E-Boland & Gang Green

By Tom Rock

Very funny moment in the Jets locker room today. Jonathan Vilma was being interviewed by a TV crew and across the room, Laveranues Coles was trying to make him chuckle on camera. Vilma has a reputation for always saying the right thing, which is a trait Coles has jokingly picked on in the past. This time, he got the defensive captain.

While Vilma was doing his interview, Coles shouted “The Penguin’s Son never says anything wrong!” And followed it with a series of penguin quacks. “Weh-weh-weh! Weh-weh-weh!” It made Vilma chuckle and effectively ended the interview. To Vilma’s credit, he did hang in there longer than I thought he might. Coles was pretty loud. And pretty funny.

I’m guessing they aren’t making many jokes about their head coach or the defensive leaders in the locker room across the river. Tense times in Giants-land. Here, everything’s cool. Even Kevan Barlow, who looks and sounds as if he might be relegated to either a decreased role or the bench, didn’t cause much of a stir when asked some pointed questions about his place here.

I get the sense the Jets are happy to be under the radar in NY, letting the Blue Team take all the back pages. Both are 6-5, both are in the middle of a playoff race in December, but one team seems to be coming together at the proper time while the other is falling apart. Of course, check back next week after Green Bay beats the Jets and the Cowboys are run out of town by the Giants and it’ll be a completely different story.

Had an interesting chat with Bryan Thomas late in the locker room session today. He wanted to know why everyone was asking about his shoulder. I told him because he was listed on the injury report this week. He didn’t know that. I guess those guys don’t keep track of such things with the fervor we do. He also wanted to know why people were asking a lot about Vilma. He was a topic of conversation for about half of Mangini’s press conference, so folks were following up on those remarks.

Mangini may have steered the day’s attention to Vilma with a few comments about the linebacker, but it was nice to hear Vilma open up about his play this season and break from the script a bit.

By Tom Rock

The Guss Scott era has ended, before many of us were even accustomed to adding that last S on his first name. Truth be told, boxing trainer Ted Atlas has been more of a fixture around the Jets this season than Scott. The former Texans safety who was brought in last week before the Jets played Houston was released following the game. The Jets have an open roster spot which Mangini said could be used later this week. As for Scott’s contribution to the Jets – probably little more than tattletaling on Texans tendencies since he did not play in the game – Mangini said they were “outstanding.”

Mangini also had a few words of advice for Kerry Rhodes, the Jets safety. “I think his tackling has gotten better and he's working at that as well,” Mangini said. “You know, his dancing could improve. I saw him on Cold Pizza. I thought that was okay. A few more weeks, maybe we'll get him back on there.”

Rhodes had demonstrated the Penguin Dance on the ESPN program Tuesday.

WR Jerricho Cotchery had a funny observation about his life as a starting receiver this season as opposed to his first two years coming off the bench and playing mostly special teams: “I get a lot more handshakes after the game, a lot of ‘Good game, Cotch.’ Before that I was just looking for someone that I knew.”

Adrian Jones is just playing out the season with the Jets and will be one of the first cuts the team makes during the offseason following his DWI arrest this weekend. Mangini made it pretty clear that such actions will not be tolerated – they obviously do not jive with the Core Jet Values. I’m sure if he could, Mangini would cut Jones now. I know Jet officials have been disappointed that Jones was unable to win back his starting job at right tackle after losing it in training camp to Anthony Clement. This is just another reason to be disappointed.

As a sports reporter you get to weed through a lot of hyperbole and player-speak, especially leading into a game. But I get the feeling that all of the respect and even awe Jets players are expressing this week about playing against Brett Favre is sincere. Heck, even I’m looking forward to seeing him play in Lambeau. Who knows when I’ll get that opportunity again?

By Tom Rock

Who knew Michael Vick was from the same Eastside neighborhood in Jacksonville as Leon Washington?

