Erik Boland: Inside the Jets

By Tom Rock

Greetings from Buffalo where the weather does not seem to be playing a role in today’s game. Mid 70s. Sunny. A great day for football. A great day for, well, anything outdoors. I’m glad I’m here now and not on Dec. 23. That’s when the Giants roll into town. That’s not a bring-your-golf-clubs road trip. In fact, this is the second year the Jets are in and out of Buffalo before the weather turns (which up here is the middle of October).

Here’s the long-standing sportswriter tradition of blogging the inactives. Nobody blogged the inactives like Jim Murray. For the Jets: Marques Tuiasosopo, Drew Coleman, Darian Barnes, Cody Spencer, Will Montgomery, Mike DeVito, Jacob Bender and Jason Pociask. For the Bills, their inactive list reads simply: defense.

Jets are wearing white over white. Bills are blue over blue. So both are in uniform uniforms. I was sitting here wondering aloud why special teams guys – kickers, punters, long-snappers – are always the first ones in full uniform. For those of you in regular society who aren’t inside an NFL stadium three hours prior to kickoff, while the rest of the team warms up in shorts and T-shirts, those specialists are in full pads. Anyone with insight on the phenomenon, feel free to drop us a line.

By Katie Strang

Snippets from Friday's practice:

After missing the conversation about tipping/gratuities yesterday, I was tempted to ask if the Jets advise their players on other mundane issues: i.e. how to do laundry, reasonable rates for car insurance, weekly allowances, etc. But I refrained.

Too bad, because it was hard to get Mangini to elaborate on much else, particularly the issue of his 3-4 defense.

Defensive Coordinator Bob Sutton must have realized this would be a hot topic, and replied accordingly with a fitting Jets response:

“It’s not effort, I think it’s just a level of consistency and doing the things that need to be done on a higher level and more consistent basis.”

Sutton also did not admit to tweaking the defensive strategy much to take advantage of the fact the Bills will start rookie QB Trent Edwards in place of their injured starter J.P. Losman, but you can bet he’s consulted with Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer who went to see Edwards work out before the draft.

Schottenheimer said he hasn’t followed up on him much since, but that he thought Edwards was a big guy who looked the part, and that they were impressed by his athleticism and the fact that he “had a good head on his shoulders.”

Quote of the day came from Schottenheimer when asked to speculate about the woes of the San Diego Chargers. He responded: “You can call my father. He might have some ideas.”

This week is the first time the Jets will hop on a plane this season. That’s not good news for David Bowens -- he’s scared of flying, but he assured me he wasn’t bringing a teddy bear or anything of that nature with him on the flight. “I’ll be shaking though,” he admitted with a smile.

By Tom Rock

Mangini dropped some lingo on us today. My ears always perk up when I hear the vernacular of football. It’s always fascinated me. I’m a bit of a jargon hound. I remember during training camp Andre Dyson (remember him? Oh, wait he’s still here) was talking about a defensive technique called press bell, in which a CB comes up and pretends like he’s going to press a WR, then pulls back at the last second.

Anyway, today Mangini was talking about birds and rabbits. Yes, birds and rabbits. And how to defend them. Any guess on what those terms mean?

Well, a bird is a pass play and a rabbit is a running play. Makes sense when you think about it. With a rookie starting quarterback for the Bills this Sunday, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of rabbits on the field.

Not sure how this came up, but a significant portion of today’s presser with Mangini had to do with tipping waiters and waitresses. Seriously, there were four questions on the subject (though one was thrown out in jest/exasperation). Apparently there’s a serious problem coursing through the NFL about players either not believing in the tipping process or under-tipping. Roy Williams apparently stiffed a pizza delivery guy recently and has led to this becoming an issue. They may say they give 110 percent on the field, but apparently they give less than 15 percent at the table. First dogfighting, now this. I have a call into NFL spokesman Greg Aiello for comment and clarification on the topic.

I asked Mangini if he learned anything from last year’s loss to the Bills. It was a 31-13 defeat that nearly derailed the Jets from the playoffs. Mangini said he looked back on his notes from that week and thought that the week of practice was not effective. “There’s always a correlation between how you practice and how you play,” he said.

By the way, this is post number 300 on the blog! Balloons and streamers and trumpets are proclaiming the significance in the press room right now. Oh, it's too bad you can't see it!

By Tom Rock

I had no idea how good the Bills are this year. I looked at their 0-3 record, their 24 points (that's 24 total points in three games) and their last-place defense and figured the Jets would have an easy time of it this weekend. But the Jets set me straight, ballyhoo-ing the beleaguered Bills to no end.

Here's a glimpse of what the locker room was like when we were there today talking about those Super Bowl-bound Bills.

