The Boone Docks

Since someone liked this statistic I used in the paper this morning, I’ll throw it out again here:

5,152: Miles traveled by the Jets in 2007 (includes a "road" game @ Giants).
14,246: Miles the Jets will travel this season.

Actually, I did that mileage tally on mapquest (I alternate with googlemaps if you must know) back in April when the schedule came out and blogged it, but it bears repeating with the third of four West Coast trips coming up this weekend.

* In looks increasingly likely David Harris will be back out there Sunday. Eric Smith, probably not.

* So Calvin Pace didn’t exactly give a cliché answer when asked about the significant drop recently in sacks, both for him and the team.

“We have been playing a little bit more coverage,” Pace said. “I know I have (been playing) more coverage than rushing. Obviously that is not my decision that is more game plan. I guess sometimes that happens, but based on how they see us matching up and how they want to scheme things. We were winning with it. Ideally, me personally, I like to rush a little bit more, but it’s not a problem. Whatever is called I am willing to do, but I envision the numbers picking back up. It’s not that we are getting blocked up we have just been covering a little bit more.”

* Asked if the level of anger in the locker room is similar to what it was after the Oakland loss, Pace said it was.

“Yes, it’s definitely there. I just think we came out too flat. We just didn’t have the energy. For whatever reason we didn’t get started well. Sometimes you are not going to win them all. Ideally you want to, but to play against a team of that caliber who has been to the playoffs and who is looking to go again to the playoffs this year, you can’t come out like that. For whatever the reason we just didn’t match whatever they did. Everything they did against us, our answers just didn’t match and we have to be better than that.”

* Eric Mangini all but said Abram Elam would start again at safety. It’s a combination of Eric Smith not being ready and Mangini not quite ready to toss Elam under the bus for a singular bad performance.

“With Abe…there’s a lot of weeks where he’s made positive, positive plays,” Mangini said. “Everybody faces a game where you don’t.”

* Mangini on the secondary:

“I think everybody needs to improve. When we talk about the pass defense, to me, it’s never just the secondary. And the linebackers play a big role in that; and our ability to get to the passer, our ability to keep the passer in the pocket so that plays don’t go longer than they should; our ability to convert on sack opportunities.”

As we talked about extensively during yesterday’s Live Chat – from the World’s Most Futon no less – what Pace spoke of is a problem. The Jets have to get to the passer. Period. The personnel in the secondary, other than Kerry Rhodes and Darrelle Revis, simply isn’t good enough, frankly, to survive on its own. Shaun Hill will go all Matt Cassel and throw for 400 yards, too, if he’s not pressured.

* The quote of the day came from Favre when he was talking about how he’s holding up physically.

“At some point, I’ve got to fall apart,” Favre said. “I’m not going to lie to you. It’s like any car. You drive it long enough, it’s going to fall apart; you’re going to have a flat tire, something’s going to happen. At some point, I’m going to fall apart.”

Favre also made clear that, “I feel fine,” and that the "falling apart" thing wasn't imminent. He was speaking hypothetically, a few years down the road.

* We had interim 49ers coach Mike Singletary on conference call and he said he still can’t believe he’ll be coaching against someone he played against – twice – in 1992. That was Singletary’s final season with the Bears and Favre’s first full season as a starter.

“It’s an amazing thought to be honest,” Singletary said. “It’s really an amazing thought to think that I played against him. But I just remember…thinking to myself, this guy’s going to be special. You could literally hear the ball coming by. It was a very cold day and I remember playing against him in December and it was cold that day and the ball passed by me and I literally heard the ball. The guy had leadership, he had something about him.”

* Singletary on the Jets’ front seven, which obviously didn’t play well Sunday but had before then.

“They’re about as good as any front seven you want to look at in the league,” Singletary said. “They look the part and they play the part. It’s been pretty interesting watching them. Wow. They really come off the ball.”

* Yes, Singletary was asked about his shorts-drop from a few weeks back and if he might try that avenue of inspiration again.

“Absolutely not,” Singletary said with a laugh.

Though he added a point he had made before: that what happens in the locker room should stay there.

“That was a shock treatment no one else was supposed to know about,” Singletary said.

I might have to ask Mangini if he would consider that kind of motivational tactic for the Jets.

Talk to you tomorrow.