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10 Questions for QB Mark Sanchez:

Published: May 19, 2009

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1. Why did you choose to become the first QB in almost two decades to leave USC early?

2. After starting so few games at USC, what do you think made you such a high draft pick?

3. What do you think made your draft position so unpredictable?

4. What, if anything, did you learn from your legal experiences in 2006 while at USC, when you were accused of sexual assault?

5. If you had your choice of where to be selected in the draft, what NFL team besides the Jets would you have chosen and why?

6. Do you believe you can, and will, be the Jets’ starting QB to begin the 2009 season?

7. What is your greatest asset or skill coming into your first NFL camp and competing to be a starter? Where do you need the most improvement?

8. Would you consider yourself a gunslinger and play maker, or closer to a game manager?

9. How do you feel about being the new marquee name in town and playing in the largest media market in the world?

10. Are you feeling any pressure to be the face of the franchise? If so, do you think any of that pressure comes from being drafted immediately following Brett Favre’s departure?

Just Say No to Plaxico!

Published: May 19, 2009

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Grand visions dance in my head, of a 6’5” gazelle of a receiver draped in the same green and white (and sometimes awful blue and gold) I wear every Sunday, receiving deep passes from a gun-slinging new QB. I picture having my very own Brady-to-Moss connection to root for.

Then I recover my senses and remember that I’ve had these types of visions before and know what they lead to…a season of forced smiles…awkward press conferences…the No. 4 jerseys being launched from every deck and promenade at Giants Stadium on December 28, 2008. I remember now.

Yes, the Jets need some impact help at the wide receiver position.

No, the Jets current roster of pass-catchers won’t make any defense stare at their schedule in trembling fear at the prospect of having to contain them.

Yes, the Jets took a major risk in letting their steadiest receiving threat walk away, Laveranues Coles, in the same offseason they drafted a new potential franchise QB that will need all the reliability he can gather on the field with him (whenever he actually takes the field).

OK, so why is Plaxico Burress not already signed? Wait, jail? Up to three years?

I say “no,” the Jets should not sign the troubled star if he’s ever free to resume his playing career.

I give a resounding “yes!” to building a foundation of talented younger players and veterans who use holsters or leave their firearms in their glove compartments. Allow the locker room to develop a positive chemistry before adding any malcontents to it.

It’s exceedingly reasonable to argue the merits of inviting a high-impact player like Burress to join your team, especially so for the eternally second-fiddle Jets. Every recent attempt they’ve made at stealing the back pages of the New York newspapers has either fallen flat or looked increasingly desperate.

On the surface, such a move as bringing in Brett Favre or Burress have some football logic to them, but scratch at that surface for 16 games and discover that these moves are not meant to build anything positive having to do with more than one season of football.

The Jets have lacked this sort of player forever, admittedly. Without question, the Jets are a playoff contender with a healthy and happy Plaxico Burress on the roster. But frankly, the Jets are a playoff contender right now.

A short term, incentive-laden deal would do Burress plenty of good but the Jets none, as the team has too many question marks across the field to expect his addition to impact them greatly or for a very long time. The list of available WR help is currently short, but the Jets committee of receivers proved last year that they can be serviceable, and come much cheaper and without baggage.

And that’s really the point: the very best version of Plaxico Burress brings today’s Jets team no closer to a Super Bowl than they already are. In truth, the scrutiny and frenzy surrounding the move would probably do more long term damage than any immediate good. Burress was Giants royalty and they thought they’d be better off without his presence, regardless of how many games they win.

In light of that, the Jets can’t allow themselves to be settled on again by another reclamation project. For the Jets, flying under the radar should be preferable to rejoining the circus.

The 2009 New York Jets: Are Their New Wings Ready For Take-Off?

Published: May 17, 2009

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Last season, the New York Jets desperately wanted to be a team built to win now, but this season seem content with winning soon instead, and rightfully so. Jets fans should be excited about its new foundation and the prospects of watching a young, talented team begin to grow together and perhaps carry the team into the playoffs.

After a torrid start to begin the 2008 season, buoyed offensively by the threat of having a QB under center that could throw a football more than 20 yards and highlighted by an emotional defeat of the New England Patriots, the Jets fell victim to age and injuries in the second half. Inexperience and chemistry became major problems for the team in the final stretch, as derisive chatter began to filter from their locker room to the media and QB Brett Favre fought a biceps injury that limited the offense’s effectiveness. A talented yet inexperienced defensive unit could not pick up enough of the offense’s slack, and the Jets’ season of high-flying hopes spiraled back to earth, crashing and burning on the turf of Giants Stadium on the final Sunday of the season.