I guess a team's got to say the things the Jets said. And it's a move straight from the Belichick Field Manual. But c'mon. The Bills stink. And when the Jets say they are a good team, it just comes off as covering their own backsides so that if they lose on Sunday they can come back and say "I told you they were good."

How refreshing would it be if somebody on the Jets just came out and said, "Man, if we can't beat these guys, we have no business in this league."

This is audio of Jets head coach Eric Mangini and quarterback Chad Pennington during a recent press conference.

Eric Mangini interview

Chad Pennington interview

By Tom Rock

A few notes about my article today in which I suggest that the Jets abandon the 3-4 defense until they can bring in the proper personnel:

Thanks for all of the emails, some applauding the sentiment and others calling me an idiot. You all made fair points, which is what makes this issue so murky. If it were clear-cut, there would be no debate.

The Jets will once in a while shift into a 4-3 with Bryan Thomas going to a three-point stance. But that’s just a way of trying to catch an opponent off guard, like a right-handed boxer who sometimes slips in some southpaw jabs. They need to do that more often.

The 4-3 I would line up would be Ellis, Robertson, Hicks, Thomas with Bowens and Coleman subbing on the ends. That would leave Vilma in the middle with Barton on one side and Hobson on the other.

Don’t be fooled if the Jets defense dominates the Bills this week. That won’t mean that everything is OK. Just as getting trounced by the Patriots didn’t mean that the defense stinks. In fact, I think this week might be a good chance to unveil a new 4-3 package since the Bills seem incapable of doing anything against any defense.

Lastly, it seems to me that if an offensive set was not working, it would be abandoned, or at least pushed to the back of the playbook. I’ve never been able to understand why that doesn’t happen on defense.

By Tom Rock

Joe Kowalewski should have been crowing. Kerry Rhodes should have been wearing orange. Neither happened.

That’s because Kowalewski, a Syracuse guy, had avoided Rhodes all last week and had not made the traditional locker room wager when one guy’s college plays another, in this case Louisville. And as you know, even though ‘Cuse was a 30-something point underdog, they pulled out the victory.

Kowalewski said he had been burned so many times previously that he just didn’t think Syracuse would get it done against Louisville. Apparently Louisville felt the same way.

The Jets will have a drastically different approach and completely overhaul their mentality for this coming week. Yeah, right. Mangini, who is so even keel he’s often in drydock, said the approach stays the same. And the players seemed to be thinking the same thing. Nice to get the win, but there’s still work to be done.

Especially on defense, which is something we’ll get into in the next few days. Miami torched the Jets on screen plays, some of which were read and picked up and others which were wide open. It all comes back to creating a decent pass rush, though. If a team has to blitz to pressure a QB, then those 1-on-1 coverages out in the flats turn into big plays when a blocker shows up.

Had a chance to watch a few plays from the game again. Some random observations:

There was really no key block on the Leon Washington kickoff return, but Darian Barnes was the guy who stuck it to his former team with a nice hit at the point of attack … D’Brickashaw Ferguson was really strong in isolation against Jason Taylor (and as a side note, Brick seems to have gotten much bigger since training camp. I mentioned that to him today and he just smiled) … Adrian Clarke gave up the only sack of the game, allowing Vonnie Holliday to beat him cleanly and tackle Pennington. The only other real pressure on Chad came when Crowder was called for the roughing the passer penalty on an incomplete. On that play Brick did a nice job of sliding to the inside to cut off his blitz but he wound up pushing his toward Pennington. Thomas Jones also came up on the wrong side of Ferguson on that play; he could have helped … I was wondering about the decision not to call a timeout on third-and-12 and take a delay of game penalty in the third quarter. Mangini said today that he liked it because it saved timeouts and the percentages of converting third-and-12 are roughly the same as third-and-17. As it turns out, the Jets saved the timeout and beat the percentages, as Pennington hit Coles for a 23-yard gain to keep alive the drive that ended with Chad’s TD run.

By the way, Thomas Jones was the offensive player of the game, David Barrett was the defensive player of the game, and Leon Washington was special teams player of the game. Jason Trusnik, who portrayed Jason Taylor during the week, was the practice player of the week. Finally, after two losses, those green hoods will come off the primo parking spots out front as a reward for each honor. When the Jets lose, there are no players of the week, and no parking perks for anybody.

By Tom Rock

.. and now, please cross him out.

The new Jets offensive lineman arrived too late to appear on the official flip card (which is the roster we use in the press box) so they made an announcement asking us to write him in. A moment later they called out the inactives, and Montgomery was among them. Ah, the peaks and valleys of an NFL lineman. Zach Thomas, already listed as OUT for the game, is indeed, out.

Other inactives for the Jets are QB Marques Tuaisosopo (3rd QB), S Abram Elam, LB Cody Spencer, DE Mike DeVito, G Jacob Bender, TE James Pociask, and TE Sean Ryan.

