Monday, August 30, 2010

I hate to be a pessimist but...


EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - AUGUST 27: Mark Sanchez  of the New York Jets in action against the Washington Redskins during their preseason game on August 27, 2010 at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

The Jets being a popular Super Bowl pick has me worried. ‘High expectations’ is not a phrase that often goes well together with the New York Jets. At the same time, there is a definite excitement going into the season- and reason for optimism. But the team’s deficiencies from last season cannot be forgotten. Here are the five keys that will determine whether the Super Bowl hype is real or if it will just be another season of unfulfilled expectations.

1. The Sophomore Slump
Mark Sanchez’s rookie season had its severe ups and downs. He had games were he looked very much like a rookie and others where he flashed those glimpses of why he was a top ten pick. You could even break it down even more and say he had series within each game where there were those ups and downs. This type of play should not be unexpected from a rookie quarterback. Sanchez really turned it on in the final weeks of the season and the playoffs. He made good decisions and his poise was one of the biggest reasons the Jets advanced as far as they did. So, media and fans left the 2009 season with those memories of Sanchez. However, the five interception game, and his inconsistencies also have to be remembered. Sanchez must control turnovers and further progress from his strong end of season play. Regression from that will hinder the Jets’ ability to be elite.

2. Empty Island
Darrelle Revis is the big question mark right now. Revis Island is not taking guests right now as Darrelle sits at home waiting for a lofty contract. Antonio Cromartie is a legitimate starting corner. Kyle Wilson is talented but only a rookie. The real problem with Revis’ absence comes in depth. Wilson goes from a third CB to starter. Corners such as Dwight Lowery and Drew Coleman all have increased playing time, which is not a good thing for a secondary whose last memory is of being torched by Peyton Manning. The Jets can still be good without Revis but again, his absence is something that keeps them from reaching that next echelon of elite.

3. Choose wisely
The late season run left Jets fans forgetting about a lot of fundamental issues that plagued them throughout stretches of the season. One of them, an ongoing one for the past few seasons, is the playcalling of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. Like his quarterback, Schottenheimer has had his good and bad moments. His tendency to get cutesy with play calls, like an uncalled for end around that kills a drive, is frustrating. The routes the wide receivers run often seem to intersect and do not spread the field. To be successful the Jets need to continually pound the ball and set up Sanchez for some big plays in the passing game. However, Schottenheimer must avoid being too conservative and strike the right balance between run and pass. The red zone is going to be especially important. Field goals do not cut it and the Jets have been settling for way too many through preseason.

4. Stay healthy
Calvin Pace is already injured and out four to six weeks. The preseason has left you wondering whether the Jets can handle any more injuries. The backups have not looked good when they have gotten a chance. If they have to step into starting roles, it will be a big cause for concern. The defense never really looked the same without Kris Jenkins last season. Remember how scary it was those first few weeks with him in the middle of the line? They will need him on the field for most, if not all, 16 games.

5. Recharged?
I really think LaDainian Tomlinson is the biggest X-factor on this Jets squad. He has looked really good in preseason and could do some damage running behind this offensive line. He no longer has to be ‘the guy’ with Shonn Greene there to take carries too. Tomlinson does not have all the pressure on him and I think he has something to prove. Another new addition, Santonio Holmes, could bring the Jets a deep receiving threat with speed they have been missing for many, many years.

The talent is there. I think Rex Ryan is the best coach the Jets have had in a long time. The Super Bowl could be possible. But there were plenty of reasons the Jets won only nine regular season games in 2009. They need to fix those problems if they want to take the next step in 2010.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Don't Budge, Woody!

Jan 17, 2010; San Diego, CA, USA; New York Jets owner Woody Johnson before the 2010 AFC Divisional playoff game against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. The Jets defeated the Chargers 17-14.

Today ESPN New York's Ian O'Connor writes a piece urging Woody Johnson to just end the impasse with Darrelle Revis.

While that would be very nice and make every Jet fan sleep a lot easier at night, it is not the right move. In fact, it's a potentially disastrous one.

Here's O'Connor's full article with my retorts in bold:

Now the Jets have really made it in the Naked City. Now their owner can open his mouth in a faraway corner of New York, a country mile from Broadway, and say something more relevant than anything the Yankees and Red Sox would do over three and a half hours in the Bronx.

