I don’t know how many of you heard but in Coach Mangini’s press conference last night he announced that Special Team’s coach Mike Westhoff will not be back next year. I can’t say that I’m totally surprised; he’s been using the crutch for so long and I hope he gets better. He’s the best in the business and he will be definitely missed.

Sorry I didn’t post last night but things were pretty sloppy yesterday but a win’s a win and I’ll take it. Yes I know that it means that it compromised the draft position and as Jake put; we can kiss Darren McFadden good-bye when we draft at number 6. But where he and I disagree is that I don’t think that both of the Longs will be gone. One of the biggest needs for this team is offensive line help and a speed rusher. Many of the early mock draft boards I saw believe that one of the Longs, mainly Howie’s son will still be on the board for the Jets to get. But time will tell what will happen.

Anyway, back to the game… quarterback Kellen Clemens’s play was really unimpressive (13/25 for 115-yards). He didn’t throw any picks which was a good thing. But in all honesty; looking at the body of work, I’m not really completely sold on the kid. He has a great arm but his accuracy and some of his decision making need a lot of work. One other thing he has to work on is getting rid of the ball a lot quicker then he showed. As Ray Lucas has always said; if nothing’s open then throw it to your father in the fourth row. Basically, you don’t always have to take the sack, get rid of the ball.

Seeing the running game have a good day was an optimistic way to end the season; seeing TJ have 25 carries for 98 yards confirms to me that you really don’t need a running back in the draft. It was a good thing because it gives you a glimpse of what you can do with a good offensive line.

I understand where Jake is coming from when about trying to get the best player available in the draft but personally I’ve always been of the mindset of “Playing Hard to the whistle blows” paraphrasing from former Marshall coach Jack Lengyel. I was happy to see them get a win over the Herminator and the Chiefs. The Jets played the season out and the fought hard each game which was the right way to play out a tough season.

As Jake said, we’ll continue to update when moves happen… There’s a lot of things that the Jets need. And we’ll let you know when we know.

Well, at least they ended the season on a high note. If a bad team is going to win any game, the season finale is the best one to win. Players leave camp with a good taste in their mouth. Nugent especially walks off with confidence after nailing two kicks in a row, despite the penalty and the timeout icing. Meanwhile, the Herminator and his Chiefs lost their ninth in a row and have to be feeling blue as they head to the golf course.

I don’t want to throw cold water on the party so soon after a win, and I’m sure Debbie will post soon with her happy thoughts, but I feel I have to step in with a reality check. By winning this game, the Jets cost themselves dearly in the draft. By my calculations, they now pick sixth behind Miami, St. Louis, Atlanta, Kansas City, and Oakland. Those last three teams and the Jets all have four wins, but the Jets had the toughest strength of schedule —Jets opponents totaled 133 wins; Atlanta, Oakland, and KC all had opponents totaling 132 wins. That means kissing any dreams of Darren McFadden goodbye. He’ll certainly be gone by No. 6, as will Matt Ryan and one or maybe both of the Longs.

A win is great and I will never object to my teams winning a game. Confidence and a winning attitude are important. But a month from now, a 4-12 season won’t feel any different from a 3-13 season. The Jets are all about the future, and their future took a hit with this win. The long-term health of the franchise would probably have been better served if Nugent missed. If McFadden becomes a franchise halfback for the Falcons or, god forbid, the Chiefs, we’re going to be annoyed.

Putting that aside, we know a lot of offseason decisions need to be made, starting with the quarterbacks. We’ll continue to update the blog throughout the postseason and as the moves develop.

Based on what happens tomorrow the Jets (3-12) can draft as high as second or as low as seventh. It depends not only on whether they beat the Chiefs but what other teams do to each other as well. NFL draft order is based on records, with the first tiebreaker being strength of schedule (SOS). The team with the worse strength of schedule drafts first.