Spencer, who made his mark here last year on special teams, is out for the second straight game. Kinda odd since the Jets are having so much kickoff coverage trouble. If he can't help that unit, maybe his tenure here is limited. If Matt Chatham comes off PUP, it could be time to say farewell to Cody.

And TE Joe Kowalewski is active. I'm sure the Syracuse product had some good shots to take at Kerry Rhodes, a Louisville grad.

Jets are wearing green over white.

Oh, and Chad is starting.

By Tom Rock

Back from practice. Chad’s still the starting QB. Justin McCareins caught some passes. Tedy Atlas was on the sideline. All if right with the world.

Mangini was in a good mood today. Probably because this is the first press conference in a week and a half that didn’t contain the words “Belichick” or “Billick.” Those, as you and I have come to learn, are league matters. But he was surprisingly forthcoming about Chad’s performance in Wednesday’s practice: “I thought he looked good” and “He moved pretty well.”

Here’s something we learned about the coach. You know how you and I and everyone else who considers himself a casual fan looks at the Jets schedule when it comes out and says “win, win, loss, loss” while sizing up the opponents. Mangini was asked if he does that, even on a subconscious level. He gave a one-word answer, and here’s a hint: it wasn’t the word “yes.”

The Jets may have a bit of insider knowledge about the Dolphins offense since Brian Schottenheimer was a QB coach under Cam Cameron in San Diego. Mangini said that it’s a strange week because in training camp the team usually plays its offense against a division opponent’s defense, but in this case, there are such similarities, that the defense can draw from its experiences of playing against the Jets offense all those times. The Jets also have a bit of knowledge with D-line coach Dan Quinn a former Dolphins assistant.

“There’s real value in that,” Mangini said. “But it’s the same thing. You know a lot, they know a lot. There’s plusses and minuses to both those situations”

By Tom Rock

Just got off a conference call with Wayne Chrebet, who’ll be honored at halftime of Sunday’s game. He said he’s looking forward to having a chance to say goodbye to Jets fans who embraced him during his career. He never had that chance because his career ended with an injury.

The Newsday Insider shindig went well last night. No rowdy question-askers were tasered by security, so I think that counts as a success. Ed McNamara was a surprise guest for the event. Thank goodness he showed up or we would have had to fill another 45 minutes!

I’ll come back with an update after practice.

By Tom Rock

I bumped into Darian Barnes in the locker room today. Literally bumped into him. Then had the audacity to ask if he was OK. Like I'm going to injure an NFL fullback. For the record, he said he was fine. I have to tell you I was a little proud of myself for walking away from the collision too.

So, any thoughts on the new audio clips on this blog? Let us know if you like them, use them, or find them enlightning. Or annoying, bothersome and tiring. We thirst for feedback.

As you alsready know if you listened here, Mangini said he called Ravens coach Brian Billick on Tuesday to discuss Billick’s claim that the Jets were breaking rules by simulating snap counts while on defense. “We don’t coach things to cause penalties,” Mangini said, calling his talk “a very good conversation.”

As we blogged yesterday, an article in this week’s Sports Illustrated quotes an unnamed NFL head coach as saying “If he wasn’t before, Mangini’s dead to Belichick now” and “What Mangini did is a disgrace. He wouldn’t be a coach in this league without Bill, and this is how he repays him.” Asked if he feels he broke some unwritten rules by stopping the Patriots from videotaping Jets coaching signals in their game two weeks ago, Mangini said he feels “very comfortable with where we are in the situation, and the people that I know through the league."

The Jets signed OL Will Montgomery. The most surprising aspect of it is that he has never to our knowledge played for the Patriots. Lately there have been a large number of ex-Pats coming through Hempstead. Montgomery comes with the blessing of Dan Henning along with PR guy Bruce Speight. How many weeks will it be until Monty (and I met him this afternoon so I feel comfortable calling him Monty) is starting at left guard?

I told Glauber I wasn't going to blog today because of the Newsday Insider event being held tonight. Felt like I wanted to preserve my A material for the real fans, the ones who would drive to Melville on a Wednesday night just to meet me and Glaubs and Arthur. But I caved. I'll just have to wing it tonight. Maybe someone will ask me about fishing.

Here's audio of Eric Mangini's press conference today. LISTEN HERE

By Tom Rock

So this is what the bogs have come to: Me daring Glauber to write about naked people. The 21st Century is truly a great time. Too bad I wasn't with Neil Best at the time. He'd have found a much more appropriate (or inappropriate?) picture.

As expected, the Jets put Justin Miller on IR after he suffered a season-ending right knee injury on Sunday. The NFL’s fastest man and the Jets’ only Pro Bowler will be back in 2008. Maybe.

The Jets haven’t announced any new signings, but remember that Mangini went with a 52-man roster for a number of weeks last year.

