It’s now time for the most anticipated event of the pre-season: TJB’s Annual Name-that-Squad Contest!!!

The rules are simple: name the players you feel will make the Jets active 53-man roster. The official deadline for announcing roster moves is Saturday and we will accept entries up until the major cutdowns are announced. In practice, there may be a few changes to the roster after cut-down day, so we are looking at the 53-man roster at 7pm next Sunday (ie 24 hours before the season kicks off). Also, they may add some guys off the waiver wire or via trade, but you are restricted to selecting 53 guys from the current roster and the closest entry wins.

Since Hard Knocks and the rise of twitter has seemingly made it more obvious who is likely to make it this year, we’re changing the format slightly. I’m going to list Bassett’s latest roster projection after the jump and in order to make your entry, you need only list how you think the final roster will differ from Bassett’s version. (Note: I have excluded Santonio Holmes from Bassett’s roster and added in Danny Woodhead as a WR, since we know Holmes will not be on the opening day roster).

The winner is the one with the fewest mistakes, but remember to add your eight practice squad picks for the tie-breaker. (Hint: Players are ineligible for the practice squad once they have been in the league three years or if they have been on an active roster for half a season). Again, your selections are limited to those guys currently on the roster.

Example: Your final entry might look something like this:

Out: Lowery, McKnight, Laury
In: Jackson, Woodhead, Satele
Practice Squad: Gay, Turkovich, Davis, Reamer, Cook, Fitzhugh, Tanner, Warren

As ever, the winner earns our ever-lasting respect and 12 months bragging rights. (more…)

The Jets hung on for a 21-17 win over the Eagles in the 2010 Bollinger Bowl, after yet another sloppy performance where the Jets completely dominated their opponent (347-186 total yards, 37:24 time of possession), but hurt themselves with bad errors, notably fumbles.

Here are the main talking points:

- Hugh Douglas, working for the local Philadelphia network, was wearing a suit with a pair of Chuck Taylors.
- As expected, hardly any starters dressed for the Jets.
- Danny Woodhead broke a tackle!
- A long return on the opening kickoff and then a big catch against Drew Coleman set up a field goal for the Eagles on their first drive.
- Joe McKnight fumbled yet again on the last play of the first quarter and it was returned for a long TD to give the Eagles a 10-0 lead.
- Emmanuel Cook intercepted a pass early in the second quarter to set up the Jets at the Eagles 15 yard line. Mark Brunell rolled out and hit Jeff Cumberland for a 2 yard TD to cut the deficit to 10-7.
- The Jets outgained the Eagles 153-100 in the first half and the Eagles failed to convert a third down. The offensive line was not great, but the running game averaged five yards per carry and they only gave up one sack.
- Mark Brunell may not be athletic enough to break down first string defenses any more, but tonight gave an insight into how Mark Sanchez can learn from his decision making and patience. He went 9-15-63-TD in the first half, but underthrew a wide open Santonio Holmes on a deep throw late in the second quarter.
- In the final minute of the first half, John Conner fumbled on a freak play after tripping over his own man and had it returned for another TD by Kurt Coleman, his second TD of the day, so the Eagles led 17-7 at the half.
- Kellen Clemens played QB in the second half and opened up the half by going 5-for-6 on a long drive that ended with a 14 yard TD run by Danny Woodhead to cut it to 17-14.
- Santonio Holmes fumbled for the second game in a row, but Chauncey Washington bailed him out with the recovery. Clemens then got sacked and lost a fumble on the next drive. He injured his elbow on the play, but did return later.
- Brunell re-entered the game and threw a 51 yard TD on a long bomb to Holmes to give the Jets a 21-17 lead early in the fourth. Holmes led the Jets with 97 yards on four catches.
- Eagles backup QB Mike Kafka’s stats through three quarters: 1-14-3yds-int.
- Brian Jackson stripped the ball loose and recovered a fumble with 12:39 to go and the Jets still up 21-17.
- Matt Kroul led the Jets in tackles and was credited with two sacks.
- The Jets ran for 175 yards, led by Chauncey Washington’s 56 yards on 12 carries.
- The Eagles drove down to the Jets 48 on their last possession, but Vernon Gholston beat the right tackle with a speed rush and sacked Kafka on the final play of the game to clinch the win.

Stay tuned for our official guess the roster contest later tonight and we’ll do BGA after the final cuts and practice squad have been announced.

The famous Andy Reid ’pat’ returns to the Eagles sidelines.

Who: New York Jets @ Philadelphia Eagles
When: 7:30 p.m. EDT
Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
Media: TV – WCBS, Radio - 1050 AM ESPN Radio, Sirius – 127, Sirius XM – XM 104, Internet Audio - NFL Fieldpass.
Injury Report: Darrelle Revis (DNR – Wallet), Erik Ainge (DNR – Rehab), Charlie Tanner (Knee), Josh Mauga (Concussion), Donovan Warren (Concussion).
Their Previous Meeting: In their (generally) annual preseason matchup, the Eagles would fly (Ha-get it?) to the Meadowlands to take on the Jets in the team’s final preseason match a year ago tomorrow. Newly-named starter Mark Sanchez and the rest of the first team were given one series against the Eagles and they would capitalize as Sanchez completed all five of his passes, the last one being a 21 yard touchdown to Jerricho Cotchery. From there, it would turn into a score-fest as the second and third team offenses got to work. Philly scored 17 points in the second quarter while the Jets scored 10 via a Woodhead run and a Feely FG however the Jets would trail the Eagles 17-24 at halftime despite harassing the heck out of Michael Vick (Sack by Westerman, Lowery INT). With Erik Ainge working the offense for the second half, the Jets would strike twice in the third quarter with a four yard pass to Wallace Wright for a TD and a Woodhead run that put the Jets in the lead. The defense continued to play lights out into the fourth as only one David Akers field goal was allowed. The Jets would secure their victory when Ainge threw a 73 yard bomb to Mr. August himself, David Clowney, thus securing the team’s 38-27 victory.