If the season ended today, the Jets would draft third. If they beat KC on Sunday, they would probably move down to sixth, and possibly seventh based on Baltimore’s SOS. They have the most winnable game among all of the three- and four-loss teams. There’s a good chance they win and none of the others do. If the Jets lose, they will draft no lower than fourth. So if you find yourself cursing out a victorious Herm Edwards on Sunday afternoon, console yourself with the thought of Darren McFadden in your backfield next year.

The best news is that San Fran now has five wins after the win over Tampa Bay last week. Because the Patriots get their pick, it ensures the Jets will draft ahead of our good buddy Billy Belichick.

That is the question. I know that Jake had brought this topic up recently but I figured I’d add my two cents. Maybe it’s just the former softball player in me but I’d (quoting the phrase that has been overplayed since he said it 5 years ago) play to win the game.

Sunday’s game, to me, represents a little bit of pride here. As a team, you should want to go into the off-season on a high note. And doing so over your former coach isn’t that bad either. The Jets have shown flashes of really good things this year, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The offensive has been pretty bad all year but I would think that a win against the Chiefs would give them a good feeling going into the off-season where we all know that changes are a coming.

I didn’t like the circumstances surrounding Herman Edwards’s exit from the organization and the Michael Kay interview right before it all went down still rings in my head. When asked if he wanted to stay Edwards pretty much said that he wanted to stay and be with the Jets. So when it was announced that he was leaving; I pretty muched hated the guy. Edwards did do some good things as a coach but also did many bad things. I would love to see the Jets pull off a win on Sunday.

The Jets need to leave the fans with some hope for the future. As Jake said yesterday, it seems that it’s going to be Clemens under center Sunday. He needs to show the coaching staff and the fans that he really is the quarterback of the future. If he is, then Clemens will need to be more accurate with his passes and make smarter decisions. That offensive line needs to step it up entirely. You can’t have Clemens scrambling for his life with Jared Allen and company busting through. Somehow with that offensive line Thomas Jones and Jerricho Cotchery had 1,000 yard seasons, give them something to work with please o-line?

I also don’t want them to tank the game for a draft pick. The Jets could still be a top five pick for next year so does it really matter if they lose? I just don’t want them to finish behind the 49ers. Remember, the Patriots get that first round pick whatever it is because if the Jets end up behind the Pats on draft day… it’s just not a good situation.

All I want to see is the team play to win. It’s the one thing that they’ve done all year. They don’t quit which is what I like about the Mangini regime. I just want to see them win.

It appears Kellen Clemens’s rib has healed enough that he will start the regular season finale against Kansas City. Which means Chad Pennington, the QB once compared to Joe Montana, may have played his last game in a green uniform. In less than a week, Tanenbaum and Co. will have to start pondering the Pennington question—that is, should he stay or should he go?

When Mangini finally handed the reins to Clemens—which he did far too late, and the Jets are reaping the consequences now—I was hoping this wouldn’t be an issue come offseason. Clemens was supposed to be so impressive that the Jets could wave bye bye to Chad without a second thought. Instead, the new guy has inspired anything but confidence. Despite the 30+ extra yards of range on his arm he’s performed worse than Chad, throwing 10 interceptions against four touchdowns. Is the team ready to entrust him with a full 16-game season? Tough to say. Even though he hasn’t done anything yet, you can’t give up on him already. It’s way too soon. Which is why Mangini should have gone to him earlier, so we’d have more than seven games to evaluate him. Eli Manning is in Year 4 of his evaluation phase. I swear, the guy’s going to be the first 35-year-old to have fans saying, “You know, I see some flashes in this kid. Give him some more time.” So Clemens deserves a bigger audition.

But what do you do with Chad? They could keep him as a backup next year. He’d be mighty expensive and probably unhappy, but at least you’d know there was somebody competent back there if Clemens gets hurt.

They could trade him, as Debbie suggested. There is a market for him, as much as his bashers would tell you he’s the worst QB in the league. He could start tomorrow for, just off the top of my head, Minnesota, Kansas City, Miami, Chicago, and Atlanta. Not to mention places he could be a backup behind a fragile/tenuous starter and win the starting job by Week 6. The Jets wouldn’t get much for him, but it would be a little something and he’d be off the cap.