Major changes were on tap for the 2009 edition of the Jets and quickly came to pass after the devastating season ending loss to the Chad Pennington-led Miami Dolphins, chief among them being the hiring of former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan as the team’s new head coach and new mouthpiece. The team then followed last off-season’s spending spree with a relatively subdued signing period, with the biggest name on their list of targets being LB Bart Scott, who the team inked to a long term contract. Scott was a mainstay of the Ravens’ staunch defense whom Ryan hopes will bring leadership and intangibles to the roster, along with his 433 career tackles.

Other key additions to the roster come on the defensive side, as the team traded conditional draft picks to the Philadelphia Eagles for CB Lito Sheppard, signed S Jim Leonhard away from the Ravens and brought in 14 year veteran and Dolphins and Patriots mainstay Larry Izzo. Izzo is considered Special Teams royalty and should boost that unit for the Jets along with adding depth to the LB rotation in Ryan’s 3-4 and 46 defensive schemes.

While Sheppard is expected to team with ball-hawking Pro Bowlers CB Darelle Revis and S Kerry Rhodes in the Jets’ defensive backfield to shut down opposing passing attacks, his health has always been an obstacle to his potential. Leonhard is an undersized, and once undervalued, safety who found his niche in Ryan’s gritty defense in Baltimore and joined Scott in quickly reuniting with their former coach in New York. These moves should pay large dividends for the Jets on defense and special teams, adding depth, experience and talent to the Jets corps and providing the energy and rotation the team sorely lacked in the stretch run toward the playoffs last season.

The offense was certainly not ignored this off-season but most feel the attention it merits hasn’t yet been paid to it. The Jets did identify that the team no longer has interest in employing placeholder QBs and a vanilla, low-impact offensive approach, and desires strong performances, presence and leadership from the QB position and in doing so traded up in the first round of the draft to select USC QB Mark Sanchez to fill that void. Sanchez’ aptitude for the playbook and his relationships with teammates and the media this summer will go a long way to determining whether he is the franchise QB the Jets have been missing for almost their entire history.

The team is also in need of help at the WR position, having allowed top receiver Laveranues Coles to sign with the Bengals in free agency and doing nothing yet to upgrade that corp. The team continues to monitor the status of veteran stars Marvin Harrison and Plaxico Burress, and could bring either one in before the season begins to some effectiveness. However, there are weapons at the other positions in WRs Jerricho Cotchery, Brad Smith and Chansi Stuckey, while Dustin Keller should continue to develop into a solid pass catching TE and will have to after the team allowed incumbent Chris Baker leave via free agency.

Another developing plot heading into Jets voluntary camps that could have major ramifications on the upcoming season has been the vocal unhappiness of both running backs Leon Washington and Thomas Jones over their respective contract situations. While the team has been negotiating with Washington on a new contract and hefty raise from his rookie contract, Jones is moving into the tail-end of his contract, paying him far less than his previous two seasons and could find himself a salary cap casualty. Seemingly in anticipation of this situation, the Jets traded up in the third round of this year’s draft to select dynamic RB Shonn Greene out of the University of Iowa and it does not seem farfetched that Greene could become a backfield tandem with Washington, while the Jets part ways with Jones and free up cap space to fill other needs, such as WR. However, Coach Ryan witnessed the success a team can have employing three RBs with different styles last season in Baltimore and it is not out of the realm of possibility to think a Jones-Washington-Greene tandem could be devastating to NFL defenses and powerful support to a rookie starting QB.

The Jets offense is still a work in progress, but moving beyond the specter of Brett Favre should also prove to be a galvanizing source to many players in the locker room, whether they believe Favre’s arrival to be the driving force behind their Super Bowl hopes and 8-3 start in 2008, or they believe that 2009 should end better solely because of his absence. The defense and special teams units showed flashes of brilliance last year and kept the Jets in games that it might not have won otherwise, and should be vastly improved through their draft and free agent additions and new coaching philosophy.

One thing is certain- during this current building (not rebuilding) phase, team chemistry will be more critical to the Jets’ success than ever before. And if things work on the field as well as they seem to appear on paper, 2009 could prove a turning point in the direction of the franchise.

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10 Questions for QB Mark Sanchez:

Just Say No to Plaxico!

The 2009 New York Jets: Are Their New Wings Ready For Take-Off?

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