Pace Got the ‘Hard Sell’ From Parcells
Tim Graham of ESPN’s AFC East blog wrote about Calvin Pace, and how close he was to becoming a Dolphin.
“The Dolphins were in it,” Pace told me during training camp at Hofstra University. “They really were.”
Pace was coming off his best of five seasons for the Arizona Cardinals. He had 106 tackles, 6 1/2 sacks, an interception and two fumble recoveries. The Jets are giving him $42 million over six years with $22 million guaranteed.
“It was kind of crazy talking to Bill Parcells and seeing what he thought about me,” Pace said of the Dolphins executive. “He gave the hard sell. It was almost hard to say no, but I had to go with what was in my heart.
“But when it came down to it, the Jets were a better situation for me.”
Although I wasn’t sure what to think about the Pace signing when it went down, the more I see and hear about him, the more and more excited that I am he is on this team. When Bill Freaking Parcells is ‘hard sell’ing a player the Jets ended up with that’s a good sign. He won’t end the season with 15 sacks, but his size, versatility and speed are going to help transform this defense into something special.
45 Responses to Pace Got the ‘Hard Sell’ From Parcells
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ramble914 says:
DSmizzle,
The only way we are going to change perceptions is by winning. Hopefully by our bye week we’ll be 3-1 and people will start talking about us positetively.
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Thank God he chose us, because I think he is going to be a dominant player for us. Our front seven should be awesome.
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smiz … i did check out SI last night and saw that … wow. they still said they’ll go 10-6
reporters have short memories and the team will have to prove it on the field first … I guess.
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DSmizzle says:
Bass:
Apparently with the JETS’ players they DO have long memories, because they reference 2006 as the reason the QB position gets a B-. And clearly, if you look at the other teams with a firmly-entrenched starting QB (like the Pats, Colts, etc.), they are ranking the QB position based solely on the starter (which generally makes sense).
So they think Favre is a B- player, at least on the JETS!
As for DB’s (not separating CB from S’s), the fact that they have Rhodes and Revis didn’t matter enough to get ‘em a “B-”? In fairness, the other 2 starting spots + nickel back are big question marks, but still, those are 2 front-line players!
Finally, the linebacking corps deserves more credit!
Yes, I will agree on a “wait and see” approach for the O-Line and D-Line, especially with Woody, but those other positions weren’t getting enough respect I think. The lowest they should have been was “B” in my opinion!
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hank/naples says:
Basett:
I hate to bring this up but it has been ignored so far. What effect Miamis’ scorching sun will have on Farve?Iknow he was raised and loves artic weather but has he played in Miamis’ wilting heat and humidity? Having only about three weeks of training camp I don’t think can get you into very good shape. I hope he shaves the beard to let him feel fresher -
PS. Miamis’ sunday forcast is 20% chance of showers with temp arround 90.
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JustAGreenGuy says:
Any word on the wind?
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I loved the moment we got Pace and I predicted he WILL have 10-12 sacks this trully breakout year. I dont think 15 sacks is out of the question. Remeber that I also predicted the Jets will come close if not break the teams sack record this year.
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Reprocity says:
There’s a chance the game might get postponed due to the hurricanes. How ironic… Chad cant throw into the wind!
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Just:
Winds expected are 10-14 mph with gusts up to 22 mph.
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hank/naples
Don’t forget — Favre played on the frozen tundra, but he’s a Mississippi boy, and still lives there in the off-season, so I have to think he’s more than used to the heat.
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Thanks for the wind info. That is why I preferred KC and now Favre over Pennington. Wind kills weak passes, as most if not all of us know. Damn work week. Let’s get to Sunday.
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R in CT:
I trully hope you are right because it is totally different different living in one climate and playing your whole football life in a completely opposite climate. I hope you are right shape wilt because I see young guys in terrific shape wilt very often during games.
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He still played away games. If he played everygame of his career in december in Lambeau and was now playing in Miami your concern would be a little more warranted. He played college in the south 30 years ago too. He should be ok. If not I hope Mangini sends one of our 3 other quarterbacks in after the 3rd quarter to protect our 14 point lead and hand the ball off.
