Jets Takeoff

WHAT ABOUT DARRELLE?

Darrelle Revis is still a holdout. And that brings me to my question for the day:

How do the Jets reward head coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum with contract extensions and not take care of the best cornerback in the league?

Ryan and Mr. T re-upped last week through 2014. For Tannenbaum, it’s deserved. When you look at the way he’s run this franchise and who he’s brought in, it’s obvious that he’s one of the best GMs in the league. Rex, on the other hand, got a gift. Listen, I like him and I think he’s a good coach, but he hasn’t won anything yet. Remember, as close as the Jets were to getting to the Super Bowl (30 minutes), they were equally as close to not making the playoffs (9-7). Even their own coach wrote them off down the stretch.

And how do you think Nick Mangold and David Harris feel right about now? They’re looking for new contracts as well.

I usually side with ownership, and I’m not against Woody Johnson in this case either. But the Jets need Revis to be on the field. They knew this was going to happen. The timing of the Ryan and Tannenbaum extensions just doesn’t seem right.

THE GIANTS GET IT RIGHT, WHILE THE JETS DON’T GET IT

From Paul Schwartz, New York Post:

Following the 2007 season’s Super Bowl glory, HBO sought to feature the Giants in the next summer’s “Hard Knocks” but that request was quickly dashed. Can you imagine Tom Coughlin opening the front door of his inner sanctum to a bunch of cameras and microphones intent on revealing all the behind-the-scenes stories of camp? “C’mon in guys, we’re just getting down to cutting some players, this should be some good stuff.”

Not happening.

“It never got further than me — although I think it’s a safe bet that the coach and GM agree,” co-owner John Mara yesterday told The (New York) Post. “I think the way it was positioned was ‘We know you probably won’t be interested, but if you ever change your mind let us know.’ I happen to like the show and I think they do a good job with it. It’s just not for us. We are at training camp to get our team ready for the season — not to be part of a TV show.”

The show goes on without the Giants and it won’t only be HBO infiltrating the Cortland countryside. Just watch. The national media will flock to the Jets, and why not? They’re regarded by many as Super Bowl favorites, there’s never a dull moment around (Rex) Ryan, and with the additions of LaDainian Tomlinson, Santonio Holmes, Antonio CroMartie and Jason Taylor, the ongoing Darrelle Revis saga and the matinee-idol appeal of Mark Sanchez, there’s something for everyone.

To be sure, the Giants have issues, but they’re grounded in football, not fireworks. This training camp is about retribution, not ratings.

“Our fans don’t want promises or predictions,” said Pat Hanlon, the Giants vice president of communications. “They want results. This has been a tremendously challenging offseason. We all got called out at the end of last season. Our football operation — Jerry Reese, Tom Coughlin, our scouts, coaches and players — has worked its [butt] off to put us in position to erase the memory of last season. Training camp is the next step in the process of achieving the ultimate objective: victory. And it requires absolute commitment and focus.”

And peace and quiet; the way the Giants like it.

The way it should be.

THE JETS SHOULD NOT BE ON “HARD KNOCKS”

Let me go on the record as saying I’m not a fan of the Jets appearing on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” this preseason. This can only be a distraction for an organization heading into a year where expectations are as high as they’ve ever been in my lifetime.

In any event, the AP has a story on the show today. HBO will air a 12 minute preview at 11 p.m. tonight and the show will begin on August 11, the first of five Wednesday night episodes.

The Jets seem more than willing to provide entertaining footage. This is all you need to know about the Jets mindset heading into the season:

“Rex Ryan lives for this,” said the President of HBO Sports, Ross Greenburg. “This isn’t about, ‘Oh, you can bring the cameras in.’ This is like he’s swinging the door open and waving everyone in. ‘Come on in! Let us show you what we do here.’ I’ve never seen this kind of enthusiasm for bringing the walls down and showing people how an NFL team works.”

This is not a good thing, Jets’ fans.

Author Don Yaeger has announced on his Twitter page that he has been contracted to write a book with Jets’ head coach Rex Ryan.

According to the Daily News, the memoir will be ”a nontraditional autobiography that blends Ryan’s upbringing with his leadership style.” More from the Daily News:

Yaeger, who has written books on Walter Payton, Warrick Dunn and Warren Moon, will spend the next several weeks with Ryan to capture the essence of the Jets’ brash, tell-it-like-it-is leader. The former Sports Illustrated editor will spend some time with Ryan at training camp in August before finishing the manuscript in December. The autobiography will be published by Doubleday Books and released in late spring 2011.

Did I miss something? When did Ryan win a Super Bowl? The guy’s been a head coach for one year and now appears to be doing a lot more talking than coaching. Let’s win something first, Rex, then worry about a book. For now Rex, I’ll turn to guys like Parcells and Riley and Torre who have actually accomplished something and whose leadership skills you’d be wise to emulate.

It’s never too early to preview the upcoming season.

Here’s the Buffalo News’ take on the Jets:

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan obviously is not an advocate of the public relations mantra “Undersell and overdeliver.”

Ryan overdelivered in his first year as the Jets’ coach in 2009. But he’s not underselling after his team’s blockbuster offseason moves in 2010. “I came here to win,” Ryan said the week after the NFL draft. “I didn’t come here to be average. I know I’m going to be judged on whether I win a championship, and I’m man enough to go for it, where a lot of other guys aren’t.”

Ryan calls the Jets “an outstanding football team. When we get to playing, we’ll be just fine. We plan on being the team that wins the whole thing.”

The Jets look like the pretraining camp favorites of what has become a beastly AFC East division. Coming off a surprising playoff run to the AFC title game, New York added former NFL interception champion Antonio Cromartie to its defense and former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Santonio Holmes to its offense.