Also caught wind of an article that’ll be in this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated. Peter King, writing about the Patriots cheating scandal, quotes an unnamed NFL head coach as saying: “If he wasn’t before, Mangini’s dead to Belichick now” and “What Mangini did is a disgrace. He wouldn’t be a coach in this league without Bill, and this is how he repays him.”

Tomorrow is the big Newsday Insider football pow-wow. I'll let you know how that goes. And I’ll let you know if I see any more dead or naked people.

By Tom Rock

It’s nice to have a regular Monday. No quarterback injuries to track down. No cheating coaches to keep track of. Just a team that’s 0-2. How refreshing.

How’s this for a non-sequitor. Jets are driving for the tying points. A rather dull afternoon is being salvaged by excitement. I’m scrambling to jot down every detail of the game I can see. And Glauber leans over to me and says “I saw a dead guy today.”

Huh?

“On the highway. He was just lying there. A dead guy.”

I’m not quite sure what to do with that information.

Kellen Clemens took a favorite Jets quote and changed the tense on us. Instead of saying “It is what it is,” he went with “It was what it was” for a post-game comment. Cool conjugating. What do you think are the chances someone will eventually say “It will be what it will be” regarding next Sunday’s game.

Mangini’s coming in for his Monday talk and then we’re in the locker room. I’ll be back if anything special happens.

By Tom Rock

Or at least it sure seems that way since he took all of the snaps during pregame warm-ups. We'll know for sure when the game starts, which is precisely what Mangini wants.

Discuss.

By Tom Rock

One QB question in NY already answered, we should soon know the definitive answer to the other: Kid Kellen or Comeback Chad?

Pennington was on the field around noon today, doing some footwork drills, testing out the ankle. About an hour later, Kellen Clemens was on the bench. No, not for the game, just for warm-ups. He was so pumped up for the game that he was on the field before the equipment made it out and he had to sit on the bench until the bag filled with footballs made its way to the sideline. After that he plucked a keeper from the bunch and started throwing with Brad Smith and Leon Washington.

Nice set-up in Baltimore. Very purple. They have the early games up on the jumbo screens at each end zone so we can watch the Steelers game and the Bengals game. Nice for me since I have the Pitt defense and Carson Palmer in my fantasy league. And so far I’m happy with both.

Inactives will be announced soon and I’ll post them here.

Jets are wearing white over white.

Glauber is here today. We’ll have to come to a consensus on what to wear to our big Newsday Insider show on Wednesday. To quote the great American philosopher Homer Simpson, “I’m gonna get a light blue tuxedo with the biggest ruffles and platform shoes that I can find!”

***UPDATE: Jets just announced their inactives. Pennington and Clemens are both active, which means that Chad can play if needed (or decided). Officially, no decision on the starter has been made. Marques Tuiasosopo is the 3rd QB and the other inactives for the Jets are Abram Elam, Drew Coleman, Joe Kowalewski, Cody Spencer, Mike DeVito, Jacob Bender and Jason Pociask.

By Tom Rock

He did everything but read aloud the names of every Jets season ticket holder. Perhaps if he'd had more time to do the research, he would have.

Jets coach Eric Mangini is required to provide the media with 20 minutes of access, and today, when he knew most of the questions would be about the CamScam and the league’s announcement of penalties against the Patriots, he tried his best to fill those 20 minutes with as much talk and as little information as possible.

Here’s his opening statement, which went on for just over four minutes, the essence of which, from what I was awake for, was really just to tell us that today is Friday, Darrelle Revis is a rookie, and the game on Sunday starts at 4 p.m.:

"I understand that there is going to be a lot of interest and questions related to the ruling yesterday. What I can say is that I respect the commissioner's decision. Anything related to the decision or anything associated to the decision is a league matter. That's all I can say about it. I hope you can respect that.

"In terms of what we're doing today, I talked a lot about this being the first normal week that we've had. That is a bit of a transition. You had the opening week where there were two extra days. You could get ahead on your film study and your personal opponent study. The time is valuable and you try to use it wisely. In a normal game week, especially for the young guys, they have to get used to transitioning from looking at the tape on Monday of the previous game, getting those corrections and then shift the focus to the next opponent. That's always what we try to do on Monday and that's always what we're focused on. Tuesday, the players' day off, they take home DVDs, spend time getting ahead of the game plan and getting ahead of the work on the next opponent. (When they) come in on Wednesday, that's a heavy installation day where you've got the overall scouting report, which is pretty extensive. Then you've got the game plan element. You've got to walk through it, practice it, transition the next day and work on things you did. You add some more installation, third down traditionally. On Friday where it's a lighter day of practice with overall reps, you're working on the red area, short yardage, goal line and those sorts of things. Each day the focus has to remain consistent. It's a lot of information compacted into a very short amount of time. Guys need to get used to studying what we've put in as well as studying the player that they're facing. We often talk about the game within the game. So Darrelle Revis needs to look at the receivers he could be facing and understand the qualities of each guy. It's the same as it will be moving forward, but it is different for these guys than it has been. It's a 4:00 game. That's going to be a little bit different. That's all part of the process in the early part of the season.

