Sunday morning notes to digest as you prepare for your Memorial Day barbecues: A visit from Chucky. Former Bucs coach and current ESPN analyst Jon Gruden made a three-day visit to the Jets this past week. This wasn’t a TV assignment; he was invited by the team to observe a couple of practices and interact with coaches, players and front-office types. Give GM Mike Tannenbaum credit; he’s always thinking outside the box, soliciting different perspectives from people outside the organization. Example: Last Sunday night, he, along with Rex Ryan and Woody Johnson, dined with NBA legend Magic Johnson. This may sound geeky, but Tannenbaum actually took notes during the 2 ½-hour dinner. After hanging around Gruden for a few days, Tannenbaum learned that Chucky and Ryan share a common philosophy when it comes to team-building: The importance of having players that are passionate about football. Gruden reeks of passion, even in the TV booth. Braylon’s strong offseason. WR Braylon Edwards was named by Ryan as one of the two most impressive players this offseason. (The other, in Ryan’s opinion, is LB Kenwin Cummings.) In some ways, Edwards took too much criticism last season for some dropped passes. According to Pro Football Focus, he had only four drops. In fact, his drop rate was better than that of Santonio Holmes. Edwards dropped four of the 70 balls thrown to him – one per 17.5 throws, according to Pro Football Focus. Holmes, playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, dropped eight of 127 – one per 15.9 throws. Edwards caught a lot of flak because his drops came in big spots. (In case you’re wondering, Jerricho Cotchery had only two drops in 93 chances (46.5). That’s what you call sure handed. This is a huge season for Edwards, who is playing on a one-year, $6.1 million contract. He will be an unrestricted free agent in 2011, with a chance for a major score if he plays like a Pro Bowl receiver. He apparently is off to a good start, as Ryan commended his work ethic. Edwards is learning the Z (flanker) receiver spot after playing almost exclusively in the X (split end) spot last season. “He’s really learning our system now,” Ryan said. “I just love the way he’s competing with those corners. He can’t wait. He was calling them out the other day, ‘Come on out, we need more reps.’ It’s great to watch.” Defensive chemistry. LB Bart Scott gave an insightful explanation on the benefit of having a year’s experience in Ryan’s system. With nine returning starters, seven of whom were new to the system last season, the defense should be able to make changes on the fly, according to Scott. The scheme is structured in a way that allows for ad-libbing. Example: If the ‘Mike’ linebacker is supposed to blitz on a particular play, he might tell the ‘Will’ ‘backer to take his blitz while he drops into coverage. Scott said the coaches don't mind as long as the result is positive. “The players can understand situational football and we can use more tools,” Scott said. “We were doing everything last year straight by the book. Now we can improvise, we can switch it up based on formations and strengths. Now, all of a sudden, 10 defenses will look like 50 to the opposition.” Scott believes the familiarity with the system will help in tight, late-game situations. That was a problem last season, as the Jets failed to close out a handful of games. “Growing pains,” said Scott, blaming those hiccups largely on miscommunications. A sleeper. One player turning the heads of his teammates is backup S James Ihedigbo. He’s an aggressive defender (sometimes too aggressive) who excels on special teams. He’s probably not an every-down safety, but he has enough versatility (can line up as a linebacker in the dime) and blitzing ability to play in certain sub packages. Big man on campus. NT Kris Jenkins (knee surgery) is on schedule and, as expected, should be ready for the June 14-16 minicamp. That was the plan all along with the big fella, whom the organization is in no rush to get back on the field. He will be limited in training camp as well. By Rich Cimini
wow. i never would have guessed that was a cimini article until i got to the bottom of it. good read.
i hope chucky was impressed and has all positive things to say. he normally is a big jet fan when we talks about us on tv.. hope edwards plays like he is did in 07 and better yet if he does return to that level sign with us instead of with another team for most likely more money then we can offer him if bart is right at all then our defense may actually have a chance to be one of the best of all time like he thinks it can be. im predicting ravens 2000 type year. cant wait for this season to start
I love that Chucky was there, I was routing for him to be our coach, but I'm happy with REX!!! Also, I feel Edwards should be locked up...he will be a lot cheaper now then later and Holmes is a F@ckup away from a year suspension. Edwards has changed and his drops are not a problem as most would blame.
You think Cimini realizes most people can't stand his writing and decided to actually write something that isnt a lump of negative shit? Naaaaaaaaaah This is an aberration.
Edwards probably isn't that close to the top of the list for an extension, but here's hoping he doesn't get away. There's a reason he was the second (I think) pick in the draft, you don't get a guy with his physical talent anywhere else. Revis, Mangold, Ferguson and Harris are all waiting as well, and have all been here much longer. Hopefully we see a few of those deals get wrapped up this summer, and maybe Braylon could get resigned during the season if he's turning in big numbers. Bringing in Gruden was a great move, considering that this team is going to be all over primetime football this year. I believe we have Monday Night Football twice, plus a thanksgiving game he could be covering, so this added insight into the team should make for a few minutes more of actual football discussion before they start interviewing celebrities in the booth. I'm waiting for a story to break about his interaction with Sanchez, Gruden is one of the best quarterback coaches in the biz, hopefully they spent some time together.
Funny, I was thinking the same thing....as I'm reading I was like, this is a nice piece...then I got to the end and said NoWai! :lol: Yep, I will never forget his rookie season vs the Va-GINAS preseason, he made a hard hitting play and I said, wow who was that!? Then his very next chance he got too agressive and got beat for a TD....and said..damn, But when He made the team I was hoping he would become a better football player cause I love hard hitting safety play.... He has already made some great plays for us on D, ST and now I think is his time to shine.
How can you omit the play he made on the game you attended?! [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHh3f-bm-v0[/YOUTUBE] I'm a big fan of him, hoping he plays alongside Pool, but not sure how his cover skills are. His blitzing off the edge is good, I remember a few times in the playoff loss he came close to Peyton but close isn't good enough when it comes to that guy.
Good Read. Glad Braylon is putting the work in, that's good for him and us. Between Leonhard, Pool, and Ihedigbo we seem to be developing a solid young Safety core.:jets:
I'm baked, read it, and enjoyed it. I like the part where Bart Scott mentions the advantage of year 2 in the RR defense.
I'm smelling a lot of 3 WR sets this season after Holmes comes back from the suspension. It looks like the plan is Cotchery FL and Edwards SE early, followed by Cotchery FL and Homes SE or Edwards FL, Holmes SE and Cotchery SL when all 3 are available. That looks like a formidable lineup either way.
The salary cap is good. If they get rid of it permanently this team will get pulled apart by the rest of the NFL as the contracts come due. Paul Allen could throw away a billion dollars on contracts and barely notice it. The guy in Washington is a proven loser in that regard. Scarier than those guys are people like Jerry Jones and Steven Ross (with Parcells making the calls), who might actually make good decisions while throwing a huge amount of money at the super stars. I want a nice solid cap in place by 2012. The kind that will keep the Jets stars from getting A-Rod like offers from the field.
