Blog

Live Draft Chat Tonight on NewYorkJets.com

The NFL is about to kick off Day 2 of the draft, and we invite you to join us live for a live chat at 7 p.m. ET.

Jets Nation can follow Rounds 2 and 3 here on newyorkjets.com as we’ll take questions and comments now and live as comments here on the Radar, on Twitter@nyjets and on Facebook.com/Jets.

Eric Allen will host  the video portion of the chat in Round 2 and newyorkjets.com editor-in-chief Randy Lange is scheduled to make an appearance as well.  Then we’ll continue with a text-based chat in Round 3 as we continue to provide round-the-clock coverage of the Green & White.

We’ll take questions and comments early, so fire away.

Live Chat on Jets Draft, Free Agency at Noon ET

Please join us on newyorkjets.com for a special live chat at noon ET today.  Editor-in-chief Randy Lange and Eric Allen, the team’s director of Internet programming, will be available to talk free agency and the draft. We are accumulating questions right now here on the Radar, at twitter/nyjets and at Facebook.com/Jets.

In exactly two weeks, the NFL’s new league year will begin and the free agency signing period will commence at 4 p.m. ET.  And teams have spent the past week in Indianapolis, studying the college prospects at combine. There is a lot to talk about as the Jets’ offseason nears kickoff, so ask your questions, send your comments and then join us on newyorkjets.com at noon.

Update to “cn” and others: The live chat ran from noon-12:45 p.m. ET. We’re planning another live chat sometime in the next few weeks, before the March 13 start to the free agency signing period. — Randy Lange

Sparano Announced as New Offensive Coordinator

Updated, 12:15 p.m. ET

The Jets have just announced that Tony Sparano has been named their offensive coordinator. Sparano replaces Brian Schottenheimer, who announced Tuesday that he would not return as the Jets’ offensive coordinator for the 2012 season.

Sparano became the eighth head coach in Miami Dolphins history on Jan. 16, 2008. In his first season he led the Dolphins to an equaling of the greatest turnaround in NFL history as Miami “moved the hyphen” from 1-15 to 11-5 and captured the team’s first AFC East title since 2000. Sparano had spent the previous five seasons (2003-07) on the Dallas staff, during which time the Cowboys made three playoff appearances. He tutored the Cowboys’ offensive line the last three years there and also held the title of assistant head coach the final two seasons. He coached the team’s tight ends his first two seasons in Dallas.

Prior to joining the Cowboys, Sparano had NFL stops in Cleveland (1999-2000), Washington (2001) and Jacksonville (2002). His career head-coaching record, after leaving the Dolphins after 13 games this season, is 29-33.

Sparano, 50, born in West Haven, Conn., was a four-year letterman as a center at the University of New Haven, where he earned his degree in criminal law. He began his coaching career at his alma mater in 1984 before moving on to Boston University as offensive coordinator in 1989. He returned to New Haven as the school’s head coach in 1994 and manned that spot for the next five years.

Sanchez in Running for This Week’s NFL ‘Moment’

Mark Sanchez is up for one of the NFL’s weekly awards this week, along with one of the quarterbacks he and the Jets lost to this season ad one of the QBs he and the Jets defeated.

Sanchez orchestrated the 12-play, 82-yard drive that concluded with the QB’s rollout TD strike to WR Santonio Holmes in the end zone with 1:01 to play, giving the Jets the 28-24 lead they didn’t lose in their home victory over the Bills.

On the march, Sanchez completed six of eight passes for 61 yards, with four of the completions going for first downs and two — 12 yards to Patrick Turner to the Bills 35, then 18 yards to Plaxico Burress with his leaping one-hand grab to the Bills 18 — converting third downs.

The award is the Never Say Never Moment of the Week and fans can click here to vote for their favorite “moment” from now through Friday at noon ET.

Sanchez’s competitors for this award are Tim Tebow, who rallied the Broncos past the Chargers in overtime on Sunday, and Tony Romo, who guided the Cowboys to Dan Bailey’s game-winning field goal over the Dolphins as time expired on Thanksgiving Day.

Pace, Keller, Revis Chat It Up with Fans Today

We want to thank everyone in Jets Nation who participated in two different conversations with three big-name Jets this afternoon, two days before the Jets take the Ralph Wilson Stadium field to do battle with their AFC East-rival Bills.

LB Calvin Pace took part in our live chat with the fans immediately following Friday’s practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. The Q&A was broadcast simultaneously on newyorkjets.com and Facebook and has been archived for you to click here and view for yourself.

And here’s a shoutout to the 5,500 who were on the line for our exclusive call to MetLife Stadium season   ticket holders featuring TE Dustin Keller and CB Darrelle Revis. The fellas were happy to participate and it was a good sendoff heading into Sunday’s pivotal matchup. If you want to take a listen, here’s what they had to say during their half-hour call.

Jets Fans: Pro Bowl Balloting Has Begun

Who will be the Jets’ newest Pro Bowl participant in January? Linebacker David Harris? Tight end Dustin Keller? Kickoff returner Joe McKnight?

All three?

It would be neat to turn some of the Green & White’s top stars into NFL All-Stars this season, to have them add their names to the list of Pro Bowl players that includes current Jets Darrelle Revis, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold. And Jets fans can help bring this about by casting their ballots for their favorite Jets on newyorkjets.com/probowl

It’s that time of year for the NFL and all its teams to get out the vote for the 2011 season’s Pro Bowl, which will be held at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Sunday, Jan. 29. Fans, players and coaches each supply a third of the vote that establishes the players who make the initial AFC and NFC rosters.

And the Jets have become one of the league’s top teams at landing players on the AFC roster and sending them to the annual Pro Bowl. From 2008-10 they’ve filled 15 berths on the conference Pro Bowl team.

