WHY TY?

It didn't go unnoticed at 200 Miles From the Citi...just unmentioned.

When the Jets signed Ty Law the week of the Patriots game, I thought it was unnecessary. I had just finished singing the praises of the secondary - they were definitely not one of the team's weaknesses - they were actually doing a fine job. So my initial reaction was, "Why would you do that?"

I actually got angry on Sunday when I was watching the Raiders-Dolphins game and saw that the Raiders had picked up Justin Miller, who I learned the Jets had dropped to clear the roster space for Law (I've been following things pretty closely - but I guess not that closely. I guess maybe I should be paying more attention.). I felt like Miller's a young guy, Law wouldn't be around for long...seemed like a high price to pay for a rental.

And the word 'rental' got me thinking about the real reason the Jets signed Ty Law, and it sort of dawned on me - it probably was a smart move. Law, like David Cone in the early-to-mid-90's in baseball, is a hired gun.
OK - maybe it's not the best comparison. Cone was in demand because of his arm, and because he was one of the best at his position in the game. Law is with the Jets because of, for lack of a better term, the intangibles - leadership on a relatively unsuccessful defense (Kris Jenkins has been to a Super Bowl, but not a lot of others have won anything), and a very young secondary.

But I don't think there's any denying that this was the Jets' mindset. And I've come to the conclusion that it was probably a smart move.

Add to that the fact that Law had a pretty good game his first game back with the Jets (the above last-second touchdown notwithstanding - he's actually not pictured because he's obscured by the receiver who beat him there), and it looks even better. Law will be relied on again in a huge game this weekend...and the rest of the season he will be playing two roles for the Jets - team leader (the offense has their own seasoned vet at the quarterback position) and shutdown corner.

MID-SEASON UPDATE

With the season half-over (more so now, I guess, that the Denver-Cleveland game is well underway), I'm breaking out the baseball season analysis tools to break down the mid-year point of the NFL season. And the Jets.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: I think the Jets secondary deserves this nod - the likes of Kerry Rhodes and Darrelle Revis have been playing very well. The Jets aren't getting beat long - it's the short stuff that turns into big plays that ends up getting them. And the secondary has pulled down its share of interceptions.

MOST SURPRISING: Maybe the fact that the Jets have a legit shot at winning the division. And in Week 9 and 10 it's in their hands. A win against the Rams sets them up for a shot at taking over first place by themselves the week they play New England. Not sure even in my best-case-scenario that I saw that coming.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: I'm not sure this is least impressive or most frustrating, but it's the tackling on defense. This seems to plague the Jets year after year (and truth be told, it's other teams too that I see week in and week out where the tackling is poor), but with the Jets it seems worse. It seems like the game-changing plays could be stopped if someone could just wrap up the opposing player.

MOST DISAPPOINTING: Definitely the offensive line. The reason the Jets no longer have Chad Pennington is because they couldn't protect him and he nearly died playing quarterback for the New York Jets. Brett Favre is the QB now, and the only difference is he's more durable. He's taken the same amount of hits, if not more, and is getting very little protection. You would have hoped the line would gel by now - that doesn't seem to have happened.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: The New York Giants, easily. Yes, they're Super Bowl champs, but did anyone think they'd come out of the gates at 7-1? I picked them for the post-season, so I'm not shocked they're holding their own in the division, I'm just shocked at how well they've been doing that.

MOST SURPRISING: The most surprising teams are the Tennessee Titans and the Atlanta Falcons. Neither team, the Falcons mostly, did I expect to be in any sort of playoff run, let alone have the Titans be 8-0 and the Falcons a game off the pace in their division. That NFC South is pretty wild from year to year - I love how the last place team nearly always finishes in first place the next year. That's reason enough to root for continued success for the Falcons.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: The obvious answers are the winless Lions, at 0-8, and the 1-8 Bengals. Or the injury-riddled Colts or Seahawks. But the winner is a team that hasn't dealt with much of that and is still struggling in a year where it's there's for the taking - the San Diego Chargers. And that's why that Jets loss to them looks worse and worse every week.

MOST DISAPPOINTING: A lot of people will probably tell you the Cleveland Browns are the biggest disappointment, but I wasn't buying into them this year. Were you? Though (obviously, since this is a mid-season update) we're only halfway through, the 3-5 posted by the Jacksonville Jaguars has to be the most disappointing thing about the NFL so far. The way they ended last year was so promising - I thought they were a lock for a playoff spot. The fact that the Jets are two games better than them is surprising to me.

COMING UP: Before the games get underway on Sunday I'll preview the Jets' second half.

JETS WEEK: DEFENSE

The Jets were not 4-12 last year because of their defense. They weren't a tremendous defense, but they were OK - it was the offense that was awful. In typical Jets fashion, they gave up a ton of yards, but not very many points. Let's look at the final 9 games of last year (the first 8 they did give up a lot of points):

-13-3 loss to Buffalo

-23-20 loss to Washington

-19-16 win over Pittsburgh

-Thanksgiving Day (the worst of the bunch) - 34-3 loss to Dallas

-40-13 win over Miami

-24-18 loss to Cleveland

-20-10 loss to New England (when the Patriots were supposed to score 70, remember?)

-10-6 loss to Tennessee

-13-10 win over Kansas City

That's not a bad defensive stretch, points-wise.

The Jets were 29th in the league against the run, though, and went about trying to fix that for this year. New to the defense are Kris Jenkins and Calvin Pace. I feel like most of the defensive players are guys who can play more than one position. Pace, for instance, is a linebacker who used to be a defensive end. So is linebacker Bryan Thomas. I get the impression there will be a lot of defensive looks and a lot of mixing and matching players in and out.

