The sounds of silence
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- October
- 30
Leave it to the Jets to conduct a conference call in which absolutely no information is revealed.
Jonathan Vilma spent 10 minutes on the phone with the media, his first public comments since being placed on an injured reserve with a knee injury. But we still don’t know what knee it is or what the extent of the damage is.
“I can’t get into specifics on that,’’ Vilma said.
In fact, each time Vilma was asked specifically about his injury, there was the distinct sound of whispers in the background, as if Vilma was being coached on how to answer the question.
Exasperated, the media finally asked Vilma why, if he’s already out for the season, he can’t say what his injury is.
“That’s beyond me,’’ Vilma said. “You have to take that up with Mangini. I don’t have any control over that.’’
Here’s an experiment we in the media can try at tomorrow’s presser. We can ask Mangini about Erik Coleman’s appendix problem from the 2006 training camp. I’m sure, as far as the Jets are concerned, that is still just being classified as an illness.
Vilma said he didn’t even realize he had been hurt in the game, as if that might explain away his bizarre radio interview two days later when he told the WFAN co-hosts that it was a coach’s decision for him to come out of the Bengals’ game and he was absolutely not injured.
“I honestly don’t know how I got hurt in the game,’’ Vilma said. “I kept on playing, kept trying to fight through it. It was one of those freak accidents where you step funny, you step the wrong way. I can’t even explain it.’’
OK, so Vilma doesn’t know how he got hurt but he knows it happened when he stepped funny or the wrong way.
As my colleague Rich Cimini of the Daily News might say – puh-leeze.
I think it was Rich who asked Vilma why he had been so adamant in that radio interview that he had not been hurt.
“Are you asking me?’’ Vilma said. “Sounds to me like you are trying to imply something.’’
Or, as Herm Edwards might say, “Are you bristling at me. I can bristle, too.’’
So the Jets, who love this cloak-and-dagger stuff, want to keep us in the media and you fans in the dark. Look, I make a living doing this so I don’t take any of this personally. But if I was a fan who spent several thousand dollars each year on this team, or even a casual fan who’d spent a hundred bucks on a jersey, or even $5 bucks on a Jets’ shot glass, I’d feel insulted at this point.
This has nothing to do with competitive advantages. Mangini claims that by not saying, teams won’t know which knee Vilma hurt when he does play next season. It’ll take the other 31 teams about 10 seconds of watching preseason film to figure that out.
To be fair, the Jets are playing within the NFL rules since they’re not obligated to say anything.
I’m under no obligations either. It’s his right knee. If the Jets don’t like that, they can prove me wrong.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 5:59 pm by Andrew Gross.
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Jane McManus 
I’ll tell you one thing as you said and I have said, as a fan, you almost want to start routing for Detroit or something, this is just ridiculous…if Vilma is out for the year, what is it? I mean what percentage of any of the Jets remining opponents actually care?
How long until Mangini is FIRED! Let’s start the count down—8 games to go… Who would have though that Herm would look like Vince Lombardi?!
Geez. We went from Magenius to fire Mangini in what 8 games. Come on. This is a team in the second year from a ground up rebuilding. Herm knew it, thats why he wanted an extension. Tangini know it, thats why they took a QB in the second round last year. Thats why they are conserving cap space for draft picks and young players. The Jets are several years away from signing expensive aging veterans that fit a very specific need. Tangini are being patient as they should be. Realistically, they are probably planning on being very competitive in 2009.
In the mean time SOJF (Same old Jets fans)
Apparently it’s a very fine line that can separate a Mangenius from a Mangidiot. Let’s hope somebody waves some smelling salts under Eric’s nose soon, because this team has bigger concerns than covering up the evidence of a finished knee…hell, they’ve got a whole corpse of a season to bury.
honestly not talking about injuries doesn’t insult me, as a fan. if a players out, he’s out. right knee, left knee, or any other body part.
what insults me is bad play calling, poor effort, and bad tackling.
SOUNDS TO ME AS THOUGH VILMA IS ALREADY OUT THE DOOR!!HE AND MANGINI HAVE ISSUES THAT ARE NOT REPAIRABLE AT THIS POINT…HOW ABOUT TRADING VILMA AND MACARIENS TO THE BENGALS,FOR CHAD JOHNSON??
