Blog

Trio of Jets Receive All-Pro Nods from TSN

Joe McKnight didn’t get an invite to play in the Pro Bowl, but The Sporting News named the Jets top kickoff return man to their All-Pro team.  Three Jets earned All-Pro nods from TSN as C Nick Mangold and CB Darrelle Revis both were voted to the team in vote by 30 coaches and executives.

McKnight, a fourth-round pick out of USC in 2010, became the club’s primary kick returner when Brad Smith departed to Buffalo in free agency.  The 5’11”, 205-pounder led the NFL with a 31.6 kickoff return average and his 107-yard scoring return against the Ravens in Week 4 was the longest play in Jets history.  He also blocked a punt in a season-opening win over the Cowboys that Isaiah Trufant scooped up for a game-tying score.

A contributor on offense as well, McKnight averaged 3.1 yards on his 43 rush attempts and 10.7 yards on his 13 receptions.  With the league year set to begin on March 13 and impending unrestricted free agent LaDainian Tomlinson considering retirement, McKnight could see his offensive duties increase under new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano.

“You look at a guy like Joe McKnight and see the strides he took from year one to year two,” said Senior Personnel Executive Terry Bradway during Senior Bowl Week in Mobile, Alabama.  “Now if he can continue to do that in year three, then you’ll feel really good about where he is.”

The Jets feel awfully good about both Mangold and Revis.  Widely considered the best in the sport at their respective positions, they participated in the Pro Bowl “game” Sunday in Honolulu, HI as the AFC captured a 59-41 decision.

Mangold, 6’4”, 307 pounds, was the Jets’ 29th overall selection in 2006.   He missed the first two games of his career in Weeks 3 and 4 losses at Oakland and Baltimore after suffering an ankle injury in a 32-3 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sep. 18.

“We’re spoiled having Nick Mangold in there,” said QB Mark Sanchez.  “He’s the best in football. Hands down. He’s awesome”

After an interception-less 2010 season, Revis saw the ball more and collected four thefts along with 24 PDs.  The Jets traded up to get Revis with the 14th overall selection in 2007 and the Pittsburgh product has not disappointed.

“I saw where Deion Sanders mentioned…that when it’s all said and done, that he’s (Revis) is going to go in there with the all-time greats, and I don’t disagree with him,” said Rex Ryan.  “Because I think eventually you’re going to end up mentioning Revis with Deion Sanders and Willie Brown.”

Jets’ Pro Bowl Four at Practice, Play 60 Event

By all accounts, the Northeast has experienced an unusually mild winter. The snowstorm from last weekend already feels forgotten. Still, the nights are cold, the trees bare, the sky gray, and the sunlight short.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be in, say … Hawaii?

Four Jets have that distinct honor. Offensive linemen Nick Mangold, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Brandon Moore and cornerback Darrelle Revis are all currently in Oahu for Sunday’s Pro Bowl.

It’s the fourth Pro Bowl trip for Revis and Mangold, the third for Ferguson and the first for Moore. You can see them play one more time on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. on NBC before the NFL season officially ends a week from Sunday with Super Bowl XLVI.

Since arriving in the 50th State, the four Jets have gone through light, informal practices at Kapolei High School west of Honolulu and have had time to enjoy the spoils of Hawaii in the winter.

Besides football, there was an annual community event. On Thursday AFC Pro Bowlers took part in Play 60 Community Blitz, a joint effort between the NFL’s Play 60 campaign, Procter & Gamble, and KaBoom, a nonprofit group with the goal of building playspaces for children throughout the United States. This year, the players helped construct a playground at Ke Kula ‘o Samuel M. Kamakau Public Charter School in Kaneohe.

An added wrinkle in this year’s Pro Bowl is the addition of a designated tweeting area on each sideline. A departure from normal protocol, players will be able to tweet during the game. It should add even more entertainment value to a game that never lacks offensive firepower. Of the four Jets in Honolulu, Mangold is probably the most active Tweeter. Look for some gems from Nick throughout the game.

You can see photos of your Jets in Hawaii, including a freshly trimmed Mangold, here on newyorkjets.com. Moore will also be sending back some pictures from his first experience in the Pro Bowl, so check back often to see some behind-the-scenes shots.

