Jets Start New Players Today

In a surprise move, the New York Jets are starting brand new players and resting Chad Pennington and Shawn Ellis.  In a startiling turn of events, the players seem to be related-siblings, brothers, cousins, uncles, whatever.  Here are two examples:

According to the NFL.com web site, J. Pennington will start at quarterback-supposedly his third game, but I could find no record of the other games he started.  I did see a J. Pennington listed on previous games, but he did not play those actual games.

Even more interesting is the decision to insert two running backs into the defense, with a rookie to replace Shawn Ellis.  Listed as the starting defensive end on the NFL's official Game Center web site,  M. Ellis in three games has 11 rushing attempts for a gain of one yard, with no receptions and no touchdowns.  His backup, number 95, C. Mosley, has 3 rushing attempts in three games-for no yards with no receptions and no touchdowns.

These stats are available online at NFL.com in the game center for today's game versus the Buffalo Bills, to view the players and the stats simply click on the depth chart for today's game, simply hover your mouse over the players I mentioned and the stats will appear.

Or just click here and you will be taken directly to the game center.

My point is with all the bells and whistles working, and all of the banner ads bringing in the dollars, and combined with the fact that football is all about numbers and statistics, why can't the NFL get its' own web site right?

Good luck Jets-I still think you will get a win today.

Kellen Clemens showed us a glimpse of the future on Sunday as the Jets lost a tough battle in Baltimore.  In the end, it was the receivers who came up short, but with two winnable games coming up with Miami and then Buffalo, this would be an interesting time to make a switch.

Clemens got his inauguration into the NFL at the hands of one of the fiercest defenses in the free world and still managed to keep his team in it on their last possession.  Along the way he took massive hits that reminded the home audience of Rocky Balboa in a meat locker.  Maybe that was all that was, maybe Mangini figured that there was no way to protect Chad and they would be wise to keep him out of the game.  They were right, Chad would never had stood up to the beating Clemens took yesterday.

This morning, much of the media was praising Clemens for his performance and predicting a quarterback controversy, although coach Mangini insisted yet again that Chad is the starter.

Chad had some terrible games last year, and finished with one more interception than touchdown, but he had a 76% completions and a efficiency of 130% in the game against the Patriots.  Clemens only had an efficiency rating of 60% with a completion percentage of 51%, but he threw for twice as many yards.

It was also his first game, it was against one of the toughest defenses in the league, and he had very little (at times none) protection in most of the game.  Like I said earlier, Chad could not have taken the abuse and if the Jets can't offer up better protection than what we saw there won't be any quarterback controversy, it will be Chad getting hurt and Kellen stepping in.

The question is, is now the time to just go with your future?  Do you keep him in or is he still not ready?  The Jets have two winnable games coming up, a home game against Miami-who is also 0-2, and away at Buffalo, who will be 0-3 after they pay a visit to the Patriots next week.

Can Clemens beat Miami, and then Buffalo and have the Jets poised into the Giants game at 2-2?

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but I cannot help but wonder, if Clemens is the future of the team, is the future now?

Last Thursday I went to NFL.com game day to check out the Jets/Ravens match up and found myself in wonderland.

I was wondering if anyone over there had a clue.

Keep in mind that this is this is the official site of the NFL.

To see what I am talking about click here:

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?season=2007&week=REG2&game_id=29222

Look at the left hand side, under "team leaders" for the starting quarterback for the Jets-"J. Pennington".  Who the hell is that?

Is that Chad's new name?  That's not all....

Look below "J. Pennington" at the stats for rushing, it states (correctly) that T. Jones rushed for 14 attempts and gained 42 yards.  Okay, that works, but when you read down the center of the page, under "quick take" skip down to "inside the game" and we see this:

"RB Thomas Jones answered questions about his injured calf by rushing 25 times for 139 yards in his Jets debut"

What the heck are they smoking over there at NFL.com???

Nobody checks this stuff out?

NFL=No Facts Looked up.

See if you can find other errors-make a game out of it.

Whom ever finds the most errors on the NFL web site will get today's prize package-a New England Patriots spy package that includes cameras, radio frequencies and the phone numbers for married women in Jersey who want to cheat.

