By Tom Rock
The latest news today was that Curtis Martin will not start practicing with the team until after the Cleveland game at the earliest. So said Eric Mangini. That gives him from Nov. 1 to Nov. 7 to suit up. The Jets are taking full advantage of their three-week window, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the paperwork to activate Curtis is filed at 3:59 p.m. on the day of the 4 p.m. deadline. That would make Nov. 8 his first day on the field and start a whole new 21-day window. Read all about it in tomorrow’s Newsday!!! Ha ha ha!!!
Some atmosphere: After the latest nothing-comes-easy win, which featured a chuckling Mangini opening his postgame press conference by saying it was just how he drew it up, everyone was in a good mood. LB Matt Chatham joked that the Jets allowed the Dolphins to stay in the game to boost TV ratings and also to politic for more Sunday Night and Monday Night games. The flex schedule in the second half of the year allows the networks to pick and choose which games will be spotlighted, and Chatham seems to feel that by making each game a down to the wire nail-biter, the Jets will have a better shot at national exposure.
After LB Jonathan Vilma finished with his postgame interviews, fellow LB Eric Barton chimed in and wanted to know why no one asked him about the brawl his alma mater, Miami, was involved in the day before. “Interviews are over,” Vilma announced with a wry smile. Chatham chuckled, to which Vilma snapped “What are you laughing at?”
Victories are certainly good for morale. There wasn’t much in the way of playful banter the last two weeks.
By the way, Vilma was hit pretty hard today about the Miami thing. Probably too hard considering he left the school three years ago. But he backed Coker saying that even though the H.C. needs to take the hit for an ugly incident, he thinks Coker is still in control down there.
No misunderstanding who’s in control up here. Mangini was asked about players who sometimes change from selfless to selfish over their careers (i.e. but not named, T.O). “They won’t be ending their careers here,” Mangini said.