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Slight of Hand(ley) Jets head coach Groh carving his own niche
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Let's get this out of the way right off the top. I owe Al Groh an apology. I was wrong. I thought I had seen this taking-over-for-Bill-Parcells act before. It seemed oh so familiar and once again crushing in terms of expectations. At first glance, the New York Jets first-year head coach had Ray Handley stamped all over him. You know the look: That in so far over his head that he'd need a snorkel and mask to keep breathing personna. But look whose Jets are very much alive and breathing in the AFC East. Groh to me had all the makings of a short-timer. One year and out, maybe two. I figured he'd take his 6-10 lumps this season, start picking fights with the New York media that he couldn't possibly win, and quickly go the way of the Giants' Handley. Or Richie Petitbon in Washington. Or any other loyal, career assistant who seemed to change and maybe choke up just a bit when he got his long-awaited head coaching shot. But don't sell Groh and his Jets short. Like I did, when I picked them to finish last in their division. For now, this New York team is for real. After their 27-14 conquest of fellow AFC East unbeaten Buffalo Sunday at Giants Stadium, the Jets are 3-0 for the first time since 1966, when the wonderfully named Weeb Ewbank roamed the Shea Stadium sidelines in Joe Namath's second season. Parcells never went 3-0 with the Jets. No first-year Jets ever has. Until Groh. Who knows? By early November, maybe this will turn out to be quite the year for slightly stiff guys named Al, with four-letter last names starting with G. "The only thing that we are is 3-0," said Groh in blunt assessment, as his Jets took over undisputed possession of first place in the AFC East. "As far as me being coach, it wasn't about me today. I didn't do anything. Those guys made the plays out there that won the game." Groh worked as the Jets linebackers coach the past three seasons under Parcells, before being elevated to the top job in January, when Parcells joined the team's front office. Before that he served the Tuna faithfully both in New England and with the Giants. He has existed in Parcell's considerable shadow so long that his eyes almost squint shut at any hint of the spotlight. But on Sunday, with his Jets making all the game's key plays, he could avoid it no longer.
New York overcame its only deficit of the game when safety Kevin Williams returned the team's first kickoff for a touchdown since December 1997. The Jets hit a game-turning Hail Mary pass on final play of the first half - Vinny Testaverde, 45 yards to cornerback-turned-receiver Marcus Coleman -- their first such success on football's luckiest play since November 1995. Good things are happening to the Jets, and like it or not, Groh deserves credit. When told about Groh's post-game claim that he had nothing to do with the win, Jets seventh-year cornerback Aaron Glenn just smiled. "That's very pleasing to hear, but Al has a lot to do with it," Glenn said. "I respect him for saying that. But his style is a big reason we're 3-0. He has Parcells' mentality, but he has a flavor that's different from Bill. "He took a lot of criticism when he was named coach. We knew what we were getting. We knew what kind of coach and person he was. He's very humble. He deserves a lot of the glory, but he'll never accept it." Following a legend is never easy. Ask Phil Bengston. Ask Pete Carroll. Heck, ask Jimmy Johnson, who managed it in Dallas but couldn't pull it off in Miami. Picking up the pieces after Parcells already has cost two coaches their jobs. Handley inspired a near players mutiny with the Giants in 1991-92, and Carroll lasted just three short seasons in New England after the Big Fish left town. How many among us thought Groh's chances looked all that promising? Truth be known, there might have even been a few Jets players among that number. "A lot of people were griping about the way things were being approached (in training camp)," said Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde, who improved to 15-2 lifetime as New York's starter. "But it's paying off now. We're 3-0." With their second home victory against a divisional rival in a six-day span, the Jets are in the driver's seat in mid-September. But there are miles to go before they celebrate. When asked what he thought of the Jets getting off to their best start since 1966, Coleman said: "That's a long time. But 3-0 is good. We're not going to stop here. We've got a lot of things we want to accomplish." Groh is one of the most undemonstrative sideline coaches I have ever seen. Detached is more like it. There were times last Monday night against the Patriots, when ABC-TV cameras kept finding him, that I thought Groh resembled Admiral James Stockdale, Ross Perot's memorable vice-presidential candidate of 1992. "Who am I and why am I here?" Groh seemed to be asking with his blank expression. But Groh showed more than a little moxie Sunday in the second quarter. With the game tied at 7-7, Groh had his Jets go for a 4th-and-a-long-1 at the Bills 5. Not often do you see coaches pass up a chance to take a lead, any kind of lead, in a key game. Second quarter or not. But Groh did, calling for a Curtis Martin run that turned into a 5-yard touchdown gallop and a 14-7 Jets lead. The gutsy move seemed to catch the sideline and Groh's offense almost by surprise, but it also emboldened the entire team. "It was huge for a coach to say, "I think you guys can get it done,'" Jets center and team leader Kevin Mawae said. "It was a big boost for us to go out there and get that first down. And to actually run it in for a touchdown was another huge boost. That says a lot about the coach and what he thinks about the offensive line." Typically, Groh said he wasn't trying to send any message as much as he was trying to bury the Bills. "I was just trying to win the game," he said. "I felt it would be tough to get down there against that defense a lot of times, and that a collection of field goals weren't going to win the game. So we were down there and we only had to make one yard, and I had a lot of confidence in our offense line. They're the ones who did it." And now, Groh gets seven days to prepare his team for the Keyshawn Bowl, that highly anticipated Week 4 trip to Tampa Bay, where the Jets' talkative former Pro Bowl receiver now resides. Rest assured, Groh won't win the bragging war. But that's not the battle he's concerned with. "We're not trying to prove a point to Keyshawn," Jets safety Victor Green said. "We're proving that we're a good football team, and I think that's all that's proven right now. We've just got to continue to play. "It's going to be a big game this week. Keyshawn's going to do a lot of talking. But we've got to do our talking out on the field. I think if we go out there and play Jets football, we'll win this game." Based on the season's first three weeks, who's to say the Jets are wrong?
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