http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/sports/football/15rhoden.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&oref=slogin The night before the Jets? monster win at New England, Ty Law, a day into his Jets tenure, stood before his new teammates and told them what the Patriots thought of them. It was an eye-opening perspective from someone who knew. Law spent nine seasons with New England, 1995-2004, winning three Super Bowl rings and often putting himself on the delivering end of knockout blows that either derailed the Jets or sent them deeper into the abyss. ?The message I gave to the guys last night was ? and I used the word we ? was that we thought that if we played you guys in the fourth quarter and if we kept it tight, no matter what happened, y?all were going to find a way to lose,? Law said. ?We felt we had the psychological advantage on you ? that no matter what the case was, no matter who was out on the field, we knew if we played the Jets they?re going to find a way to lose and we were going to find a way to win, and that?s just the mentality. I told them you have to go out there and take it, because they?re not going to give you anything.? Law was nearly responsible for letting Thursday night?s game become another Jets nightmare. After playing brilliantly, mostly against Randy Moss, Law was beaten when Moss made a stellar catch in the end zone with one second left in regulation. Shaun Ellis, the defensive end who has played all nine of his N.F.L. seasons with the Jets, said that when he saw Moss make the catch he reverted into ?Same Old Jets? mode. ?Truthfully, what I thought was, ?Here we go again,?? Ellis said. ?We?ve been in that situation so many times with Brady ending up hurting you. Today, it just happened to be Cassel.? The Jets never had the superior quarterback during the Tom Brady era. The difference between past Jets collapses and their triumph on Thursday night over Matt Cassel and the Patriots is that now they do. ?It?s more of a state of mind,? Law said. ?We have so much talent in this room that if we can put it all together, there?s no telling what we can do.? When the Patriots were on top of the league, bolstered with skilled veterans, they never played down to the level of inferior opponents. The Jets lost to a poor Oakland Raiders team on Oct. 19 and nearly lost to an even worse Kansas City Chiefs team a week later. ?When you are more talented, you have to play like the more talented team,? Law said. ?One thing we learned over in that other locker room,? he added, nodding in the direction of the Patriots, ?is that we knew how to play above the competition. Even if we knew the competition was less, we expected to go out and prove that that other team was a lesser talent. When we played a talented team, we were going to play to our level. That?s what teams have to learn to do.? The Giants have learned how to do that. Now it?s the Jets? turn. On Thursday night, the Jets were on the verge of breaking open the game. The Patriots made adjustment, and the Jets may have pulled back emotionally. ?When they?re down, kick ?em,? Law said. ?That?s what we have to learn here. We had them down like that but we didn?t kick ?em ? we didn?t do that tonight.? The challenge of playing in New York is maintaining a sense of scale: every game is made into a mountain, into a defining moment. Jets Coach Eric Mangini ? to his credit ? often attempts to minimize the moment in a way that is reminiscent of Duane Thomas. You normally wouldn?t pair Mangini, the 37-year-old coach, and Thomas, 61, who led the Dallas Cowboys to their first Super Bowl victory in 1972 and confounded the news media with stony silence ? or cryptic messages, when he did speak. In fact, Thomas refused to speak with Cowboys players, coaches or management during the entire 1971 season. His most famous line came during the buildup to Super Bowl VI, when a reporter asked him how it felt to play in the ultimate game. Thomas replied, ?If it?s the ultimate game, why are they playing it again next year?? Mangini doesn?t put things quite like that, but his daily message is that no one game is bigger than any other. The victory over Patriots was huge, but it was not the ultimate. A loss would not have decimated the team, and the victory does not represent a sea change. A victory here does not validate the trade for Favre ? the trade was validated the instant it was consummated because Favre is one of the greatest quarterbacks in N.F.L. history. But beating a hobbled, Brady-less Patriots team in November is not all that is expected from Favre. He was brought here to help lead the Jets to their first Super Bowl championship in 40 seasons. That?s the difference between climbing a hill versus scaling a mountain. Meanwhile, the Jets must undergo an emotional transformation that will carry them from identifying with the league?s bottom feeders to identifying with the N.F.L. elite. This is not an easy task. As Duane Thomas told the news media more than 30 years ago, as Eric Mangini says on a daily basis now and as Ty Law told the Jets on Wednesday, the ultimate is simply the next game. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perhaps this will alter the mentality of this organization and the fans. Its time to change how WE think, and the team will follow suit.