We may be stuck in the doldrums of winter, but at least we can live vicariously through our Jets in Oahu.

‘Namath’ HBO Documentary Premieres Saturday

The life and times of Joe Namath never get old. The Jets Ring of Honor member and pro football icon has been more visible this past year than perhaps he had been in many years, what with his regular radio spots and the launching of his own Website.

And now, as you’ve no doubt heard, it’s time for the next fascinating, nostalgic and revealing view of Namath with the premier of “Namath” on Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT exclusively on HBO.

We’ve heard favorable reviews of the 1½-hour documentary, most recently from people attending a Wednesday night preview in New York, among them former teammates such as Emerson Boozer and Richard Caster and Jets/Alabama compatriot Marty Lyons.

And why shouldn’t the reviews be smashing? The Emmy-award-winning team of NFL Films and HBO Sports collaborated once again to produce captivating Jets television, a year and a half after the 2010 “Hard Knocks” series. For “Namath” they took an unprecedented look at the life and career of one of pro football’s biggest names with superlative archival and behind-the-scenes video and audio.

And of course there’s the contribution from the title character. Namath was reported to be excited about the project even though he was uncomfortable about some of the episodes of his life that he relived during interviews for  the show.

Yet that is one of the greatest qualities about No. 12, Broadway himself. He has lived his life and has invited us in at every twist and turn. To me there is no greater gift an athlete in this world can give his followers than an open book to continue to keep up with him through the years.

Joe is as big as he is right now in part because of his embracing of new-media initiatives. And fans as always are invited to come inside and sit a while. They can venture to broadwayjoe.tv for Joe’s thoughts and comments about the show, or they can check out his Facebook page or communicate with Joe on Twitter.

Here are two clips from the HBO documentary that have already been posted on YouTube:

Super Bowl Strategy: As the coin toss approached, Joe talks about seeing Johnny Unitas and about his game plan.

Throwing Style: When Joe threw the football, you heard it and felt it.

TSN Recognizes Burress’ Impressive Comeback

The Sporting News provided great award news for the Jets and their followers by announcing today that it has selected WR Plaxico Burress as its comeback player of the year. You can find the TSN story on Plax’s award here.

The sports magazine selects its comeback player based on a vote of NFL players, coaches and executives. And as eye-opening as the award itself is the fact that Plax was the clear winner. The top four vote getters were:

1. Plaxico Burress, 164 votes

2. Alex Smith, San Francisco QB, 91 votes

3. Elvis Dumervil, Denver DE, 46 votes

4. Matthew Stafford, Detroit QB, 42 votes

Burress earned the award by resuscitating his career with 45 receptions for 612 yard and eight touchdowns, modest numbers by the standards he set with the Steelers and Giants yet solid in light of the 20 months he served in prison following his conviction on weapons charges.

Among Burress’ highlights for the Jets in the 2011 regular season was his three red zone touchdown grabs in the 27-21 victory over the Chargers, making him the 17th player and 14th WR in franchise history to come down with at least three TD catches in a game.

In fact, the 6’5″, 232-pound target and his connection with QB Mark Sanchez were arguably the main reasons the Jets were the league’s No. 1 red zone offense with their 65.5 percent touchdown drive percentage. Burress’ numbers inside the opponents’ 20 were all team-leading stats: 13 receptions, 121 yards, 12 first downs and all eight of his touchdowns.

The last Jets pass-catcher to have a similar red zone impact was Wayne Chrebet, who had 12 catches for 124 yards and nine TDs in the zone in 2002.

Congratulations to Plax on opening up his wingspan, sticking out his big Velcro mitts and coming down with this honor.

DeGuglielmo’s Connecting Flights

Dave DeGuglielmo officially joined the Jets’ reforming coaching staff when head coach Rex Ryan this afternoon announced that he is the Jets’ new offensive line coach. But Dave D has too many Jets connections to have stayed away from the team for much longer.

For starters, he coached up Miami’s OL pretty well for the past three seasons as the Dolphins took four of six from the Jets in their AFC East series.

For the four seasons prior, he came to work in the same Sunday office as the Jets as he coached the Giants’ O-line from ’04-08.

