, running backs and receivers to work on gripping a slippery football (Mr. Kevan Barlow!). Today’s practice will be outdoors as well, rather than in the bubble.

The Curtis Martin deadline is fast approaching. Mangini has not yet resigned himself to the idea that Curtis will be on the PUP list to begin the season – and thus have to sit out the first six weeks – but that decision will have to be made by Saturday when the roster is sliced to 53. Since Martin hasn’t even been on a practice field all training camp, I can’t believe he’ll make a remarkable recovery in the next few days and suddenly become available for the roster.

Speaking of the roster, Mangini said there was a player – he wouldn’t drop the name – who made a big impression on special teams in Friday night’s game and could have earned a roster spot due to the performance. “The light came on,” he said of the unnamed hero. Any ideas, Jets fans?

Feel better, Hutch!

By Tom Rock

Just think: If Darrell McClover were a few inches shorter, the Jets would have been shutout by the Giants. A pretty pathetic idea. Which begs the question, Just how bad are the Redskins?

The Jets took a large leap backwards in last night’s 13-7 loss. Not that the Giants looked like they are headed for XLI. Chad Pennington’s shoulder may be physically fine, but if the Jets can’t figure out how to pick up a blitz he could be on the operating table for a third go-round by the bye week.

It’s puzzling why no one will admit that Pennington is the team’s starting QB. He played almost three full quarters in the third preseason game, started the first preseason game, and takes the bulk of the snaps with the first unit during the week. Yet the competition ensues, in name alone. After the game last night, after all of the other players were interviewed at their lockers inside Gi@&*$ Stadium, Pennington gave his interview in the press room, on a stage, at a lectern. That’s not something backup quarterbacks do.

Then again, 10 drives, zero points and three turnovers isn’t something starting quarterbacks should do either.

Just want to look into my crystal ball and tell Jets fans to get those No. 6 jerseys ready. Buy them now before supply and demand work the price up. Kellen Clemens will be almost useless as a rookie this year, and if he does get in he’ll take his lumps with the rest of the team. But depending on how Pennington’s shoulder comes through this season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Clemens as the starting QB either at the start of the 2007 season or sometime before it ends. Kid’s solid across the board, arm strength, smarts, attitude. And last night, unfortunately, he proved he can take a hit.

Scary moment when Kerry Rhodes went down making a head-first tackle on Brandon Jacobs. I had my game story about two-third done at that point, and when I saw the hit live I instinctively hit Ctrl-A on my keyboard and was ready to hit delete. I thought for sure it was going to be worse than it appeared and the story of the night would change from the follies of NY football to the career-threatening – perhaps life-threatening – injury to Rhodes.

Then a minute later he was on his feet. Stunning. Usually when a player lays on the rug motionless, it’s bad news. Seemed he just had his bell rung. I’m sure he was out cold for a few seconds. If he was a starter, he’d probably sit out next week’s game against Philly. But since no one on the team is a starter, it’s hard to tell what’ll happen.

Just a quick note: You may have read on other blogs about the Writers Cup, the annual golf outting that pits those who cover the Jets against those who cover the Giants. I was proud to represent Gang Greens Fees and secure a point in my head-to-head with Vacchiano for the team's victory. Considering I was an alternate added to the squad about 14 hours before tee time and I was giving up 10 strokes, I thought I did fairly well. Then again, Ralph's back injuries certainly opened doors for me.

Unfortunatley, on just about every hole I seemed to find myself in my personal danger zone, that area of the course where my game crumbles and I cannot function. Usually it's within about a 50-yard radius of the pin. Summing up my golf game: No whiffs, bends or putts.

By Tom Rock

Don’t expect too much in the way of a regular-season scheme from the Jets on Friday night. Eric Mangini said he won’t use this third preseason game as a dress rehearsal for the starters, as many coaches do. Mostly that is due to the fact that most positions don’t have clear-cut starters.

“It really hasn’t changed,” he said of his philosophy heading into the Giants game. “To me, whoever the starter is going to be has to just show that that’s the position that they deserve. You’ll see more rotation this week. It will be the same deal, it could be on the offensive line, could be with the quarterbacks or it could be with the defensive backs. It’s just another opportunity against a new opponent to distinguish yourself in a positive or negative way. The guys have been doing that and this is another chance for them to do that.”

Mangini also analyzed his own training camp, and found some surprising details that a head coach must address.

“I never really planned an itinerary,” he said. “I never really worried about what time the buses showed up. I got on the bus, I read the itinerary and got on it. Those are the things that come up that are important. Not as important as what your going to do on third-down and two, but it’s still important for everybody to be able to operate effectively, for everybody to be able to avoid distractions, for everybody to be able to focus on the things that are important and those things are learning, working, studying and getting ready to compete.

