Archives for October 2003

‘”Every day is exciting for me, because I get the chance to do what I love – play football,” Pennington said yesterday in a statement released by the team’s PR department. “Right now, it is in the best interest for our team and my teammates that the focus be on the Jets and our challenge versus Buffalo. We, as a team, need to do everything we can to get ready for a very good Bills team.”‘

‘”You’ve got to look at the big picture,” Cowart said. “We’re 0-4. We’re giving up a ton of yards. So if the idea is that we need to rotate the linebackers, whatever the coach feels is best for the team, I’m for it … I don’t take it as an insult. I take it as a challenge.”‘

‘Posing as Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe for the scout-team offense, Pennington worked mostly out of the shotgun to mimic the Buffalo offense. His throws were crisp and sharp, but he appeared to have trouble getting a handle on the ball with a bulky brace and glove on his left hand.’

‘”Trying to figure it out myself,” Edwards said while on the topic of run defense yesterday. “I don’t know. Like I say, if it’s still happening there are a couple of things you’ve got to do. You can’t ask them to do a lot. And sometimes you’ve just got to, you know, you’ve got to look at what you’re asking a player to do. Maybe he can’t do it.”‘

‘”Maybe next week,” Jets coach Herman Edwards said when asked when Pennington might do regular drills. “He’ll definitely have a big red jersey on. I don’t know if we have one, but we’ll get one.”’

‘Defensively, the Jets rank last in the NFL in run defense, yielding an astounding 174 yards per game.’

‘LB Sam Cowart is second on the team in tackles with 39, but looks nothing like the sideline-to-sideline tackling machine he was during his four-year stint in Buffalo. And he’s healthy. Cowart is expected to rotate with Jason Glenn in the base defense as Edwards looks for someone to spark the struggling unit.’

‘”If you went to East Rutherford municipal court, you’d see the same names 200 times,” Aramini said. “I can tell you the names of the people out on Route 3. It’s the same people all the time.”‘

‘”I worry about it a little bit,” Edwards said of the danger such rotations will have on the continuity of the position. “But then again, I don’t worry about it. We’re trying to get better, we’ve got to find a way to get better. Just put them in there and they’ve got to go play, that’s how they’ve got to do it.”‘

‘But actually, things may be changing rapidly. Pennington’s return has unofficially been advanced from Game 10 at Indianapolis (at the time of his Aug. 23 surgery) to perhaps Game 7 at Philadelphia. Is it out of the question to ask whether Pennington, making progress by leaps and bounds, will be available if needed for the Jets’ next game after Buffalo, at Houston? That’s the question Edwards will have to tackle beginning Monday.’

‘Jordan is a guy who was tabbed for stardom when the Jets nabbed him in the second round of the 2001 NFL draft, a guy who is the all-time leading rusher at the University of Maryland, one of only four ACC players to run for over 4,000 yards. Yet he only has 10 carries in the Jets’ first four games this year.’

‘”I wish I knew as much about special teams when I was with the Buffalo Bills as I do now,” he said. “It’s such an important area that I decided to take it over after last season.”‘

”’Drew Bledsoe is one of the better quarterbacks. They have a good group of receivers and an excellent runner,” Edwards said. ”They’re fine. They have enough weapons, believe me.”’

”’You have to sit back and take it.”’

”’Whenever your job is threatened, the pressure is on,” Cowart said. ”You have to play well. Not just the linebackers, the team in general. We know as a unit we have to make more plays. ”I know I can play better. I know I have the skills to do it.”’