For the five seasons before that, he learned his OL coachcraft at South Carolina under Lou Holtz, who, as all Jets fans of a certain age know, coached the Green & White for 13/14ths of the 1976 season.

And DeGuglielmo first emerged in the trench trade when he was named All-New England first-team guard/center for Boston University. His OL coach for his final three seasons at BU was none other than new Jets offensive coordinator Tony Sparano. Of course, you could say the Sparano connection was the most important of all, but all things considered it looks like a great fit for coach and team.

Best Jets Action Photo of ’11: The Finals

Picture this. The Best Jets Action Photo of 2011 contest heads down the home stretch this week.

More than 1,500 votes were cast for photos in our contest “semifinals” last week and into this morning, with the idea of advancing the five most popular photos into this week’s finals.

We have made the transition from semis to finals just now and we can reveal the identity of the five most popular photos from the lens of team photographer Al Pereira. In chronological order they are:

5. “Mark Sanchez TD” with an unstoppable scoring stretch against Miami.

10. “Matt Slauson Spike” after his dramatic fumble recovery TD at Denver.

13. “Dustin Keller Jam” soaring up to the goalpost against Buffalo.

14. “Plaxico Burress Wingspan” on his big third-down catch, also vs. Buffalo.

18. “Plaxico Burress Stretch” on Plax’s picturesque grab at Philadelphia.

We thank all the fans who have already voted in the semifinals, and we encourage all of you to return here to cast your votes as many times as you like this week in the finals, particularly because of the Slauson factor. The Jets’ left guard rightly has a loyal and committed following that made his photo the leading vote-getter in the semifinals. Nothing wrong with that at all, but fans of the other players and photos in the finals will want to bring everything they can to the table and the ballot box to make sure their voices are heard.

Fans this week can vote for only one photo at a time as this year’s Best Jets Action Photo. The voting will conclude Friday at noon and we’ll unveil the winner shortly after. The photo will be featured in the Jets’ 2012 Yearbook out in the late summer before the start of the ’12 season — when Al P. and the rest of us here at newyorkjets.com will begin working at finding the best action photos for the 2012 season.

Vote now

Tweeting Machine: 300 Grand

We also want to thank all the fans of the Green & White following us on Twitter. Sometime Sunday twitter.com/nyjets cleared 300,000 followers. That’s quite a number, considering we were at less than 100 followers less than three years ago. Now it’s onward to 400,000 this offseason.

Brandon Moore Named to AFC Pro Bowl Roster

Updated, 10:07 p.m. ET

Brandon Moore and the Jets got a small bit of good news tonight on this NFL Championship Weekend. They learned that Moore is finally an all-star.

The NFL has announced that Moore, the Jets’ long-time right guard, a second alternate at the AFC’s guard position, has been named to the conference’s Pro Bowl roster, replacing Brian Waters of the New England Patriots, who are playing in Super Bowl XLVI in two weeks.

Moore will be joining fellow Jets O-linemen Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson and cornerback Darrelle Revis in Honolulu, Hawaii, this week for Sunday’s Pro Bowl Game, to be played at Aloha Stadium.

Moore, who just finished his ninth season as a Jet and his eighth as their starting guard, has been one of the unsung heroes of the Green & White line.

But in part with the support of head coach Rex Ryan, who has called him the best right guard in the game, and in part because of his high consistency of performance, Moore joins “Nick and Brick” plus Alan Faneca as Jets O-linemen have now claimed 10 Pro Bowl berths in the past four seasons.

Moore becomes the fourth Jets guard to reach all-star status, joining Bob Mischak of the New York Titans (1960-62) and Dave Herman (1968-69) as AFL all-stars and Faneca, an AFC starting guard for the Jets in 2008 and ’09.

Moore’s ironman qualities are well-known among line aficionados. He has started 121 consecutive regular-season games since 2004, the most among all active NFL guards, and his 121 straight games played is second among all active guards behind only the 124 of Tennessee’s Jake Scott.

Then an independent NFL analysis service determined that Moore gave up no sacks or hits on quarterback Mark Sanchez this season.