Sunday was a big win for the Jets because it kept them in the hunt for that wildcard spot, and with Jacksonville and Denver on a slippery slope, they are in position to keep winning and get in. But it was not a harbinger of greatness. All the Jets proved on Sunday was that they are a better team than the Texans. Well, let’s hope so! There’s still some concern about the running game, we’ve seen that the chemistry between Chad and the receivers can flicker on and off, and those gimme games against the Bills and Dolphins are suddenly not so easy.

On the flip side, who would have thought that the defense would come together like this? It’s pretty amazing when you can actually see a switch change, as it did in the second half against the Browns. The Jets may be able to go back to that moment for years and say: That’s when it all started coming together.

The Jets-Bills game in two weeks was moved to 4:15 p.m. The team will get its first national exposure. I’ve been surprised at how under the radar the Jets have been this season in terms of ESPN highlights and national stories. Maybe a few more wins and that’ll continue to change.

Mangini named his players of the week. He gave the offensive nod to Pennington, defensive to Victor Hobson, and split the special teams between Mike Nugent and Justin McCareins. Interesting that McCareins asked to be included in special teams then produced in his first week out there. I think that won serious points with Mangini and staff. Joe Kowalewski was the practice player of the week.

By Tom Rock

Don’t get too used to this weather. It may be sunny and in the 50s for this game, but my weather friend tells me the coldest air mass of the year is moving down from Canada and should be settling in over the Great Lakes area just in time for next weekend. Pack your mukluks for Green Bay!

The Jets made a slight change to their active roster for this game, benching OT Adrian Jones (who was a starter at the beginning of training camp) and activating Na’Shan Goddard for the first time since picking him up from the Giants a few weeks back. Other inactives include Derrick Blaylock, B.J. Askew, Cody Spencer, C.J. Mosley, Dave Ball and new safety Guss Scott who just joined the team in midweek. Former Giant Ron Dayne is inactive for the Texans.

Joe Namath was supposed to show up in the press box before the game, but he has yet to arrive. Apparently he's out in the parking lot signing for fans or something. I'll keep you posted if he shows.

By Tom Rock

Well, Happy Thanksgiving from the Jets practice facility. A bit of an early start to the day today to allow the players to get their work in and spend some time with their families. I hope to be out of here in time to catch the opening bars to Alice’s Restaurant Massacre (in two-part harmony).

My mother-in-law, who is coming over for dinner today, wanted to know if Mangini would cancel practice because of the rain and it being Thanksgiving. What a soul-less curmudgeon (and I'll let you decide if I mean Mangini or my mother-in-law :) )

I think Mangini is actually thankful that it is raining, he seems to enjoy practicing in the elements. And yes, it is tough to be working on Thanksgiving, but being here at a football practice I can’t help but think there are tougher jobs to be doing today in worse places. Iraq comes to mind.

I was driving in this morning and heard the song “Rain King” by the Counting Crows, an appropriate tune for the weather. It reminded me of the time Knicks beat guy Alan Hahn and I and a couple of chicks went to see the Crows with The Wallflowers at Jones Beach and they opened their show with that song in the middle of a downpour. Must have been about 10 years ago. Got me thinking about those days of slingin’ high schools and clobberin’ colleges and how we both wanted what we now have. I’m thankful for that.

I’m thankful for Charlie and Abby, all my friends and all my good fortune. Am I forgetting someone?

By Tom Rock

Laveranues Coles was in a combative mood today, picking fights with reporters who asked about the recent troubles the passing game has experienced. At one point he basically denied that there was any problem. If Coles truly thinks that, then the “chemistry” problem between the quarterback and receivers goes deeper than previously thought. It’s obvious from just looking at the team and not introducing stats that the passing game is going through a slump. Pennington and Mangini have admitted so. Coles is not on that page, though. Perhaps he’s still in the denial phase of grief.

