AN UPDATE

I haven't intentionally been ignoring the Jets blog. It's just that there's so much going on with the Mets, and as excited as I am about football season, there are other things happening in life: i.e. the impending birth of my first child, getting new curriculum ready for the school year, and there's not much to write about out of Jets camp, thanks to Eric Mangini's secrecy.

But there are a couple of things to note. Chad Pennington is back to his old self, I guess. He's throwing the ball well, and has all but won the starting quarterback job back, which is very exciting. That alone gives Jets fans hope that the Jets might not be as bad as everyone thinks - Pennington knows how to win. I'll leave it at that.

He also has some help in the backfield. Though Curtis Martin looks more and more like he'll be sitting out the year (if not forever), the Jets have a bunch of options in the backfield. I love Cedric Houston, and would have loved to see him take the starting job, but the Jets gave lots of looks to Leon Washington and Derrick Blaylock. Then they went out and traded for Kevan Barlow, who they feel confident has turned around the problems (mostly with conforming) he's had in the past. Eric Mangini said they looked into his background enough to feel like they're getting a character guy, which is important for the Jets. Mangini even went so far to compare Barlow to Bryan Cox, with the Jets in the late '90's, when Mangini was a coffee boy for the coaching staff.

How has this turned out? Well, Barlow has already compared his former coach in San Francisco to Hitler. So, not too well. And he says Mike Nolan, as a first year guy, tried to be too much of a dictator. Think that concerns Mangini at all? It concerns me.

So we'll see how Barlow turns out. If the Jets were to deal for a running back, I would have rather seen them deal Justin McCareins for T.J. Duckett, said to be in the works over the weekend. I like Duckett, and McCareins is in Mangini's doghouse for some reason, so I don't know how effective he'll be for the team (unless a Bill Parcells-esque motivation technique being used by Mangini). The Falcons, Broncos, and Redskins worked out a 3-way deal on Tuesday sending Duckett to Washington and Ashley Lelie to the Falcons. FANTASY ALERT: I wonder how the Redskins getting Duckett affects the season of Clinton Portis...maybe he's more injured than we thought.

So that's where my thoughts on the Jets are at. Maybe I'll write more during the pre-season, maybe I won't write until the regular season. I'll try to keep you posted on the Mets blog.

I was expecting to have more e-mails to answer, but I just have this one, from good ol' Dave in Brighton:

"Dear JohnnyJets,

What's the latest on the Curtis Martin situation? Do you think the Jets should have drafted a RB higher in April? (I heard that Martin actually suggested they do so, because he has concerns over his own health.)

Do you like Leon Washington? Is he good enough to be an NFL starter? If not, what's the trade market like?

If you were going to do a fantasy football draft, would you draft Martin as a late-round sleeper?

Signed,
Dave in Brighton"

I pretty much addressed all of those questions above, except the last one, to which the answer is an emphatic "NO!".

There's this one from Dave, too, which has been in the inbox for a while, I guess:

"Dear JohnnyJets,

Good to see you didn't hold out of camp this season.

You wrote on Sunday that each of the Jets QBs is getting equal reps in practice. Do you think this irks Pennington? He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would complain (I could hear him saying something like "I have a lot to prove this year, and I'm ready to go out and prove it."), but he can't be happy about it.

And kind of as a follow up, what's your read on Kellen Clemens. Were his parents big fans of Roger? Is that why they gave him a weird name that starts with K?

--Dave in Brighton"

I think the equal reps thing irked Pennington a little, but you're right, he's not the type of guy to complain. I bet he used it as extra motivation, and Jets fans will reap the benefits this year. Maybe Kellen Clemens is an illegitimate child of Roger. Maybe all "K" Clemens are. It might be like a secret society.

I'd like to do a spread-pick-'em pool this year on the site with all 5 of my readers....but I don't think, with the baby and all, I'll have time to make comments on each of the games. So maybe I'll set up a yahoo! or espn free league, where we pick the games vs. the spread, and the winner gets a yet-to-be-created t-shirt (I haven't made a johnnyjets one yet). E-mail me with thoughts and level of interest, please.