Here’s a Way to Support Curtis’ ‘Rush to Canton’

The Jets will not be at the Super Bowl. Of this we are all painfully aware. But one former Jet is about two weeks away from being talked up at the Super venue in Indianapolis. And on Feb. 4, Curtis Martin will find out if he’ll be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his second year as a Hall finalist.

We’re trying to help “Rush Curt to Canton.” Fans can go to curttocanton.com to support Martin’s run to the Hall of Fame. On this microsite, fans have the opportunity to watch Curtis’ highlight video and show their support via Twitter and Facebook. Once they become supporters, fans can tweet out to their followers: “I support Curtis Martin’s rush to the NFL HOF! Do you? http://bit.ly/Curt2Canton #CurtToCanton” or share the message on their Facebook feeds.

Another Hall for Schroy

Speaking of the Hall, former Jets safety Ken Schroy is gaining entry to another fame-ous organization. He’ll be inducted into the Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Sports Hall of Fame at an induction dinner April 21 at the Northampton Memorial Community Center. Kenny starred at Quakertown High before moving on to Maryland and then to the Jets from 1977-84.

Of note is that a fellow member of Schroy’s LVSHOF Class of ’12 is Chuck Bednarik, “the last of the 60-minute men” from Bethlehem, Pa., Penn and the Eagles.

For Schroy, this is the second Hall of Fame we’re aware of that has him as a member. In 2008 the transplanted Long Islander and vice president of the Marty Lyons Foundation was inducted into the Suffolk (N.Y.) Sports Hall of Fame. What he told us then applies just as much four years later: “At my age now, any recognition is a wonderful thing.”

Help Us Crown the Best Jets Action Photo of 2011

There are many ups and many downs to every NFL season, and many of those undulations by the Jets in their recently concluded season were captured mid-wave by our team photographer, Al Pereira, the lensman with the steadiest sea legs out there on the sidelines.

OK, enough with the ocean metaphor. We asked Al to riffle through the photographic Rolodex in his head and come up with, oh, the 22 best action photos from this season. Those photos are on the slideshow that is now live on the newyorkjets.com Fanzone section.

And now we turn it over to you, the most visually discerning fans in the game, and ask you to help us select the Best Jets Action Photo of ’11. And we’ve broken this contest into two parts for your enjoyment. Today we present the contest semifinals.

Those 22 photos, displayed in chronological order, can be viewed up close and personal by clicking on each shot in the slideshow. Take your time to savor each photo. Then vote. Alongside the photo display are five dropdown menus. In each menu, you can vote for one of the 22 semifinal frames. Vote for up to five of your favorite images, then click Submit.

We’ll end the semis, tabulate the results, and begin the finals all next Monday morning, when the five images that you’ve selected as the best of Al’s best will be shown alongside each other one more time. Then you’ll vote for your most favorite photo.

The voting in the finals will end Friday, Jan. 27, at noon ET, with the winning action photo unveiled shortly after.

And so we declare the Jets’ Best Action Photo of 2011 under way. Below is A.Pereira with some little background on his selection process and a skinny on each of his terrific 22. And send us a comment to the Radar on any or all of the photos here if you like. And now, here’s Al …

I’ve never found myself thinking in terms of Rod Stewart lyrics before. Honestly! But when my good friend and venerable Radar Ranger Randy Lange told me of the plans to put this “Best Jets Action Photo of ’11″ contest together, I immediately started hearing “Every Picture Tells a Story” ringing through my head. And you know, in a GOOD way. Rod the Mod was on to something, maybe.

Every picture does tell a story, and the following photos will hopefully speak to you of some of the high points of the season that just finished. These are some of my favorite action shots … we’ll assemble another gallery soon, to include shots like these and also some of the behind-the-scenes views, portraits and other little gems.

For now, I feel honored to present this collection, where you can tell me which you like the best. With a few thoughts for each photo, here is my Best Jets Action Photo of ’11 gallery. Hope you like it!

1. Revis INT Return — I like Darrelle’s eyes in this shot. He makes the pick in the opener against Dallas and becomes a running back … sweet!

2. Folk Game-Winner —  Big moment from an emotional night, 9/11/11, and Nick Folk wins it vs. the Cowboys. Not sure who looks happier, but it may be Brunell.