Kerry Rhodes and Darrelle Revis are exciting young players in the secondary. I like watching them play. And I wonder if this unit isn't finished yet - the Jets were interested in John Lynch before he went to training camp with the Patriots. Now, he's been cut, so I wonder what about him was not enticing to the Patriots, though they did say they'd consider calling him back later in the year. But if the Jets were interested before, wouldn't the fact that he spend training camp with the Patriots make him even more attractive now, if for no other reason than information? Just throwing that out there.

The big difference between the Jets this year and last year is that the offense will be putting up some points. So the defense, I guess, has more room for error. And that's assuming they're as good as last year. If they're better, the team will be improved on both ends of the ball.

JETS WEEK: OFFENSE

I'm thrilled the Jets have Brett Favre as their quarterback this year. But the significant improvement the 2008 Jets will show over the 2007 version might be due a lot more to the person on the right side of this picture than the guy on the left.

That's Alan Faneca, and his name, along with a couple of other new ones on the offensive side of the ball, would have helped the team improve even if the quarterback wasn't named Brett Favre.

But that is the quarterback's name, so let's break down the Jets offense, as they head into their season opener on Sunday in Miami.

QB: Brett Favre is not as good as his numbers last year indicated. But he's still a great quarterback, and a different type of quarterback than what the Jets have had the past six years. He can throw the ball downfield and at a high velocity - two things that haven't been part of the Jets' gameplan recently. Of course, there's a higher risk factor than there has been as well, since Chad Pennington didn't turn the ball over very much....but in the end this is an upgrade, and it makes certain players better.

RB: One such person is running back Thomas Jones. Jones is coming off an OK season - he did have more than 1,000 yards, but only 2 rushing touchdowns. I think he'll break free more often this year in part because of the downfield threat that Favre brings to the table, but also because of fullback Tony Richardson, who has blocked in front of a number of very good running backs in his career (who probably wouldn't have done as well had he not been there). Jones and backups like Leon Washington will also benefit from a revamped:

Offensive Line: Youngsters Nick Mangold and D'Brickashaw Ferguson have had an up year and a down year. I didn't realize it at the time, but their up year was definitely aided by the veteran presence of Pete Kendall, who then left the Jets in an ugly contract dispute. This year, there's another veteran presence, with the additions of Faneca and Damien Woody alongside those two and Brandon Moore. Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens had no shot last year because there was no stopping the opposition's pass rush. Thomas Jones, as a result of the passing game, had no shot of getting significant yardage. You can realistically expect all of that to change this year because the Jets will have a legitimate offensive line, unless Mangold and Ferguson take a big step backward.

Receivers: Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery, as I've written before, seem very similar to the targets Brett Favre is used to from Green Bay. They can pick up a lot of yards after the catch. What they haven't had much opportunity to do over the years is outrun defenders for bombs, but in the pre-season it seems like Cotchery and Brad Smith have had those opportunities, and done well with them. (Although I can't help but think about how good Santana Moss would look running down Favre rainbows.) The biggest stumbling block for the Jets' receivers might be for Coles to get over the fact that his friend Pennington was released to make room for Favre. Once he realizes the Jets have a chance to win a lot more games this year, I think he'll be fine. Tight end Chris Baker might see his playing time reduced by the emergence of rookie Dustin Keller, but I think the tight end position will be a strength this year as well...or, at the very least, a popular target for Favre.

FOURTH IS A ROUT

Mets 11, Braves 1 (NYM: 4-0, ATL: 3-1)

Just like last year, when these 2007 Mets score first on the road, they're tough to beat. And when Craig Wilson misplayed a foul pop to first by THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, the Braves might as well have gone home. Shortly after (might have been the next pitch), Reyes delivered a gapper to right-center, which can mean just one thing - triple. He scored on a Paul Lo Duca sac fly, and the Mets led 1-0. In the second, they made it 2-0 after Jose Valentin doubled home Moises Alou, who had doubled.

I didn't make it very far into this game...falling asleep around the third inning. But I did see enough to feel comfortable that the Mets were in good shape. Especially after I woke up at various points when the broadcasters voices got excited, and heard that Jose Reyes had a second triple, and David Wright had two doubles (this is the year he breaks Gilkey's doubles record). Wright also now has a 16-game hitting streak dating back to last season.

The Mets' defense continues to impress. They turned 2 more double plays, and have yet to commit an error. Oliver Perez had an impressive season debut, and also turned in a nice defensive play on a sacrifice bunt attempt in the third (before I dozed). With a runner on first, Mark Redman tried to lay down the bunt, and Perez fielded it, whirled, and got the lead runner at second on a very tough play. Everything's breaking the Mets way right now.

Tom Glavine goes against John Smoltz in the season premiere of FOX Saturday Baseball Saturday afternoon. Should be fun to watch.


LA-Z-BOY JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jose Reyes gets an honorable mention for his 4 RBI on a 3-for-6 night, and any other night he'd get this nod. But the Mets scored 11 runs, and we know what they're capable of at bat. It's Oliver Perez who really impressed last night - 7 IP, 1 ER (a homer by Jeff Francoeur) on 5 hits, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts. The control is a huge issue for Perez. All 4 Mets starters are 1-0, which is fantastic...they've deserved the 'Player of the Game' award being handed down the rotation.

NOTES: Two important things to point out - one of the announcers, I want to say Ron Darling, pointed out that Rick Peterson, when he pitched, was a lefty, with the same arm angle as Oliver Perez. That's information I had never heard before. And that can only be good for Perez.

How about this nugget from the SNY broadcast? Friday night's game between the 3-0 Mets and 3-0 Braves was the first time since 1894 that two undefeated National League teams who had played 3 games or more had matched up. 1894!! And that was NOT a typo.

One more thing - wonder how many times Jose Reyes and David Wright have hit multiple triples and doubles, respectively, in a game. That might have been a first, now that I think about it.

