I'd Rather Get Beat Up In An Alley

I came.  I saw.  They conquered. Big time.

I don’t know what moment was the most surreal – my seats being a mile away from the action or the entire stadium chanting Jason Taylor’s name at ear splitting volume.  I also found myself with a Taylor Ham sandwich, a meatball sub, and a flask of tequila but that’s a story for another day (or medium).

First things first: I’ve been to New Jets Stadium but this was my inaugural American Tackle Football game there.  What’d I think of the joint?  I’ll go through my loves before the hates because there were plenty of both.

Loved

• The atmosphere outside the stadium: One thing Jets fans know how to do is tailgate and I’m glad that all the new parking zones, train schedules, and shuttle buses didn’t stop the pregame festivities one bit.  There’s something awe inspiring about a short-bus painted green that transforms into a dual barbecue, 4 plasma screen, 12 seat bar complete with an awning and the NFL ticket.  My buddy and I pretty much wandered the rows of cars going from tailgate to tailgate.  I saw drunk people.
• The atmosphere right inside the gates: There were ping-pong tables ringing the stadium so people could play pick up games.  Seriously, ping pong!  I don’t know who’s idea that was, but that man/woman deserves a raise.  Stages were set up at the corners for live music too.  They wanted people to hang out and I think that’s just grand.
• This Joint is HUGE: I mean enormous.  It’s like the Coliseum on steroids.  I got the chills the first time Fireman Ed got a thunderous “J-E-T-S” going and because the place is soooo big, the fans on the other side of the stadium looked like little radioactive atoms vibrating  uncontrollably.  If you’ve seen radioactive atoms than you know what I’m talking about.  If not, then please ignore the end of that last sentence… moving on…
• The food:  I ate a gourmet meatball sub complete with delicious sauce and fresh shaved pepper-Parmesan.  My buddy made a bee-line for the Taylor Ham which I just thought was an odd choice. Next time I’ll go for the Taylor Ham and Egg.  That’s pretty much all I ate except for a few hand fulls of popcorn but everything I ate was a significant upgrade over the fare at the old Meadowlands.
• NFL Red Zone: There are giant televisions everywhere you look and the Red Zone channel was on every single one of them.  Any time a team in another game gets close to the end zone coverage switches to that game.   If you’ve never seen it before, The Red Zone is great to watch, especially on an airplane.  The giant screens in the four cornerstones had it done during time outs.  Brilliant!

Hated

• The food: I know, I know… this is on the “loved” list but you better get used to it because everything about the new stadium lives in the realm of love/hate.  As far as selection goes I can’t help but wonder what these folks were thinking.  There’s a movement amongst stadiums being built to provide quality local food to the fans and Taylor Ham is the only local slightly imaginative thing I saw.  Pretty weak in comparison.  I’m wondering if the Club Level provides a better selection but our attempt to check it out was denied by my Section 333 ticket.
• This Joint is HUGE:  I’ve never wished I had binoculars before at a sporting event.  The same nose bleed ticket in this stadium feels much farther away.  The Players resembled ants more than humans and without the giant TV’s in the corners it would really be difficult to follow the action.
• Not fan friendly:  Most new stadiums are built with as many sight lines as possible so that if you’re wandering around buying beer or food you can still see the field of play.  The New Meadowlands is the exact opposite.  Literally the only place to see the action is from your seat.  There are TV’s everywhere, yes, but that’s just not the same.  There are actually members of the stadium staff who’s job was specifically to shoo fans away from any areas behind seats where they might catch some action.  This is the worst example of any stadium aiming at corporate money and ignoring the real fans that I have ever witnessed. We weren’t even allowed to check out the Club Level food selection. It is also my biggest problem with the new digs.

Will I go back?  Most definitely – just not as much as I normally would because I can’t afford expensive seats and the cheap ones really suck it sideways.  I’m thinking that rather than go to my usual 4+ games,  I might just pick one or two and spend the money for a real seat.

In other news… we’ve got Miami this weekend.  You know what that means?  It’s one of my favorite times of the season!  I get to roll the clip of Leon demolishing Channing Crowder.  Best. Clip. Ever.