3. Scott Sack — Bart smacking the ball loose on a sack against the Jaguars. Like that you can see where his right hand made the strip … and in a Titans uni to boot!

4. Sanchez Intensity — Love the look on Mark’s face at Oakland. I have a lot of these kinds of shots. He’s a real leader. That “C” looks good. And like the logo on his mouthguard.

5. Sanchez TD — When Mark gets close to the goal line, he’s a juggernaut. My favorite Sanchez TD this year, Superman coming in low vs. Miami …

6. Harris Crunch — I like David burying QBs, which he does quite often. This one resulted in another Revis INT.

7. Mangold Point — Nick is also a strong leader. You can see he’s all business here against the Chargers.

8. Wilson INT — This is a cool interception shot in the SD game. Those are tricky to get because, well, if they were easy to anticipate, QBs would go the other way! Kyle Wilson’s first of his career and you can see the intended receiver’s frustration behind this athletic pick.

9. Holmes TD — Speaking of athletic, Santonio makes plays all the time that almost make me stop shooting just to admire them. Almost. If I did I wouldn’t have been able to catch a great TD like this at Buffalo as he twists through three defenders. That’s “Tone Time” all over!

10. Slauson TD — Matt at Denver. A guard scoring and spiking?? Enough said!

11. ST Gang Tackle — Kickoff coverage swarms over Cassius Vaughn at Denver. Love these kinds of gang shots. You can see how special teams is a real group effort.

12. Pace Pressure — Calvin doesn’t get enough chatter from fans, in my opinion. Nice effort in harassing a QB that had a pretty good year.

13. Keller TD Jam — Dustin is really a great player, great dude, and an even better subject. Good air on the TD spike here at home against Buffalo.

14. Burress Wingspan — Big play by a big receiver in the big home game vs. the Bills. Plax makes it look easy.

15. Sanchez Windup — Good form and a strong look from No. 6 as he gets ready to fire at Washington.

16. Greene Tightrope — Beautiful effort by Shonn at the pylon vs. the Chiefs. High-flying Jet!

17. Pouha Sack — Sione really came on as a leader this year. And he is just eating KC’s Tyler Palko alive!

18. Burress Stretch — One more from Plax, and the prettiest TD of the year, in my opinion — a one-hander at Philadelphia. We liked it so much you can pick the sequence up as Wallpaper if you’d like.

19. Harris Takedown — I like Eli Manning, I really do. Like him best when we’re knocking him around, though. Here David Harris, with assist from Bart Scott, jar the ball loose, but Eli was ruled down by contact. Hmmm…

20. Wilkerson Sack — My favorite sack of the year, from the rookie DE. Eli does NOT look happy here!

21. Keller Reach — Another day, another play for Dustin. He takes it to another level in the red zone at Miami.

22. Cromartie INT — Was happy to capture this one. A real battle for the ball the Dolphins’ Brian Hartline — and a fine pick as the Cro flies!

Pennington on Sparano: Right Fit for the Jets

With the arrival of Tony Sparano as the Jets’ offensive coordinator, it’s not a reach at all to wonder what Chad Pennington thought about the move. That was an immediate thought of our reporter, Andrew LeRay, and mine as well. So why not give Chad a call and find out? Which is what we did.

“Tony’s a fiery Italian and he loves football. He’s what we call a football head,” Pennington said from his South Florida home the other night. “He enjoys it. I think he enjoys being around the players. He enjoys that part of the game. He certainly understands it’s not just about the X’s and O’s.”

But Sparano does know the X’s and O’s are important. Combining all of it, he came from Dallas as Miami’s new head coach in 2008. That was the year he guided the Dolphins to their remarkable rebound from 1-15 to 11-5 and the AFC East title and helped Pennington, in his first season as an ex-Jet, to career bests in completions (321), yards (3,653), interception rate (1.47 percent), 19 TD passes to seven INTs and one fumble lost, and a 97.4 passer rating.

“Well, knowing him as a head coach, I think he will require his offense to do three things,” Pennington enumerated. “No. 1, be physical. No. 2, avoid turnovers. And No. 3, avoid negative plays. And that’s kind of what our recipe for success was in 2008 and we were able to make NFL history.”

