Now out at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, Darrelle Revis talked to the media yesterday for the first time since baggy day. With so much having happened since he last spoke publicly, Revis made some great points, but (rightly) came down hard on the whole team’s inability to create a bond this year.
Via ESPN NY:
Revis said the team’s mindset should be “not destroying ourselves, let’s try to destroy the other teams by game planning and doing what we need to do.”
The four-time Pro Bowl selection said he was frustrated by the way the season ended — 8-8 and no playoffs. He supported Ryan, but sounded like he wouldn’t mind if the coach toned down the bravado.
“I think we need to find ways to win games, instead of just going out there talking and just saying whatever you want to say,” he said.
Much of the criticism has fallen upon Sanchez, who regressed in his third season after leading the Jets to back-to-back trips to the AFC Championship Game.
“We have a lot of confidence in him, we just need to get the right guys around him and just build around the guy,” Revis said.
Agreed. I really do like Rex Ryan as the coach of the Jets, but the team they had last year wasn’t enough to get it done, and no matter how much talk about how they were ready to win it all, or just how talented the team was, everyone knew that the team lacked some pieces that really mattered from 2009 and 2010. When the machine started to break down, it was a catastophic failure.
The Jets don’t have the flexibility to clean house, but they do have the ability to reconcile and add some key pieces this offseason. Getting Santonio back in the fold is one of those things … addressing some starting and depth spots (S, OL, WR) is the other.
Nick Mangold knows that as the Jets look towards 2012, there’s going to have to be some work by the team to get all the outstanding issues discussed among teammates.
While it’s a vacation now, Rod Boone of Newsday writes that the Jets Center expects that there will be a pow-wow at some point to work out how to move forward …
Sometime after they do get back, Mangold is sure many of his teammates will sit down together and smooth things out like brothers.
“That’s exactly what I would expect,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any brothers, so I’m not exactly sure how it all goes down. But from a bunch of my friends having brothers, that’s what it appears to me, that that’s how things go about happening. I think you just get it all out there, grab a beer later and you move onto the challenge at hand.
“And that’s getting a lot better for next year.”
No one is saying the names, but everyone knows it boils down to Tone and Mark. Will Tone attend Mark’s offseason passing camp? I think that will be a good indication of how serious both sides are at hammering out reconciliation. I’d like to think that everyone’s a professional and can move past what happened at the end of last year, and after everything Tone did, one has to wonder whether they will “hug it out” this spring.
- Is Joe estranged from his team? [NYT Fifth Down]
- A Giants-Pats Super Bowl is all the nightmare fuel Nick Mangold needs, thankyouverymuch! [Newsday]
- Revis is done with the Jets being their own worst enemy. [ESPN NY]
- Who at the Senior Bowl would look good in Green & White? [NewYorkJets]
- Rex was unaware of the locker-room woes. [Bergen Record]
- An analysis of the linebackers. [ESPN NY]
- Brady’s armband proves keeping it simple isn’t a bad thing. [Boston Herald]
- Namath talked about his documentary, and much more. [ESPN NY]
- It’s breaking down even moreso in Indy. [AP]
The Jets longtime special team coach Mike Westhoff will be returning for one last run with the Jets in 2012 before calling it a career.
Special-teams coordinator Mike Westhoff will coach with the Jets through 2012, and the team is expecting him to retire after the upcoming season, according to two people with direct knowledge of his status with the team.
Very glad to hear that Westy is back for one last go-round, while I wish he would stay longer, everything good must come to an end … and Westy’s time with the Jets was impressive. I hope that the Jets have a transition plan for who’d be the next coordinator … would it be Ben Kotwica? Would they go outside to find someone else?
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Here’s some news from around the league …
Roger Gets Extended — The NFL has renewed Roger Goodell’s contract with the league as their Commissioner until March 2019.