Links: TJB Chat | Intel Report | NFL Preview | TJB on Twitter |
(Post Scriptum: No password is required to chat).

Following the team’s second straight loss in the preseason, the starters will hit the bench for the night. However the starters, or more appropriately Mark Sanchez, will be kept on his toes for a while as he will call some plays on offense. Hopefully in doing so, he’ll be able to gain a greater understanding of certain situations as he will have the luxury of stepping back to assess the situation more carefully.

That being said, the spotlight will remain on the second and third teams who will take the field. Although this seems like a recipe for a boring showcase, many of these guys will be fighting for their careers tonight trying to make a statement and show the coaching staff they belong (Danny Woodhead did it last preseason, ironically against the Eagles).

As we head into roster cutdowns through the next few days, we’ll take a closer look at what — we imagine — the final roster could look like. Here’s a swing at the direction I expect the roster to be come final cut downs.  I’ve left one roster spot available for a waiver wire pickup from another team (likely a DL, LB or CB), and I’ve not counted Santonio Holmes toward the total count since that won’t happen until Week Five. On another note, I have optimistically counted Darrelle Revis as a member of the team.

Hope this helps, let us know what you think in the comments.

SECONDARY

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Pat Kirwan looks at the Jets as one of his teams that could very well be a contender over the next ten years.

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Remember Rex’s first presser, when he told reporters that he was going to “Keep It Likeable and Learnable”?

Mike Lombardi writes on NFL.com that the Jets need to be cautious not to throw too much too fast at their wunderkind, Mark Sanchez, by using the cautionary tale of Rick Mirer.

What the Jets must learn from Mirer is that they cannot expand the offense in Sanchez’s second year. They must err on the side of caution in terms of offensive design. Sanchez is too inaccurate to create a wide-open offense. Limiting his inside throws by running the ball more often is what will make Sanchez most effective. Sanchez must be managed and it is Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s job to make sure the offense is Sanchez-friendly, not expansive.

The second year is the make-or-break year for young quarterbacks. With 16 games worth of tape to study, every defensive coordinator will have a good read on their weaknesses and exploit those areas. Teams have a read on Sanchez now. They will play him in a certain style and manner, thus forcing him to play outside his comfort zone. Once Sanchez proves he can play that way, his career will take off, but if he fails to handle the challenge, things will get dicey.

Rex has given every indication that this offense will still run a lot, but the addition of a guy like Santonio Holmes and the removal of Thomas Jones and Alan Faneca would seem to betray that statement.  I know Schottenheimer loves detailed and nuanced offense, but I get the feeling that sometimes he gets a little wonkish with his offense, and I am concerned that he yet again lose the forest for the trees.  If you remember, it took Rex sitting in on his meetings to dial it back last year.

I don’t know that I completely agree with what Lombardi is writing, but I do think that if the offense sputters, I wouldn’t be afraid to dust off the ol’ Colored Wristband Days of 2009.

In case you were wondering what Revis’s fine totals were so far … A-Schef breaks out the calculator.
 

1. 
   Adam_Schefter For those keeping score, Jets CB Darrelle’s Revis’ 31-day fine total is now up to $512,213. And counting. 01 Sep 2010 from ÜberTwitter

NEW YORK–I haven’t talked a lot about “Hard Knocks” but I think it’s worth mentioning that what this show has revealed about the team is really nothing we didn’t already know. And that’s a good thing. As someone who deals with Rex Ryan and the players every day, it’s been fascinating and refreshing to see behind the scenes footage and have the reaction, “Oh, he already told us that two weeks ago,” or, “Hmm, he said that same thing to us too,” rather than…”Why didn’t we know that?!” Or “That’s not what he told us.”

One of the concerns among media is always that something will be revealed that we didn’t know. That hasn’t been the case. Perfect example number one, the Revis Twitter dust-up from last week. To be able to confirm that the team, like the media, had no idea where this information was coming from and that it ultimately turned out to be untrue, was a relief and also showed that the team was holding to their agreement of a media blackout. (more…)

Rich Cimini used his Wednesday to travel to Pittsburgh to try and track down Darrelle.  A great story, but yet another dead end.  After talking with many folks in the tight knit community that is very protected of one of their own, the closest he was able to get was in talking with Darrelle’s grandmother.

She beamed with pride as she talked about her grandson, yet she seemed frustrated by his holdout. How long will it last? Will Revis copy his uncle and sit out the season? She admitted Sean is a strong influence on Darrelle — "a given," she said.

"If he does," Gilbert said of sitting out the season, "it won’t be because of Sean. It’ll be because the Jets don’t give him a decent contract."

A cell phone rang. It was her daughter, Darrelle’s mother, who heard that a reporter from New York was there, asking questions. Word travels fast in Aliquippa.

Gilbert ended the interview, politely.

I said this the other day and will say it again … the closer we get to the season, the higher the stakes are getting for everyone.  For members of the media, their is reputation to be made by whoever can track down Darrelle first and get him to answer some very uncomfortable questions.  This level of scrutiny is only going to intensify and it looks like according to Revis’s manager @GeigerGeiger that someone is behind him right now … stay tuned to see who reports what.