New York Jets

A needy defense and an embattled front office look to a prized rookie for immediate relief

By Paul Zimmerman

Team Page | Schedule | Depth chart | 2002 Stats | Predicted finish: 4th in AFC East

Not Mark Gastineau, not Joe Klecko, not John Elliott, not Gerry Philbin, not Verlon Biggs. No Jets defensive lineman has been under as much scrutiny as rookie Dewayne Robertson has. Has anyone had his tackle and assist statistics -- in the preseason yet -- so carefully dissected?

Looking to get an edge on Robertson, opposing linemen are already doubling up and testing his skills. Heinz Kluetmeier

Robertson, you see, represents two things: a hope for the future and a cover-up for the past. The future, the Jets hope, is many years as a pocket-crashing defensive tackle. The past is the Great Corporate Raid of early 2003, when three starters, plus the kicker and the NFL's fourth-leading kick returner last season, were swept up by other organizations working the free-agent market. The most serious loss, terrific young wideout Laveranues Coles to the Redskins, led to Robertson's arrival. Washington had to give the Jets its first-round draft pick for signing Coles. That gave New York the juice to trade up to the Bears' No. 4 spot and select Robertson, who was generally considered to be the best defensive lineman in the draft.

His greatness, the thinking went, would wipe out all the talk about how the Jets had lost Coles and the others through mismanagement. But if Robertson turns out to be ordinary, or something less, then fingers will be pointed for years.

Robertson is a nice young man, modest, soft-spoken. When he talks, you have to strain to hear him. He looks like a giant who had a heavy object dropped on him, squashing his 317 pounds onto a 6'1" frame, the classic size for a nosetackle. Except that he's not a nosetackle, a two-gapper, a block eater. He's supposed to be an action guy, hitting the gap and breaking through and raising hell in the backfield.

The early going hasn't been that easy. In New York's preseason opener the Bucs double-teamed Robertson on his first NFL play ("I guess they'd been watching tape of his practices," Jets cornerback Ray Mickens quipped), and they continued to give him the treatment for the three series he was on the field. Tampa Bay showed him a bunch of tricks, passing him off from one lineman to another, setting him up and then blindsiding him. Robertson had no tackles or assists, but he took a low charge and got penetration into the backfield, and kept coming. He didn't take a play off.

"He played low and stayed low," defensive line coach Rubin Carter said. "The way they double-teamed him showed the highest level of respect."

In Robertson's second preseason game the Bengals gave him a different set of tricks. "Slide blocking, guys moving down the line to get me," Robertson says. "Hard to tell where they were coming from." He had one assist.

He got his first unassisted tackle on Aug. 16 against New Orleans, which ran a lot of traps his way. He would have had another, a clean form tackle, except that the play was wiped out by a penalty. When the Saints single-blocked him, he carried his man into quarterback Aaron Brooks's lap, but someone else was usually there waiting to steer him from the play. He had trouble getting off the blocks. But he was learning. He also showed an effective Howie Long-style rip, an uppercut, plus a spin. He was making progress, Jets fans.

New York general manager Terry Bradway is tired of hearing all the blah blah blah about the departure of Coles and others. "That's all people want to talk about," he says. "You know that last year we lost even more guys, eight of them, and we still won the division."

Yes, but most were guys the Jets cut or exposed in the expansion draft. To simplify, four things must happen for the Jets to have a shot at repeating in the AFC East. Quarterback Vinny Testaverde must keep the offense moving until Chad Pennington, out for at least 12 weeks after fracturing his left wrist last Saturday, is ready. Coles's replacement, former Charger Curtis Conway, has to be a reasonable facsimile of his predecessor. Running back Curtis Martin, who dragged his badly sprained left ankle through a painful 2002 season, has to regain his old zip. And Robertson has to learn to beat the double team and whatever other tricks foes have in store for him.

Enemy Lines: An opposing scout's view

"People don't realize what a good job Herm Edwards did last year. When they were 2-5, no one in his right mind would have predicted they would make the playoffs.... The draft of 2000, a year before this administration took over and the draft in which they had four first-round choices, saved them. One of them, John Abraham, has been to the Pro Bowl, and Chad Pennington was at that level [before injuring his wrist].... Herm's Tampa Bay connection hasn't paid off: Steve White and Damien Robinson were flunks; Donnie Abraham has worked out O.K., so that's one out of three.... Everyone likes Dewayne Robertson, but what bothers me is that he took less than 70 percent of the snaps at Kentucky last season. Is it a stamina thing, or did they just like to rotate people a lot?... They're going to have a desperate situation at the guard spots if Dave Szott doesn't stay healthy. The guy on the other side, Brent Smith, hasn't played in, what, two years?... They lost some really good players this year and the year before. They've got some good ones too -- [Curtis] Martin, Abraham, Pennington -- but sooner or later the talent drain gets you."

Under the Gun

Vinny Testaverde quarterbacked the Jets to the AFC Championship Game in 1998, but the 17-year veteran didn't expect to face the pressure he'll be under this fall as the replacement for injured starter Chad Pennington, who is expected to miss at least 12 weeks. Testaverde turns 40 in November, so don't look for miracles.

Issue date: September 1, 2003