This Week's Fan Festivities

Crazy day. Media to players was a 2:1 ratio. I'll get to more details later, but in the meantime, for those of you in New York, here is information from the Jets regarding some fan festivities this week that you can partake in. I'm copying and pasting to make sure I don't leave anything out:

THURSDAY JANUARY 21

TIMES SQUARE PEP RALLY

WHAT: The City of New York will host a pep rally in Times Square for the team. Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be on hand to show New York City’s support for the Jets as they prepare for the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, January 24^th. The event will be hosted by 1050 ESPN Radio personality Michael Kay. “Win and We’re In” rally towels will be distributed courtesy of Toyota.

WHO: Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum

Former Jets Running Back, Curtis Martin

Jets Flight Crew Cheerleaders

Live music will be performed by Beluga Heights/Warner Bros. breakout pop star Jason Derulo, including his No. 1 song, “Whatcha Say.”

WHEN: Thursday, January 21, 2010 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Times Square between 44^th and 45^th Streets

To gain access to the event, all attendees must enter at 42^nd and Broadway

PROHIBITED ITEMS: To ensure public safety and security, the following items will not be permitted: coolers, large backpacks, large bags, weapons, glass containers, alcohol and chairs. All attendees are subject to search and confiscated items will not be returned.

SATURDAY JANUARY 23

TEAM SENDOFF AT THE ATLANTIC HEALTH JETS TRAINING CENTER

WHAT: Jets fans are invited to come create a special “runway” for the team when the team departs the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center for Indianapolis to face the Colts in the AFC Championship game on January 24^th. Fans have the opportunity to form a tunnel and send the team off with excitement, enthusiasm and well wishes. “Win and We’re In” rally towels will be distributed courtesy of Toyota.

WHO: Jets players and coaches

WHEN: Saturday, January 23 at 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: The Atlantic Health Jets Training Center

1 Jets Drive

Florham Park, NJ 07932

Getting ready for the rematch

Hello Jets fans...recovered from your delirium yet? Pace yourselves, you've still got a ways to go. The media spoke to a few of the players today and Rex gave his usual, jovial press conference, jet lag nowhere to be seen. Well, I think I heard Damien Woody yawn, but that might just have been my question.

So, how do the players feel about a rematch with the Colts? Woody referred to it as "the perfect script for us."

The game should be a barn-burner. With the way both teams are playing, I believe it will be as intense as anything we've seen this year. Let's hope anyway, it is the Championship game. You've got to believe that Peyton Manning is still stewing over being pulled during the regular season game and the Jets are absolutely chomping at the bit to prove that they can beat this team with Manning under center for all four quarters.

One minor little problem, turns out Shaun Ellis broke his hand on the first play of the game. The trainers took him into the locker room, took an x-ray and confirmed the break. However, Ellis had them put it in a cast and went right back out. He will play this week in the Championship game and then regardless of the outcome he will have surgery immediately afterward to put some screws in. If the Jets go to the Super Bowl, he will play. The whole idea of it makes me shudder, but I guess that's one of the many reasons I don't play.

Apparently the plane ride home was a rather joyous event. There was some sort of dance-off in the back that had something to do with LaDanian Tomlinson's recent video. Not entirely sure who participated in that - feverishly working the phones. However, it seems to be the younger guys. According to Shaun Ellis the older guys stayed toward the front and chatted and watched movies. Nice and sedate, befitting their status as elders.

As for all the naysayers, Ryan said today, "I'm not an I-told-you-so guy. Until after the Super Bowl."

Awaiting Jets vs. Chargers...

Tomorrow's the big day, when we'll see if the Jets have what it takes to get past the San Diego Chargers and move on to the AFC Championship game. The Jets haven't been to a Championship game since 1999 when they lost to the Denver Broncos in Denver.

The team truly believes they can and will win this game, which is the only attitude you can have if you have any hope of winning. They also know what everybody else knows - the Chargers are going to pose a huge problem across the board.

I talked to Jerricho Cotchery earlier in the week as he and Philip Rivers go back to high school. Rivers team beat Cotchery's team in the second round of the high school playoffs and Cotchery is itching for revenge. Of course, the two were incredibly successful together at NC State - in fact, Cotchery told me that Rivers was one of the reasons he chose that school because he knew he wanted to go somewhere with a great quarterback. The two have remained close friends and Cotchery says he sees the same player he always has, incredibly accurate with an amazing instinct for the game.

