Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez's NFL career couldn't have had a better start: New York, eight months removed from the evil clutches of Eric Mangini, began the season 3-0 and for the first time since those heady Chad Pennington days earlier this decade, the team had their franchise quarterback.
Reality abruptly set in last Sunday against the Saints -- Sanchez was just 14 of 27 for 138 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions and he was sacked four times. He set season lows in just about every statistical category but it was his first pick early in the second quarter that might have been the lowlight of his afternoon.
Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.
Though 2006 was arguably the best season in New Orleans Saints history, the campaign was only the beginning of this streak of NFL competitive relevance in the Crescent City. Despite steps backwards in 2007 and 2008, the team has quietly been adding front-end talent and admirable depth since that NFC Championship appearance against the Bears. Now, as Drew Brees put it, "...we're at this stage in our careers where this is kind of our prime. ... So this is our window of opportunity. This is our chance to walk together forever, to go down in history together." After over 40 years and just two playoff wins, is this the year the Saints finally break through?
NEW YORK -- Entering the draft, the talk revolving around the Saints and their No. 14 pick was that it was either going to be Malcolm Jenkins, Beanie Wells, or Knowshon Moreno. I always felt confident that Jenkins was the Saints' guy, but they apparently did have a very real interest in Wells, as they attempted to move back into the first round after picking Jenkins to acquire the former Ohio St. running back.
Wells plummeted much farther than anyone expected, eventually being selected by the Cardinals at No. 31. But the Saints were working the phones with New England (the teams are frequent draft-day trade partners), ostensibly for the Patriots' 23rd overall pick which was eventually shipped to Baltimore, with Wells in mind. Jay Glazer originally reported the talks, but coach Sean Payton has confirmed them.
When reached last week, Morgan said he'd been working out in Phoenix rehabbing an Achilles tendon injury and that he wanted to make sure he was completely healthy before signing with another team. But sensing an opportunity to start, Morgan apparently felt it was the right time to sign.
"I'm feeling pretty good and I'm getting better with each day," Morgan said last week. "I definitely want to play again and I hope I get that chance."
Morgan ... who was a middle linebacker for the Panthers ... will play the weakside LB spot for the Saints. Newly acquired Jonathan Vilma will man the middle while Scott Fujita will play the strong side.
The question is Morgan's health. He has played in just four games over the past two seasons and has never played a full NFL slate. He's also had quite a few concussions and he's rehabbing the Achilles injury which led to his release last month.
The intriguing question is what the Lions would give up to acquire Vilma, a speedy linebacker who isn't a good fit for Jets coach Eric Mangini's defense. And the answer may be defensive tackle Shaun Rogers, who is on his way out of Detroit.
A Vilma-for-Rogers swap would seem to be the proverbial trade that helps both teams. Both guys are talented players who haven't adjusted well to the new coaches who arrived two years ago but still have the potential to be productive players elsewhere. Although Rogers has never played the 3-4 nose tackle role, he definitely has the body type for it.
And if Rogers showed up in New York, that would make it a lot easier for the Jets to say goodbye to defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson. Might Robertson end up in Detroit as part of a trade, too? It's all speculation at this point, but that's late February in the NFL for you.
In 2003, the Jets traded up to select defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson with the fourth overall pick in the NFL draft. Robertson hasn't become a great player, he looked like he was developing into a solid presence in the middle of the line.
And then coach Eric Mangini showed up with his 3-4 defense that doesn't really have much use for a player of Robertson's skill set. And like all Top 5 picks, Robertson has an enormous contract, which counts more than $11 million against the Jets' 2008 salary cap. So it may be time for the Jets and Robertson to part ways.
The New York Daily News reports that a trade could be coming soon, and the Broncos are interested in acquiring Robertson's services. Combine that with the possible trade of linebacker Jonathan Vilma, and the Jets could be saying goodbye to the two young players who just a couple of years ago were thought to be the foundation of their defense for years to come.
The Broncos' interest shows that coach Mike Shanahan still considers improving the defensive line to be his top priority. It seems like every off-season Shanahan tries something new to bolster the defensive line. Maybe this is the year it will actually work.
It only took three weeks but the Jets have finally moved beyond their code of omerta and announced which knee Jonathan Vilma injured during their loss to the Bengals. After keeping the secret with a zeal that Colonel Sanders would appreciate Eric Mangini returned from a four-day weekend positively brimming with information when he was asked about the linebacker's surgery.
Mangini said: "You can talk to him about his ..."
Long pause.
"Right knee."
Long pause and smile.
That's not to say that the information kept flowing. The nature of the injury and the result of the surgery are still being treated as state secrets. Now that they've gotten closer to the bottom of that mystery, the Jets can turn their attention to this Sunday's date with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
They will certainly command the team's full attention and the Jets are relishing their chance to play spoiler. That's the right attitude to have, there's certainly no postseason light at the end of their tunnel and the best they can hope for is to ruin a season or two.
That said, the Steelers will be heavy favorites and it's hard to come up with a scenario that sees the Jets coming out on top. At least the home fans will get to celebrate Curtis Martin's career during a ceremony at Sunday's game.
That mystery will lead to speculation about just what's wrong and one surgeon says that Vilma wouldn't have been put on season-ending injured reserve if it wasn't a serious injury. Dr. Johnny Benjamin told Newsday that he thinks Vilma could need two years before he's fully recovered.
"It makes me believe it's a full thickness injury," Benjamin said of the move, adding that the simple cleaning would normally sideline a player for only a few weeks. That would require either micro fracture surgery or the insertion of a bio-absorbable screw into the knee to hold the ligament to the bone.
NBA fans will recognize micro fracture surgery as the operation that cost Amare Stoudemire a year-plus and is currently costing Greg Oden his rookie season. If that's what Vilma is having it will make it much harder to deal him in the offseason and won't make him any more of a help to the Jets on the field. Since Vilma's out for the season anyway it may be time to break down the thick green line and end the speculation about his future.
If you thought the strangeness surrounding Jonathan Vilma's season-ending injury would come to an end when he was placed on injured reserve this weekend you were dead wrong. The linebacker had a conference call with reporters yesterday and many thought he'd discuss the injury and his plans for rehab and so forth but Vilma was still keeping a tight lid on any actual information. He didn't remember when in the Bengals game he got hurt nor would he let slip if it was his right knee or his left one.
"It was one of those freak accidents. I can't get into specifics."
The Jets treat injury information like the formula for cold fusion so Vilma's tight-lipped answers don't come as much surprise. It also won't come as much of a surprise if Vilma has played his last game as a Jet. He says that he's the same player in Eric Mangini's 3-4 just asked to do different things. That might be true but the different things he's being asked to do, shed blockers and make plays, appear to be beyond his skill set.
David Harris was the sole bright spot in Sunday's loss to Buffalo and is a perfect choice to replace Vilma, a free agent after next season, if the Jets trade the former Pro Bowler in the offseason.
Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez's NFL career couldn't have had a better start: New York, eight months removed from the evil clutches of Eric Mangini, began the season 3-0 and for the first time since those heady Chad Pennington days earlier this decade, the team had their franchise quarterback. 
Training camps have wrapped up, the 
NEW YORK -- Entering the draft, the talk revolving around the Saints and their No. 14 pick was that it was either going to be 
Former Carolina Panther 
New York Jets linebacker 
In 2003, the Jets traded up to select defensive tackle 
It only took three weeks but the Jets have finally moved beyond their code of omerta and announced which knee 
Since 
If you thought the strangeness surrounding 