Sinatra was playing in Yankee Stadium after a four-game series ended in a split, ended with the Red Sox holding fast to the remains of their season, and Woody Johnson was swinging the heaviest lumber of the day in Cortland, N.Y., telling reporters and -- by extension -- Darrelle Revis that the cornerback can take his requested raise and stuff it.

Asked whether he was optimistic Revis would be signed before the start of the season, Johnson said, "The answer is no."

Johnson fired a warning shot over Revis' helmet, and he shouldn't have knocked himself out in the process. If he refuses to pay Revis, the owner will be doing something James Dolan dumb.

Comparing most owners to James Dolan is a vast hyperbole.

Don't do it, Woody. Don't follow Dolan and the Wilpons down a dark road to who knows where.

How can you compare Woody with an owner, Wilpon, in a sport where there is no salary cap? Completely different rules for play. There may not be a cap right now but there will be a lockout before the NFL remains an uncapped league.

Too many New York franchises are being hurt by too many unforced ownership errors, and this is Johnson's chance to pounce. His chance to take the marketplace by the throat by paying his best player and making the Jets strong enough to walk Rex Ryan's talk.

It's one thing to pay a player...and it's another when his demands are unreasonable.

Dolan made Isiah Thomas his most conspicuous free-agent grab. Fred Wilpon let another season die an unnecessary death by doing nothing before the trade deadline to resuscitate the Mets.

Johnson shouldn't make this some unholy trinity of metropolitan-area rich guys mismanaging their toys. Johnson needs to tell Mike Tannenbaum to offer whatever eight-figure salary will secure Revis' signature and then order the GM to fax in the papers faster than the cornerback can break on a pass in the flat.

This is an absolutely reckless attitude. Yes, Revis is an elite player but you cannot just fall to a player's whim. I'm getting tired of players thinking they can control owners and teams. They are the product but it does not mean they should dictate every aspect of negotiation. It was pitiful enough seeing NBA owners and GMs audition for LeBron, Wade and Bosh as if they were Simon, Randy and Paula.

And once Woody receives a contract awaiting his signature, he can summon the spirit of another Johnson, Keyshawn, and bark, "Just give me the damn ballpoint."

"Darrelle is the Jeter of the Jets," Tannenbaum has told one of Revis' agents, Neil Schwartz.

Is he really though? Do you really think Jeter would pull a stunt like this? As a consummate professional, I really doubt that Jeter would do anything to make himself a distraction to the team.

George Steinbrenner gave the Jeter of the Yankees $189 million way back when, and this winter Steinbrenner's children likely will offer their shortstop tens of millions in a brand-new deal, all of it fully guaranteed.

"The Jets still have not given us a proposal with one penny in it that's fully guaranteed," Schwartz said by phone. So the holdout rages on, and the agent confirmed Revis will miss the entire 2010 season if the Jets don't come to their senses, and fast.

"Darrelle will not play under the current contract," Schwartz said. "But he loves the Jets, loves his teammates, loves his head coach, loves New York City. He loves everything about being a Jet, but he's not happy with the contract."

Then....compromise? That's what people do when they are happy with their situation. You know, like the many people who do a job they love for less money because they love it. You can't have everything. Nick Mangold is an elite center. He would like a new contract too. But he's out on the practice field, mentoring Matt Slauson and Vlad Ducasse. Being unselfish, a characteristic we had thought of Revis. Mangold and even David Harris are just as deserving of pay raises as Revis.

Woody Johnson needs to make him happy.

Is Woody the rich dad and Darrelle the spoiled kid? 

His GM met with Revis' agents, Schwartz and Jon Feinsod, on Friday at a Roscoe, N.Y., diner, where they haggled a lot more over the contract than they did over the bill. The agents gave Tannenbaum a revised proposal they wanted Johnson to see for himself.

"We didn't want Mike to interpret it for Mr. Johnson," Schwartz said. "If Mr. Johnson didn't like the proposal, that's fine, but what didn't you like about it? Was it all garbage? ... We gave the Jets a very fair proposal, and we hope Mr. Johnson sat and read it and understood that we addressed a lot of his previous concerns in that proposal."

Revis is scheduled to earn $1 million this season, a complete joke of a wage in a sport that kills off its wounded with alarming ease. Nonguaranteed contracts are discarded as easily as a crushed Gatorade cup, and buyout packages often are smaller than a referee's whistle.

This is a contract he already held out for before his rookie season. He deserves more. But there is a middle ground between $1 million and $16 million a season.

Yes, Revis signed that contract, one the Jets acknowledge he's outplayed. But Thomas Jones and Alan Faneca and Pete Kendall signed their contracts, too, until the Jets decided they didn't like the way their numbers added up.