"Baltimore is a team that's extremely innovative on defense. There's always going to be some new wrinkles. They provide a lot of different looks. There's many talented players on the offensive side of the ball. It's going to be new things you have to deal with. There's multiple guys that can hurt you in different ways. You have to understand exactly what we're trying to get done and exactly what they're trying to get done. (Regarding Baltimore’s) special teams - serious problems. I know they've lost (B.J.) Sams. We saw what happened when they switched returners. He's a pretty good punt returner, as well. Yamon Figurs goes in. (I) saw him a lot in college. He presents some problems.

"It's working through all those phases and now transitioning to the red area. (Baltimore has) done a very good job there. (They were the) lowest scoring defense last year in terms of their opponents. There is still a lot of work to be done even though it's late in the week. Then it's buttoning everything up, tightening everything up, going through and making sure that you're sound and dealing with the loud environment. I think the fact that we've had music throughout training camp and worked with a loud environment for quite some time is a plus but it's still different than crowd noise. It's something you have to get used to. You try to simulate that as much as possible, but it is something they have to constantly work on."

Did I lose you?

Mangini later discussed in agonizing detail nearly all of the special teams coaches with whom he has worked in his career. Then took us on a winding tour of the 3-4 defense that weaved its way from Rex Ryan to Mike Nolan and even brought it back here to the days when Al Groh was coaching the Jets then found its way up to Dom Capers’ system in Miami.

And with that, his 20 minutes were up.

By Tom Rock

Newsday has acquired a copy of the confiscated footage at the center of the videotaping controversy. Click here to view it.

Ha ha ha. Gotcha!

By Tom Rock

During warm-ups, the Jets played a song called “Gitcha Caww Out,” which is basically a Ravens fight song. Get it? Ravens go Caww, caww! I couldn’t find the lyrics to it, but if you go here you can listen to it.

The strange part is that after that song, the Jets have played the Phil Collins song “In the Air Tonight.” It’s happened a few times this week. Are the Jets going easy listening? Are they Light FM?

Nope. Turns out they’ve done some scouting. Here’s a quote from Ravens LB Ray Lewis that appeared in Sports Illustrated:

"That song ("In the Air Tonight") depicts everything you've always dreamed of, every moment you've dreamed, the places you are at and where you want to be. Phil Collins is a short guy with a lot of power. I fell into the song long ago as a child when it was played on Miami Vice. Once I got older, I started understanding I could use it for motivation. You ride off your heart and your heart is where your treasure lies."

So there you go, today’s musical interlude. Dedicated to Ray. Enjoy.

By Tom Rock

I put this together for the paper earlier this week, but New England's Funniest Home Videos ate up the space. It may still make it in, but I figured I would give you loyal blog readers a first look:

Kellen Clemens could become the latest QB from the 2006 draft to become a starter. A look at what others have accomplished so far:

Player, Team Starts Wins TD-INT Drafted round (overall)
Vince Young, TEN 14 9 12-14 1 (3)
Matt Leinart, ARZ 12 4 12-14 1 (10)
Jay Cutler, DEN 6 3 10-6 1 (11)
Kellen Clemens, NYJ -- -- ------ 2 (49)
Travaris Jackson, MIN 3 1 3-5 2 (64)
Bruce Gradkowski, TB 11 3 9-9 6 (194)

By Tom Rock

Now that it's pretty clear Clemens will be starting in place of Chad on Sunday (the Jets still reserve the opportunity to change their mind, I suppose), the question becomes this:

Will Chad get his job back when he returns? Or does it depend on how Kellen plays?

I know this is a hot-button topic, so I'll open it up to you folks.

Thoughts?

UPDATE: Mangini was asked the same question at his press conference today. His answer: "Chad's the starting quarterback. He's the starting quarterback."

By Tom Rock

Thought you might like a little Jets news sprinkled in with your Video Killed the Coaching Star saga. So here ya go:

If you went out and bought a Ray Ventrone jersey, big mistake by you. The Jets released him from the practice squad. Apparently he was found to be only 14-years-old (if you look at his picture below you’ll get the joke).

The Jets also signed S Abram Elam, bit of an odd move considering they now have five safeties on the roster. I guess when Erik Coleman was burned on that 51-yard TD pass to Randy Moss it raised some red flags. To make room for Elam, who was most recently with the Cowboys, the Jets put Chansi Stuckey on IR with a foot injury. Same foot, different injury is what we are being told in comparison to the injury he suffered in college last year and caused him to drop to the seventh round. Stuckey hurt the foot late last week, was inactive for the first game, and was seen wearing a protective boot earlier this week. Too bad, the Jets were really liking him.