They could cut him too if they don’t like the offers.

The one thing I hope they don’t do is give him the starting job back. Don’t laugh—he’s a good guy and a hard worker that his coaches and teammates love. If management thinks Clemens isn’t the answer and doesn’t want to draft a quarterback, I could see them sticking with the loyal soldier for another season. But let’s face it, his days of starting as a Jet should be over. We all know what he can do by this point. He’ll complete a ton of passes every week, engineer a couple long, slow drives, and put somewhere around 14 points on the board. That’s not enough to be a good team’s starter. Since the two shoulder surgeries he’s just become too limited. Before, his accuracy, decision making, and leadership were enough to make up for middling arm strength. But those qualities aren’t enough to make up for terrible arm strength, which he has now.

Before the surgeries Chad was a top 12 quarterback. I thought the Jets had their leader for the next decade. Unfortunately he’s not that guy anymore. Tanenbaum needs to decide soon what to do about that.

Like Jake said… We finally get the system up and running in enough time to post on another loss. But in all seriousness; wasn’t today just another sample of what this entire season was like… good but not good enough?

The defense played their butts off. They held Tennessee to 10 points; that unit continued to hold up their end of the deal. But there were times that I wondered and maybe the rest of you did too but there were a few times in the game where it was like how come you can’t get Vince Young on his butt?!? It’s like, you get there and get a pressure in his face but you can’t get him to look at the sky? I know… I’m being very picky but it was something I noticed.

Now to the offense… bottom line, that offensive line is in shambles. If I’m the GM; that would be my first priority. I hate to say this but I really think that they are regretting letting Pete Kendall go. He was a stabilizing force for both Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson. Bill Parcells said it best: the games are won and lost in the trenches. The offensive line are getting pushed around like rag dolls: so it’s no wonder why Chad and Kellen can’t throw the ball or that Thomas Jones and Leon Washington have issues running the ball.

With that being said… Congrats to Jones and the Jerricho Cottchery for both exceeding 1,000 yards this season. It’s a real tribute to them as athletes to accomplish that despite what the team has done overall. I don’t need to rehash stats since Jake did so nicely before.

Chad threw another two picks tonight but despite that; his numbers were still very good. Honestly, going back to my point on the o-line; Chad was getting pressure in his face almost every play and he still put up numbers like he did; 26-32 for 264 yards and 1 TD. Will he be here next year? That is still to be determined cause he can still start somewhere in the league but as a Pennington fan I want him to stay. I know I should probably wait before I decide on Clemens but I’m not completely sold. The Jets need a QB who has a combination of Pennington’s smarts and efficiency with Clemens’s arm: anybody out there like that?????

Well, Mr. “You Play to Win the game” himself returns to the Meadowlands next week… I think we all know what kind of reception he’ll get. If Chad does get offers to start somewhere, how many of you want to bet that Kansas City will be one of the teams making an offer?!?!?!?

Anyway, I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday; or Happy Kwanza if you celebrate. If you celebrate Hannukkah, then happy belated Hannukkah. I hope I got them all… but Happy Holidays everyone.

Sorry again for the gap between posts. Debbie and I have been locked out of the system for the last week. One of the tech guys just emailed me that the problem’s been fixed.

Just in time for another Jets loss, of course. But I’m not going to moan and groan about it. This late in a lost season, I must confess I don’t mind getting beat. All it does is bring us one game closer to a high draft pick. I’m curious as to how much you guys root for your teams to lose when draft position is at stake. This season has basically been a washout since Week 8. Did any of you secretly start wishing for losses then? On a purely logical scale that probably makes the most sense. There are other people who waited until like Week 12 or 13, and others who just can’t root against the Jets no matter what.

As it currently stands, the Jets will own the third pick. Miami is locked in at No. 1. St. Louis, also with three wins, is currently No. 2. The Rams play at Arizona next week. Atlanta also has three wins but is fourth in the draft order behind the Jets. The Falcons, as I write this, are driving deep in Arizona territory tied at 24-24 late in the fourth quarter. A win would ensure the Jets draft ahead of them.

