When we last left the Jets, it was a heartbreaking scene. Two words I will mention here for the last time, and then try to put them behind me: Doug Brien. That's all I'll say about that.

But 2004 is behind us. The 2005 season is minutes away. And much has changed. The jerk that cost us a chance at the AFC Championship Game is gone (no, not Paul Hackett - though he's gone too - I'm talking about the guy I mentioned above and promised to never mention again). Mike Nugent is the Jets' kicker...and I was just reading some of my postings from last year...and in one, I promised I will never have faith in another kicker...but I will. And Mike Nugent is his name. More changes: LaMont Jordan is an Oakland Raider - off to pursue his fortune as a star, starting running back. Derrick Blaylock will back up Curtis Martin. Santana Moss is gone, traded to Washington for Laveranues Coles, back in the Green. Ty Law is no longer one of the players I dislike - I now love him (truth be told, I never could say I hated Ty Law - and I think my Patriot fan friends will back me up on this. I never loved him, of course, but he was so darn good I couldn't hate him - part of me always respected his ability. Sort of like being a Knicks fan and watching Michael Jordan play back when I cared about the NBA - but I digress.) And much to my dismay, Anthony Becht is now a Tampa Bay Buccaneer - and new offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger will probably make a star out of Doug Jolley and Chris Baker instead of Becht.

Chad Pennington has a new shoulder...and he will hopefully play a full, injury-free season. He looked good in the pre-season...and looked awful in the pre-season. But the bottom line is - it was the pre-season. Next week he takes on the Chiefs in Kansas City, and we'll judge him then. But I will say this. For the first time, an organization didn't sugarcoat an injury. After last season ended, we knew Pennington had a serious problem. He was out of mini-camps, and didn't take the field until training camp. The Jets didn't try to pull the wool over our eyes - they said when he wasn't ready, and they didn't rush him back. He came back for the second pre-season game, and played well. And the coaching staff had him throw deep so we could see that he was back, and healthy, and everything works. I feel confident that Pennington is 100% this season, and hopefully he can avoid all other injuries and have a great season. If he gets hurt, the backup is Jay Fiedler. Capable, yes, and yes, he had a very good pre-season, but most of that wasn't against the number one defenses. I just don't trust Fiedler to go all the way - so Pennington needs to stay healthy.

The other parts of the offense haven't changed much. The offensive line is the same except for Kareem McKenzie - who left via free agency. Adrian Jones takes his spot, and has received good reviews - so with Jones, Jason Fabini, Kevin Mawae, Pete Kendall, and Brandon Moore, Pennington should be well-protected. Curtis Martin is Curtis Martin. He'll have another great year - he doesn't age. He led the league in rushing last year, but was disappointed because he didn't break a lot of long runs. So this off-season, he worked on his speed. I don't want to say he'll be even better this year, but he shouldn't drop off.

The offense should be better because Pennington has his favorite target back. Coles is back, and the two of them look like they were never apart. The only difference now is that Heimerdinger is the coordinator, but Pennington and Coles have a great chemistry. The other receiver is Justin McCareins, and I look for him to have a good year because he is reunited with Heimerdinger - his coordinator when he was putting up good numbers in Tennessee. Wayne Chrebet is also back for another campaign - bothered by concussions in the past, but watch him on third down this year. As I mentioned before, Jolley and Baker are the tight ends, and Pennington didn't seem to use them much until the final pre-season game, but they're supposed to be a bigger factor under Heimerdinger.

The defense is much easier to write about, because I don't have to keep writing Heimerdinger. Seriously, though, I think Donnie Henderson's squad is going to be the best in the league. John Abraham is back (still don't know how I feel about this - but he's one of the best at his position, so I guess there are worse things than having him starting on your defense), along with Shaun Ellis, the revitalized DeWayne Robertson, and Lance Legree on the defensive line (although Sione Pouha could definitely make a long-term appearance instead). Jason Ferguson is gone, but the Jets should be OK on the line. The linebackers are a good young bunch. Eric Barton nearly cost the Jets the San Diego game in the playoffs, but that one play overshadowed a pretty good year. Jonathan Vilma was the Defensive Rookie of the Year, and I don't expect a sophomore slump. He's a team leader, and he's awesome. Victor Hobson is solid...not great, but a good linebacker. The secondary is outstanding. David Barrett came up huge in the second half of last year. Oliver Celestin had a great camp, a great pre-season, and is the starting strong safety. Erik Coleman is the free safety, and I love watching him play. And Ty Law is a future Hall of Famer - great signing by the Jets - and risk-free. My worry when they signed him was that they, like the Mets, have bad enough luck signing free agents when they're healthy, that if they signed Law, whose health was sort of a question mark, he would probably never play in the NFL again. But he's OK, and will start the season, and he is a risk-free investment. So good move by the Jets.

On special teams, the Jets have punter Ben Graham, an Australian who beat out Micah Knorr for the job. He kicks the ball high and far, and apparently has learned how to be enough of a holder for Mike Nugent to win the job. Nugent will be awesome. I'm glad the Jets drafted him. Hopefully he won't let me down. It looks like Justin McCareins will be returning punts - although it was supposed to be rookie Justin Miller's job. He disappointed in camp. I think Derrick Blaylock will see some time returning kickoffs...but I'm not sure. Maybe Jerricho Cotchery too.

Other changes took place since the end of last football season. ESPNRadio has come to Boston, so I can now listen to Mike & Mike in the Morning on my way to work instead of watching it in the brief time before I leave on ESPNEWS. This means I can watch Mike Greenberg, the huge Jets fan. I love that he can be so unbiased about being a fan. It's refreshing, especially being a Jets fan. So I look forward to Monday mornings listening to him. And finally, I finally have DirecTV for a football season. Hey Peyton - I've got the Sunday Ticket. I've been excited to watch all the college football this weekend. But it's time for the NFL - and for the first time in a long time, as my cousin Eddie put it - the Jets have a legit shot at winning it all. It's a very tough schedule....but I think they can do it. It's so important that they get home field advantage....and I'll be here to chronicle whether or not they can do it. We resume our johnnyjets.blogspot.com schedule - providing school doesn't prevent me from sticking to it:

Monday: Recap of Sunday's game
Tuesday: Mailbag
Wednesday: Recap/Preview of the rest of the AFC East
Thursday: Focus on the Next Opponent
Friday: Preview and Picks

The Picks feature will be different this year. I didn't have a final count of my record (for entertainment purposed only, of course) from last year, but I was right around .500. This year, I will take on my wife, who was one of the best in the country on ESPN.com's Pigskin Pick 'Em last year, along with Dave from Brighton, who wants to be the third wheel on our picking bicycle. He kept track of some of his picks last year, but I don't know what his record was. I don't think it was much better than mine. We'll be using point spreads from USA Today, and we'll start with Thursday night's Patriots-Raiders season opener. I will also include my eliminator pick for the week.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to an exciting NFL season.