B.J. Askew came in with his new haircut, courtesy of Ohio State beating his Michigan team last weekend. Turns out his haircut bet with Buckeye Anthony Schlegel was that Askew would have to go M.C. Hammer if he lost, and sure enough, he did. Askew had the sides of his head buzzed tightly with three tiger stripes etched into the scalp. It actually didn’t look all that bad, just slightly outdated. Now, if Michigan had won, Schlegel would have been forced to get a mohawk and dye it blond like Chad Johnson. That might be the most compelling reason I can think of to advocate an Ohio State-Michigan rematch in the BCS Championship Game.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but not much conversation revolved around the holiday. A few players will have their families come into town. Some of the displaced coaches, players and staff are planning to get together later in the day, after practices and meetings, to share some turkey. They’ll probably be thankful, among other things, that their season still has meaning. A lot of other teams are just grinding out the rest of the schedule, but the Jets are in the thick of consideration for the playoffs. They'll be even more thankful if the Broncos beat the Chiefs.

Glauber's 0-2 in his last two visits to NY football games, and he might soon be as welcomed as Michael Richards at the Laugh Factory after starting the season on a hot streak. He'll be with the Jets on Sunday, and I think his luck will change for the better.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I'll be here tomorrow and try to post a little something, but I doubt there'll me much interest in it.

By Tom Rock

So, since you asked, what do I think about Chad Pennington?

Here’s the summary: I think his comeback from a second shoulder injury is one of the most courageous stories I have ever covered. I think his arm is healthy, but that doesn’t mean strong. I think he’s really got to stink up the place against the Texans and probably against the Packers too before Mangini pulls him. I think the difference between Pennington and Ramsey and Clemens during training camp hasn’t shrunk all that much, and a flawed Pennington is still the Jets’ best option. But I also think training camp 2007 might be similar to this year’s with an open competition for starting quarterback, and I’m not sure if Pennington emerges from that one as convincingly.

And I definitely think Mangini knew what he was saying when he dropped the “right now” into his “Chad’s the quarterback” statement. He’s the type of guy who practically scripts what he wants to say when he addresses the press – heck, he might actually write drafts of his remarks knowing his penchant for preparedness – and he had to know that the direct question about Chad was coming on Monday. The fact that the caveat was not stricken from the official transcript of the press conference also tells me that Mangini might have been sending a shape-up message to Chad. I think Mangini likes Chad, admires his perseverance, and respects his ability to manage a game. But I also get the sense Mangini is a bit concerned about Pennington’s recent swoon, and if the Jets had anything better than Ramsey or more experienced than Clemens on the bench, he’d be closer to having to make a tough decision. Tougher than deciding to open the second half with an onsides kick.

Pennington may be playing poorly as of late, but gosh, at least he’s not pulling an Eli!

I had to chuckle that I wrote a feature on Mangold where the opening paragraph was a joke that the center’s main job is to know the snap count, then Mangold goes out and forgets the snap count on a fourth-down play late in the fourth quarter that could have cost the Jets a chance to score.

Thanksgiving may be a federal holiday, but it’s not a Jets holiday and the team will practice on Thursday. That’s not uncommon in the NFL, even I heard the Giants will be off. That’s the difference between the Jets corporate approach and the Giants’ family-run business. Not judging one better than the other, just pointing out the difference.

The good thing about the Jets loss to the Bears is it keeps those 1 p.m. games from being grabbed by the networks for their flex schedule. At this point, the only game I see that might be yanked to a later starting time would be the Oakland contest on Dec. 31, and that’s only to satisfy the California TV viewers. If that’s the case, I might be ringing in 2007 somewhere on the George Washington Bridge trying to get home from the stadium. I might even be starting to plan my trip to a wild card playoff game with the Jets the following weekend!

By Tom Rock

Welcome to the biggest least important game of the season for the Jets, where a win makes it huge and a loss (other than a Jacksonville-type spanking) can be shrugged off. Not that the Jets are already coming up with excuses or rationalizations here an hour before kickoff, but if the Bears prevail it’s certainly not the end of the road. Now, if the Jets win, and they can win, all of a sudden their credibility as a contender shoots up dramatically.

