Monthly Archives: June 2007
The Jets have signed 6’0″ 245 pound linebacker Lawrence Pinson , who was a UDFA signed in 2006 by the Cardinals.
Pinson played collegiately with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and spent the 2007 NFL Europa season with Admirals.
A few weeks back, Matt Mosley from ESPN Hashmarks had made a remark about Kenyon Coleman and his abilities, I asked him to elaborate, and here was his quick reply:
If you want Kenyon to be your starter, you’re in trouble … Great guy, decent run stuffer … but not an NFL starter by any stretch of the imagination!
Hmm … well, if he’s a good run stuffer, then that’s half the battle. I am willing to see what he does, first. Some thought Bryan Thomas was over his head (I was bullish) last year, and that turned out pretty well.
Thanks very much to Matt for the answer, I just hope that the Jets’ staff is better at talent evaluation than he is … sorry Matt, nothing personal, but I have more of a stake in them being right than you!
- Randy’s Radar takes a look at the Bills and their stellar punting game.
- Sounds like a lot of Jets were in attendance for Teddy Atlas in Staten Island for ESPN’s FNF last night.
- Nate Ravitz answers the burning fantasy football question about the Jets.
- This local paper writes on the RMH visit, and lists the rookies who attended the visit.
- Not sure if Curtis Martin is considered a “current player” so maybe that’s why he’s left off, but Prisco writes an “it’s June and I have nothing to write about” winnowing list for HOF worthy players.
- Daunte’s hearing was delayed due to flight delays for the arbitrator.
- Removing themselves from Europe, what’s the NFL International doing in China, where things are even more foreign? For craps sake, the name of the game is loosely “American-style olive-shaped ball.”
With a month of quiet ahead of us, we’re just starting a new feature focusing on major roles for the Jets in 2007, continuing this series of major contributors on the Jets with the second receiver, Jerricho Cotchery.
Going into last season, I thought one of the biggest issues for the Jets would be the lack of a credible threat to take some pressure off of Laveranues Coles, and boy was I wrong. Last year, Cotchery caught 82 balls for 961 yards and 6 TDs, not bad for a first year as a starter. According to Football Outsiders, he was the most efficient Wide Receiver on the Jets, catching 66% of balls that were thrown his way.
The Jets thought enough of the young player to extend his current deal in March, thereby not allowing him to hit free agency. When he was asked about foregoing that option, Cotchery replied “I wanted to stay with the Jets the entire time. This is the organization that drafted me and I wanted to be loyal to them. I wanted to finish my career here because I felt like the other teams, if they wanted me when I was coming out for the draft, they would’ve drafted me. This time around, they won’t have a second chance to get me.”
Smart move, Tannenbaum.
So I am switching cable companies because my bill is too expensive now (sign-on promos are over) and I am cheap. Because of that, my DVR is going to go away, which means some old game footage I have is going away. Before it did, I wanted to go back and watch some of what I had recorded. The only games I had left were the 10/15/2006 game versus the Dolphins and the 10/22/2006 game versus the Lions. Some thoughts from watching them:
I know we talk about it a lot, but wow did that defensive line get overpowered sometimes. For the most part, they did a pretty good job in these two games, but it was more a matter of who they were playing. I had forgotten how bad they were against the run when playing some talented running backs like Kevin Jones and Ronnie Brown.
Justin Miller’s ability to generate field position is huge. There was a time in the Lions game where he had a huge return right after a Lions TD that put the Lions back in the game 14-7. Miller returned the kick 56 yards to the Lions 41 yard line.
I tried to focus on Pete Kendall a bunch. He had some textbook blocks and great seals to help spring Leon Washington around the corner, I think that will be the biggest area where we notice a difference initially for his replacement.
- Here’s the list of every team’s training camps … minus the Jets of course.
- Kerry Rhodes answers a Q&A with Jets reporter Jeff Weinstein.
- The Empire Challenge game was postponed due to weather Thursday. If you want to check it out, the game will be played Friday night.
- Gridiron Gab notes the ratio of all AFC teams running versus passing.
- Culpepper gets his day in quasi-court.
- Bill Barnwell isn’t so excited about Wes Welker’s potential contributuon to the Pats.
- The Rookie Symposium had perfect attendance.
- Randy notes that Hobson & Clement are going to be on with Teddy Atlas’ Friday Night Fights.
- UMD OT Jared Gaither & Morgan State DT Robert Armstrong are declaring for the NFL Supplemental Draft.
Pack the buses, it’s time for another failed attempt at a TJB Field Trip!
So the other day I was poking around the NFL Site, and I ran across the official training camp dates for every team in the NFL. Guess which one team was the only one with dates that were TBA? Let me give you some hints. You’re reading a blog about that team and the author just wasted time asking a stupid rhetorical question about the subject.
Give up yet?
It’s the Jets!!
So as far as I can tell, the dates for training camp from the Jets have not been formalized, but from what our ‘sources’ (note not the same sources that gave the quote about Pete Kendall being a “clubhouse lawyer”) say, look for a Friday July 27th start date. What makes the whole thing more interesting is that SI.com has one of those photo collage series where they announce the dates FOR the Jets as July 28th.
