Few Takes From The Sideline

As I mentioned once before on here, I work for Comcast Sportsnet in the DC/Baltimore area. Was lucky enough to cover the Jets vs Skins game last night. Spent most of my time sitting on the Jets sideline and just watching the warmups and conversations on the sidelines. Gonna give some intake on what happen that most people didnt get the chance to see.

It's very tough when the players are without their jerseys during the pre-season. Very tough to tell who is who unless they are a big name player. Most of the unknowns were practicing early while the bigger named players stayed in the locker room.

Once the players decided to come out about an hour before game time I got to see some action. Nugent was constantly kicking bombs from close to 52-53 yard range with Westhoff standing right next to him, directing him. This kid has a great leg and even saw him put a few kickoffs into the endzone during warmups. Brad Smith and Reggie Newhouse were making some nice catches during warmups as well.

Mainly the action started a few mins before kickoff. Where there was one Redskins fan constantly raggin on Justin Miller. Saying all sorts of stuff which had the bench and myself laughing a little bit. Then the guy just started to get annoying. Sure enough Justin Miller opens the game with a near kickoff return for TD. Once he came off the field he looked right at the guy and says "What, was that?". He was pumped as was the team after that kickoff return.

Ramsey was getting scolded big time by every single person in the stadium. They were all yelling "Sack Him" during the first play. The stadium absolutely errupted (big crowd for a Pre-Season game) and I give Ramsey credit for playing as solid as he did. It was a very tough situation for Ramsey and our young players. I give Ramsey credit for the job he did.

Ben Graham was very aggrivated with himself after his shanked punt to start the game. He came right off to the bench shaking his head and walked right over to Dressen and Missant and talked to them about it. They worked on the snaps and punt motion all game long.

The most impressive thing I saw was everytime the O-Line got off the field they were being chewed up by Tony Wise. Was constantly on them and everytime he was sitting down next to Kendall. Kendall is obviously the leader of the O-Line, but I was more impressed by how D'Brick Ferguson and Nick Mangold sat right next to them, and studied hard! These guys are going to be something special.

My most enjoyable thing of the game was the fans. Three die hard jets fans from L.I. were sitting right behind the bench. They had a lot to drink but were still great fans. They cheered every play and were always on top of what was going on. They stayed the entire game also rarely missing a snap. When I ran by them they saw my Jets hat and decided to cheer me on after the Brad Smith touchdown (Was told I wasn't allowwed to have my Chrebet jersey on the field or I would get kicked out of the stadium). Doesnt mean my hat came off :wink:.

Two things at the end of the game showed me the chracter of this team and their fans. One, was when Shaun Ellis was leaving to go to the locker room and two little kids with Redskins jerseys were yelling. Mr Ellis! Mr Ellis! can we have your gloves?. Sure enough he took them off and threw them at the kids. The throw fell kinda short (We might want to look into his arm strength :wink and landed right at my feet. I was tempted to take them and run but the good person I am, I took one glove and gave each kid one. Hats off to you Mr Ellis!

The second thing consisted of the three loyal fans. One of the kids had lost his leg while fighting in Iraq (We salute you!) and he called over Derrick Strait and Justin Miller. Both of them gladly walked over and signed the kids leg. Very classy acts from both of those players. Hats off to them and to the loyal jet fans.

Random Tidbits

• Nick Mangold is a monster!
• D'Brick is a lean mean machine.
• Clemens is the real deal.
• Tim Dwight looks just like a mini Chrebet with tattoos.
• Ben Graham is having the time of his life.
• Vilma is clearly the defensive leader.
• Barton is the other leader.
• The LB's are gonna be a very solid unit.
• The defense was impressive as a whole.

Now that I have wasted enough of your time. Just figured I would share my sidelines experiences with everyone who wouldnt get the chance to know these kind of things. Any questions I will gladly answer.

Youth™

 

Good catch. Im pretty sure I looked here on the Gang Green for this information and it said Doug Marrone. I should have known who the coach was just must have thought Marrone was still here lol.

Youth™

 

I would love more future chances but I work mainly for the Redskins and Ravens. So not to many times will I get the chance to work a Jets game. But im gonna work on it. I am a season ticket holder and am gonna be doing my best to get a chance to work my way to the locker room.

Will keep you updated on that :smile:

Youth?

 

They were only a few of the guys who were signing autographs. One other player whose name I can't remember must be a local kid who just got his chance to play during the pre-season. Because there were a lot of fans in the area that really were rooting for this kid.

Think his number was #61

Youth™

 

Thanks everyone means a lot to finally get a decent response from people when I post. I have been posting a lot but most people over look it. This seemed like a good chance to share the day I had with everyone.

Also, as someone said its nice to learn a little more about the players and character things. Not just based on their play on the field or something negative the media says. I am a small part of the media and working my way up but in no way am I biased like the Jet beat writers.

Thanks

Youth™

 

I could have the number wrong but no it was not Katnik. The name is slipping by but if I saw the name I would definately be able to recognize it. He was definately on the O-Line. When I looked on the gang green roster I did not see his name. Im positive he is just a scrub that was signed on for the pre-season. But he had a lot of family and friends there even saw him kiss his girl on his way out.

Wish I could remember his name.

Also no real conversations. They seemed extremly focused and just cause they see my hat doesnt mean they are gonna talk. Football players have big heads when they are on the field. If they didnt then they would spend all day talking to fans and signing autographs. I never wanna bother them while they are at work anyway. So I just sit back and enjoy the show. I am always around big time players in the NBA and NHL as well but never really get any conversations out of it. They are there to work as am I.

Youth™

 

The funny part about it is that it wasnt anything special. Just saying stuff like you look like you could still be in high school, why would people sign you to a contract. The usual heckling which resorts to a person who knows nothing about football and just blurts the first drunk words that come to mind. Miller just happened to be sitting in front of him and when Miller didnt react he would pick on the next name he saw. Sure enough Justin came back and shut him up. Eric Barton also made sure to quiet the crowd after some big defensive plays.

Youth?