The inactives came out, and I was surprised to see B.J. Askew among those sidelined. He’s been hobbling around on a bad foot or ankle for the last few weeks, and has been listed as questionable during that time, but I figured he’d still manage to get in the game. That leaves James Hodgins to start at fullback and allows the Jets to have Cedric Houston active for the first time since he hurt his knee in the Colts game. Also, Anthony Schlegel is active for the first time this year. Maybe there was some kind of a bet about the OSU-Michigan game with Askew and Schlegel wagering playing time.

Other inactives include Derrick Blaylock, Ryan Riddle, Na’Shan Goddard, C.J. Mosley and Dave Ball. Clemens is still the third quarterback. For the Bears, former Jet Derrick Strait is inactive.

By Tom Rock

What’s in a name? Eric Mangini spoke today about being called Penguin by the players (though not to his face). “It’s developing a life of its own,” he said, pointing out the serendipity of recent pop-culture penguin references. He said someone sent him the tap-dancing penguin from the new movie “Happy Feet” and he’s had several books, movies and stuffed animals sent to him and turn up in his life. There’s even a new self-help book about succeeding in business that uses the penguin as a symbol of success. “They’re an impressive bird,” Mangini said of the ubiquitous presence of the feathered image. “I think it’s hilarious.”

But when he was asked about another nickname – Manginius – he turned flush and began stammering. It’s clear he prefers to be called Penguin rather than Manginius.

As many of you posters have pointed out – and thank you for your comments – I wrote a story this week about the gap between Mangini and the players, the idea of which was to point out that while Belichick is a successful jerk a coach doesn’t need to be a jerk to be successful. Mangini and the players may not be a huggy-kissy bunch just yet, but they are bridging the gap over a chasm that was dangerously wide a few weeks ago. To that point, Mangini is starting to bend a little himself. He let the players practice in shells on Wednesday, the first time he did so this season. As long as the tempo and intensity remain the same as a full-contact practice, Mangini said he would start to sprinkle in those shell days as the season goes along. For a football coach, giving players a day in shells is the equivalent of sending a dozen roses to your wife. It keeps you in good graces and helps erase a lot of the recent rough patches.

By Tom Rock

Wednesdays are usually pretty crowded around here in Jetsland, but today was especially so because of two reasons: A) the team is suddenly a hot story and B) the Giants are off. The win over the Patriots really pushed the Jets onto the front burner in many minds, and the fact that they are serious contenders for a playoff spot is pretty amazing considering how many questions and doubts the team faced in August. There were eight TV cameras filming practice today – there are usually only one or two – and a birdie told me that an HBO crew was around on Tuesday for an Inside the NFL segment.

Still, Mangini said there are two P-words that are not to be uttered: playoffs and Patriots. Asked if he ever looked at the big picture, he insisted that the Bears game on Sunday IS the big picture. Then he referred to film of the Bears as “smelling salts” that wake them from any dazed enjoyment still lingering from last weekend.

The Bears are staying in a different hotel than the one they stayed in for last week’s game against the Giants. Coach Lovie Smith said he is treating this just like two separate road games and not focusing on the oddity of playing in the same place twice in two weeks. He said the hotel switch is due to accommodation and booking factors, but I’m sure he is pleased to have the subtle difference.

For the record, it was the second week in a row an opposing coach did not refer to Mangini by name in his conference call with the NY writers. I suspect there was something less sinister and spiteful behind Lovie’s motives, however.

Thanks to Alan Hahn for the shout-out in his Knicks blog. And thanks to Glauber for the shout-down. From now on, you can do all the work!

By Tom Rock

The Patriots apparently took the loss to the Jets so hard, they’re tearing their place apart! Actually, they’re installing FieldTurf and removing the muddy sod that has given the team trouble for years. It’s hard enough to grow a lawn in the northeast during November, nevermind one that is 120-yards long. I guess the cost of green paint for the middle of that quagmire (a word we writers rely on for describing anything muddy) began to overwhelm the cost of putting down the artificial stuff.