Peyton a “Priority” For Dolphins? — While Peyton has been all the talk in New York for too long, it looks like they won’t be the only team interested in his services. According to a source who spoke with Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, the Dolphins would make the QB ‘a priority’ for their team in 2012.
In Like Flynn? — Would Matt Flynn be the sensible starter in Miami if Salguero’s source is wrong? Aaron Rodgers thinks that Flynn would be a ‘strong possibility’ for their new Head Coach.
Is Rex This Super Bowl’s Biggest Loser? — Mike Silver writes that Rex Ryan is the biggest loser out of the whole Patriots / Giants Super Bowl. He might be right.
Number Three Pick is up for Bid — The Vikings have a lot of needs to fill, and with the #3 pick, they realize that there are a lot of tasty players who would be available at that time. The Jets are going to have a raft of draft picks this year, so would the Vikings willingness to put the #3 pick up for auction be something the Jets would be willing to bargain for? You know that Tanny will at least put in the call …
Bucs Still Searching — The Tampa Bay Bucs are still looking for their next head coach … who’s up next on the re-tread list?
Last night HBO pre-screened their new documentary about the life of Joe Namath, and while talking with Jets reporter Connor Orr of the Star-Ledger, Namath admitted that he’s torn about his relationship with the team right now.
… after watching a pre-screening tonight of “Namath,” an HBO and NFL Films documentary about his life, Joe Namath was longing for the connection he once had with his team and its fans.
“I feel awful about it. I feel awful about my relationship with the Jets right now in the sense — I’m talking about the ownership, general manager and head coach,” said Namath, who came under fire from Jets coach Rex Ryan and players after his weekly radio spots became a constant source of criticism toward the team. “I don’t want them upset with Joe, but damn it, I have to say what I see, what I think, what I feel.
“With the current Jets situation the last few years, I just tried to explain how I felt about things, and when we talk about our head coach, the Jets head coach, he’s unique. I’ve never seen that style in all the years I’ve been around football.”
After a season where the Jets went 8-8, Namath said that “they can do some things better, no doubt,” and that with the advent of Facebook, Twitter and his personal website, he has the ability to be more critical than in year’s past.
Joe’s relationship – and with fans specifically – is something that we’ve discussed at length over the course of the season. Was Joe wrong in his stark assessment of this team? In the end, no. He wasn’t thrilled with the team and they ended up 8-8. But does any fan want to hear the closest thing the Jets have to a Holy Father trash their team? No. As we’ve said before, if it’s clear what Joe’s intent is, then it might be more palatable for all involved. Is Joe seeking a role to be a spotless brand ambassador for all things Jets? Or is he gunning for an analyst’s chair somewhere? Is he just seeking to get back in the public eye? What’s the motivation? I think the sooner that is decided and communicated, the cleaner the understanding it will be between him and the team, as well as the public.
After the season, we talked. Basically, [Rex] didn’t know a lot of things that were going on behind the scenes. It was just so much stuff. I’m really not going to get into it because some of the stuff is real deep. But he didn’t know a lot of the things. He wanted people to say things to him, but obviously it didn’t come out. It came out on the field.”
– Darrelle Revis on Jets 2011 implosion
(See the NFLN Revis Pro Bowl interview here)
- Dear Jets fans — An open letter [ESPN]
- Report: Dolphins sights set on Peyton Manning [Miami Herald]
- Terrell Owens In GQ: I’m In Hell [TPG]
- Five biggest losers entering Super Bowl XLVI [Yahoo!]
- Could Kellen Clemens Be Back In St. Louis For 2012? [Turf Showtimes]
- Position analysis: Defensive line [ESPN]
Congrats to Plaxico Burress who won the Sporting News Comeback Player of 2011 award.
His numbers did not compare with those of his prime seasons, but Burress proved that, after missing two seasons while serving 20 months in prison following his conviction on weapons charges, he is still a capable NFL wide receiver. And for that, he is our 2011 comeback player of the year.