“There was a spectrum of things that I had to deal with. It’s just quite different.”

By Tom Rock

So, this is it, the final day of training camp. Not that things will change dramatically in the next few days and weeks. Basically the practices will be a bit shorter, the meetings a little less dense and the players will be allowed to leave their dorm rooms here at Hofstra.

Still, everyone is very excited about the changes. Even Eric Mangini, who was in a giddy mood at his late-morning press conference. He cracked a few jokes and even poked some fun at himself. When asked if he thought he would be the starting head coach, he delivered the company line “I’m just trying to compete with the guys who are here and help the team however I can.” Straight-faced humor with good timing. He should show that side of himself more often, it’s very charming.

On a serious note, Mangini addressed the Kevan Barlow mess. Barlow had some parting shots on his way out of San Fran, quotes that won’t help his image as a rabble-rouser in this new un-rabbled Jets environment.

“(49ers coach Mike) Nolan just doesn't know what he's doing. He's a first-time head coach with too much power," Barlow told the Contra Costa Times. "He has too much power as a first-time head coach. He walks around with a chip on his shoulder, like he's a dictator, like he's Hitler. People are scared of him. If it ain’t Nolan's way, it's the highway.”

Barlow later pulled back on his dictator theme (though, interestingly, not on the first-time coach business). Mangini, a first-time coach, said he spoke with Barlow this morning about his words. Mangini also said Barlow phoned Nolan to talk about the report.

“I was speaking on emotion. ... My world's been [turned upside down] in the past [48] hours,” Barlow told the paper shortly after his initial outburst.

It’s a good thing the Jets let Barlow sleep in yesterday. Who knows what he would have said under the stress of further sleep deprivation.

By Tom Rock

After working to bolster the position, the Jets are without two running backs today. Curtis Martin is away from the complex for personal reasons which Eric Mangini insisted were non-medical, while Kevan Barlow is getting some much-needed shut-eye after a long two days in which he got no sleep before arriving in New York. So basically, the Jets revert to last week's tailback rotation and fans at training camp will have to wait until Wednesday to get a glimpse of Barlow in action (though he did run a few drills and take some light snaps on Monday afternoon).

That Barlow passed his physical on zero sleep must mean Lee Suggs was in bad shape.

Mangini said Barlow’s day off does not preclude him from Friday’s game against the Giants, but the coach said he will be cautious in using the running back. Imagine the ramifications of Barlow missing a blitz pick-up because of unfamiliarity with the schemes, allowing a clean hit on Chad Pennington that re-injures his shoulder. Better off keeping Barlow on the sideline (or just letting him play when Ramsey is on the field!).

Today’s practice will focus on the Giants game. Mangini said he is using preseason as a way to install all of the regular-season processes. He said he even spent a portion of practice going over how to execute a scout team. The game-planning isn’t so much about beating the Giants, but getting used to the program that will be in place when the regular-season starts.

Just a few other tidbits: Mangini said he has no philosophical problem with a rookie being the No. 2 quarterback, and he also said that Ramsey’s extended contract signed before training camp will play no role in determining the quarterback pecking order. That’s good news for Kellen Clemens fans … Adrian Jones, who began training camp playing left tackle with the starting unit, has been moving around while Anthony Clement has taken over the right tackle job. Mangini said Jones gets shuffled because of his versatility at other positions – left tackle, guard – and he doesn’t want Jones to be thrust into a different position without being able to reference some work there from training camp. Still, the Jets were able to run the ball more effectively on the right side against Washington with Clement over there than they did against Tampa Bay with Clement … Tui Alailefaleula spent some time on the sideline yesterday after he had his “bell rung” in the trenches. Mangini said that’s part of the learning curve … Islip HS product Darrell Adams looked like he was headed for prison with his wrists handcuffed and his ankles shackled. All that was missing was the Hannibal Lector facemask. But Adams was just doing extra work on the heavy bag with coach Bryan Cox, and the rubber handcuffs and elastic leg straps were there to keep his form consistent ... Mangini's usual 11:40 press conference was supposed to be moved to 12 noon, lending a spark of speculation that something was up behind the big green door, but it turned out he was just going over some third-down strategies with the team and actually walked into the press room at 11:43. He apologized for being late, but he was actually early and caught nearly everyone off guard.

By Tom Rock

Just a quick note that Kevan Barlow "practiced" with the team. He walked onto the field about 45 minutes into the workout, stretched out on his own, then participated in a few drills. He spent more time shaking hands than taking handoffs. Afterwards he met with the media. He was very open and comfortable and seemed like a good guy.

Rasby and Pennington practiced as well.