At least the Patriots did the Jets the favor of waiting until today to sign Vinny Testaverde. ESPNews is reporting that ol’ No. 16 has signed with the Patriots, a sight that likely would have been hard for fans to stomach in last week’s game. Vinny will be the Crash Davis to a struggling Tom (Nuke LaLoosh) Brady, providing a shoulder to cry on and a brain to pick on the sideline.

I was crunching some numbers for tomorrow’s paper and came up with some interesting stats. The Ravens have the easiest remaining schedule of the eight AFC teams with a winning record, but the Jets are very close and face only one winning team the rest of the season. In fact, after they face Chicago on Sunday, it’s losers from there out. If you figure that the Pats, Colts and Ravens win their divisions and the second-place team between the Chargers and Broncos in the west will get a wild card, that leaves the Jets, Jags and Chiefs for that final spot. Both Jacksonville and KC play four teams with a winning record (including facing each other in the final game of the season). Jacksonville’s remaining opponents have the highest winning percentage of the eight contenders, .540.

Just a warm thought to share on a chilly November night.

By Tom Rock

Got a call from Mike the Jets Fan this morning, and he was pretty bubbly after the win against the Patriots. It’s been almost four full years since the Jets topped their AFC East nemesis, so it had him thinking playoffs for the first time since Chris Baker was pushed out of bounds. If the season ended today the Jets would be in a three-way tie for the final wildcard spot with Jacksonville and KC. Mike’s even thinking of picking up a Giants jersey for the game next Monday against the Jaguars, though knowing him he’ll probably wait to see what becomes of the Jets in their game against the Bears on Sunday. The best way to get in is to win the division, and that possibility was kept alive with the win at NE.

That Browns loss – the entire game, not just the call – will probably haunt this team until they either clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Raiders on Dec. 31 or are eliminated from the picture with a loss at Miami on Dec. 25.

Eric Mangini’s voice was a little gravelly today. He seems to be battling a cold and coughed a few times during his press conference. Though maybe he was hoarse from yelling “Whoopie!” throughout the night and turning cartwheels through his neighborhood in the damp November night air. This was a big win for him on both a personal and professional level, and while he tried hard to use words that covered his elation, his smile and mood betrayed his attempts at even-keel-ness.

Players of the week for the Jets were Jerricho Cotchery on offense, Shaun Ellis on defense, Matt Chatham on special teams and Stacey Tutt was the practice player of the week. Looks like those green hoods will be off the parking lot signs again this week.

Tough week for the pickers with all the upsets, the Jets included. I went 6-9 in the Newsday Gridiron Guide and still managed to expand my lead by a game over Staple -- we both have the Bucs tonight. Poor Glauber, not only did he go 3-12 in the Sunday games, but his winning streak with New York teams came to an end when the Giants lost to the Bears. Of course, none of the four of us who pick for the paper are above .500, so we're all on a bit of a losing streak and my futility is merely degrees less severe than the others'.

By Tom Rock

Driving up to the stadium this morning, it was impossible to see the place through the cloudiness. Welcome to Fogs-boro.

Typical Patriots slog here with a steady rain, fog, and some unpredictable wind. The best part about the weather is the temperature – it’s in the high 50s. Those conditions should keep both teams on the ground and the score low, which is probably bad and good news for the Jets, respectively. The field looked in pretty good shape this morning, but the rain is already creating deep puddles in the end zones and down the field around the numbers. Yuck.

According to Randy Lange, who keeps track of such things, the last time the Jets played in the rain was in the 2002 home opener against the Patriots, and they lost that one, 44-7. Double yuck.