The last obstacle to a top-3 Jets draft pick is our old buddy Herm Edwards and the Chiefs, who come to the Meadowlands next week. As a couple readers have pointed out, it’d be Herm’s perfect revenge to take a dive and move ahead of the Jets. Maybe Cotchery and David Harris should come down with mysterious injuries on Friday.

Speaking of Cotchery, props to him for passing the 1,000 yard mark with his big game today. He caught eight balls for 152 yards in his biggest game since Week 2. With Coles in and out of the lineup—and as we learned before today’s game, now out for the season—Cotchery has broken out as a No. 1 receiver. Still not sure if he can be the lead receiver on a playoff team, but if Coles comes back healthy next year Cotchery will make an excellent No. 2.

Not sure if there can be in a league with only 16 games. Plus all the parity means every team is capable of beating anyone else on a given Sunday. It’s not like a Fordham can come within a point of LSU and jump for joy over nearly slaying the beast. The Jets lost. That’s the bottom line. They lost a game that, while not in their fingertips, could have been won with a couple more plays. The Pats are still undefeated, and the Jets didn’t get the upset to salvage their crummy season.

But you have to take some pride in how close they kept it. This Pats team isn’t your average behemoth. It’s about to go down as the best team of all time. The Jets were supposed to get butchered like the cheerleaders in a horror movie. Instead this turned out to be a legitimate football game. Sure the weather helped. So did Clemens’s injury, which a lot of people suspect was a blessing in disguise. Not that Clemens shouldn’t start next Sunday; he just wasn’t ready to face the Pats. The Jets showed a lot of heart, and a very good gameplan, in keeping it close. NFL people have been laughing for two months about the massacre that would unfold in Foxborough. How Brady would throw TDs at will, how the New England punter would never see the field. None of that was close to true. If McCareins doesn’t bobble that end zone catch, if Baker doesn’t fumble, if Ben Graham’s punt isn’t blocked, if Nugent makes the late field goal, the Jets could have put a real scare into New England.

So I say yes, if ever there was a moral victory in the NFL, this was one. Brady was held without a touchdown, Moss was blanketed, and the Pats scored a season low. That’s an achievement.

On a more sour note, I have to agree with Debbie’s lead about McCareins. This guy is terrible and getting worse. I don’t think I’ve ever seen worse hands on a receiver. And it’s not like he’s fast or athletic or a great route runner. So what’s his purpose? Pennington puts that touchdown throw right in his hands and he lets it spring up to practically hit him in the face. Even on the punt coverage he lets a ball bounce right through his hands. Forget catching a cold, he couldn’t catch VD if he spent a month in Bangkok. Which is exactly where I hope he lands next season. Get him as far away from the green uniform as possible.

Is there any word other than atrocious to describe No. 81’s play today?! He had five catches, but when it came down to it… the guy couldn’t catch a cold in Antartica. The guy serious needs to add the glue to his hands because he missed some real crucial catches. … In the endzone, you have got to make the catch. No two ways about it. If he makes that catch, this is a different ball game, folks. There was that one catch that he had to go up for on third-and-13 in the first half that McCareins should’ve come down with the ball. As my dad said, if he did that then, there probably wouldn’t have been Kelli Washington’s blocked punt.

Now about the rest of the game; it was nice to see Chad Pennington in the game and he did one heck of a job. I give him a lot of credit. “The General,” as my 30-year-old brother has called him for years, came in without having any reps with the first team and played Tom Brady on the scout team and was as accurate as I’ve seen him in a while.

I like how he moved the chains and on the drive that brought the score to 17-10 in the third quarter. I thought that drive was a vintage Pennington drive. Yes he dinks and dunks the ball but it does move the chains as methodical as it is.

He was 25 for 38 for 186 yards with a 77.3 passer rating and even though he had no offensive touchdowns, he threw no picks and in that sloppy mess, there were a couple of chances but in the end, he didn’t throw an interception. He played well and I’ll be honest, I’m very proud of his performance. I would like to know what you all thought of No. 10’s performance.