Kerry Rhodes promised embarrassment.   Rex Ryan left me a voicemail.  Patriots fans everywhere talked landfills of trash.  Even though we’re only in week two, this matchup came as loaded as any game could be.  If it were a potato it would be one of those chopped beef, cheese, chives, butter, sour cream, salt, pepper, and barbecue sauce “bakers” that I’ve only seen in Texas.  Damn…  victory is delicious.

So everyone in the media keeps talking about the fans.  Our intensity.  Our decibel level.  What about our nervous stomachs during a very ugly 1st quarter?  The stadium was uneasy after watching Sanchez fumble his first snap of the game but when Leon Washington turned it over on the next excuse for a drive, the fear was visually perceptible.  What I mean is you could actually see it.  Our nervous energy took the shape of a big white helicopter which circled the stadium pretty much the entire game.  It’s not like it flew high above us- it hovered just above the top row.  Anybody else see that thing?  If you were at the game it was hard to miss.  I thought helicopter blades were about to scrape the side of the Meadowlands.  Yikes.  Maybe the CIA had money on the Jets…

Seriously, that 1st half was one of the hardest to watch I’ve ever sat through.  Our offense’s only constant was terrible field position.  The Jets looked inept.  We kept giving Tom “I’m perfect” Brady the ball in Jets territory.  I’ve seen this movie many times before.  It ends in tragedy- like a car accident inside a bullet commuter train during rush hour.  All the Pats had to do was move the ball forward and they could sniff the endzone.  Except, well, they couldn’t really move the ball forward.  And the only thing Brady was sniffing was the turf.  He threw 47 passes and not a single one resulted in a touchdown.  His longest pass went about 40 yards to Darrelle Revis and while it was a tight spiral I think he could have led our star corner a little better.   How’s he supposed to get a pick six when he can’t get separation from Randy Moss.  This is about when the “same old Jets” comments ceased and fans dug in with our rookie quarterback.  Mark Sanchez might be the new kid but once he settles down you can almost see the wheels turning in his head.  It’s only a matter of time before he figures out who is left open when the opposing team blitzes.

Revis was fantastic.  Even when it comes to describing his own performance on Moss.

“I just covered him.  If he went to the bathroom, I went, too. I covered him any way I could. When he went to the sidelines, when our offense was on the field and he sat down, I sat right across from him wherever he was sitting on the bench.”

I feel like not enough is being made out of the handshake(s) at the end of the game.  I gotta say I love Rex Ryan.  The dude left me a message, gave me a game ball, and blitzed Belichick all the way through the good sportsmanship handshake.  Belicheat almost dodged D-Rex only to run into a grinning Mark Sanchez lurking with a handshake of his own.  Kill the grinch with kindness…. what a thing of beauty.

I’ve gone from being dumbfounded to angry to depressed to optimistic to hopeful to “holy crap, we didn’t really give up that much.” I do not, or I guess I should say, did not like the personality I saw Mark Sanchez put on display the weeks leading up until draft day. He struck me as an egotistical jock who’s spent the past few years playing sports in Southern California. When asked about workouts he did for teams he pretty much said “I wowed them with my arm, with my football brain, and with my stunning smile.”

“I threw it really well. I was spinning it all day. I knocked down all the throws. It was great… As soon as I sat down with their team and their playbook, they were like, ‘Wow, this kid has a natural feel for the game. He understands our offense very well.”

That was right after his workout with the Jets a few weeks ago. Ryan Leaf had more modesty. I don’t know why everyone in the media thinks the Jets did an incredible thing by trading up for Sanchez. They gave up three players and a 2nd rounder to move in on a young guy who’s played 16 games at USC. He’s an unproven commodity with an air of arrogance about him. I pray Rexenbaum know what they’re doing. Bargaining with Mangini is akin to dealing with the Devil… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Did you see the way Sanchez was fixing his sideburns on National TV two seconds after donning a green and white hat? My doomsday draft had unfolded right before my eyes. I can’t stand football players who preen. They are two things that just don’t mix. Preening football players in Jet’s hats make me want to puke.