No shockers among the Jets inactives. Clemens is the third QB, as Mangini said would be the case this week despite having Ramsey listed on the injury report. Derrick Blaylock and Cedric Houston – the two players who were supposed to comprise the Jets’ running back tandem this season – are both inactive. Houston said earlier in the week that if he didn’t play, it wouldn’t be due to his injury, so chalk that up to a coach’s decision. FB James Hodgins, LB Anthony Schlegel, OL Na’Shan Goddard and DT C.J. Mosley are also inactive. The Jets roster is still at 52 players, so they only have seven inactives. Rodney Harrison is inactive for the Patriots, but as Mangini said this week, we’ll believe it when we see it. DL Ty Warren is also inactive for the Patriots.

They installed new HD televisions in the press box here. It makes it much easier to watch replays than the old setup, which had monitors outside the glass hanging from the roof of the stadium.

By Tom Rock

Kerry Rhodes said it felt as if there were 52 Rutgers alums on the team when he walked in this morning. Then he conceded that he is lucky there aren’t any true Scarlet Knights, because nearly everyone had something to say to him. Most of the comments were not supportive, keep-your-chin-up pats on the back, either. As Rhodes walked into the locker room this afternoon, one teammate yelled out "F--- Louisville!"

Rhodes, a Louisville product, was looking forward to Thursday night’s game in Piscataway. But he said after the game he had trouble sleeping, and when he did doze off he woke up in a cold sweat. “I definitely didn’t think they would come out that good,” he said of Rutgers, which beat his Cardinals and eliminated Louisville from a chance at the national title.

Rhodes said that the problem for Louisville was clear. When he attended the game last week against West Virginia, the Cardinals won. When he was watching on TV last night, they lost. He’s the Bob Glauber of college football, and his presence was sorely missed by Louisville.

Rhodes wasn’t the only Jets player keeping an eye on an alma mater last night. Rookie T D’Brickashaw Ferguson was pleased that his former high school, Freeport, won its playoff game. “Hey, Freeport won,” I told him as he walked past me in the hall. “They always do,” he smiled. Though next week’s game against East Meadow could be a tough one. He should take a lesson from Rhodes and not do too much locker room posturing leading up to that one.

Mangini was asked if Belichick’s coldness toward him bothered him at all, and he continued to maintain that his feelings toward his mentor have not changed even if his mentor’s feelings have. He spoke about how, when he and Belichick were with the Jets, Belichick snagged backstage passes for Eric and his wife Julie for a Springsteen concert (Julie is a big Springsteen fan). He recalled walking past The Boss (Bruce, not Parcells) and Bill saying “OK, Julie, don’t pass out!”

“Those are the types of experiences that we share together,” Mangini said. “It’s those types of positive experiences that won’t change. I have a lot of great memories of our friendship.”

Mangini said he would still be willing to call Belichick for Springsteen tickets. I’m not sure he’d get a call back, though. The feud appears to be one-way.

Thanks again to everyone who joined the online chat on Thursday night. It was fun.

By Tom Rock

Here’s the difference between Mangini and Belichick. Mangini has a sense of humor about things beyond football. Asked about the reception he expects at New England on Sunday, Mangini said balloons, floats and “Welcome Home” signs will probably abound. Asked about his relationship with Mangini, Belichick offered a stony silence.

At least Mangini tiptoes around questions when not answering them, acknowledging that they exist. Belichick sounded like a fillabustering senator reading the phone book when asked about the Jets, reciting their roster without comment. Here’s a quote from the transcript, after he was asked by Cannizzaro if Mangini had put any positive stamp on the Jets:

“The Jets have been a strong, competitive football team ever since I’ve been here. We’ve played great games with them, whether it was Al, Herm, Eric or whoever, the two teams are very competitive and the games usually come down to the last possession, right down to the wire. That’s the way it was the last game, that’s historically the way it’s been. It’s been very competitive. The system and the schemes that’s they are running are different then what Herm ran last year. You look at the defensive front with Ellis, Robertson, Thomas, Vilma, Barton, Hobson, Rhodes, Coleman, Barrett, Miller and Dyson, it’s a lot of the same guys that are making plays, that are giving you trouble. Offensively, it’s Cotchery, Baker, Coles, Pennington and Washington is giving them a big lift in the running game and there’s no question about that. It’s a lot of the same guys, Justin Miller on kickoff returns, the fakes that they run in the kicking game and the interceptions and onsides kicks and fake punts. I think Mike (Westhoff) does a good job in that phase of the game. I’m not saying the Jets haven’t changed, they have changed, but there are a lot of elements that the Jets continue to have in place from the things that we’ve had problems with in the past.”