A SMALL STEP BACKWARD

The headline refers not to the direction the Jets are headed (although it is very hard for me to stay positive right now, an hour after the game has ended), but to the turning point of this football game. I can't argue the play - like Phill Simms said on the telecast - Chad Pennington wasn't throwing the ball forward, so it was either a lateral or a backward pass. Credit the Patriots for picking the ball up, and turning that into a huge play that helped put the Jets away.

I should have known the direction this game was headed right off the bat, when the Patriots scored on their first drive. The Wife had some work to do, so I had The Baby, and the Patriots scored just as The Baby spit up on my lucky sweatshirt. I should have acted right then and there to change shirts, but, silly me, I thought the spit up may have been lucky.

The Jets fell behind 7-0 quickly, then had a couple of ineffective possessions. They did force a Corey Dillon fumble deep in New England territory, and I was thinking that they needed a touchdown, but settled for a field goal. At the time, I thought they wasted an opportunity - they did, but I forgot about it quickly, because at the beginning of the second quarter, Chad Pennington hit Jerricho Cotchery for a 77-yard touchdown pass, and the Jets were suddenly up, 10-7.

On the ensuing Patriots drive, the Jets blew another opportunity - Jonathan Vilma had Tom Brady for a sack and a chance to force the Patriots to punt, but he swiped at the ball, missed, and Brady picked up first down yardage. That resulted in a Pats' game-tying field goal (after a Jets' goal line stand). What bothered me more than Vilma missing Brady was the Jets gently putting Brady on the floor after he didn't slide - they had a chance to hit a quarterback and didn't do it.

The Jets then let the Patriots drive down the field before halftime, and gave up a touchdown instead of a field goal, letting New England take a 17-10 lead at the half. I didn't feel good about that deficit, because the Jets had the lead, and had chances to have a bigger lead - I didn't feel comfortable with anything less than a two-score Jets lead...so I never felt comfortable in this game.

The Jets and Patriots traded field goals in the third quarter, then came the key play I mentioned above. Pennington tried a screen pass, with the Jets down 7, at midfield, and the pass was knocked down. Unfortunately, it was a live ball, and Vince Wilfork picked it up and moved 31 yards down the field, setting up another New England field goal, and giving the Patriots a 23-13 lead.

The Jets still had a chance, especially after cutting it to 23-16 early in the 4th, but the defense couldn't stop the run, and the Patriots blew it open from there, scoring an offensive touchdown, and then adding an interception return for a touchdown.

The Jets gave up 158 yards on the ground - not a recipe for success in the regular season, let alone the post-season.

So another season comes to a close - and it's hard to think rationally right now, but it was a successful season. Even this playoff game was a positive in that the young guys can only grow from this experience. The Jets weren't supposed to be this good - but they were. They can only improve through the draft, and maybe free agency. Personally, it stinks that the Jets lost to the Patriots, with me living in New England, but that's some motivation for next year, too. Hopefully the Jets can pick up now where they left off two years ago - realizing it's not good to take to the road in the playoffs - so go out and win the division. The thing that would make me even more mad than I am right now is if they go out next year and have a sub-.500 season, if they don't show improvement. There's no reason to think it will happen (unless Pennington gets hurt), but this team is on the upswing, and that needs to continue.

THOUGHTS: I really was psyched this morning when I saw the headline of the Boston Globe sports section - a big article on how Asante Samuel wants to get his due this off-season, but knows he won't get it from the Patriots. I thought, "That could be a huge distraction..." It wasn't. He just increased his value for other teams.....

Really strange seeing a playoff game in New England in such nice weather.

The Patriots look good right now. I really don't buy into the Chargers and the Ravens...I can't see another AFC team beating them...unless the Patriots play a sloppy game like they did a lot during the regular season.

SUPER BOWL MATCHUPS: The Giants-Eagles game is still going on, but I'm going to start writing this anyway, not sure when I'll have time this week:

We're rooting against the Ravens and Giants.
We're rooting against the Patriots and Bears or Eagles.
We're rooting for the Colts or Chargers against anyone from the NFC.
We're rooting for the Saints against anyone from the AFC.

Just an update. Oh, and if you haven't already, go look below at what I predicted for the Cowboys-Seahawks game, and then look at the final score of the game!

CLOSE CALL

Jets 28, Bills 20 (NYJ: 2-1, BUF: 1-2)

The Jets made this one (again) a lot closer than it should have been. But they won, and they're 2-1, and depending on how the Patriots do in the Sunday night game, the Jets are going to be either a game out of first or in a tie for first.

I'm going to tell you something else - the Jets have a very real chance of being 5-3, maybe even 6-2, by the time their bye week rolls around. We'll get into that a little more as the weeks progress - but I have now shifted from hoping for a decent season to the possibility that the Jets can be one of the top teams in the AFC and make the playoffs.

The reason? They looked that good against Buffalo, which isn't a great team, but has been good enough the first couple of weeks. The Jets came out slow, which may have been by design, because the wind was blowing in their faces. And the Bills jumped out to a 7-0 and then 10-7 lead. But the Jets let Willis McGahee do their thing, and stopped every other facet of the Bills' game, which is exactly what their game plan should have been. (Everything fell apart in the final couple of minutes, but I now know to expect that the Jets aren't going to get anything easily this year.)

Willis McGahee got his 150 yards rushing, but the Jets kept him out of the end zone. And the Jets themselves moved the ball on the ground - nothing brilliant, but 74 yards on 24 carries - including 2 for 10 by Cedric Houston, who scored a late touchdown! (Derrick Blaylock was inactive Sunday.) Houston looked good - I'm going to start beating his drum again.

The Jets defense forced 3 turnovers - 2 fumbles by J.P. Losman, and an interception, and didn't really allow the Bills to move the ball in the air until the final two minutes. Chad Pennington was brilliant again. This was more of a typical Pennington performance - 19 of 29, for 183 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown came inside the Red Zone, where in his career Pennington is now 44 TD's to 0 INT's. And it came on a beautiful play fake - I love watching Pennington do those.

