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Jets aren't at a loss Mini offseason exodus hasn't dampened New York's spiritPosted: Tuesday July 22, 2003 6:30 PM
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- He won't say it in so many words, but I suspect now that it's over -- that offseason of loss, decimation and devastation, not to mention hyperbole and rank overstatement -- Terry Bradway is heavy into good-riddance mode. It's late July, and the Jets' third-year general manager has all of his draft picks signed, no more restricted free agents to fret over and the only reason he has to think about those sneaky Redskins is that hotly anticipated New York-Washington regular-season opener Sept. 4 at FedEx Field. "Now it's fun again," Bradway said Tuesday, in the middle of his team's second full day of training camp at Hofstra University. "Now you get to watch guys every day, see them improve and see a team come together. This is a great time of the year. Everybody has high expectations." Expectations, of course, never soar higher than they do in New York. Which is why there's no worse place to be than the Big Apple when the sky falls. Like it reportedly did on Bradway's Jets this offseason. You know the story. It was in all the papers. The Jets lost four significant free agents this spring, all to the Redskins. Wide receiver Laveranues Coles hurt the most, but because guard Randy Thomas, return specialist Chad Morton and kicker John Hall went south with Coles, the cumulative impact was way more than four-fold. That both Coles and Morton were restricted free agents, which had imbued their status with what turned out to be a false sense of security, only heightened the fallout. But here they are this week -- Bradway, Jets head coach Herman Edwards and many of the team's veteran stars -- standing in defiant opposition to the notion that New York has lost ground and forfeited the hard-fought gains of the past two years. The critics want to keep talking about who's gone, but the Jets say all they really care about is who's still here. Yeah, they got raided in free agency. But that doesn't change the fact that the bottom-line focus remains on finding a way to beat the Raiders. "I know we are in bad shape right now as far as the experts are concerned," said Jets quarterback Chad Pennington, who has just begun to develop the necessary (for New York) ability to verbally spar with the media. "But we were in bad shape last year and came through it." Added running back Curtis Martin: "We lost Laveranues, Randy and Chad Morton, but those three aren't the Jets football team. I don't think we'll miss a beat." And this from Pro Bowl center Kevin Mawae: "Despite the guys we lost, I think we made up for it. The dramatics involved were because of Laveranues Coles and the $13 million signing bonus. That made it stand out that much more. And the kid's a playmaker, and a good player. "But when they gave him $13 million, it made it look even worse. I know we could have done things to prevent that, like giving him a higher tender, so in hindsight it looks bad. But you can't second-guess yourself, and I don't think Terry Bradway and Herm Edwards have done that. They made those decisions and we've lived with them. And I think we're going to succeed despite them." But then, succeeding in the face of circumstances that would seem to work against them has become something of a Jets specialty in Edwards' first two seasons. To wit:
Still, is there a more lightly regarded defending division champion than New York, which is coming off just its second division title since 1970? The feeling is that these Jets must be somewhere between the ragged squad that stumbled to five losses in its first seven games in 2002 and the juggernaut that went 7-2 down the stretch and became the cohesive, smooth-running machine that absolutely no one wanted to play. You remember late last season, when the Jets dismantled Green Bay and Indianapolis in back-to-back home games -- to the tune of 83-17 -- with one victory clinching the AFC East and a playoff trip and the other serving as a first-round postseason exclamation point? The doubters are wondering, somewhat rightly, if that team still exists. "I can't tell anyone what to think about our football team," Bradway said. "All I know is what the people in the building, the players and the coaches, think about our team, and that's all that matters to me. Our expectations are what counts. I think for the most part, the Jets fans are behind us and appreciate what we've done. We've given them a team they can be proud of. "It hasn't always been easy. We've had bumps in the roads both years. We've won some games we weren't supposed to win, and we've lost some games we were supposed to win. But in the end, the last two years, we won the last game to get into the playoffs. So from that standpoint, we put the expectations on ourselves. We expect to win." Second-guessing is the name of the game in the sports media, and the Jets left themselves open on a couple of fronts this offseason. I happen to believe the Jets were unwise to tender Coles at just a first-round level, when a first and a third probably would have scared Washington off. But once the Redskins made their move, New York was correct to not match the deal and thus tie up so much of its salary cap on offense. Especially with Pennington's big payday looming on the horizon, and help needed on a 24th-ranked defense. As for Morton, the Redskins overpaid for a player they say can be more than just one of the game's premier kickoff-return specialists. We'll see. Either way, it's hard to fault the Jets for not matching the Washington offer sheet word for word when the NFL Management Council advised New York that it didn't have to. At least Bradway and Co. didn't get gun-shy at that point of the offseason. Using the extra first-round pick obtained from Washington for Coles, the Jets made the big move of the draft, jumping up to Chicago's No. 4 slot to select Kentucky defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson -- who was one of the lottery's biggest prizes. At the price he cost the Jets, Robertson eventually needs to produce like the second coming of Warren Sapp, as he has been billed. "We took a chance in the draft, and we could have been criticized for that too if someone had gone up and gotten Robertson before we did," Bradway said. "But you know what? In this league, if you're afraid to fail, you're not going to succeed. You can't worry about making a mistake." Conventional wisdom holds that mistakes were made in New York this offseason. Right or wrong, legitimate questions still abound. Can veteran receiver Curtis Conway take up some of the slack from Coles' departure? Can veteran guard Tom Nutten replace Thomas? Can Robertson plug in and compensate for the loss of the suspended Josh Evans? And can young defenders like free safety Jon McGraw and right end Bryan Thomas lower the median age and increase the speed of New York's underachieving defense? "The great thing is, we're about to find out," said Edwards, who has the chance to become the first Jets coach to qualify for the playoffs three years in row. "We've lost some good players, some starting players who helped us win. But I think we've acquired some good players, too. That's what is great about a team. Teams win. Talent's great to have, and there's a lot of talent everywhere, but teams ultimately win." Ultimately, what 2003 will tell us about these unpredictable Jets is whether they sacrificed too much talent this offseason and took a step back as a team. But in the hyper-competitive AFC East, where every team looks to be an eight- to 10-game winner, I can't yet make a distinction. And at this point, I'm certain it's not even wise to try. Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com. |
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