That’s a lot of effort to avoid talking about somebody. When pressed further and asked why he typically has kind words for other former assistants such as Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis and Nick Saban but reserves comment on Mangini, Belichick appeared to become defensive.

“I think the Jets are a good football team. He’s the coach, I think he’s done a good job with the team,” he groaned. “What do you want me to say?”

Belichick did acknowledge that S Rodney Harrison – whom he termed “sore” earlier in the week – will not be available on Sunday. That could come as a relief to the Jets, who might be able to exploit a soft NE secondary. Jerricho Cotchery was asked about Harrison’s reputation as the league’s dirtiest player (as per numerous polls, including one in SI earlier this season). He smiled wryly. “If the whistle hasn’t blown, he’s going to hit you,” he said of Harrison’s style. “Some people don’t play that hard.”

An update on Trey Teague: Mangini said he broke his same ankle in practice on Monday, thus his move to IR. While it was a fracture in a different spot than the original break over the summer that shelved him during training camp, it did finish his season. That leaves the Jets with an open roster spot, one which Mangini said could be filled with either a practice team player, a player off the waiver wire, or someone from another team’s practice squad.

By Tom Rock

With 67 percent of precincts reporting, Newsday is projecting that the Jets have placed OL Trey Teague on IR, released OL Norm Katnik from the practice squad, and signed DT Keyonta Marshall to the practice squad.

Sorry for the election night terminology, just got caught up in watching the results trickle in. But the moves were reported at newyorkjets.com this evening, which may be as much of a confirmation as can be made until Coach Mangini makes his daily housekeeping announcement Wednesday morning. Not much startling in the practice squad switcheroo (is there ever?). Katnik became expendable when the Jets signed rookie T Na’Shan Goddard last week, and the Jets have spent the year on the lookout for beef up the middle (Marshall is listed at 325).

But the end of the Trey Teague mystery seems a bit odd. The guy broke his ankle during the summer, was put on the PUP list at the beginning of training camp, then was taken off when the regular season began. That meant the Jets thought he would be able to play within those first six weeks (or they would have kept him on PUP, like some other running back they had). Teague was never activated for any games, and although he practiced, he has obviously not made enough progress to continue trying to come back this season.

Teague was signed this season to replace C Kevin Mawae, a task that ultimately fell to rookie Nick Mangold (who has done a very solid job). With the O-line pretty well set – there have not been any changes since Pete Kendall returned to action in Week 4 from a hamstring injury – the Jets probably figured it would be better to shut Teague down than hang onto him as an insurance policy against other injuries. They still have Wade Smith, Adrian Jones and now Goddard to patch things up if it gets hairy.

Andrew Gross of the Journal-News has been hammering away on the Teague Storyline for a few weeks now. I’m sure, for him, this day is something akin to the final page of an Agatha Christie novel. Spoiler alert: All of the passengers on the Orient Express worked together to end Teague’s season!

By Tom Rock

A few observations from my bye week experience:

I like John Mellencamp. I like my Chevy truck. After watching yesterday’s games on TV rather than in a press box I’m ready to cut the singer up into small pieces, stuff him in the trunk, and put a brick on the accelerator in front of a large chasm. The only people who welcomed those torturous commercials were the ones watching the 49ers-Vikings game.

Who knew the spleen was such a vulnerable organ in football injuries?

Someone told me that one of the college students arrested for breaking into Heinz Field on Saturday night was from Westbury. As the banner on the Coliseum says: We’re all Islanders!

Looking at the Jets remaining schedule, suddenly that Bears game doesn’t seem so daunting. Neither does the Vikings game. Is there a chance Brooks Bollinger could be the starter for the Vikes when the Jets get there in December?