There were some really great signs of life in this ballgame. The Jets running game showed promise. Pennington made some great decisions. The defense played great when it had to. I don't know if it will be enough to beat Indianapolis next week (although I'll find a way to pick the Jets by Friday), but it may be enough to beat Jacksonville in two weeks. But again, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself - let's just enjoy a winning record.

HOME OPENER HEARTBREAK

Patriots 24, Jets 17 (NYJ: 1-1, NE: 2-0)

This loss stung. There was plenty of good to take away from it, since it wasn't supposed to be a game, and the first half made it look like it wasn't going to be a game, but the Jets nearly came all the way back to tie. But it's still a loss, and it stinks to lose...especially to the Patriots for the 7th time in a row.

The Jets are getting killed by the fact that they have no running game. Honestly, they got lucky that they got so close in the end, because Chad Pennington got to the point where he was just tossing the ball up, and Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles made outstanding plays to turn short gainers into quick touchdowns, while Pennington was just avoiding a blitz. Pennington sells a play-action fake as well as anyone in the league - but the Jets have no running game at all, and teams are going to do what the Patriots did on Sunday - play the pass constantly, because the Jets' running game won't hurt you. I'm not even going to make a case for Cedric Houston this week, because there's no way he can be effective either, the way the Jets' O-line is playing. (And I forgot to mention this, but the Jets lost Pete Kendall to an injury last week in Tennessee - that doesn't make matters any better.)

The running numbers this week:

Barlow: 14 rushes, 42 yards
Blaylock: 6/7
Washington: 1/0
Askew: 1/0

The Jets' defense played well again, but allowed the Patriots to march down the field and score a little too easily a couple of times. The worst thing that happened to the Jets this week was the Ben Graham punt right before halftime, which went about 10 yards, and allowed the Patriots to add 7 instead of pinning them deep, going into halftime down 10-0...it became 17-0, then 24-0 early in the 3rd.

There's definitely reason to feel this could be a promising season, especially with how bad some of the other supposedly good AFC teams have looked. Miami fell to 0-2, playing an awful game against Buffalo, who the Jets will match up with next week (and the Jets have looked better than Buffalo - they need to make a statement and win that game handily next week). Denver, for the second week in a row, looked horrid, squeaking out a win against the Damon Huard-led Chiefs at home in overtime. So there's hope that the Jets could put together a decent season - but I'd feel a lot better about things if the Jets didn't give up so many points early - and instead of coming back from a huge deficit were able to keep pace with the Patriots throughout the game.

By the way, Tom Brady made some uncharacteristic mistakes in this game - mostly in the second half - throwing an interception to David Barrett, and losing the ball on a sack late in the game. The Patriots are a shaky 2-0 right now...but they're still 2-0.

Chad Pennington had his second 300-yard passing day - mostly thanks to the yard-after-catches by his receivers - but he was a (mostly) mistake-free 306 yards, with 2 TD's and 1 INT. He was sacked 4 times, but that's due to the offensive line, which still has a lot of work to do. The Jets NEED to beat Buffalo next week.

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.

JETS 29, TEXANS 7

Before I even get into the football part of the game, let me just tell you that this was the worst officiated game I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen a good amount of football. The referee was Tom White...don't expect to see his crew doing any important games down the stretch here. Actually, what you should expect is to hear something about this crew apologizing to both the Jets and the Texans this week, and if they don't, it's a shame. They were absolutely horrible. I wouldn't be surprised if Tom White actually retires at the end of this year - a lot of the errors looked like a senile old man trying to figure out what was going on...the NFL should gently nudge him out the door.

Here's what I mean: Third quarter, the Jets stop the Texans on their own 2, so Houston punts out of their own end zone. The ball is snapped, it goes out of the end zone for a safety, and then the ref comes out and says, "There was no snap, the players weren't ready." WHAT? Are you kidding me? If the players weren't ready, how come the ball was snapped?!!? Then, there were two more penalties on the next two punt attempts as the Texans tried to punt out of the end zone. So a safety was taken away from the Jets. Then, just to show I'm not only pointing out how the Jets got screwed, Houston also got screwed. David Carr takes 3 steps back to pass, then throws a pass to the sideline. The receiver, obviously running the wrong route, continues towards the end zone, so there's no one around to catch the ball, it drops harmlessly. After about 15 seconds, White throws a flag, and calls intentional grounding. Intentional grounding?!?!? It was a miscommunication - you can't call intentional grounding on that!! Then, to make matters worse, the crew couldn't remember the down, so the loss of down confused the hell out of them. And one more thing - they walked off ten yards on a 15-yard penalty, and only remembered to walk off the extra five yards right before the ball was snapped.

OK. There was also a football game. Chad Pennington looked great - he made one bad pass, an interception (that turned out to not be costly), right before halftime. He threw two touchdowns, only had about 155 yards passing, but he was good ol' Chad Pennington, leading the Jets to a 22-point win. Curtis Martin was also great, one touchdown caught and another rushing, another 100+ yard game on the ground. The defense also played another great game. Everyone keeps pushing this stat - the Jets have six second-half shutouts this year. That's all well and good, but it's a second-half collapse that's killing the Jets right now (the Baltimore game), so I'm not too crazy about the fact that they've had six of the second-half shutouts. I'll be impressed if they keep doing it, I guess. But still, the defense is playing very well - they really kept the Texans' long passing game in check.

The Jets also got plenty of help on Sunday. The Jets are 9-3, and they now have a 2-game lead on the Ravens and the Broncos in the wild card race, as those two teams both lost. The only help the Jets didn't get was from the Browns, and the division still looks like a long shot at this point. More on that later in the week.