With Rivers, Antonio Gates, LaDanian Tomlinson, Darren Sproles and Vincent Jackson the defense has their hands full and they know it. Gates is especially hard to cover because of his size. Jackson too is a tall, big receiver. Expect to see Darrelle Revis on Jackson a lot - but not exclusively.

Field position, as always, is going to play a big role and it seems as though Steve Weatherford will be fine. Although Jay Feely ended up doing a great job, it wasn't really his idea of fun. As he said this week, "I would have been more comfortable returning punts."

Weatherford had a re-occurrence of a heart condition that developed when he was in high school and which he had a procedure for during his sophomore year of college. His heart beat was up around 175 -180 beats per minute and the doctors weren't going to let him go on the field. Even after he pulled out his IVs, he was stopped by GM Mike Tannenbaum and Rex Ryan.

Although he will need another procedure after the season, they expect him to punt this week without a problem.

Everybody else is pretty healthy. David Harris' ankle has improved, which has to be a big relief to the entire organization.

So, who's your money on?

Up next: San Diego

The Jets put on a pretty convincing show on Sunday. Any questions? Well, a few, but the fact is, the team is looking good no matter how you slice it.

Next up, the San Diego Chargers. As much of a challenge as the Bengals may have presented (and several players told me privately that Cincinnati really was not as good as advertised...) the Chargers are a whole different story.

Philip Rivers is scary good. Here's what safety Jim Leonhard said about him today. "He's extremely accurate. The biggest thing with them is they'll spread the ball all over the place. He has a lot of big-time targets that he can distribute the ball to. He's an equal-opportunity quarterback. He's willing to throw to anyone. It doesn't matter, whoever is open, that's where the ball is going. It's really hard to get keyed in on him."

Jerricho Cotchery and Rivers are good friends from their days together at NC State and Cotchery laughed today that he still owes Rivers one for knocking his team out of the playoffs back when they were both in high school.

The most important factor for this team right now may be Rex Ryan. His players speak of how much his confidence and his support has meant to them all season and especially now. The fact that Ryan actually mapped out a schedule for them up through not just the Super Bowl, but a Super Bowl parade made them all sit up and take a second look.

It's one of those things where it's like a proud parent," said Nick Mangold. "(When you have) a parent who believes in you and wants the best for you, you want to go to school to get the good grades, to make them even prouder. You want to go out there and be the best."

Tomorrow is the first open locker room since the win on Sunday. I'm anticipating three media people for every player. Oughta be piles of fun. I'll let you know.

Game Day Odds and Ends

Couple of quick notes before this thing gets going. Ryan Fowler is inactive, which means they were not comfortable with him playing so soon after his head injury last weekend. David Harris is playing with the ankle sprain and his backup is now Kenwin Cummings who has only been on the active roster since early November.

Bengals running back Larry Johnson is also inactive so expect to see a lot of Cedric Benson.

Windchill is currently 12 degrees in Cincinnati. Practically Spring time compared to last week's four degrees.

Jets Wildcard Week - Day Four

Day three got away from me. Oh well. A few random things first. D'Brickashaw Ferguson was named the Jets Walter Payton Man of the Year. Ferguson does a ton of work with his foundation helping students and the community in and around the area of Long Island where he grew up.

Jets have signed four players to future contracts including TJ Conley who, if I remember correctly, was punter number 1 during the punter merry-go-round during training camp last summer.

Now onto the business at hand. David Harris was limited in practice today, but he did practice after not participating on either Tuesday or Wednesday. According to Rex Ryan he had started jogging on it yesterday so clearly there's progress.

The sticky part of the problem here is that Harris has a high ankle sprain, which takes a while to heal. If you don't let it heal, it will nag for ages. So, the Jets are in the position of needing Harris badly this week - but also can't afford to set him back should they win and need him in more playoff games.

Ryan Fowler (Harris' backup who had a head injury) was back full today. I would bet he will see some significant time, along with Kenwin Cummings even if Harris does start.

Everybody else is relatively healthy. Punter Steve Weatherford's hamstring is healing, although that's another injury which if it doesn't heal well, oh boy. Jets fans should hope he doesn't have to punt a lot.

The mood in the locker room is relatively calm they know that if they didn't see everything from the Bengals last week, they sure will this week - not the least of which will be RB Cedric Benson.

Additionally, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said this week that some of the Bengals players didn't even know that they were going to play until later in the day on Sunday so that would throw off somoeone's preparation. Pretty sure they all know who's up for this one.

Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer shared yesterday that he would consider turning down a head coaching job to stay with the Jets because of how happy he is now with the organization.