Let's see in how long it takes NFL.com to make the fixes, or if they either bother to.

It was a sure thing they would win-they had the leadership, the talent and everything was falling their way, so why did Bill Belichick (aka Richard Nixon) cheat?

Insecurity, plain and simple.  And when Rodger Godell warned the NFL teams that this would no longer be tolerated, he decided to do it anyway.

But he had to have help; he could not do it alone.

Enter his best buddy-Robert Kraft (played by Spiro Agnew) the smiling face of the organization, thanking God himself for the Superbowl victories when he should have been giving thanks to the SONY corporation for their wonderful little products.  Even after his organization go caught, the low-lying rat has kept out of the public eye, not issuing any statement or apology for what his little Bill (still played by Nixon) has done.

He has for ever tarnished the reputation of one of the most formidable football dynasties in recent history-and for ever put in doubt all of their recent accomplishments.

To be fair, this type of thing went on in the past, but the new Chief Justice of the NFL decided to put an end to it, many teams were appalled when Belichick tried it in the first game of the season.

For all of his accomplishments, for everything he did to help the Patriots, Bill Belichick does not know how to help himself and is now hurting his team.

We see this all the time when an athlete or other well recognized "star" falls from grace and gets caught red handed.  Some go from bad to worse and they flame out and make it tougher on themselves, some repent and repay.  Here are two recent examples that show how this Bill "Belicheet", "Beliache", "Belicoward", Belichick nightmare may go:

1.   Adam "Pac Man" Jones-although he apologized publicly for the foolishness in his life, he never stopped being a fool, and his own worse enemy.  He continued to carry on with his "posse" and wound up repeatedly charged, over and over again with crimes.  He acts like a child, not an adult and one thing is for sure-it will cost him dearly.  For starters, just imagine what his legal bills must be.  His public image is shot, and his career is in serious jeopardy, yet he never changed, never really understood how his actions affected those around him.  Not to mention that there is an innocent man paralyzed because of his actions.

2.  Michael Vick:  Michael Vick ran a vicious dog fighting operation and small gambling ring through multiple states, convicting him of a serious felony.  Pit Bull fighting sickens most people in this country; many do not care about the gambling aspect.  At some point, because of evidence that was presented (and possibly evidence reported by this blog weeks before) he decided to plead guilty to the charges.  News media reports that he took a plea bargain but that is false, he in fact entered a guilty plea.  There is no deal in place to reduce his sentence to what he pleads to.

So what is the difference between Michael Vick and Pack Man?  Michael Vick has not only been largely unseen and out of trouble, he has publicly asked for us to try to forgive him for his issues.  He accepted blame, stood up to the plate and looked everyone in the eye and said, "I was wrong, I am taking my blame and will accept any punishment given to me, and I will try to improve my self".

Bill Belichick takes no responsibility and tries to lie and weasel his way out of it.  He offers up this piece of mud pie to the press: 

"I explained my interpretation of the rules..."

Okay, just to be clear, here it is:

"The rule is that no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game.  Clubs have specifically been reminded in the past that the videotaping of an opponent's offensive or defensive signals on the sidelines is prohibited."

But Bill Belichick has his own, arrogant interpretation of this rule, right?  Is that what he is shoving under the NFL's nose?  Take a whiff of this, Mr. Goodell, breathe deep.

Does anybody buy into this?  Even Patriot fans must feel his arrogance.  I don't understand how the players must feel, but I imagine "let down" may only be an understatement.

Imagine you coach feels that he has to cheat in order to win a game.  Blatenly cheat, not some small infraction or something the referee missed, something so arrogant as directly sending a spy to the opposing teams bench with a video camera to record signals and requesting additional radio frequencies to evesdrop on the opponents.  How would you feel playing for that person?  I would rather play for Herm Edwards.

So Michael Vick quietly awaits his sentencing like a man while Bill Belichick decides to go the "Pack Man" rout and bury himself deeper, tarnishing his team, hurting the players and insulting the intelligence of the fans.

There you have it, you decide, Bill Belichick, better or worse than Michael Vick?