Let me be one of the first to speculate this: The final wild card spot in the AFC could come down to two teams, Herm’s Chiefs and the Jets.

By Tom Rock

The team is gone to do whatever they do during the bye week – Pete Kendall to drive his kids to hockey games, Kerry Rhodes to attend the Louisville-West Virginia game tonight, Bryan Thomas to just sit home and chill – but I was thinking about all the things that happened in the locker room yesterday, when Curtis announced his quasi-retirement.

It was just another reminder of the mortality of every career, a reality that often becomes clear during the cut-downs and releases of training camp but rarely surfaces during the season. That’s when the players are focused on winning games, not how long their careers will last. Until a bomb drops like it did yesterday, and suddenly people are talking about what it means to go out “on your own terms” or how you play every play “as if it were your last.”

It seems to me that these players spend their entire lives working to get into the NFL, and once they are here they then have to spend time thinking about how to get out. Or when to get out. Or what their “own terms” could possibly be.

“I think he’s very lucky in the sense that, right up until the end, he probably had the opportunity to go out on his own terms with his accomplishment and the money that he has made -- it’s hard to do,” Kendall said of Martin’s bow-out. “The overwhelming majority of players the league, either you love the game too much, or the money, or the camaraderie in the locker room and you just don’t know what to do. You’re scared of the other side.”

I'll write again on the other side of the bye weekend.

By Tom Rock

I got to meet Curtis Martin today. Of course I’ve had interactions with him the last few months on the beat, short chats in the hallway and long group interviews at his locker or in the courtyard. But this was the first time I saw the REAL Curtis Martin.

The guys in the press room had been telling me about him, but my impression had been that he was just a well-spoken athlete who maintained the same distant relationship with the media as everyone else, and that went for everything from discussing his injury to evaluating his future. Then today, the gap closed a bit.

“I’ve spoken to Eric and I asked him if I could be as honest and open – well, honest is going to be a given, but as open and as free with information as possible,” Martin said early in his 20-minute meeting with the press. “He gave me that green light.”

Sadly, it was the only green light Martin will see for quite some time. He acknowledged that he will likely never play again, though he could not bring himself to declare that as a definite. But he was open and, yes, honest, about his injury, about what is going on in his mind and his heart right now, about what he hopes the future will hold, and about his regrets over never winning a Super Bowl. He pinpointed the dates of his injury, the results of his surgery, and the prognosis of his recovery.

It was refreshing to hear an athlete talk about things without regard for being fined or betraying a strategy or undercutting a teammate or opponent. I’m not blasting the Mangini-type atmosphere that is as prevalent around the league as it is with this team, where players recite the same lines over and over like programmed robots or, as someone said during training camp, Stepford Jets. If I was trying to run a football team, I’d probably try to have as much message control as possible. But it was refreshing to hear some thoughts from beyond the script, ones that came from the heart without that semi-second pause many players have before answering a question.

When he finished, and everyone was about to leave the room, Curtis jumped back up on the risers where he had stood for the interview:

“To all of you, I really want to say thank you so much. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. To come to New York and play as long as I have here, the favorable comments and writings that you all have given me over all those years, you don’t understand how much that means to me and it’s one of my greatest accomplishments. I think that playing in New York, it’s so hard to maintain character, to stay favorable, and you guys, regardless of how things have been, there’s only been a few down times or negative reports, and I thank you for that because most of them weren't true at the end of the day. I just wanted to tell you all that I really, really, really appreciate you all.”

Tiki Barber told David Letterman the other night that he doesn’t want to go out like Curtis. Tiki should be so lucky.

After the dust had settled, Dave Hutchinson of the Star-Ledger leaned over to me.

“Now you see, Rock,” he whispered. “That’s the Curtis Martin we knew.”

And now I know him too. He regretted never winning a Super Bowl. I’ll regret never having the chance to work with him on a daily basis.