I gotta go....your e-mails tomorrow, if you care to send along something.

Jets 13, Cardinals 3

The Jets really needed their defense to step up since Chad Pennington went down. The whole team collapsed in the game against the Baltimore Ravens...but since then, the defense has been BIG. On Sunday against Arizona, the defense came through late, stopping the Cardinals three different times in the last 6 and a half minutes, causing turnovers on three plays. Jonathan Vilma picked off a pass and recovered a fumble, and it doesn't hurt that the Cardinals stink, but the Jets won another game they had to win, and now they're 8-3.

Another highlight from Sunday's game was Quincy Carter hooking up with Santana Moss on a 69-yard touchdown pass that helped put the game out of reach. It was quite possibly one of the greatest offensive plays in Jets history, just because there hasn't been much out there to choose from. Another positive out of the Cardinals game was that when Carter got hurt early on, in stepped Brooks Bollinger, and he didn't do a bad job. I think by next season he will be a very capable backup, and it's a bonus that he got to see some NFL game action against a very non-threatening team like the Cardinals.

A couple of notes on the defense. First of all, they really have played well all year. And the past two games they've been very good against two sub-par teams. They gave up 3 points this week, and 7 points last week. Next week will be a test against Houston, and they need to respond, because things only get tougher after that.

The most upsetting thing about Sunday's game was what was happening in New England. The Ravens played horribly against the Patriots, and it made you realize that there's no way they should have scored 20 points against the Jets, let alone win that game. That loss against the Ravens still hurts.

Luckily for the Jets, though, they came out on top no matter who won the Ravens-Patriots game. A Ravens win would have put the Jets closer to catching the Patriots, but since the Patriots won, the Jets now have the upper hand in the wild card chase. (It's getting to be that time of year, where Wednesdays are going to be Wild Card Scenario days.) It would also help tonight if the Raiders beat the Broncos, but I'm not counting on that. I'm actually looking forward to the game, though, because it's snowing in Denver!

Time to get back to the homework. The Jets are 8-3, they need 10 or 11 wins to be in good postseason shape. We'll be talking about this some more in the coming weeks, but the remaining games are Houston, Pittsburgh, Seattle, New England, Saint Louis. After Seattle got crushed by Buffalo on Sunday, that game and the St. Louis game look a lot less daunting. Hopefully the Jets still have 3 or 4 wins left in them...and hopefully next week marks the return of Chad Pennington.

We'll have your e-mail tomorrow. Oh wait, before I go - I saw on the ESPN crawl that the Jets worked out a contract for Shaun Ellis, so that takes care of one of their big name free agents. That's very good news. I'll try to have more on that tomorrow.

Jets 10, Browns 7

Let's see if I can get back on track this week with daily updates.

A couple of weeks ago, before the Baltimore debacle, I said the Jets' defense would have to start stepping up and win the Jets a couple of games while Chad Pennington was out. On Sunday, the defense didn't exactly win the Jets the game, but they sure put them in a position to win...and the offense almost didn't. There's not much to say about the game in Cleveland other than: the Jets won. They're 7-3, and they won. It doesn't matter that they scored just 10 points, it matters that they won. I feel like it's been more than 2 weeks since they last won...it feels like it's been much longer. But this was a game the Jets needed to win, and they did the job, and there's another game like that coming up next week (in Arizona), and the Jets just need to survive one more week without Pennington. There's an outside chance he'll be back for the Texans game on December 5th. If he's not, we'll worry about that then.

Quincy Carter didn't really lead the Jets to victory in Cleveland. He handed the ball off a lot, and Curtis Martin and LaMont Jordan had fairly effective games. Justin McCareins, though, was the difference. He came back to catch a slightly off-target pass from Carter on third down, then had to dive full out for the first down, and then caught a screen pass and took that in about 10 yards for the Jets' lone touchdown. Then the Jets' defense held the Browns down for the rest of the game. The Jets' defense played OK, but in reality, Kelly Holcombe played a horrible game. Next week, the D needs to step up again and shut down the Cardinals.

After the Cardinals game, the Jets have the Texans, Steelers, Seahawks, Patriots, and Rams. Tough games. But remember this, for all those who think the Jets have played a very soft schedule to this point: you're right, but the Jets have hung with the good teams they've played. The Jets beat the Chargers in week 2, and the Chargers are also 7-3, and the Jets could have beaten the 8-1 Patriots. So for the experts I've heard recently saying the Jets are going to finish 9-7, I say, don't get ahead of yourselves.

I'm not going to get too far ahead of myself, but hopefully the Jets have 9 wins after they play the Texans in 2 weeks. Then, is it unrealistic to think the Jets can split their last four games...or even win three of them? I don't think so...but I'll get into that a little more as the weeks progress. First, the Jets need to beat the Cardinals.

I want to get to the e-mails I haven't even looked at since last week (we'll still do mail call on Tuesday this week as well)...

"Dear Johnnyjets,

In the last 4 weeks, the Jets have lost to New England, beat 1-6 Miami, lost to 2-win Buffalo, and lost to a very solid Ravens team.
Quincy Carter is the QB for at least another week. And still looming in the final 4 weeks of the schedule are teams currently atop their divisions (at Pittsburgh, Seattle, New England, and at St. Louis).
So now to my question: Do Jets fans prefer the George Washington Bridge or one of the many other river crossings in greater New York?
I hope Johnnyjets takes the Lincoln Tunnel. Much safer.
--Dave in Brighton"

Wow, Dave in Brighton, getting smart. I think I addressed Dave's concerns in the paragraphs preceding the e-mail. Thanks for writing, Dave, and I look forward to hearing from you tomorrow.

Now, this:

"Hello Johnboy. Love your show! Thanks for taking my call.