Chad Pennington spoke to reporters for the first time since Sunday evening and said he’s not frustrated by his ankle injury but he’s disappointed. He said he’s taking to heart advice he received from Curtis Martin, who would often miss practices during the week and show up to perform in games. Chad said Curtis told him “never believe that you’re not going to play.” In other words, keep working toward Sunday. The goal is to be ready by Sunday, not for the Wednesday practice or the Saturday walk-through.

So, will he be ready for Sunday? Officially the Jets say “We’ll see.” Officially Newsday’s Tom Rock says “Probably not.” He participated in practice but was favoring his right ankle and was pretty limited. At one point during agility drills in which players high-step over blocking pads on the ground, Chad went through them hopping only on his left foot. It was a pretty amazing display of balance and athleticism, but it sure doesn’t make someone capable of playing quarterback in the NFL.

The Jets allowed five sacks to the Patriots and chalked most of them up to technique mistakes that can be corrected. “Hands up, feet moving, head up, things like that,” RG Brandon Moore said. “The simple, basic things that little kids learn when they first start playing.” Still, Moore conceded that the chemistry on the line is not where it needs to be. “We’re looking for it,” he said. With four of five starters returning, it’s not too difficult to guess where the gap in the chemistry falls.

Moore, by the way, got his Mil. He was given a $1 million raise by the Jets, who had refused to do the same for Pete Kendall during the offseason.

By Tom Rock

Here’s a quote for those who don’t think the loss of a draft pick would be a proper punishment for the Pats:

“It’s huge,” Ravens coach Brian Billick told us today. “It depends on how high the pick is, obviously. But more so than anything you can do, no financial fine, no sanction will bother you more than to lose a draft choice.”

By Tom Rock

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello has told Newsday that "no decision has been made" regarding the Patriots use of video to record coaching signals during the game on Sunday.

However ...

By Tom Rock

In a remarkable turn of philosophy, Eric Mangini produced the X-rays and MRI films of Chad Pennington’s right ankle at today’s press conference, explaining in detail the exact nature of the injury and giving a definitive timeline for his return.

C’mon, Rock. Snap out of it. Of course the Jets coach revealed little information, other than confirming that Pennington’s injury is, indeed, to his right ankle. “We’ll review it during the course of the week like we do every injury situation,” Mangini said. “This is the same process for everybody that’s injured.”

Mangini was asked if he could call the injury day-to-day, week-to-week, or long-term. “As soon as he’s ready to go, he’ll be ready to go.”

No one has said whether Kellen Clemens will be the starting quarterback or not when the Jets play their next game. But there were some clear signs that the media is ready for him. About 20 reporters and camerapeople were camped around Clemens’ locker today, waiting to get comment from the player who could possibly might maybe will play on Sunday. Have we learned nothing from the Jacob Bender hype?

"Oh man," Clemens said, perhaps imitating the very same look of shock and surprise he had when he had to grab his helmet and rush into the game on Sunday. "I guess I'm not getting to my locker."

The sea parted for him, however. There was even a loud round of applause from the press when he came in the room, though later on, no one there would admit that they were actually doing the cheering. Those that did tried to cover up their embarrassment by saying they were actually cheering for Pennington's bravery. That seems to be happening a lot.

Just for clarification and because everything is take so literally: There was no cheering for Clemens. It's called drawing a parallel.

Anyway, yes, it’s looking more and more like Clemens will get the start. Pennington wasn’t available to the media today, but he was in the building attending meetings in the morning. Kellen said he spoke with Chad but they never discussed injuries. Uh-huh.

Clemens did have a good line, saying that he hoped the cheers that accompanied his 2007 debut were not directed toward Chad. He said his wife was watching on TV at home and she was too busy crying over Chad’s injury to even notice that her husband had come into the game. Someone pointed out that she may have been crying because her husband had to go out and play behind the leaky offensive line.

By the way, if you are a masochistic Jets fan who has the NFL Network, you’re in luck! The channel is showing the Jets-Patriots game in a 90-minute format Tuesday night at 8 p.m. Enjoy!

By Tom Rock

Well, it’s not a rotator cuff. That’s what we know so far about Chad Pennington’s injury.

Here’s what we saw in the locker room, some of which wound up in the paper and some of which may be new:

Pennington was one of the last Jets to emerge from the shower, walking with a limp that seemed more severe his first few steps and subdued a bit once he got moving. His right ankle did look swollen, particularly in the area on top of his foot. He was able to put his shoes on over the ankle, though. Getting up from the stool in front of his locker, he had that bad limp but again it wasn’t so bad once he took a few steps.