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Okay Hank — using my work break productively (I can’t make a full post from here). Favre’s “warm weather games” the past 5 seasons:
2007: None
2006: Week 7 at Miami (86 degrees, 59% humidity)
19/35 for 206 yards and 2 TDs, 0 ints2005: Week 4 at Carolina (75 degrees, 42% humidity)
28/47 for 303 yards and 4 TDs, 1 int2004: Week 1 at Carolina (74 degrees, 58% humidity)
15/22 for 143 yards and 1 TD, 0 int2003: Week 3 at Phoenix (104 degrees, 7% humidity – “But it’s a dry heat”)
23/33 for 245 yards and 1 TD, 1 intWeek 11 at Tampa Bay (80 degrees, 47% humidity)
13/28 for 92 yards and 1 TD, 1 intI don’t know if that proves anything one way or another (the Pack won that Tampa game with a big rushing day), but he hasn’t played a lot of “hot” games in the past five years.
It definitely bears watching …
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SackDance99 says:
Back to the negative media, Solomon Wilcots on Sirius NFL predicted a 6-10 season, while his buddy Adam Schein predicted 8-8. I know the Jets were 4-12 last season, but they were 10-6 in 2006. So, with a static roster, 6-10 or 7-9 might make sense, especially with the generally weaker schedule. But, the Jets shored up major weaknesses on offense and defense by getting Favre, Faneca and Woody for the offense and Pace and Jenkins for the defense. I see 9-7 to 11-5. I know I have the green-colored glasses on, but 6-10?!? How is that defensible?
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j says:
Why as a fan would you care what a magazine has to say about a team. Suckers buy that crap, watch the game and become your own expert, most of these guys that are writing know less than the reader.
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As for the weather, I guess we’re forgetting that Chad basically needs perfect weather conditions (or a dome) to fully realize his potential. I was a big Chad supporter, but we all know that Chad operates on a very narrow margin. High winds or a wet ball are not Chad’s friends.
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j:
Because it is fun. This blog (and most generally) kind of take MEDIA REPORTS and summarize them (and make some of their own reports) and we TALK ABOUT THEM!
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R in CT:
I’m impressed with your ability to present facts quickly. Thanks for the info, I will keep it in mind.
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Sackdance99:
Don’t forget that Chad played all his life in the Medowlands which isn’t exactly domed conditions. The wind constanly swirl 20mph or more.
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Bassett:
Did anybody notice that Mangini was the only VIP missing in the ribbon cutting ceremont @ their new training facility. Even Nugent and Rhodes were there. I wonder why no explanation. Check it out: http://www.newyorkjets.com/
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hank/naples,
Giants Stadium is really different in September and October (often perfect weather conditions for football) as opposed to late-November and December. And, it’s different in winter for 1 pm as opposed to 4:15 starts (as a long-time season-ticket holder, I can vouch for the fact that when the sun goes down, that wind is brutal in winter). Also, Chad was two different QBs. The pre-shoulder injury Chad before the Buffalo game in 2004 and the post-shoulder injury Chad. Lastly, there’s high winds at 20 MPH, and then there’s tropical storm winds of 40 MPH or more. Generally, if you look at Chad’s bad weather games, I think you’ll find he was on the losing side more often than not. After all, he was only 31-29 as a starter (and, that’s a great record for a Jets QB).
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Ilan says:
DSmizz,
what did the LB corps get? I think this is probably the strength of the defense.
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Ilan, I forgot the exact grade but it was crappy!
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pat d says:
Until the jets win those are the grades to be expected.
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pat d:
I agree with you 100% that these guys have to perform on the field or else those grades are to be expected …
but the other teams have all gotten grades based on the quality of the players rather than SI taking a “wait and see” approach and waiting to see whether the guys perform this year!