I was wondering, did you know that 'Job then spongy jolts' is an anagram for 'Johnnyjetsblogspot'? It's one of many actually. But, surprisingly, the only anagram for 'Johnnyjets' by itself is 'Jest Johnny.' Interesting, huh?

Moving on... Do you think, in light of his refusal to run a pass play with eight seconds left from the three yard line in a 17-17 game, that Herman Edwards should coach with a dress on for the rest of the season? I do. (And if he wears high heels with that dress, he can use one of them to kick Lamont Jordan in the junk for failing to get that pass out of the end zone in the first half.)

One other question. I asked last week, but you failed to answer: do you wear a green cape?

Thanks. And Go [for a wildcard berth] Jets!

Love Always,
Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"

As always, thanks for writing Al. Yet another week you bring incomparable information to this space. Jest Johnny. I'm not laughing. No, Herman Edwards should not wear a dress. He's a man with a plan...as evidenced by this anagram, formed by the name HERMAN EDWARDS: READ MAN SHREWD

Read that shrewd man. Anyway, our lives have all been affected once again by an Al Montoya e-mail. And, no, I do not wear a green cape. All of the time.

P.S. On a personal note, Sunday was one of the greatest pool days I've ever had. I'm working on one loss in my confidence pool going into Sunday night's Packers-Texans game (where a win by the Texans, even though I picked the Packers, actually works in my favor), and I had a big week in my spread picks for this site. I think I will also win my fantasy football game. And the Jets won. OK - your e-mails in the next posting - write away!

Jets 41, Dolphins 14

Well, I was hoping the Jets would get some offense going...I didn't think it would happen this week, though. After a slow, excruciatingly conservative first and most of the second quarter, the Jets finally showed what they can do on offense. (I only wish they had opened it up like this last week - they might still be undefeated...Thaaaaat's right, Al Montoya - I'm "would've" and "could've-ing" again...we'll get to you later.) Chad Pennington threw for only 189 yards, but that's mostly because the Jets didn't throw the ball for the first 27 minutes of the game, nor the last 27 minutes. The big number with Pennington is his 3 touchdowns - for the first time since week one, he threw a touchdown to a wide receiver - and he did it twice! I have a feeling this is the turnaround game for the Jets' offense, which is a good thing, because the tough games are coming up.

Curtis Martin showed the national television audience what he's been showing regional television audiences all season long - that he's friggin' unstoppable. Martin rushed for 115 yards in two and a half quarters of work, including a 25-yard touchdown run where he just exploded down the sideline. Martin left with a bruised leg, but there was also plenty of garbage time (I have a feeling that if the game was close, Martin would have been in there). And in that garbage time, LaMont Jordan once again showed why he's a valuable member of this team: 115 yards and a touchdown for Jordan. He looked great too...it's tough to imagine what the Jets are going to look like next year without Jordan to pick up where Martin leaves off.

Wayne Chrebet dropped Pennington's fourth touchdown pass, but other than that the Jets' receivers had their best night of the season - at least as far as catching passes. Santana Moss had a big 47-yard catch-and-run - his first big play all season. Justin McCareins made a nice play on a slightly overthrown ball by Pennington, and then made an acrobatic play to get across the goal line for the touchdown; he had 56 yards receiving to lead the team. And Chrebet did catch the first touchdown of the game....before dropping one of the best passes I've seen Pennington throw all season.

The Jets' defense played another outstanding game. The only touchdown Miami scored that meant anything (their second TD came with 0:00 left in the game) came when John Abraham was on the bench tending to a dislocated finger. It's really unbelievable what Abraham means to this defense - the pressure he puts on the quarterback improves the whole unit. Jonathan Vilma had 9 tackles, leading the team, and Jon McGraw started in place of Reggie Tongue - McGraw had an interception.

Let's get to the mailbag, since the Monday night game is pushing everything off slightly:
First, an angry e-mail from a Michigan alum, referring to the Jets-Pats recap:

"From johnnyjets.blogspot.com, 10/25: "...The Jets should have won this game. That [Sowell] fumble is what makes this loss so tough. Still, the Jets had a chance to win it late, and didn't come through.... So all in all, the Jets matched up well with the Patriots. Which is what most of us, I think, expected. They should have won, which is what I expected, but I don't think most others thought that..."

I'm getting to this late b/c I am not as dedicated a reader of your site as I should be (and of course now the Patriots' whole season could go in the toilet if their injury situation doesn't improve even though they did it with back-ups all last year, but I digress), but I wanted to chime in on the above commentary from your site...

Those are the comments made by almost every player and fan of almost every team the Patriots beat during their 21 game winning streak. Sorry, but Sowell DID fumble. Brady DID lead the Pats right down the field at the end of the first half. Pennington's pass WAS woefully short and thrown into double coverage on fourth down in the closing minutes. Those are the plays or non-plays that decide games. The Patriots have repeatedly made the late game plays to win games (AND PROVE THEY ARE THE BETTER TEAM) while their opponents have not. I expected a higher appreciation for that from your esteemed web site. For shame!

-Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"

Hey Al, first of all, Monday night - B.J. Askew - 6 carries, 23 yards, and Victor Hobson, 2 tackles. Second of all, it's johnNYJETS.blogspot.com, not johnNEPATS.blogspot.com. I'm here to talk Jets, not to praise the opposition. The Patriots did prove they were the slightly better team last week...but they're not much better. Last year they were much better - not this year. You'll see what I'm talking about on December 26th....when the Jets will NOT make the mistakes that will cost them the game.

