Brandon Moore & Schlegel ~ ~ ~

09/25/2006 9:58 PM ET
Mangini praises Moore, three more
Kerry Rhodes, Ben Graham and Anthony Schlegel honored
By Dylan Butler / SNY.tv

Kerry Rhodes was one of the four players honored by Eric Mangini on Monday. (AP)
Brandon Moore was one of four players honored by Eric Mangini after the Jets beat the Bills in Buffalo for the first time since 2002. The right guard was instrumental in negating a Buffalo defense that had 10 sacks in two weeks, including seven against Miami in Week 2. But the fourth-year pro out of Illinois wasn't about to take the credit.They do the dirty work, are never on SportsCenter, but the offensive line is always credited by alert quarterbacks and running backs. That includes Pennington, who gave his O-line props Sunday.

But the 6-foot-3, 295-pound Moore volleyed the recognition back.

"We had help on the ends. The backs and the tight ends did a good job of neutralizing (Aaron) Schobel," Moore said of the Bills defensive end. "That took them out of their game a little bit. A lot of credit goes to them (the running backs and tight ends). You guys don't know it but we saw it on the film, the backs and ends were giving Chad some time."Pennington was sacked just once, by left end Chris Kelsay late in the third quarter. But that was off of a scramble rather than the usual five-step drop."It was his consistency. Consistency in the passing game and consistency in the running game," Mangini said, when asked what made Moore stand out. "I thought he had some nice physical blocks, played with really good toughness, and it carried over. I think the group fed off that."But as dominating as the offensive line was in the passing game, it struggled again in the running game. The Jets rushed for 74 yards on 24 carries, an average of 3.1 yards per carry and 23 yards more than they gained against New England.

Through three games, the Jets have yet to rush for more than 100 yards and are second worst to Tampa Bay in rushing average (2.6 yards per carry). They have three rushing touchdowns, two coming against the Bills -- a three-yard run by Kevan Barlow and a five-yard rush by Cedric Houston late in the fourth quarter on one of only two rushes he had."That's something we consistently work on," Mangini said of the rushing game. "We made some progress this week, but each week we want to get better in that area, and need to continue to improve at the beginning of the game, not have the three and outs there early. We need to get some drives going early, and that's something we will focus on and work on this week."One player who stood out in the backfield was rookie Leon Washington who rushed for 25 yards on seven carries, a team-best 3.6 yards per carry. But what was more impressive was a clutch 47-yard reception on a simple screen pass over the middle that set up Barlow's touchdown.

It's that versatility that Mangini praised throughout the preseason.

"The progress he's made from day one to right now has been significant," Mangini said. "He's made that progress because of the way that he works at practice and finishes runs and stays after practice and is taking the coaching and spending time with some of the older guys."One of those older guys is Curtis Martin, the future Hall of Fame running back who is on the physically unable to perform list until at least Week 6 following December knee surgery.

"Curtis is one of the guys that has helped me a lot, helped me established my role on this team, helped me practice harder," Washington said. "He's given me those small points that I need as a young running back. Instead of being so instinctive with all my runs, he's helped me learn to read defenses and how to pick up blocks."It might not seem like it, considering the Bills had 475 yards of total offense, Willis McGahee rushed for a career-high 150 yards and JP Losman threw for 328 yards, but the Jets' defense did a good job in key situations.It didn't start out that way, though, as Losman hit Roscoe Parrish for a 51-yard touchdown on a Jets' blitz. But once again, Kerry Rhodes was huge with a pair of strip-sacks and 10 solo tackles. Mangini named him the defensive player of the week and the AFC may do the same, as well."I think there's some areas he can improve on, but one thing that I think he's done well the last couple games ... is his understanding the technique of the person that's blocking him, understanding how they're blocking," Mangini said.

But Rhodes wasn't the only one. Victor Hobson rebounded well after being benched for a roughing the passer penalty and ran back the fumble forced by Rhodes for a 32-yard touchdown. And there's Bobby Hamilton, who pushed Losman back for a nine-yard loss on a naked bootleg on a third-and-goal from the one-yard line.The Bills had to settle for a field goal and were 1-for-4 in the red zone. The Jets were 3-for-3, all for touchdowns."It's just a little bit like a scrum; whoever gets the most movement wins, and the gap integrity was pretty sound," Mangini said of his goal line defense. "Bobby made a really nice play on the backside with that bootleg, good situational awareness play."

Mangini also praised punter Ben Graham, naming him the Jets' special teams player of the week. Bouncing back from a shanked 10-yard punt against New England that led to a Patriots' touchdown, Graham was solid vs. the Bills. His seven punts averaged 48.3 yards and he pinned the Bills inside their own 20-yard line four times, an impressive accomplishment considering the 20-mph winds at Ralph Wilson Stadium that were gusting to 35 mph."Ben is a pretty consistent worker," Mangini said. "I don't think in his style or his approach there has been much difference. He's a real consistent guy. I think he's hitting the ball well."

Besides Mooore, Rhodes and Graham, Mangini also honored linebacker Anthony Schlegel as the practice player of the week.

Dylan Butler is a regular contributor to SNY.tv.