8.31.2006

Chad Pennington, We Hardly Know Thee?

See Link in Title for a little mo' about Chad (and I'm not talkin' about elections in Florida!)

You went to Marshall right? I never saw you play college ball, alright. I apologize. Well, at least they wear green.

And in your first full season you played 12 games right? You led the Jets back from a 1-3 start that had Gang Green fans perched on their window cills prepared to jump. You replaced a "popular guy" QB who was more the "Broadway" type to your backwoods heritage. All the while you dealt with your father in law's illness and the fact that you were newly wed to young woman. Young brides tend to be as demanding as...as...well, as Jet fans on the brink. But you made it to the playoffs and crushed the Colts in the opening game...then took a beating of your own against the hated Raiders.

That's pretty much the extent of what I know about you though as your golden boy start seemingly turned injury plagued...hurt in a loss to the Giants in the 2003 preseason, you returned to a team (a bad 6-10 team) and had a decent QB rating despite being picked off too much...In 2004 you were bad (despite having a good QB rating...with to many picks), you whined about the media giving you a hard time (the first time they ever did) but the team was good and made the playoffs...and went deep until Doug Brien couldn't kick when it mattered (which took some heat off you). And finally we get to last season, hurt again, the team was bad and I kind of stopped caring if you were ever going to QB again.

Who are you Chad? Are you the guy who grabbed the reigns with vigor in your first year? Or are you the injury plagued quarter back who seemingly keeps his stats padded with efficient but short passes? Are you going to stop throwing so many interceptions?

This team is not good. You have been good at times and the only way this team can be good...hell, I'll even take adequate instead of being a laughing stock...is if you dig deep and find some of that old magic.

Who are you?

(See Pole in Sidebar)

10 Reasons Why I Hate Manjerkoff

1. He seems like a dickhead.
2. His colloboration with Tanneballs led to a draft that ignored RBs when they both knew Curtis wasn't coming back.
3. From all accounts, he treats his players like crap.
4. He gets too angry when players make mistakes, nobody is perfect.
5. He is from the Bill Bellicheck school so he thinks he knows what he is doing when he worked for the guy for like, one year.
6. His haircut is stupid.
7. He is going to be the next Rich Kotite, who I also hate.
8. His coaching skills, so far, are poor, as evidenced by the lack of offense, the poorly called plays, the lack of balls, etc.
9. He talks like a robot.
10. He is going to drive his players to hate him, they are going to quit on him, they are going to rebel against him, and they are going to LOSE GAMES for him. Maybe not on purpose, but subconsciously they will.

Let's face it. We all know people like him. He is an arrogant bastard who thinks he knows it all and doesn't want to hear anything about anything. He's the type of boss that would ask you to bring him a piece of the sun, and when you say, "that's impossible" he yells at you and tells you to do it or don't come back. You cannot treat people like that, especially if they are older than you! I just hope that Vilma survies his tenure, because he is awesome and a leader (and I have his Jets jersey) and I feel like Manjerkoff will try to take over him or any other leaders on the team so he can run his dictatorship.

My suggestion: Have Curtis Martin coach the team. I think they would be 5-11 if Curtis coaches, 2-14 if Manjerkoff coaches. Curtis knows how to relate to people, Curtis played football and was/is awesome, Curtis garners respect from the players, even the ones whose job he will take if and when he ever becomes healthy.

I know, some people will say (oh wait, nobody reads this but my two friends, so they will say to me), "the season hasn't started yet" and my only response is, "Just wait and see." I will, of course, eat my words and publicly apologize if I am incorrect about this guy.

I sincerely hope that I saying sorry in a few weeks!

Should he stay or should he go now? Plus, who is our RB?

Brooksey - in or out?
Well, he'll get his shot on Friday, but I'm sure that he already has his bags packed for a team that scouts the game that night. Either he is on another team or he is on the next season of "The Bachlorette."

Let's face it, he's not that bad. He had more TDs than picks last year, he is mobile, and he has some determination that Ramsey is clearly missing. But I don't see how they can keep him on the squad. While he is certainly more prepared than Ramsey to run the Jets offense, for some reason they think Ramsey is worth a contract extension, so Ramsey is staying put. The other kid isn't going anywhere, and no matter who fragile Chad is they aren't going to keep 4 QBs. This seems like a bit of an injustice.