He stood for his entire press conference, walking up the step to the lectern and down it without help. Then, walking out of the stadium, he was limping but needed no assistance in the form of a crutch or even a brace or cast. He even managed to walk up the steep hill at the tunnel of the stadium, where he got into the SUV which his father was driving and was given his post-game meal. To go.

Pennington said he’d never had a “lower leg” injury, though he mentioned an ankle sprain when he was playing basketball in high school. Therefore, he said he has no idea what his prognosis will be. He’s scheduled to have an MRI today.

As for the decision to come back into the game as well as the decision to leave the game a second time, Pennington said they were all his. He said he decided to finish the day on the sideline (standing on the sideline, by the way) because with six minutes left he knew he’d be a sitting duck in the pocket and the Pats would be looking pass on every down.

WR Jerricho Cotchery said it was tough to watch Pennington try to leave the field immediately after the injury.

“A lot goes through your head when you see your leader hobbling off the field,” he said. “You had to gather your thoughts about everything and keep everything going because it’s a blow to the team.”

And if Chad can’t play on Sunday or is out for any extended period of time?

“We just gotta step it up,” Cotchery said. “If he’s out, the next guy who comes in will have to play to the level he was at or exceed it. That’s the thing about the NFL, when the starter goes down you have to come in and fill those shoes right away. There can’t be a drop-off.”

As for D’Brickashaw Ferguson, who gave up the sack that injured Pennington, he said it’s important to shake those bad plays off.

“Obviously it’s an unfortunate event,” Ferguson said. “You want to make sure he’s alright, but during the game you have to fight.”

Ferguson continued: “Obviously you don’t want to see those things happen but it’s important that you transition because if you keep that with you on the next play you’re gonna continue to do poorly. You gotta transition, say damn, I messed up, but the next play goes in and that’s another opportunity for you to win against your guy. If you’re constantly hanging your head about things that go wrong, you’re giving that defender an advantage.”

By Tom Rock

... without Jacob Bender. The rookie lineman is inactive for today's game. Not the only surprise there. The Jets are also sitting Andre Dyson, Eric Smith, Darian Barnes, Mike DeVito, Jason Pociask and Chansi Stuckey. Tuiasosopo is the third QB.

Jets are wearing white over white. Patriots are blue over silver.

By Katie Strang

Probably the only thing to soften the blow of last year's week 2 17-24
loss to New England was the highlight-reel worthy 71-yard play by Jets
receiver Jerricho Cotchery. After pulling down a pass from Pennington
and getting sandwiched by two Patriots defenders, Cotchery whose knee
never touched the ground, rolled off Pats defensive back Eugene Wilson
and ran in easily for a touchdown.

"It was a good play but we didn't win that game," the ever-modest
Cotchery said, although he admitted it's not a bad play to be
remembered by, and one he hopes typifies his style of play. "I
identify with [that play] because that's what I pride my self on,
finishing plays. That's one of our values that we have as a team."

Cotchery proved himself a playmaker against New England last season;
he had two of his best games against the Pats, totaling 191 receiving
yards, and two touchdowns. There's a slim chance Belichick will make
the same mistake overlooking Cotchery's role in the Jets 1-2 receiving
tandem, but increased pressure on the Jets primary receivers will
undoubtedly provide opportunities for receivers Justin McCareins, Brad
Smith and rookie preseason standout Chansi Stuckey to make a dent on
the Patriots secondary, who will be forced to compensate for the loss
of safety Rodney Harrison in the backfield.

"We have a lot of good players on our team and our options are there,"
Cotchery said. "I know I have a lot of opportunities to make some
plays."

No pressure for Jerricho, but I'm sure given his reputation against
New England, Jets fans will be expecting him to do just that.

By Tom Rock

A few jabs exchanged by the coaches today. Nothing that’ll send either of them against the ropes or start you thinking about a TKO, but still, they were a bit snippy.

First Mangini. He was asked about the presence of Tom Brady on the Patriots injury report with a right shoulder and the fact that he was listed as having “limited participation in practice.” No, Mangini sees nothing wrong with that!

“I think that New England has always given out a very accurate injury report and I appreciate that,” he said. “I’m not sure how many weeks in a row now Tom has been on the injury report, but he’s a tough guy, he’s a durable guy. I’m not exactly certain on the percentage, but his missed time due to injury is pretty small.”

Yeah, about zero percent.

Brady, by the way, was again listed in the “limited participation” area of the injury report today, but his prognosis for Sunday is “probable.”

Meanwhile, up in Foxboro, Belichick was critiquing the Jets’ gameplan in the playoff game which allowed Patriots receiver Jabar Gaffney to have a career game.