More good news for the Jets: They will be rolling in new money with the opening of their new stadium.

I’m not sure about that new money part, as we here in New York have seen how difficult it’s been to sell the PSLs. But I do like what I hear from Ryan. I’ve criticized him in the past because there are times when you’d like to see the Jets tone it down a bit, but I have no problem with him saying he’s here to win a championship, and that he won’t settle for anything less. He’s admitting that the talent is there, that it’s on his shoulders to put it all together. What’s wrong with that?

More about the Jets from the Buffalo News:

Key gains: CB Antonio Cromartie (Chargers), WR Santonio Holmes (Steelers), LB Jason Taylor (Dolphins), RB LaDainian Tomlinson (Chargers), CB Kyle Wilson (Boise State), G Vlad Ducasse (Massachusetts), K Nick Folk (Cowboys).

Key losses: RB Thomas Jones (Chiefs), G Alan Faneca (Cards), RB Leon Washington (Seahawks), S Kerry Rhodes (Cardinals), CB Lito Sheppard (Vikings), K Jay Feeley (Cardinals).

Breakdown: Cromartie, added for a third-round pick in 2011, looks good because he doesn’t have to be the No. 1 corner. Holmes is one foul-up from being suspended for a year. He’s suspended the first four games. But he caught 79 passes last year and he’s in a contract year. The Jets gave up only a fifth-round pick to get him. Worried that Jones had reached the decrepit age of 31 for a running back, the Jets handed the job to young Shonn Greene.

Questions: Can Ryan light a fire under Cromartie, who underachieved the last two years? Can Ducasse fill Faneca’s giant shoes? Can Tomlinson get a spring in his step? Can LB Vernon Ghoulston avoid getting cut? Can Rhodes be replaced?

Click here to read the paper’s AFC East preview.

Bart Hubbuch is really down on LaDainian Tomlinson, or LaDone Tomlinson as he calls him in Sunday’s New York Post:

With mini-camp freshly behind them and training camp just around the corner, the Jets and their fans have plenty of reasons to be excited about Rex Ryan’s second season.

LaDainian Tomlinson shouldn’t be one of them.

One of Gang Green’s more curious moves this offseason was jettisoning Thomas Jones after a 1,402-yard rushing year and signing Tomlinson to replace him.

Tomlinson’s low-cost signing had all the makings of a marketing gambit to juice stagnant PSL sales that — like the Darrelle Revis and Nick Mangold contract scuffles — are casting a considerable black cloud over the Jets’ otherwise promising hopes.

If only the Jets could have signed the 2007 Tomlinson.

Read the entire article here.

I want to believe that Tomlinson does indeed have something left. In his prime, he was one of the NFL’s biggest stars, and if he has anything left he will help contribute to what should be a special season for the Jets.

This is a story that’s going to heat up this summer, so we might as well get the discussion going here. Commissioner Roger Goodell has begun discussions with the NFL Players Association about expanding the regular-season schedule from 16 games to 18 games, and reducing the number of preseason games from four to two. The changes, which appear to be inevitable, are not popular with the NFLPA. While the league and team owners are behind the move, the union is not, citing the potential for an increase in injuries as its main concern. We all know how strong unions are so this may not be an easy one for the league, though it does appear that it will eventually happen, perhaps as early as 2012.

CBS Sports’ senior writer Clark Judge has a great piece available here where he talks to current players about the proposal. Here’s his lead:

Sooner or later, the NFL will go to an expanded regular-season schedule, not because it makes sense but because there’s too much support for it not to happen. Commissioner Roger Goodell is for it. Owners are for it. And fans are for it.

Only one problem: Nobody checked with the players.

So I checked for them. I ran the idea of an 18-game schedule through the New York Giants’ locker room after Thursday’s minicamp practice, seeing if players embraced it more than, say, Ray Lewis or Tom Brady, and the NFL won’t like what I found. Players not only were skeptical about an expanded schedule, they were downright opposed to it.

Football is a dangerous sport. Guys are going to get hurt whether they play 16 games a year or 18. Players make a lot of money and most likely they’ll end up getting paid more if the season is expanded. The more meaningful football, the better.

Bart Hubbuck, New York Post: Despite their apparent leak to the contrary, the Jets are no closer to signing Darrelle Revis or D’Brickashaw Ferguson to new contracts. A Newsday report yesterday claimed the Jets were prepared to end their ugly contract impasse with Revis by adding six years to the disgruntled cornerback’s contract that would make the total deal worth $100 million. But Revis laughed off that report to friends, pointing out that NFL contracts are not guaranteed and that the only thing that matters — at least in pro football negotiations — is money paid up front in the form of bonuses and other guarantees.

My Take: Revis is eventually going to get paid, but how ugly does it get before that happens? And is a new contract in place before training camp begins? No contract, no Darrelle. The Jets are on the clock.

Manish Mehta, Daily News: The surreal chant came from the northwest corner of the New Meadowlands Stadium, an homage to a villain that made you think you had stepped into the bizarro world. Ja-son Taylor! Ja-son Taylor! The final practice of the Jets’ three-day minicamp was punctuated by the strangest sort of tribute to one of the most hated Gang Green opponents off all time. Even Jason Taylor was caught off guard when a portion of the 12,000 fans who attended practice Wednesday openly embraced him.

My Take: Fans will root for anyone who will help their team win, and players will sign wherever the money is best. End of story.

Jenny Vrentas, Star-Ledger: Jerricho Cotchery, Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes each have 1,000-yard receiving seasons on the books and hundreds of pro catches to their names. But as Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer gameplanned in his Florham Park office this offseason, until 9 or 10 p.m. some nights, he had a different take on if there would be enough touches to go around.

My Take: What a great problem to have. We talk all the time about the defense, but the Jets have one of the best offenses in the league.