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Johnny Styne says:
Many in the media may not know the degree of talent on this team that was severely compromised by it’s former quarterback’s inability to throw any kind of legitimate NFL pass — Therefore, they may view Favre now being on a team without much talent — In reality, the Jets have had and have great talent and Favre will make the most of it — However, Adam Schein is much too knowledgeable to reasonably predict 8-8 (absent a catastrophic injury to Favre) — If Favre starts every game, this team will win 10 of them minimum — In addition, if Coles does not divide the clubhouse with his bellyaching and if Mike Nugent does not blow any games, then this team can win 13 of them and seriously compete for the Super Bowl — It all starts Sunday — A great Jets year — And, yes, Chad will implode in the fourth quarter when handing off to Ricky no longer gets it done –
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kixworld says:
Again guys either brad or brad can beat on the phins if clemen we are in trouble just look at their roster the jets are bigger faster and most of all exp.phins o-line has 2 rookie starting and there def our new big phscial toys should and will dominate the trenches this game is over before it starts no matter what the weather is again the only way we lose is if hell is going to freeze and at 90 degrees well you do the math
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Harlan Lachman says:
Johnny has summed up the key issue. Has Chad made our team better than it was all these years or was he the limiting factor.
We will all know Sunday.
harlan
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dakar says:
bass…your right…pace wont have 15 sacks…he’ll have 18…say word…
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wilcox is an idiot…and schein is just as stupid…with all the changes we’ve made i say we go 10-6 at the worst and 12-4 at the best…i cant see us losing more than 6 games this year…noway…no1 in the media has the balls to actually say the jets have a viable chance to do something this year…its like they’ll lose their job if they speak highly of the jets…i think their all facking losers and scumbuckets…they should all get tortured… lolol… just my thoughts…
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Another hater, check out Gregg Easterbrook’s TMQ column on ESPN.com. He predicts a 5-11 season. IMO, Erik Ainge starts and the Jets win, at least, 6 games. The national media just loves to beat up the Jets, even though the Jets haven’t strung together two losing seasons since the Kotitie era, which ended 12 seasons ago. Such blatant disrespect is mind-boggling.
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Don’t worry about the iceholes (5 points to whoever gets the movie reference). Any hardcore NFL fan could be a decent writer. I prove them wrong on TV statistically all the time and I’m not a numbers guy.
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Harlan:
The problem with Johnny Stynes argument is that he is sooooo tilted and biased against Pennington that it can’t prove anything. A win or a loss Sunday will only add to the score of who will have better QB stats at the end of the year with Farve having the much better and experienced team.
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TOON2388 says:
Johnny Dangeroulsy is the movie – hopefully we put Maroney’s “bells in a sling” when we beat NE in week 2
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You made my day Toon.
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Oh and 5 points to you!
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I will take everyting I can get JAGG. If there was a movie on HBO between 1982-1989, I can quote it!!!!
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There is no better time than now to be a jets fan. With everything that is at stake and now mangini has to be thinking about how the future of this organization will pan out. He is the captain of this ship. What direction will he lead us? Its an exciting time.
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RK says:
I just saw Adam Schein on SNY say that Chad doesn’t throw INTs so I checked to make sure what his numbers have been, and of course checked them against Favre.
In the past 5 years CP has 58 TDs to 50 INTs, Favre has 128 TDs to 100 INTs and that includes Favres worst TD to INT season.
Schein just made himself look foolish for saying that. Even if Farve, in Chad’s stead, puts up 50/50 numbers but has 10 more TDs than Chad it will make those 6 or 7 games that were lost by 7 points or less turn into wins
I like the odds on the Jets really hurting the Fins. Schein picked the other team.
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You shouldn’t compare Interceptions from Brett to Chad. Brett has productive interceptions. Interceptions that are like punts. 40-60 yard interceptions. They sometimes don’t mean as much as Chad’s interceptions.
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Mike B says:
Good luck this year in New York, the Jets have not only picked up a proven winner in Brett Favre, they also gained a leader that will help Thomas Jones, Bubba Franks, Coles, and any other player that will take a handoff or pass from #4. In the huddle, he is golden. To the defense, he is anything but predictable and easy to stop. I think Jones may have his best rushing season if he runs a healthy 16 game schedule. Last, for the o-line, they know they are blocking for one of the greatest QB’s in the history of the NFL. I’m still a Packer fan but have also adopted my new favorite team in NY and in the AFC. Go Jets!
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one more comment. Favre can stretch the clock, keep the offense on the field longer….this will give the “D” more rest and energy to take care of business.
Bassett: Sorry, didn’t know if this was touched on yet on thejetsblog:
Did anyone else see how the JETS were eviscerated in Sports Illuatrated’s team rankings? Their best grade at any one position was a “B” for Special Teams and WR’s.
The QB position got a B-!!!
I believe the D-Line was a C or C+.