But to be honest, they would not have had these problems if didn't draft Clemens in the first place. I'm so glad they did though, because Curtis didn't tell them to draft a RB in this year's draft, they thought they needed another QB. (Right, Curtis is a team player and a gentleman, he knew he wasn't going to be ready for the beginning of the season and he let the Jets know that). The real problem with the Jets comes when you let a bunch of good RBs go by in the draft when you KNOW that your main RB is injured and that, with all due respect to Mr. Martin, he is getting OLD. A running back ages in dog years. How could they not have picked up a RB? There were a few talented ones in the draft this year, not even including the next Marshall Faulk, Reggie Bush.

Listen, I know they need OL and I'm glad we got the best in the draft, but come on! An OLineman doesn't necessarily change the outcome of a game like a RB can! Look who the Jets have, Barlow, Blaylock, Huston, blah blah blah. We got NOBODY. I'm hoping I am wrong, but the reality is that Manjerkoff and Tannanballs fucked up the draft, fucked up the team and now we are left with a bunch of guys who won't be able to do it offensively. I give Chad to week 4 and he'll be pumping gas at at an Exxon in Tennessee (after his 10th surgery that is). The running backs are a joke at this point. Kevin Barlow? PLEASE! The worst part is, the Jets tried to get an injury prone never-met-expectations back when they traded for Suggs and he couldn't even pass the physical. Hey, Jets, there's nobody good out there! All the good RB are taken or were in this thing called a "Draft" that happened before the season started. Guess what, you shit the bed on that!

The bottom line is, you need a good RB to take the pressure off the QB. Now with no running game in place, it is going to be open season on Chad when he has to throw 40 passes a game because the Jets can't run the ball. I mean, I don't know shit and I'm only posting because my buddy keeps asking me to write crap, but I know that it's all connected. You have to have a good ground game to open up the pass game, and having a good passing game leads to some big runs. The Jets, to their detriment, have neither at this point. 10 yard outs are going to cut it, and 1 yard up the middle isn't going to open any passing game up.

With all this having been said, I am still a Jets fan and I will root for them every week, win or lose. I sincerley hope they sort out the the RB situation and somebody proves themselves to be worth enough to step in Curtis' shoes. For what it's worth, I hope they keep Brooksey around too. The guy has some grit.

That's me. Right there. Yup, your good old friend and huge Jets fan Curtis O'Brien. And yes, that is the Meadowlands. And your right, this is not going to be a nice story with a happy ending. Let me give you a hint of when this picture was taken: Nov. 27, 1994: The infamous fake-spike game. With the Dolphins trailing the Jets in the closing minutes, Marino drives Miami to the 8-yard line and hurries the team to the line, motioning as if he's going to spike the ball. Instead, he hits Mark Ingram with a touchdown pass. Miami wins 28-24.

But let me set this up for you a little better. This was a BIG game! We were going into this game 6-7 in a tight AFC East battle. We had all the chess pieces in place. We had a healthy Boomer at the controls, Ronnie Lott was our safety, Mo Lewis was young and fierce, Rob Moore was our stud receiver, we acquired Art Monk that off season (this was before anyone knew his true motives were to be number one in receptions, which did accomplish as a Jet. That's a whole nother story), our kicker was Nick Lowry and we had the young and hip Pete Carroll as our commander and chief.

The Dolphins were coming in with a record 7-6 and coming off two bad losses. True Jets fans will remember there was a aire about the team and where we were going this year. The feeling was that if we beat the Dolphins, then we would enter the final three games with such a momentum that would be unstoppable. Personally, I couldn't wait to see the game. And my brother had two tickets. It couldn't get any better.

That is, until he told me at the breakfast table that he had already invited some chucklehead friend of his. And that my father wanted me to clean all the leaves and make the yard look nice. Remember, this was 1994 and I was 20 years old. I was still living with the old man and a few brothers who were straggling getting out into the real world. But at any rate, I was resigned to watching the game on the T.V.

I started raking right after breakfast so I could watch the game with the old man off my back. At 10:00am, my brother walks out the back door, waives to me and heads off to his "big game" with his buddies. "See you later, a**hole!" I say to myself. I was a struggling college student at the time and with the hype of this game, I wouldn't be able to scalp a ticket for less than $150.00. So I wasn't all that upset.

A few hours go by and my watch reads 12:20pm. Just 40 minutes to the big game! Then, my dad calls to the back yard, "Rich is on the phone, he left his tickets at home!" What? Are you kidding? I know what's coming next. And forget it. He will have to scalp tickets. I am not driving an hour to the Meadowlands and then drive back and get home for the fourth wuarter of play. But there was an interesting proposition when I got on the phone. He wanted me to go to his room, take the two tickets out from under his pillow and drive them to the Meadowlands in exchange for $200.00 to scalp my own ticket.