[...] Journal chuckles at the uninformative informational call on Vilma. Cimini seems to [...]
I’m a loooooooooooong time fan, and honestly, I could care less about all the extraneous nonsense. All that matters, is Vilma’s injured, and will be out for the rest of the season.
How Mangini speaks to the media, makes no difference to me.
What bugs me, is how much attention this stuff gets.
I’m more interested in if Bender is going to play?
I’ve heard Clarke won’t be playing.
Honestly, the media loved the Preacher, but did he ever say anything of substance??
“Well, Vilma was injured during the game, when we were playing football, and football is our business, so we gotta play football, and since Vilma is injured it’ll be without Vilma, when we play football, which is our business.”
So, you have Mangini, who has the policy of saying nothing, and you had Edwards, who said a lot of nothing.
It’s the same thing.
All this making controversy about nothing, to me, just misses the point.
I’d be interested in anything else Vilma said, not regarding the injury.
I don’t think it’s the Jets, that like the cloak-and-dagger stuff, it’s the media that does. The Jets just say what they have to, and go about their business. It’s the media that makes it a big deal.
Is Clemens as quiet as he seems?
Is Clarke really out for Sunday?
Any chance Bender will be playing?
What’s up with Eric Smith, is he injured or in the doghouse?
Any chance we’ll ever see Revis on punt returns?
Will Brad Smith be seeing more action at WR, now that KC is QB? I assume that it was KC passing, as he’s learned the position, over these past two seasons.
Are there any plans to give Abram Elan, a valium drip before a game?
The last thing fans care about, is Jets media policy
burf, I concur.
Perhaps the media would get more out of Mangini if they asked meaningful questions.
It is ridiculous not to talk about the knee at this point though. Simple answer.
I read yesterday that Vilma had an OCD in his right knee when he was drafted, Jets knew about it them and deemed it no issue, but now it is starting to bother him.
If correct, then all of the comments make sense because the “injury” is not an injury that happened at a specific point in a game, but rather a chronic condition that has now progressed to the point that it needs either A) rest or B) Surgery.
Vilma was admirably trying to play through the pain, the coaches thought it was impacting his play. He disagrees with that assessment, and probably resents it because he is in all liklihood hoping to sign a big deal elsewhere next season.
This explanation explains the bizarreness(sic) of it all.
If you put the question in that context you might get a meaningful answer.
any news on the 53rd roster spot andrew
I agree with Mike. Just because I am a season ticket holder and ardent fan, I do not feel that I am entitled to full disclosure of injuries. Right knee, left knee. How does this make me a more informed fan? Why are so many fans outraged with Mangini because he won’t give full disclosure? Fans seem enraged with all the secrecy. Last year, Mangini was brilliant because he was tight-lipped. Now, he’s just paranoid. Oh what a difference a year makes…from WINNING to losing.
I agree that it’s not the most important thing on the planet, from a fan’s perspective, but it seems like an unecessary distraction that no longer serves any competitive purpose. He could diffuse the distraction, by throwing the reporters a meaningless bone and free himself to move on to the next item. Then again, it’s entirely possible that he would rather be spending his press time ducking these types of questions, when compared to the alternatives.
I certainly understand the backlash from saying Mangini should be fired after only 8 games.
The reason I’d like to see Mangini gone is that I don’t think he’s a very good coach. Good coaches either: a) develop systems that play to their players strengths or b) they find the players whose strengths fit their system.
My biggest problem with Mangini is he’s insisted on running a 3-4 defense that neutralizes arguably the 3 best defensive players the Jets have: Vilma, Robertson, and Ellis. That may fall as much on Tennenbaum as Mangini.
I certainly wasn’t on the Mangenius bandwagon last year. The Jets overall game planning IMO is very weak (no commmittment at all to running the football and incredibly poor 2nd half year to date statistics overall leads to ineffective half time adjustments) and Mangini’s arrogance / paranoia is going to cause him to have a very short shelf life anyway as a NFL head coach.
Let’s face it guys—last year was a fluke and you are watching an undisciplined, soft team with a mediocre / poor coaching staff that is not the long term answer.
Why keep Mangini if he clearly is not the answer?