Never mind Leon Washington and the deal he was ready to get until he went and ruined his leg.

"Look at the Leon situation," Revis told ESPNNewYork.com in June. "They were working on his contract, and he broke his leg and missed the season, and now he has no stability, no comfort zone, no anything."

Revis also had heard the Derek Jeter line from Jets management, heard how much the organization appreciated his dignity and class.

"And the thing I'm so frustrated by," he said then, "is they sit here and tell me this to my face. But then they don't want to value me or honor me for that."

But if he really exemplified dignity and class, wouldn't he be in Cortland right now like Mangold? It's one thing to be told it and believe it. It's another to actually exhibit it. Revis is doing the former, not the latter.

Ryan already is on record predicting that Revis will be a Jet for life, that the cornerback could blow past Joe Willie Namath as the greatest Jet of them all. The coach has set the market with his mouth, and Revis has set the market with his feet and hands.

But the Jets simply don't want to pay what the market will bear. "My impression is no progress," Johnson said. "That's the way Mike characterized it to me was no movement whatsoever."

It's time for some movement, and for Johnson to assume the role of Mariano Rivera if Tannenbaum can't close the deal.

The Jets must confront the cold, hard truth: If Oakland's Nnamdi Asomugha has a deal averaging $15.1 million a pop, a superior player such as Revis has every right to ask for a superior wage.

NO, NO, NO. This is the statement I could not disagree with more in this article. Just because one crazy owner (the craziest of them all), Al Davis, sets a ridiculous plateau for top corners, it does not mean the rest of the market needs to follow. Asomugha is an elite corner but that is a LOT of money. It is the type of contract that can completely destroy a team's ability to sign other key players under a cap. You cannot let one owner's lunacy dictate your own franchise's sanity. Woody Johnson has to know that.

There's likely a compromise to be reached slightly south of that figure, something like the midpoint between the Jets' Cortland camp and the diner in Roscoe. Woody Johnson needs to find it. And he needs to run a 4.3 40 on the way there.

Now, O'Connor advocates a middle ground, after writing a whole article saying how Woody needs to pay him whatever he wants. A one sentence backtrack. As much as I love Darrelle Revis and know what a game changer he is, signing him to a bloated contract is not worth the repercussions. If you're gonna give in to Revis and pay him whatever he wants, what kind of message does that send to Mangold or Harris when it's time to negotiate with them?

Revis is acting like the spoiled kid, "taking a stand" by sitting in his room while everyone else plays outside because he didn't get what he wants. But what he needs to realize is that life goes on without you. While you sit in your room, thinking you're "showing them," they're really just learning to live without you. 


Right now the Jets still have the power. Revis is under a three-year contract. He would be very dumb to waste away his prime waiting for more money. Woody has the leverage. The Jets can go on without Revis. Antonio Cromarite is a former Pro Bowler and Kyle Wilson a first round pick. But right now, Revis needs the Jets. For both parties' sake, you hope he will realize that. If not, he will be doing a disservice to both.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The Boy Who Cried Retirement

GREEN BAY, WI - MARCH 6: Quarterback Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers tries to control his emotions at his retirement at a press conference at Lambeau Field March 6, 2008 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Brett Favre is always lauded for the "boyish" attitude with which he plays the game. You know, that good 'ole gun slinging, shovel passing reckless abandon, the type that leads to moments like this. So with his recent retirement talk I have written a modern adaptation of a classic fable that fits him all too well. I call it 'The Boy Who Cried Retirement.'

There was once a boyish quarterback who was bored and decided to throw the pigskin around with a bunch of high school kids each summer. To amuse himself, he would cry out to the media, "I'm retiring! I'm retiring!"

The media came running to his story, putting out montages and mourning his retirement. But when they got to the end of training camp, the fans  found out he had lied. The boy laughed as he had missed all of training camp and still been on TV for five weeks straight!


Later, the boyish quarterback again called out "I'm retiring! I'm retiring!" To his naughty delight, he again watched the media run to his ego and stroke it some more, reporting his story on all platforms.


When the fans saw that he wasn't really retiring when he claimed he was, they grew tired of the act and said "Save your retirement talk for when you're ACTUALLY retiring!

   
But the boyish quarterback just laughed and came back for another season, watching the nauseated fans in delight.

Later (summer 2010) he was ACTUALLY retiring (or so reports say). Once again, he screamed out "I'm retiring! I'm retiring!"