I was showered, dressed in my vintage Ken O'Brien jersey and on the highway within 5 minutes. An hour drive took me 45 minutes. I had to park across from the Meadowlands at one of the hotels, run across the highway on foot and locate my brother and his "friend". This was the day before cell phones too. I completely guessed on where they were, found them and exchanged the tickets. They gave me the cash, I bought a ticket and was sitting in my seat while the initial drive was still going on. It was a truly an amazing turn of events.

And there I was, sitting in the upper tier watching my beloved Jets. My brother, on the other side of the stadium somewhere. Me, crowded surrounded by strangers. But strangers wearing gang green. Although I was alone, I felt at home. And my Jets were hanging strong. I couldn't have been at more peace with myself.

That game was actually a sort of a slug fest. Marino seemed to be on the verge of putting the Jets away a few times, but he Jets got a few lucky breaks and made a few good plays. But all and all it was a great game. And the crowd was totally into it. That place was rockin' that day.

It seemed to look like the Jets were going to pull it off. The Jets were up 24-21 with a few minutes on the clock. However, Marino has the ball and is driving his team down the field. But time was running down. We could win this one! Jet fans were cheering like crazy. Pete Carroll is all over the field, flailing his arms. It was very intense!

There is less than a minute left in the game and Marino is on the fifty with no time outs. Time is evaporating fast. He gets to the 35. The whole stadium is thinking, "Ok, this is a long field goal." Then he is at the 20. A two more completions and he is at the 8 yard line. However, he only has 12 seconds on the clock. And his team is not even near the line of scrimmage.

This is where it all slows down for me. And this is where the picture above comes into play. I am watching Marino and his team rush up to the line of scrimmage. But for me, it is in all slow motion. I specifically watch the outside receiver, Mark Ingram, jog to the line of scrimmage. I see him notice that CB Aaron Glenn has his back to him. I then watch Mark Ingram go from a stead jog to the line to a very quick scamper, like a deer on his tippie toes. Ingram, quietly gets in position and looks back right at Marino. I watch them both connect on their unspoken plan.

And this is where I would like you to go up to the picture above. Because if you look very closely you will see a 220 lb fan wearing a Ken O'Brien jersey. That's me. And I am the only person standing. You will notice that my hands are around my mouth as if I am trying to talk to the coach. At that moment, I completely jumped out of my seat. The only thing that could come out was a low, slow motion, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Of course, Marino motions as if he is going to spike the ball. He then goes under center, takes the snap, pumps a fake spike to the ground and drills a bullet to Ingram. Aaron Glenn, turns around in disbelief to find he play had already happened.

The whole stadium watches in horror. I fall back into my seat and stare at the endzone for what seems to be two hours. I will swear to you to this day, that if I had a seat closer to Aaron Glenn, that the Jets would have won that game.

At any rate, this was very therapeutic for me. Thank you!

8.30.2006

2006 Jets Prediction

I got five words for Jets fans this year, Thank God for Fantasy Football! That is because I went through the schedule this morning and I cannot find one team that we can beat. We just have way too many question marks. We have an unproven coach, a QB with a very sketchy arm, a rookie offensive line, RB by committee, no real 2nd and 3rd receivers, among a few things.

However, I know how the Jets faithful think. Until the Jets lose their 8th game (which, by the way, will be the 8th week) Jets fans will still hang on to the fact that they are still mathematically in the playoff hunt. I know this to be true because although I am sanely predicting the Jets chances right now, on Week 7 I will look you straight in the eye and swear to you the Jets will finnish 9-7 and will be the sleeper of the playoffs. That is because some sort of cosmic morph happens to me and many Jets fans at the first kick off of Week 1.

But until then, I really don't see anything good coming out of this Jets season besides a number one draft pick in April. So I will be definitely pulling for that. The worst thing that could happen to me personally this year is if the Jets come out and win their first two games. That's means I will stuck watching every game till the end for 10 weeks instead.. So the more games they win, the longer I and every Jet fan will be consumed by it. It is almost better if they lose every single game. My worst night mare is if they go 7-9. That way, depending on how the division is competing, I could be stuck rooting the Jets on until week 17.

I really am not that negative of a person, I have just been disappointed by the Jets for so many years, that I am sick of getting bullied by my own false hopes. I am sorry that my first ever blog is about how crappy I feel the Jets upcoming season. I don't mean to get you down. If you want to feel better about the Jets, report back to this blog after Week 1. I will have you believing that 2006 is going to be the year we win it all. That is because for some strange reason, God made me a Jets fan.