I was re-thinking about an article posted here on TGG where it said that in the Jets War room there was a wall with this phrase on it: TALENT & CHARACTER, ONE DOESN'T GO WITHOUT THE OTHER. I always thought the "high character guys" thing was Mangini's but could it be it's also a Tanny (and thus the whole organitazions) philosophy? Let's look at the guys we drafted since Tanny has been GM: 2006: D'brick, Mangold, Clemens, Schlegel, E. Smith, B. Smith, Washington, Pociask, Coleman, Adams We all know D'brick, Mangold, Clemens, E. Smith, B. Smith, Washington and Coleman are hard working and team-first guys. (I don't think anyone can argue with that). Although Schlegel, Pociask and Adams couldn't make it as Jets none of them never had run-ins with the law, plus Schlegel attended the US Air Force academy (usually having played for military corps is sign of hard working character). 2007: Revis, Harris, Bender, Stuckey We all know about Revis, Harris and Stuckey attitude. Bender had no run in with the law. 2008: Gholston, Keller, Lowery, Ainge, Henry, Garner Keller is high character guy (team captain forver in college etc), Gholston may have no kill mentalilty at all but he certainly isn't a guy tha puts himself into trouble. Pettine was praising Lowery a lot in pre-season because of his attitude in training hard every day. Ainge no idea but he did start a thousand game in college and was team captain. Henry and Garner no idea but never had run in's with the law plus Garner has been on the Dolphins roster for 2 years and we all know how mucj Parcells loves discipline... especially from the less talented guys. 2009: Sanchez, Greene, Slauson Sanchez got selected because of his leader character too, Greene is a humble guy who had to work hard to get to the NFL and Slauson seems like a very humble guy too from the interviews I've read. All this tells me is we never NEVER drafted a guy who was considered a hot head... and I think we almost certainly never will. Having said that who do you think are the guys we should scrap from being possible Jets draft selections because of bad temper issues? Who on the other hand are players known for being humble and hard workers and thus should have an advantage in the Jets selection process? Do you think this approach will change under Rex? . .. ... .... AFC CHAMPIONSHIP BABY (Just a reminder )
I can tell you this we do need a playmaking Safety with an attitude... ive never thought that people with attitudes arent coachable you just have to somehow restrain them and unleash them during games.. and keep there off the field issues down by keeping them busy
Great post, Tanny still has not gotten credit for all the talent he has drafted. Especially that 2007 draft which is one of the elite New York Jet drafts
Tanny and Rex want guys who love to play the game and don't get in trouble with the law. Edwards had that one incident but I remember Tanny saying he talked with him a lot, and he said he pretty much passed his "character" test. I'm glad we don't have idiots like Vincent Jackson who would kick a challenge flag.
In some of Kerry Rhodes' recent interviews, it's sounding more and more like he's buying into the team first attitude. Winning games can sure change attitudes.
Hahaha. A little off-topic, but does anyone remember a few years back, when Jackson was JAG, he caught a long pass over the middle, hopped up and spun the ball in celebration? Nobody had touched him; lucky for him, he celebrated forward, so it was ruled an illegal lateral and not a fumble. I immediately thought of that play when he made a nice catch yesterday before earning a costly penalty for celebrating. Schmuck. Tall schmuck, but still a schmuck.