Abram Elam will be missed even if it’s only by me. Kenyon Coleman? I liked him but he’s replaceable. Remember the quarterback battle between Clemens and Ratliff? All those people in the blogosphere arguing that Ratliff was a superstar waiting in the wings with an incredible cannon that would stretch the field all the way to the Superbowl? Well now we know how much Ratliff must have impressed Rex Ryan during those workouts.

It’s true. We really didn’t give much up in terms of personnel.

We have the offensive line to propel even a mid-level quarterback deep into the win column so if Sanchez is half as ready for the pros as he thinks he is we should be able to score points. We’re a run first team right? Ground and Pound baby! Speaking of Thomas Jones… I loved the way we moved in on Shonn Greene. One way or another we’ll have a bruiser to share carries with lil’ Leon Washington next year. Anybody else smell a Thomas Jones trade brewing in Rex’s laboratory?

We’ve addressed the quarterback situation (hopefully). We’ve still got to find a blocking Tight End and a dangerous receiver. I would prefer said receiver to only be dangerous on the field but the Jets front office doesn’t seem to mind where their prospective players set it off- they’re talking to Plaxico “I shot myself in the leg” Burress. We can’t pick this guy up until 1) we find out if he can still run and 2) we get him a pistol with a safety. He might also need an IQ test and a background check.

D-Rex sure likes to hit the throttle doesn’t he?

It was the best of times, it was the… uhhh, best of times. Thomas Jones led the AFC in rushing. Leon Washington finally made the pro bowl and achieved the respect he deserves. Both are focal points of the Jets’ game plan. Both are looking for new contracts.

The best times are going to get ugly. Or at least a tad personal.

My gut feeling is that only one of these guys is going to get a contract extension and it’s not going to be the guy who gets the tough yards or who carries the ball the most.

Thomas Jones had a great season last year. Running behind what might be the best offensive line, Jones once again looked like the runner who carried the Bears to the Super Bowl a few years back. He’s under contract for another two years but has expressed displeasure at the fact that he’s only due $900,000 next season and isn’t showing up to mandatory workouts. His thinking (or his agent’s) seems to be that he had such a good season last year he’s worthy of a new deal. My thinking is that he front loaded his contract so he can make a ton of money in the first two seasons (like 4 million clams a season) in case of injury. After all, those bi-ceps have been in the league for a little while now .

Leon Washington is also coming off a great season. He scored six touchdowns as a change of pace back/return man. Where Jones is a straight ahead bruising runner, Leon is greased lightning with tap dancing shoes. He’s hard to catch and even harder to hang on to. Washington’s drawn comparisons to Barry Sanders, Brian Westbrook, and Darren Sproles. I like to compare him to a pig greased in oil at a rodeo. Ever watch kids try to catch a greased pig? It’s good action but I digress…Washington is also still playing under his rookie contract and he knows he’s due.

Last season Jones carried the ball 214 times more than Leon and he scored 13 touchdowns to Washington’s 6. Some people might say that Mangini’s biggest mistake was not giving the ball to Washington enough. He might be the only player on the Jets entire roster with big-play potential. Any time, any play that Leon’s involved in could be a touchdown. The stats even spell it out for you. Jones’ longest run in 219 attempts was a 59 yard run. Leon’s? 61 yards. He averaged a gaudy 6 yards a carry (5.9- close enough) and when he touches the ball it looks like the guy has been shot out of a cannon. In short, Leon Washington is impossible to replace. He’s worn the Green and White his entire career and has overachieved since his first game.

The Jets will (hopefully) present Washington a new contract in the near future to keep him with the Green and White faithful. I don’t see them doing the same for Thomas Jones. He might be the main back in our offense but he’s easier to replace and despite this year’s salary he’s already gotten the type of contract from Woody that he’s holding out for and he’s still playing under it. The 900 grand he’s due is twice what Leon’s supposed to make next year. Leon should get his juice and a contract extension lest there be a revolt in Jet Nation. I’m talking storming-the-Bastille-kind of revolt. Did you read what happened in the blogosphere when Washington’s name came up in trade talks for Cutler? Heads would have rolled for sure.

Next up… we discuss next year’s just released schedule.