Ty Law, Eric Mangini, and Duane Thomas are very wise men. People really should learn from this. It's actually common sense when you think about it, but how many people would think about it when they can react to it? I'm mad Ellis admitted he kind of fell back into the same old Jets thing. Praise Jah for all the new acquisitions who couldn't give two shits about the past they weren't even apart of.
Great article. I hated Ty Law in the past because I feel he is cocky. Now however, I think that is exactly what this team needs. A winning swagger. Expect to win, expect to be the best. The Jets can slowly begin to believe this.
An once again we were about to find ourselves a way to lose to the hated patriots but Brett Favre said GTFO my face with that shit!
I'm actually impressed he admitted it. Along the same lines as Bryan Thomas admitting to slacking off last year it's character flaw recognition. The thing is, once you recognize the problem, you can work on fixing it. The key here, and that's why this game is bigger for this team than they'll let on, is that they now know they can win any game, no matter what might happen. I'm definitely curious to see how they carry that lesson into the next 10 days. The Titans game will speak volumes about where this team is going now. Last night was the first step, now it's time to walk tall.
Shaun Ellis, the defensive end who has played all nine of his N.F.L. seasons with the Jets, said that when he saw Moss make the catch he reverted into ?Same Old Jets? mode. ?Truthfully, what I thought was, ?Here we go again,?? Ellis said. ?We?ve been in that situation so many times with Brady ending up hurting you. Today, it just happened to be Cassel.? Ellis and every other Jet fan on the planet.......
I was screaming this all year... good to hear that someone who can actually talk to the team is telling them that.
I know...i was surprised too...but in a good way. This is the type of leadership we need from Law...not the prima donna stuff that everybody was afraid he would bring to the table.
I've always thought that the Pats must have no respect for the Jets. This just proves it. Would have liked to have seen a more emphatic win but I'm just glad that we were able to beat them in their own house and damage their chances of winning another Division Title.
What Ty Law told the team is something the CS must learn as well. It's a flaw that must be corrected and worked at. When you get a team like the Pats who have ripped your heart out many a time, when you get the chance to return the favor, you must not blink. We had the Pats down large and early and lifted our foot off there throats. I kept saying the whole game, don't let them back in and we did. When we got them down we should have kept right on kicking there ass, till there was no more skin and ass left to kick. The message would have been your ass kicking days are over and we are the new Sheriff in town. Do any of you think for one minute the Billy Boy would not do the same to us if given the chance? We should have came after them in the second half and left it all on the field. The fourth quarter defense played right into there hands and almost cost us the game. You can lay guys off 15 yards rush 3 and not expect to lose, that is Herm Ball!!!!! Yes fans, this bunch has to learn to keep the killer going for 60 minutes and not let up when it's someone like the Pats. Now on the other hand what they did the week before showed a ton of class not running it up on the Rams after we had already crush the life out of them. This is the only exception to the killer rule, with two mintues left and up by 46 and on there 8 yard line with 1st and goal to go, show some class and take a knee.. Unless of course you owe some payback, then refer back to the killer rule......
Yup. at 24-6 we should have gone 5 wide, no huddle, and then dinked and dunked, waiing for a big one to open up. The TD that NE got at the end of the half, s what got them back in the game
Finally, someone is talking some sense into this team - and that someone is none less than Ty Law. I was very skeptical about this signing, but if he's offering things like this, along with a stout coverage on the field, I don't see why Jets shouldn't extend his contract; I wouldn't mind 2 or 3 year extension on his contract, as a role player. And, finally: BRING ON THE SWAGGER!
I disagree with one point in the article - that losing this game would have been "no big deal". To have been up 24 -6 on them, then have them come back in the final seconds and win in OT would have devastated this team. The season would have been over right there. If they lost this game in any fashion, the team would have suffered and had a major confidence problem.
After watching loser Herm try, only to fail last week, I had this brief, crazy thought at 31-30 that Billy Boy might try to go for 2 and stick a dagger in our heart for good. 32-31 ats_suck:
Wait, this quote is news to you guys? Brady has said it before - The bit about how if they keep it close they'll win against the Jets.