Until the Jets get things formalized, we’ll hold off on anything in concrete (it is our birthday weekend, for goodness sakes) but we plan to be at Hofstra for Day One of training camp, and might be in the esteemed company of TJB Contributor R in CT.
Just taking a straw poll, but if anyone is interested in catching up, and potentially grabbing a beer that day in the NYC/LI area, let us know through the comments or by email.
Profootballtalk reported this morning that they have heard from a league source that NFL Europa will be taken off life support some time tomorrow. Sorry Bent, your wildly anticipated NFL Europa updates seem to be a thing of the past.
Although it never reached the levels in Europe that I think the league had hoped, I am dismayed that the league now has one less angle for players to hone skills once they leave college. Europa might have been a money sinkhole, but it provided players the ability to get extra practice and game experience, players like Mike Furrey, Kevin Kaesviharn, Bill Schroeder, Joe Andruzzi, Dante Hall and Jake Delhomme … just to name a few were graduates of the league.
With no real “minor league,” the idea of Cuban’s league takes on even more significance, since I am lazy and don’t want to string this out, check out what the Daily Norseman wrote on the subject yesterday.
Thanks to Gary Grund from JetsCentral for the tip, and Knuth for the spelling.
- Leberfeld says he would take Pennington any day over a strong-armed QB.
- Chatham gets some more coverage back home.
- National outlets like Yahoo! are picking up on the Kendall situation.
- Jets Locker makes it clear that Pennington needs to stay upright for the Jets to win.
- Matt Bonczek on JetsCentral wants the Jets to give Kendall the damn money.
- GM Randy Mueller is doing such a great job with the Dolphins, he just got two more years.
With a month of quiet ahead of us, we’re going to start a new feature focusing on major roles for the Jets in 2007. With 20 of 22 starters (should Kendall be gone) coming back from last season, this could be boring, but I think it will give us a chance to focus on all the starters and some other key positions (i.e. third receiver, nickelback, etc.) for the Jets this season. Starting off this series, we will begin with the skill players and work in towards the line.
If you watched the Jets last season, then you know Laveranues Coles was a main reason that the offense stayed on the field. Sure it’s a team game, but the lack of threat in the running game combined Schottenheimer’s love of passing and with Coles’ being Pennington’s favorite target, all mixed to make him a focal point for defenses. Through it all, Coles took hit after jarring hit moving the chains consistently for the new offense.
Sure it might be 90 degrees outside, but today we take you back to the chilly Meadowlands as Bent recalls the second quarter of his first live Jets game, with his friends, J & D.
The second quarter begins with more good running by the Raiders against the Jets makeshift defensive unit. According to Dierdorf, Eric Barton grabbed Justin Fargas, turned him upside down and dropped into a sitting position with Fargas’ head jammed between his legs. Well, he said he hit him with a piledriver, anyway. In actual fact, he hit him in the head with his knee out of bounds to draw a personal foul and move the ball to the twenty. Uh-oh.
Robertson comes off the bench to stop the bleeding and makes a good stop to force third and five, but (shock horror) Barrett gives the receiver too much cushion on the next play and allows the first down. “[The Jets] have been really blessed with the addition of Kimo Von Oelhoeffen. Solid run stopper,” says Dierdorf. Ummm…
Michael David Smith as an interesting article in the New York Sun this morning about how the Jets will handle the Pete Kendall situation, and he notes that they are taking a page from the Patriots’ book on player management, something that I agree with in my Thoughts on Kendall post. MDS also agrees with most of us that losing Kendall, even if he is causing controversy isn’t a good thing, though it is more a question of how long it’s not a good thing. If you’re not sure about MDS credentials in terms of talking about this line, read this article on Football Outsiders and get back to me.
None of [Clarke, Smith, McChesney] is as good, right now, as Kendall, which might be a problem. The Jets’ running game was subpar last season, and losing Kendall could make it even worse. Kendall’s importance to the Jets’ running game last year is best demonstrated by the Jets’ statistics in the two games Kendall missed. In those two games – a loss to the Patriots and a win over the Buffalo Bills – the Jets averaged 63 rushing yards, 2.6 yards a carry and three rushing first downs. In the 14 games Kendall played, the Jets averaged 115 rushing yards, 3.6 yards a carry and seven rushing first downs.
But Kendall isn’t as important to the team as he was a year ago. Last year Kendall’s experience was invaluable, as he provided stability lining up at left guard between two rookies, left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson and center Nick Mangold. But Ferguson and Mangold are more experienced now, meaning they’ll need less veteran help. And Jets offensive line coach Tony Wise has been an NFL assistant for 18 years and earned a good reputation for developing young talent. Clarke, Smith, or McChesney would be a step down from Kendall, but the Jets will manage without him.
Kendall might not be the best player on the field, but he’s a guy who makes his blocks, doesn’t often miss assignments, and performs textbook plays routinely. The question is, how much longer can he stay healthy, and is he worth the extra money. Hopefully, Mangold and D’Brick learned enough tricks last year to “take it from here.”
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