“The way the Jets played that game was kind of unusual,” he said. “I don’t know that they would play it again that way. Maybe they would. We’ll just have to see.”

In other words, hate to say I told you so, but …

A few other notes:

Several defensive players swapped jersey numbers for practice, as you read here in Katie’s report, but one guy actually did it for good. DE Eric Hicks changed from the 77 he wore during preseason to 98, the number formerly worn here by Bobby Hamilton and worn by Hicks in K.C. for nine years. When the numberbecame available, he said, he jumped on it so he could wear the same jersey his whole career.

Hicks also said it will be strange to run out for a home game and not see that sea of red that the Chiefs are famous for. He probably felt right at home for the half-empty preseason games at Gi@%&$ Stadium, with all those red seats. Anyway, he confessed that his favorite color actually is green and he’s looking forward to the sea of green on Sunday.

Thomas Jones continues to say he’s feeling good. Tsk, tsk. That kind of talk can’t be sitting well with the organization. The preferred answer to “How’s it going?” is really “No comment.” Anyway, ol’ Loose Lips Jones appears to be ready to play on Sunday, even if Mangini hasn’t said so.

And Wallace Wright tweaked his right foot/ankle in practice. Didn’t miss any real time with it, but he was a little limpy for a while after the incident. Is this a big deal? Nah. But if he’s inactive on Sunday, it may be one of the reasons why.

By Katie Strang

Since we were only allowed to watch practice for about as much time as
it takes me to tie my shoe, there isn't a lot to report here, but here
are a couple points of interest:

Ben Graham shanked a long punt down the left sideline that ended up
giving David Bowens' white pick-up truck a pretty solid thump. From
the sound of it on the field, Bowens didn't seem too pleased. Hey
David, there are plenty of spots available in the media parking lot as
long as you don't mind a little walk.

Looking pretty nonplussed, Nugent nailed four straight 44-yarders
through the middle of the uprights during practice. Guess he's taking
that whole captain thing seriously.

The Jets extended their Friday tradition of having players switch
jerseys at practice, unbeknownst to me. Needless to say, I was pretty
confused when I saw who I thought was Eric Barton back returning
punts. Luckily T-Rock pointed out some other trade-offs otherwise I
could've been in store for some awkward post-game interviews. Just
goes to show, that no matter where you are on the depth chart, there's
no replacing a true starter.

By Tom Rock

I was shocked, and a little saddened, to learn that mine isn't the only blog on the Internet. Turns out at least a dozen other people have them all around the world and they cover other topics besides the Jets. Who would have figured that?

Anyway, thought I'd pass along a link to Nick Mangold's blog. There are a few other areas on his website, including one for stats. I'm not sure what stats a center can accumulate, but I guess you can check it out.

By the way, I found Nick's blog through another blog, The Jets Blog, which often references this blog (I think I just linked myself). So I figured I'd return the favor. I have a feeling this blog thing is going to catch on.

By Tom Rock

No idea if Mangini plans on showing the team a boxing match on Saturday night, as he did most of last season. If he changes things up and goes for a regular movie, though, he could be picking “From Here to Eternity.” Not because it has anything to do with football, but just because it came up in today’s presser and Mangini said he’s never seen it.

The mention came from Dan Leberfeld, who was asking Mangini about the anticipation that often surrounds the post-game greeting between Mangini and Belichick.

“People are expecting it to be like the scene in From Here to Eternity when you come together,” Danny said.

Mangini laughed.

“I’m going to have to rent that movie,” he said. “I can’t quite remember that scene.”

Here's some help jogging the memory, Eric:

A few notes from practice:

Adrien Clarke looked to be taking snaps with the starting offensive line and Jacob Bender was at right tackle at some points. There was even a time when Bender was a linebacker in a blocking drill, he and Mike DeVito and Ray Ventrone blitzing against the offense. Bender at linebacker? That’s the kind of flexibility Mangini loves!

Marques Tuiasosopo had to run some drills with his make-believe friends. Since the roster was cut to 53, there aren’t enough offensive players for him to play with a third string. So at one point he was pointing and gesturing to players who could be seen only in his imagination. Then he took a make-believe snap and pretended to spike it into the ground. Tuiasosopo: The ultimate fantasy football player.

Walked through the players’ parking lot and noticed a bright orange Dodge with a mean-looking black stripe down the middle. It being orange, it was a good guess the vehicle belonged to Dewayne Robertson. Then when we saw the hood, there was no doubt. It was the signature model, I guess, because his autograph and the number 63 were written on the hood in orange. No way Robertson could pull a Lance Briggs in that car. It’d be pretty easy to figure out who it belongs to.

Katie Strang is helping out with some of today’s heavy lifting at Jets practice. She said her father is a fan of this blog. Hi Eric. You’ll be happy to know your daughter showed great restraint in not teasing all the Michigan