But the fans thought he was just trying to get out of training camp again, so they paid the boyish quarterback's claim little attention.


By day's end, the fans wondered why the boy hadn't held a press conference yet announcing his plans. The media went to find him. He was weeping on a tractor outside his Mississippi home.


"I really am retiring. All the reports said it. Why didn't anyone believe me?" he said.


An old coach tried to comfort the boyish quarterback as they walked back to his abode.


"We'll help you look for your lost pride in the morning," he said, putting his arm around the fortysomething-year-old man. "Nobody believes a liar, not even when he's telling the truth! BOOM!"



- Inspired by Aesop's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"

Sunday, August 1, 2010

A Model of Consistency

15 starting pitchers with ERAs currently under 3 and five no-hitters. 2010 certainly has proven to be the year of the pitcher.

Josh Johnson, Ubaldo Jimenez, David Price and Roy Halladay are just a few of the big names getting a lot of attention- and rightfully so.

But there's one guy who's not a starter, who's just carrying out business as usual in 2010. He's not a 22-year old phenom flame thrower whose every outing is scrutinized. He's 40 years old. He pitches one inning an outing and does it without too much pub. His ERA is not just below 3 or 2- it's below 1. He's fought through lingering injuries this season, so much so that he had to skip the All-Star Game.

If you haven't figured it out by now, the guy I'm talking about is Mariano Rivera. A model of consistency in a role that can be very volatile. There are more Eric Gagnes and Armando Benitezes than Riveras. Guys who are electric for a season or two than fade into irrelevancy.

As I watched Mariano Rivera last night on the mound in a tense divisional game with the Rays, a random sense of appreciation swept through me. In the top half of the ninth, Robinson Cano blasted a home run to give the Yankees a one-run lead. Then, the bottom of the ninth came around and there was a sense of calm. Rivera on the mound and immediately starting off with two straight strikes. He did give up a broken bat single to Willie Aybar but that was the night's only blip.


New York Yankees' relief pitcher 
Mariano Rivera (R) is congratulated by catcher Franciso Cervelli after 
their win against the Arizona Diamondbacks during their MLB inter-league
 baseball game in Phoenix, June 23, 2010. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED 
STATES - Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

Yankees fans have been spoiled by Rivera. For 15 years, there has been no sense of panic, no closer-by-committee, no fear that your closer could implode at any moment. Since 1996, Rivera's "down" year was 2007 when he had his highest ERA as closer, 3.15. Or maybe his "down" year was 2002, following probably his most infamous moment, Luis Gonzalez's game-winning hit in the 2001 World Series. After that game, some thought Rivera was done. In 2002, he was on the disabled list three times and pitched just 46 innings, the lowest of his career.

Rivera missed the first month of the 2003 season and again, there were calls that he was done. But again, he proved the doubters wrong. And he had one of his most triumphant moments in the biggest spot, game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, pitching three scoreless inning to get the win and the series' MVP honor.

His tale is one not only of consistency but resiliency. Time and time again, he has emerged more dominant when those doubters started to come out of the wood work. Last season, the seven home runs he allowed were "cause for concern." I'll admit there was some shock on that May night in 2009, when Rivera gave up back-to-back ninth inning home runs to Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria in the Bronx. With any other team's closer, you would be mad, fuming that the game was blown. With Rivera, you're just left mouth agape.

It's that sense of calm that Rivera has fostered in this ninth inning role for a decade and a half that leaves you so shocked when he has a misstep. Ever since he took that mantle from John Wetteland in 1996, Yankees fans have been treated to one of the greatest in the sport. Say what you will about the importance of the closer, besides Derek Jeter, who has been more important to the franchise in the past two decades than Rivera?

Funny enough, the image for which many will remember Rivera, which is seared into the minds of Yankees fans, is his worst, that November night in the desert when it all fell apart under the brightest lights. It's tough to say that is not Rivera's defining image. Ironic, huh?

But maybe the reason that image stands out so much is because of the sheer shock of it. It's easier to remember the cataclysmic than the one-two-three nights that have become merely routine. Rivera doesn't make himself the centerpiece of the moment. He gets the save and Frank plays. When he retires, that clip of Gonzalez's hit will still play in Rivera montages. But the indelible image I will always have of him will be the simple one like last night, him recording the final out and walking off the mound to share a word with his catcher. Nothing out of the ordinary for a pitcher who should be remembered as one of the extraordinary.