While I’m happy of what Plax accomplished, having him come back to the Jets in 2012 is simply not realistic. If he wants to come back on a reduced salary and reduced role, that’s up for discussion, but this in no way changes my opinion on what his relationship with the Jets should be moving forward as a starter – it’s run it’s course.
Since the Jets most likely aren’t going to cut Tone loose this off-season, the Jets are going to need to give Santonio all the help they can across the formation. 2011 proved that Plax is incapable of doing his share to allow Holmes to remain blissfully unaware of the reality of his sagging abilities.
Position: Nose Tackle
Height / Weight: 6’3″ 325 lbs.
Age: 32 / Experience: 7
College: Utah
2011 Contract Status: Unrestricted Free Agent
2011 Analysis: When the Jets drafted Sione Pouha all the way back in 2005, he seemed an afterthought. Now, he’s the last man standing from the class. In what amounts to his third year as a starter, he shone more finally released from the shadow of Kris Jenkins return. While not a stellar interior pass rusher, Pouha was a central part of the Jets ability to stop the run up front. While it gets little credit in Ryan’s more glamorous blitzing system, Pouha’s success basically sets up Ryan and Pettine to do what they like best … get opponents in long down and distance situations to force them to throw. Pouha’s stat lines (58 tackles, 4 stuffs, 1 sack) are never impressive, but his ability to routinely take double teams allows for guys like Wilkerson and DeVito to make the tackles for loss.
2012 Outlook: I fully expect Pouha to sign a contract to return to the Jets. Ellis isn’t yet ready to take over the every-down nose tackle work and Pouha has demonstrated his loyalty to the Jets so far through his career. He’s been a great leader for the Jets, acting as the opposite number to Mark Sanchez’s “Jets West” work on the defensive side of the ball. He is one of the team’s biggest leaders on the defense and to lose him as well as Jim Leonhard in one year might be too hard a blow for this team to absorb.
Random Thought: The one thing that makes me question Pouha’s return is he is a very smart business person away from football. At 32 he has to realize that this will be his best last chance at an NFL payday, so the Jets might not be the one who offers him the biggest contract. Will he leave money on the table to return to the Jets?
Brian Schottenheimer spoke with the press yesterday in Saint Louis for the announcement of his taking on coordinator duties for the Rams in 2012 and said that there was almost no chance he was going to return to NY in 2012 as he felt both sides needed a clean break.
Via ESPN NY:
Former Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, officially hired as the Rams’ OC, said Tuesday he doesn’t believe he would’ve returned to the Jets in 2012 even if they hadn’t collapsed at the end of the season with a three-game losing streak.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
Schottenheimer, speaking to the St. Louis media via conference call, echoed the Jets’ company line, painting it as a mutual parting with both sides looking for a fresh start.
It’s almost as if he had a premonition his own demise was at hand, but he didn’t know the time or place. Would it be in-season after crapfest against the Broncos? After his 59 pass attempt game against the Giants? No, the Jets decided to slow play Schottenheimer. Like those sharks in Couples Retreat.
Good. At least the Jets aren’t as big a group of buffoons as they willingly decided to appear in that season-ending press conference. It stands to reason that they had made the call long before (as expected) but let it play out – despite whatever it meant for the 2011 season. We all knew what they were about, but it didn’t take the sting off how stupid it appeared to the world on January 2nd.
Schotty has no reason to lie about the fact that they were not on the same page, but I do think that Rex’s inability to control, communicate and reign in his former OC is at the least, concerning. Maybe it speaks to the larger idea that Schotty wasn’t Rex’s to hire / fire. The hope here is that Sparano’s accountability to Ryan will follow more traditional lines, and thus build in better relationships.
So, Schottenheimer goes from the less athletically talented Sanchez to Sam Bradford a consensus #1 pick and the 2010 NFL ROY. The interesting thing here is that we will VERY quickly get to see whether it was the OC or the QB that was the problem for the Jets …
Maybe Final Destination 13 will star Mark Sanchez …
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