I just said I don't praise the opposition...but I will say this. Tom Brady is a class act. I hate to respect an opponent I should hate, but I can't hate this guy. (I fell into this same trap with Peyton Manning a few years ago, but I've learned to dislike him, we'll see if the same thing happens with Brady.) But I happened upon the crappy Boston sports radio station Monday night, and I have to say why, because I hate listening to that station. I was setting my car radio to the sports station so that when I got out of my class, I would be able to hear the Jets game as soon as I turned on the car (I had a class from 7-10pm). Anyway, while I was doing that, they replayed a conversation from earlier Monday morning with Tom Brady on the morning show. He's just a class act - he's always a good interview, and here he is the early morning after a tough loss on the road (the first loss in 22 games), and he's giving good answers to somewhat tough questions. I understand he's under contract to do that sort of thing, but it's not like he's telling these guys that Pam Oliver needs a spanking or anything like that - he's a class act. But so is Chad Pennington.

OK, next e-mail:

"Dear Johnnyjets,
After hearing all this weekend's excitement over Terrell Owens copying Ray Lewis' dance, I was wondering if you ever do a dance in your classroom after accomplishing something good.
For example, when you taught the kids order of operations, did you spike a blackboard eraser on somebody's head? Did you do the worm after teaching them you can't divide by zero? Have you ever copied another teacher's dance, and if so, how did that teacher vow to get back at you?Just wondering,
Dave in Brighton"

Dave - actually, I'm not a fan of showing anyone up. However, if I tell a school that I would never teach at that school ever, and then I end up teaching a lesson against that school, and I teach a good lesson on that big stage, then I might steal one of their teacher's celebratory dances to rub it in a little more. And, no that teacher has never vowed revenge......yet.

So, that's it for tonight. I need to tend to some homework...The Jets are again in a tie for first place in the division at 6-1. Next week, it's at Buffalo. I can't imagine a scenario where the Jets lose that game.

JETS 16, BILLS 14

When I read the New York Daily News this morning, and saw their preview predicting a Jets 16-13 win, I was thinking, what are you, crazy? Then I reviewed my pick, Jets, 28-17, and what I wrote on Thursday - that it would be a little closer than you might expect, but the Jets would still win comfortably. Well, it was A LOT closer than you might have expected...and the Jets won, but not comfortably. (Good prediction, Daily News.)

Again, the play-calling was way too conservative. There were a ton of opportunities in the game for the Jets to put the Bills away. Up 7-0 as halftime was approaching, the Jets had the ball at about the 15 yard line with 13 seconds left, and instead of taking a shot into the end zone to try to get a touchdown, the Jets let the clock run down, called timeout, then kicked a field goal to take a 10-0 lead into the half instead of 14-0. In the second half, the Jets had a couple of offensive series where they went three and out on a few running plays instead of spreading the field and jumping out to a bigger lead. That allowed the Bills to get back into the game.

Chad Pennington had a pretty good game statistically. Probably the quietest 300-yard passing game you'll see. He finished 31 of 42 for 304 yards. He threw 1 Touchdown and 1 interception, and the interception was not a smart play. Instead of taking a sack, Pennington tried to force a pass, which was picked off. (That INT led to the first Buffalo touchdown.) He did that again later in the game, but luckily completed the pass. This is the difference, though, between a Pennington-led Jets team, though, and any other Jets team. After the Jets fell behind 14-13, I felt they would be able to turn it on offensively, and come right back down the field to score and take the lead back. That's what they did. Pennington found everyone on the drive - Chrebet, Sowell, McCareins, and Becht (what a catch!) en route to Doug Brien's game-winning field goal. But again, this is something we've talked about, if the Jets can drive down the field at will when they need to win the game, they should be able to throw the ball a lot more earlier in the game to pad their lead a bit.

Curtis Martin rushed for just 77 yards - his lowest total so far on the year. Not a bad effort, though, considering the Bills' defense isn't too bad. The Bills, by the way, continue to hold the title of "Best Winless Team in the NFL". Another hard-luck loss for them.

The main reason the Jets won this game, though, was the defense. Jonathan Vilma again started at middle linebacker, and did another good job. He was involved in a lot of big plays. So was John Abraham. He's just getting better every week. I predicted two things for this game - the Jets would test the Bills deep on offense often (wrong on that count), and that the Jets would sack Drew Bledsoe a lot. They got him four times - and Abraham had 3 of those sacks. (Vilma had the other.) Abraham was constantly pressuring Bledose, and the 'D' knew just when to put pressure on him to force him to rush a pass. The only two touchdowns for the Bills came late in the game, which isn't good, but, seriously, the Jets should have been up by 24 points, not 13, when the Bills got those two TD's.

All that said, the Jets are 4-0. They're playing well enough to beat teams like the Dolphins, Bills, and 49ers, who they play next week. But the Jets have to work on a lot of things over the next couple of weeks if they want to be able to beat the Patriots on the 24th. They will not win that game unless they open up the offense more than they did on Sunday against Buffalo.

Tuesday's mail day - share your thoughts on Sunday's game, next Sunday's game, or anything else on your mind. Send your e-mails by Monday evening.

Before I continue with "Preview Week", I must note this: I'm watching the Cowboys-Titans right now on Monday Night Football, and Vinny Testaverde is making Bill Parcells look like a genius. He's throwing like crazy, and he looks good. Either that, or the Titans defense has been horrible. One or the other, I haven't been watching that long. But it seems like Testaverde and Keyshawn Johnson have the same chemistry they had with the Jets. I do, though, expect Testaverde to throw an interception any second. OK - on with Preview Week.

DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS

The Jets defense was one of the biggest reasons for last year's 6-10 record. Because of that, there have been a lot of changes, and I think that most of them, if not all, make this Jets defense better than last year's.

Most notable gone are LB's Mo Lewis and Marvin Jones. Most notably added are LB Eric Barton, CB David Barrett, and S Reggie Tongue, along with first round draft pick LB Jonathan Vilma. Also likely to make an impact this season are rookie S Erik Coleman, and rookie CB Derrick Strait.

