Woody Johnson on Plaxico: We're in a holding pattern
The Jets' owner told Boomer Esiason on this week's Boomer Esiason show that the Jets have not made any decision on wide receiver Plaxico Burress because of his uncertain legal situation and what might happen as far as discipline from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
"We don’t know what his current status, both legally and from a league standpoint, and until those are cleared up, we look at him like any other player—we look at the talent, if there is talent, which there is with Plaxico, but there is with other talent around as well," Johnson told Esiason on the show, which airs tonight on MSG. "When those two questions are answered, then we’ll proceed to the next level. Otherwise, basically it’s a holding pattern."
Burress' attorney, Benjamin Brafman, asked for and received a continuance in the case until Sept. 23. However, New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told reporters yesterday that a grand jury will likely be seated in July, meaning Burress could go to trial in the fall. Brafman has been under the impression that any trial wouldn't take place until next spring.
Johnson addressed several other issues with Esiason:
On Rex Ryan taking on the Dolphins and Patriots in recent comments to the media: "He says what’s on his mind and he says it with a lot of humor too. I think you’re seeing a second generation coach because he learned a lot from his Dad. He came out day one with an optimistic forecast of what the Jets are going to do this year ... I think that’s his personality; his brother is kind of the same. He’s gonna speak his mind but he knows what he’s talking about because he is a football man first. We hired him for his ability to put the team together. When I first met him we talked for four or five hours and it was all about team building. The things he’s doing, the relationship he has with the media, the players, and coaches—those are all elements of why we hired him."
On the status of Personal Seat License (PSL) sales for the new Jets/Giants stadium set to come online in 2010: "PSLs are going great. We would like to sell faster but we also have non-PSL seats and are we are about 50/50 each way. The most expensive ticket is $25,000. Those are close to the 50 yard line and they’re hard to come by and those have sold really well. Season tickets are selling really well; we go by seniority so right now we are up to [the] 1985 [season]. We did that yesterday and we had a good day.
On why the team chose SUNY Cortland for its first training camp under Ryan: "It’s not a well-known name. It’s well-known from an agricultural standpoint and a SUNY standpoint. Rex wanted to go someplace remote. He to get the team away from what’s familiar and put them in a place where they essentially talk to each other; they get to know each other, the coaches and get to focus on football."
On whether the Brett Favre experiment was a failure: "No. We were trying to win and we thought bring Brett in gave us the chance to win. The team just ran out of steam. It wasn’t all Brett."
On whether the Jets are on the way toward closing the gap with the Patriots: "We don’t want to be on the road to close the gap. We want to win every game. We want to improve our team each year with players, coaches and the new stadium. We want to be #1 and that’s where we’re going."
On his involvement with the Lupus Foundation: "My daughter was diagnosed with the disease 12 years ago and I felt there was no organization out there that could do the job for this cause, so we had to start our own and it’s been a success. We’re raising a lot of money and it all goes to research. We’ve had good results. We have our handwriting on four drugs that are before the FDA right now."
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Comments (4)
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