Since I'm out of the NY area, I check the papers there. I thought this might interest some other out of towners. (Sorry if already posted) Rich Cimini's Blog September 04, 2006 My Starting Lineup Eric Mangini may not announce a starting lineup before Sunday?s season opener, so I?ll do it here for him. My projections and comments: QB ? Chad Pennington. He says the training-camp battle made him a better player. Imagine how good he?d be if they had brought in some real competition. RB ? Derrick Blaylock/Kevan Barlow. I almost typed Curtis Martin?s name here. (I?m not kidding.) Old habits are hard to break. They?re going to miss him a lot. FB ? B.J. Askew. But this doesn?t mean he?s going to play a lot. They will use one-back sets and an H-back at times. WR ? Laveranues Coles. He?s the best they?ve got on offense right now. WR ? Jerricho Cotchery. Watch this guy. I have a feeling he might surprise us. TE ? Chris Baker. Very good blocker, under-rated receiver. Imagine if they had lost him in free agency, which almost happened. Would Doug Jolley be the starter? Scary thought. LT ? D?Brickashaw Ferguson. I think you have to be concerned about him in Tennessee, one of the league?s loudest stadiums. He?s a false start waiting to happen. We?ll see if all that loud music in training camp was worthwhile. LG ? Pete Kendall. Solid. A pro?s pro. C ? Nick Mangold. You didn?t hear too much about Mangold in the preseason. For an offensive lineman, that?s a good thing. RG ? Brandon Moore. Is he still on the team? RT ? Anthony Clement. Oh, boy. Defense ? LE ? Shaun Ellis. The Jets absolutely need a bounce-back season from him. If he doesn?t get double digit sacks, the defense is in trouble. NT ? Kimo von Oelhoffen. I have a feeling the Dewayne Robertson experiment is over. RE ? Dewayne Robertson. He?s playing out of position here. You?ll see some Bobby Hamilton in the mix. Did anybody notice the Jets put in a claim for ex-Bears DE Michael Haynes, a former first-round pick? He went to the Saints, two spots ahead of the Jets in the claiming order. SOLB ? Bryan Thomas. Message to Bob Sutton: Just don?t let him cover anybody on a pass play. ILB ? Eric Barton. The Jets really missed his emotional leadership last season. I have a gut feeling that Barton is going to have a good year in this scheme. ILB ? Jonathan Vilma. Be on the lookout for 320-pound guards, Jon. WOLB ? Victor Hobson. Or it could be Matt Chatham. LCB ? Andre Dyson. He?ll do fine in pass coverage, but he isn?t exactly the strongest in run support. S ? Kerry Rhodes. I?m predicting a breakout year for Rhodes. This kid?s got a ton of talent. S ? Erik Coleman. Maybe he can call Ben Roethlisberger and offer some advice on how to recover from that particular ?illness." RCB ? Justin Miller. A lot of talent, but Mangini isn?t going to stand for mental mistakes. Prediction: He gets pulled from the game after a series of bad plays. Specials ? P ? Ben Graham. When the punter is one of your best players ? K ? Mike Nugent. He?s fine, as long as they don?t need him to make one from 50. * * *
What a dork Cimini is. Kerry Rhodes will have a break-out year? Hey, idiot, he had one last year. Maybe you should watch some games. Ellis MUST have double digit sacks? Since when does ANY 3-4 DE get double digit sacks? What a horses ass he is. DRob had a good game against the Giants.... was Cimini on vacation, or just drinking piss vinegar again? Jerk.
I disagree with a bit of what Cimini said,although to be fair i haven't seen a single snap of training camp so Cimini might of made these comments based on what's happened in practice and not the games. To me Bryan Thomas has looked good all round,i was very surprised by how well he covers for a former d-linemen.Vilma was the guy spying Barber for most of the game but Thomas covered for a fair amount of plays and did the job.We shouldn't be using Thomas purely for coverage assignments but he can hold his own. I haven't been able to watch much of the DB's(simply because they're not on screen for most plays) but from everything I've heard,Miller isn't ready for the starting job and i think Barrett and Dyson are the starting corners. Others have mentioned the whole Ellis getting double digit sacks.He's no Bruce Smith,but i reckon he's going to be in for a good year with about 5 sacks. Moore and Clemens had good preseason,i think they will be fine. Robertson hasn't been bad at NT,but i feel he looks a bit more dangerous at RE.He doesn't really get blown off of the play but he looks more disruptive at RE. I agree about Barton,i think he's going to do well at ILB.
I think what he means is that by the end of the season Rhodes is going to be seen as comfortably in the top 4 among safeties in the AFC. That's saying a lot, but I agree with him.
Boy its going to be a long season. But Im excited we shall see. Hopefully Tangini can do what Omar and Willie did for the Mets.
Why does everyone think Baker is a good blocker? He always gets holding calls, and simply cannot lock on and drive anyone back! Put the guy in pass protection and we're dead!
Saints claimed around 23439 people yesterday. They did let go of Bethel Johnson, I wonder if thats someone Mangini would look at at the Wr position.
I'd say Jolley is a better receiver than Baker. Since when is Baker so good? I regard the TE spot as a definite weakness. That deal with the Raiders sucked...