Everyone is stressing the fact that the defense is faster and younger this year. That's a big factor, but when you combine it with the fact that new defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson employs a very aggressive strategy, it becomes even more of a factor. He threw all kinds of looks at the Giants last Friday, and that was in a preseason game. So I have a feeling he has a bunch more tricks up his sleeve that he's waiting for the regular season to unveil. The past few years, the Jets would give up huge chunks of yardage under Ted Cottrell, before tightening up closer to their goal line. I think the days of opponents marching up and down the field on the Jets 'D' are over.

The D-line is a huge factor this year. Shaun Ellis, Dewayne Robertson, Jason Ferguson, and John Abraham should be the starters. Ellis had the huge year last year, Robertson had a bad rookie season, Ferguson's a solid veteran, and Abraham is coming off a disappointing season, but is going to be a big factor this year (it should also be noted Ellis and Abraham are playing for contracts this year). The Jets plan to use Abraham as a sometime-lineman, sometime-linebacker, as he'll sometimes drop back into coverage. That should be fun to watch, and I think it is a good fit for Abraham. Robertson needs to bounce back with a good year - if not, he'll be labeled a bust, and that'll be tough for him to shake the rest of his career. I have a feeling Ellis is going to have another good year, and I think the Jets are more interested at this point in re-signing Ellis than they are Abraham.

The starting linebackers will most likely be Barton, Sam Cowart in the middle, and Victor Hobson. Vilma is the next in line, and could steal a lot of playing time from Cowart, but I'm pretty sure the Jets will be starting Cowart come September 12th. This is a very improved unit - I think Hobson's going to have a great career, for whatever that's worth. He and Vilma should be playing side-by-side for a long time, and Barton's only 26 years old. I'm looking forward to seeing him play, because I don't know too much about him.

Another player I don't know much about is Barrett. He is a part of the revamped secondary, which is another area the Jets have gone to great lengths to improve. Barrett is slated at one corner, and Donnie Abraham is the other. I think Abraham is hurt, though, and won't be ready by opening day...so Ray Mickens will be the starter in his place. Right behind Mickens is Strait, who will see a lot of work in dime action, and I don't think the coaches need to much of an excuse to put Strait into the starting lineup. I think they've been impressed, and like him a lot. Another rookie they like a lot is Coleman, and I think at this point, Coleman is the starter at strong safety over new acquisition Reggie Tongue. Tongue has been disappointing, and has been hurt on and off during training camp, and Coleman has been very impressive so far. The other safety is Jon McGraw, who was never really the same last year after he got hurt in the season opener in Washington. I think McGraw is going to be very good, if he can stay healthy. I look forward to seeing him get a full year of playing time.

As I segue from defense into special teams, I will also note that on Monday the Jets cut LB Quincy Stewart, and punter Brian Simjanovski. Stewart had 15 tackles for the Jets on special teams last season, and I have a feeling he was cut now so he can try to hook on with another team before the pre-season is over. The Jets just don't have room for him on the roster. Simjanovski was signed because starting punter Toby Gowin hasn't been 100-percent healthy during training camp. With the cutdown deadlines approaching, the Jets didn't need him. They can probably always re-sign him if they need another kicker - Simjanovski had already been cut once by the Jets during training camp. Anyway, the revolving door at punter continues for the Jets with Gowin this year. He's been with the Cowboys, and replaces Dan Stryszinski. As long as he can boot the ball I'm fine with Gowin. Doug Brien returns as the placekicker, and he's solid. He had one bad situation last year, in the regular season against the Giants, when he didn't get on the field in time to kick a field goal. Brien's a solid kicker, and I think the Jets have solved their mental lapses, so I don't see those types of situations repeating themselves this year.

As for kick returns, Jonathan Carter will handle kickoffs, and Santana Moss handles punts. This should be exciting. Carter showed what he could do last year, and Moss is one of the best punt returners in the NFL. Field position should not be a problem for the Jets in 2004.

Tomorrow we'll preview the offense.

Welcome to preview week here at johnnyjets.blogspot.com.

We begin preview week with a review of Friday night's Jets-Giants preseason game. Chad Pennington was OK - but he made it through the game healthy, which is all anyone should care about. He might not even play in the preseason finale on Friday - which is a good thing. Curtis Martin had a heavy workload, I think 12 carries for 50 yards. He says he's ready for the regular season, and feels better than he did last year.

But I think the most important development from Friday's preseason game was the way the defense came out feeling about itself. After a couple of questionable outings in which they didn't prove they were a much better defensive unit than they were last year, the D broke out on Friday. They killed Eli Manning, forcing turnovers and pressuring him into mistakes. (That bodes well for the first game of the season, when they play Carson Palmer, who'll be making his first NFL start...but I digress.) But the biggest thing was new defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson's game plan. He blitzed everyone, from every angle. That's something the Jets haven't been doing much of in recent years, and it would be fun to watch in the regular season.

So the Jets won 2 out of their first 3 preseason games, and finish the preseason on Friday against Philadelphia. Don't expect to see many of the starters play, and if they do play, don't expect to see much of them. After that, the Patriots and Colts start the season on Thursday, September 9th, and the rest of the NFL gets started on Sunday the 12th - the Jets host the Bengals.

If you feel like the 12th's never going to come, I'll help you through it. First, a breakdown of the Jets - we'll do that all this week. Then next week, we'll get into our regular routine for the season. I'll break out that schedule next week. For this week, here's what you can expect:

Tuesday: Focus on Jets' defense/special teams
Wednesday: Focus on Jets' offense
Thursday: Jets season preview/thoughts on season/mail
Friday: Rest of the NFL preview

Don't forget the mail aspect on Thursday - that's when I'll respond to your e-mailed thoughts, questions, and comments. Send your e-mails by Wednesday to johnnyjetsmail@yahoo.com. We've already gotten some mail - keep it coming!