Three current Jets have sampled the poi and sipped the mango-ritas in Honolulu (and in South Florida in early 2010), and all are off to great starts in ’11.

After seven games, Revis (three-time Pro Bowler) has a team-high four interceptions, one returned for a 100-yard touchdown — the longest home INT-return TD in franchise history — against Miami, and blankets opponents’ No. 1 wideouts on “Revis Island.” Center Nick Mangold (also a three-time Pro Bowler) continues to prevail in the pivot, calling the Jets’ O-line signals and handling the big dogs in the middle of opposing defensive fronts to keep the offense moving. D’Brickashaw Ferguson (two Pro Bowls) has become one of the top left tackles in the game, protecting his quarterback’s blind side from the best pass-rushers in the game.

Will they qualify to return to Hawaii at the end of this season? And who among the Jets will join them?

“Hitman” Harris rules the roost in the middle of the Green & White defense, posting great tackle numbers and supplying timely blitz pressure on enemy QBs.

Keller, who last year became the first TE to lead the Jets in receptions since Mickey Shuler in 1985, is at it again, topping this year’s offense with 25 catches and 372 receiving yards as one of Mark Sanchez’s favorite targets.

McKnight erupted on the scene with the longest play in franchise history, his 108-yard kickoff-return touchdown at Baltimore, and leads all NFL kickoff returners with a mind-numbing 40.0-yard average on each runback.

And in the coming weeks, other Jets are sure to catch the eye of fans and voters in the New York area and across the nation. CB Antonio Cromartie supplies the athletic coverage against other teams’ wideouts on the side of the field opposite Revis. Head coach Rex Ryan has said LB Calvin Pace is having his best season since Ryan arrived as the Jets’ football boss in 2009.

On offense, Sanchez continues with his growth curve, posting the best regular-season completion percentage and passer rating of his three-year career. WRs Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress have the skills to erupt at any time for weeks at a time. Shonn Greene ran with his most authority yet in the comeback win over the Chargers. And Ryan has always felt that the indestructible Brandon Moore “is the best right guard in the game.”

Not to forget the specialists, Nick Folk has yet to miss a field goal or placekick, and he and his coverage team have combined to lead the league with 14 inside-the-20 kickoffs. And Eric Smith not only is a regular starting safety for the first time in his career and the Jets’ leading tackler on defense, but he is still a monster in all phases of the Jets’ special teams.

Fans can vote for any of the above Jets, all of them, or any Jets not mentioned on the NFL’s official Pro Bowl fan ballot on their PCs or via their iPads or mobile devices. Once on the ballot, fans can elect to fill out the entire ballot or just vote for one or a few of the players of their choice.

Voting will conclude on Monday, Dec. 19, following the conclusion of the Monday Night Football game between the Steelers and 49ers. The Pro Bowl teams will be announced Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 7 p.m. ET on the special “NFL Total Access 2012 Pro Bowl Selection Show” on NFL Network.

Statement from New York Jets

The New York Jets deny a report this morning that wide receivers Plaxico Burress, Santonio Holmes and Derrick Mason have gone to Head Coach Rex Ryan individually in the past few weeks to question offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s system.

‘Inside the Jets’ Guests: McKnight, Conner

Two young running backs, including the player who reeled off the longest play in Jets history on Sunday night, and the face and voice for the videos that appear daily on newyorkjets.com will be the featured guests on tonight’s edition of the “Inside the Jets” radio show.

Joe McKnight, the fourth-round selection in last year’s draft for the Jets, assumed the kickoff return duties for the team against Baltimore. He took his first return 7 yards deep in the M&T Bank Stadium end zone and ripped off a 107-yard touchdown return, the longest play of any kind in franchise history, to tie the score at 7-7. McKnight also appeared in a defensive package and provided pressure on Ravens QB Joe Flacco, who threw the interception that LB David Harris returned for a second-quarter TD.

John Conner, taken the round after McKnight in last year’s draft, continues to grow in the role of starting fullback and special teams contributor. Conner actually had the longest run of last night’s game, a 13-yard that got the Green & White started on their late-second-quarter field goal drive.

Eric Allen does it all for the team’s Website, asking the questions and providing the insights in his interviews with Jets players for game previews and reviews and the popular “Four Quarters” series now in its second season on newyorkjets.com.

All three will be on hand at Grasshopper Off the Green in Morristown, N.J., along with “Inside the Jets” host Bob Wischusen for the hour-long show from 7-8 p.m. ET in front of the live audience at the bar and restaurant located at 41-43 Morris St.

Due to the Major League Baseball playoffs being aired over the next several weeks, tonight’s show will be aired on 1050 ESPN Radio after the conclusion of the station’s MLB coverage. However, you can hear the show live in its entirety on the stream at ESPNNewYork.com.

Saturday Junior Flight Crew Rehearsal Is Canceled

Due to the impending storm, the halftime rehearsal that was scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m.-noon at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center has been canceled. The performance on Thursday, Sept. 1, when the Jets play the Eagles at MetLife Stadium, will still take place.

Denise Garvey, director of the Flight Crew Cheerleaders, will be sending out further information to all registered partcipants about Thursday’s gameday and obtaining tickets to the game.

Jets-Giants Now Postponed Till Monday Night

The Jets-Giants preseason game has been rescheduled for a second time due to Hurricane Irene. The game will now be played Monday night at 7 p.m. at MetLife Stadium.

Television and radio for the game remains unchanged. The game will be carried in the New York market by WNBC, Channel 4. And fans outside of the area with NFL Network can see the game live on NFLN. The radio call of the game will be heard on 1050 ESPN New York.

The Jets-Eagles game remains scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 1, three days later, with opening kickoff at 7:30 p.m., also at MetLife.