SEASON PREVIEW

Friday night the Jets host the Eagles in their final preseason game. Then it's on to the regular season. We just need everyone to make it out of the Eagles game healthy. That's all we need. I don't care if Pennington goes 0-for-12 and throws six INT's. Those six INT's better come in the first three minutes of the game, because he'd better not be in there for long.

Chad Pennington is the key to the season. Everything revolves around him. He is so good he gives the Jets a chance to win every single game he's involved in. So if Pennington's healthy, the Jets will do well, it's as simple as that.

Of course, he can't do it alone. The defense needs to keep the team in games. Even when the defense has been pretty bad the past couple of years, they've managed to keep the team in games. So this year, with a much better defense, I expect the 'D' to be able to do keep Pennington in position to win most games.

The Jets have taken steps to eliminate some of the mistakes that cost them games last year. Remember all the time management problems? (Not getting the kicking unit on the field in the right amount of time against the Giants, not taking a knee and running out the clock against the Titans on Monday Night Football, to name a couple.) The Jets now have a coach who will stay with Herman Edwards and tell him what to do in certain clock management situations. He's all over it. The coaching staff is better - Donnie Henderson is going to make Jets fans forget about Ted Cottrell real fast. Overall, this Jets team is better.

I'm thinking the Jets will reach double digits in wins. I haven't gone through the schedule week to week, but that's my estimate. 10 wins or so. With New England in the division, I don't know that 10 wins will be enough to win the East, but hopefully it will be enough to get the wild card. The AFC is tough. But for the Jets to win 10 games, they'd probably beat the teams they need to beat in order to earn all the tiebreakers to put them in the playoffs.

OK. As promised, it's time to check the mail. Dave from Brighton wrote about a week ago, when the rumor was that Ricky Williams had called the Dolphins. Dave says,
"I read recently that Ricky Williams might be reconsidering his retirement and could return to the Dolphins this season. Would a Williams return hurt the Jets, because Miami would be a more formidable opponent, or help them, since Miami could potentially beatthe other AFC East teams twice?"
It's become clear since Dave wrote this that Williams is NOT coming back. But if he did, that team would be in such disharmony that there's no way it would help the Dolphins, it could only hurt them. The Dolphins are going to be in a lot of trouble this season. Shortly after Williams left, David Boston got hurt, which really hurts their offense. Then, to shore up the offense, the Dolphins traded for Marty Booker, who isn't going to make a huge difference. In order to get Booker, Miami traded (I forget is first name - Adelewai?) Ogunleye, one of their best defensive players last year. And he killed the Jets. So that hurts their defense. Miami's going nowhere, doing nothing this year.

Here's this e-mail:
"Hi John-
How will the Jets finish out the season? Atop of the AFC East or as a Wild Card? (I know you have them somewhere in the playoffs).
Who's on tap for the Super Bowl this year?
And after a running back, what's the most important position to draft for in fantasy football?
Thanks. I enjoy your blog.
-Kathryn from Watertown"
I kind of alluded to your first question above, and as for a Super Bowl prediction, I'll go with the Jets over the Packers. How 'bout that...Brett Favre in his one last shot. I have to pick the Jets, because that's what I do. The Packers are just a guess. As for your last question, it really depends on the type of fantasy league you're in, and it depends on the point values assigned to each position. A scrambling-type quarterback might be the way to go, or a receiver who has the potential to also score on special teams. Thanks for writing.

Mark from Miami also checks in (take it easy, Jets fans - he's not a Dolphins fan, he just happens to live in Miami):
"John,What is the progress of Jets linebackers Darrell McClover and Jarrell Weaver?"
To be honest, Mark, I haven't heard a whole lot about either, but I think McClover will make the team. As I wrote last week, I did see him at practice, and he was putting in lots of extra time working with Jonathan Vilma. McClover is deep on the depth chart, but at least he's there. Weaver got cut last weekend. Who knows, maybe he'll end up on the practice squad. Don't worry, though, Mark, I think your Hurricanes are still the most represented college team on the Jets. That is to say, there are more Jets from Miami than from any other school.

Thanks for writing everyone! Keep them coming - we'll do it again next Thursday - hopefully on time next week.

Next week we'll get into regular season mode, and I'll give you the weekly breakdown in Monday's posting.