E-Boland & Gang Green

By Tom Rock

Only a few hours left until we can officially term this miserable 4-12 season as "last year." Phew!

The players cleaned out their lockers at Hofstra today, some of them for the last time. Chad Pennington spoke about wanting to be a starting quarterback "here or wherever," seemingly re-opening the door to his return to the Jets. I can't see him wanting to come back. Even if he is named the starter or wins the job in training camp, Kellen Clemens will be over his shoulder the whole year. That's a yucky situation to be in.

The Jets don't seem willing to meet Laveranues Coles' request for a contract extension. He just turned 30 this weekend -- Happy belated birthday, LC! -- and said that the Jets have told his agents that they are concerned about his age and diminished production this year. Coles said he wants to play beyond the next two years for which he is under contract. That's a bit of a change for a player who was talking about his professional mortality at this time last year. Worst case scenario, he said, he'll come back and play his two years for the Jets and then become a free agent. He said he wants things to be resolved peacefully (in fact he said that about 10 times), but he didn't rule out a holdout during OTAs or training camp to get his deal.

As for Kellen Clemens, when he was asked what he needs tow ork on during the offseason, he spoke about his nutrition. That's right, after finishing with the lowest passer rating in the NFL, Clemens said he needs to eat better to manage how his body uses energy.

I'll let you fans chew on that.