I know we’re all going to play Monday morning quarterback on Sunday but in all seriousness, did Mangini go to the well one to many times with Brad Smith under center? Absolutely!!!! The option play in the first quarter was cute and it worked (which surprised me), but you can’t keep going to that especially when you’re playing New England. They’re not stupid. “Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you.” Every time the Jets tried to run that option after the first one, it blew up in their face. When you had Pennington make a good throw on third and about 16, why would you let Smith attempt a pass? It didn’t even land in the vicinity of a receiver.

I do understand the Jets going for it on fourth downm but I do think that when you get into the red zone, you need at least come away with three points and maybe you could explain why they wouldn’t let Mike Nugent kick a field goal? I know he missed one at the end but still; he has shown a knack for finishing the season strong.

I give the Jets defense a lot of credit for their play today. They kept the most dynamic offense in the NFL to 10 offensive points. For a team that averages 38 points a game, that entire defensive unit played well despite the fact that they only sacked Brady once.

The Jets played a heck of a game and kept it closer than most of the country thought they would. It wasn’t the new Boston Massacre, but they had opportunities to change the outcome of this game, bottom line.

Next up: Tennessee, and Mr. “You Play to Win the Game” Herman Edwards and Kansas City. And on the line for the Jets, what draft pick will they have? Pick No. 2, 3, 4 or 5?

There have been plenty of games hyped more than this one. Pats-Colts was called Super Bowl XLII 1/2. Cowboys-Packers was Super Bowl XLII 3/4. But I don’t think a spread has ever been more highly anticipated than Sunday’s Pats-Jets game. From the moment New England started putting the hammer down on people—think 55-7 over Washington—people have been licking their chops over how badly the Pats were going to crush the Jets. Belichick supposedly wants to rub Mangini’s nose in the dirt over Spygate, so he’s going to pull out all the stops (throwing on third-and-inches, going for it every fourth down, etc.) to get the final margin over 50. It was anticipated that Vegas’s line would reflect that with a historic spread—something like 27 or 30 points.

Indeed, Vegas’s opening line was the biggest ever—27.5. Yet it quickly shrunk to 23.5 where it sits now. While still huge, that’s not the biggest for even this season. Philly was a 24.5 underdog to New England, and someone else (can’t remember who off the top of my head) was 24.

It’s been my belief all season that whatever bloated line came out for this game would be ridiculous, and I stand by that now even though it’s not as bloated as I anticipated. That 23.5 number is based on some sadist fantasy that Belichick will have his players literally bodyslamming the Jets into the dirt between plays like they’re facing a Pop Warner team. That Brady can throw a TD on every play if he wants to while Vince Wilfork takes Thomas Jones’s lunch money on the sideline.  

The theory is that Belichick is mad about getting caught spying. You know who should be mad? THE JETS! They were the ones who got spied on! Don’t they have just as much motivation to stick it to a team that cheated against them? Won’t they be pulling out all the stops?

Let’s say the Pats are winning by two or three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and Belichick decides to humiliate the Jets by going for it on fourth down. The Jet players have been hearing about such a scenario for the previous week. They’re all amped up to prove they won’t get smoked. Their pride is on the line. Now here’s a jerk who cheated against them trying to embarrass them. They will be pissed. Very pissed. And maybe when Brady drops back to pass, a Sean Ellis slips his blocker and puts a little extra oomph into his hit on Brady. And maybe Brady gets up limping, and maybe that puts the fear of god into Bad News Belichick. Because the only thing that can derail his season is an injury to Brady. And if he goes around exposing his quarterback to an angry, prideful team, he’s flirting with disaster. He must know this. For that reason, I think he won’t try to humiliate the Jets as bad as everyone thinks. New England will go up early, hang on to the lead until such time as it’s insurmountable, then call off the dogs and replace. That’s my prediction. The Jets will beat the spread by a couple of points.