A phrase that has come into the NFL lexicon of late is “chunk plays,” plays that pick up a bundle of yardage on the way to a length-of-field touchdown drive. As noted here and elsewhere, those were missing from the Jets’ attack this past season, but they were in evidence with the 2009 and ’10 ‘Fins. Pennington explained the philosophy.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a 40-yard throw down the field. It can be short or intermediate throws that turn into chunk plays,” he said. “Coach recognizes the importance of chunk plays. It allows your offense to breathe a little bit and have more success. In the NFL you can’t methodically move the ball down the field every drive. You need chunk plays to make it a little easier.”

I asked Chad to wear his analyst’s hat, which he donned for Fox Sports this season as he worked his way back from shoulder and knee injuries, and offer a glimpse of what he sees ahead for Mark Sanchez.

“I watched the Jets a little bit on and off this season,” he said. “I think the biggest thing for Mark is to use 2011 as a learning experience, really dive into the film this offseason. Learn from the film and just focus totally on the film and the work at hand, and use the year as a steppingstone to getting better. That’s the No. 1 key. You can’t just erase it and move away from it.”

Pennington also put on his QB’s hat to remind fans of something else he thinks is important for Sanchez.

“You’ve got to remember he only played one year of college ball as a starter. He’s a young guy, only in his third year in the league. He never had the chance to make mistakes behind closed doors. He’s always been out in front of everybody because he’s been the starter. He must get better and mature. I just think it’s a matter of time. The ball’s in his court.”

I asked Chad about the little matter of time that has turned him from the Jets’ first-round QB of 2000 and their Montana-esque (one of the adjectives used for him at the time) starter in that almost-great ’02 season into a fellow wrestling with his football future a mere decade later.

“It just shows you how much time flies. You don’t really believe it until you get on this end of it,” he said with a laugh. “I’m doing great. I’m really enjoying being the father of three boys. I’m just trying to work through all the emotions of playing or not playing, moving on with my life. That’s what I’m dealing with right now. It’s not the hardest thing to go through … it certainly provides some challenges.”

So does that mean that the rumors we heard this season, that the one-time NFL Comeback Player of the Year would try to come back one more time for the ’12 season, aren’t true?

“I don’t know if I’ll play again,” he said. “Some days I feel like I can, some days I don’t. I think the biggest question is whether I can trust my shoulder or not, whether I can look my coach in the eye and say, ‘You can trust me.’ “

Trusting Pennington’s shoulder to hold up to the rigors of an entire NFL season is one thing. Trusting his word is never in doubt. And he says Tony Sparano is a keeper for the Jets.

“I have a lot of respect and love for Coach Sparano. I think he’s a fantastic coach,” he said. “What he brings to the table is the right fit for the Jets.”

Lucy Ewbank, Weeb’s Widow, Passes Away at 105

It’s our sad duty to pass on word today of a death in the Jets family. Lucy Ewbank, widow of Weeb Ewbank, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Jets Ring of Honor head coach, died this morning at the age of 105.

The last we got to see Lucy was during her videoboard presentation at Weeb’s posthumous induction into the Ring of Honor at then New Meadowlands Stadium in August 2010. She also was on hand for the unveiling of Weeb’s statue at Miami University of Ohio a little later that year on Cradle of Coaches Plaza at Miami’s Yager Stadium.

“Weeb had so many honors,” she said at the statue unveiling by the school for which Weeb starred in three sports and then coached. “I thought it was really nice of Miami to do that.”

Many of those many honors came after college, when Weeb led first the Baltimore Colts and then the Jets to championships, in the process becoming the only man who will ever win titles in both the NFL and the AFL. Weeb died at the age of 91 in 1998.

We heard of Lucy’s passing early this afternoon from Frank Ramos, the Jets’ longtime public relations director who was the Jets’ PR pointman during the 1968 Super Bowl III season. He recalled Lucy as always a big part of the Green & White family.

“Lucy was a great supporter of Weeb throughout his whole career and a great football fan of the Jets, the Baltimore Colts and of course Miami,” Frank said. “She went to games all the time. She was a really personable woman, a wonderful person, and she’ll be missed.”

Lucy’s funeral will be in Oxford, Ohio. We’ll provide the arrangements here as we receive them.