AFC East: Marty Lyons
Talley, Lyons, Scott tabbed for college hall
Miami Dolphins safety Jake Scott (Georgia), Buffalo Bills linebacker Darryl Talley (West Virginia), Bills fullback Bill Enyart (Oregon State) and New York Jets defensive lineman Marty Lyons (Alabama).
The stars of the class will be cornerback Deion Sanders (Florida State) and running back Eddie George (Ohio State).
Of the AFC East inhabitants, Scott had the most decorated NFL career. He won a pair of Super Bowls with the Dolphins and was MVP of Super Bowl VII, the game that capped their undefeated 1972 season. He's on the Dolphins' Honor Roll.
Talley played on Buffalo's conference title teams and is on the team's Wall of Fame. The Bills drafted Enyart 27th overall in 1969, but he spent only three seasons in the NFL.
Lyons never went to a Pro Bowl, but he was a member of the Jets' famed New York Sack Exchange.
The New York Jets won Super Bowl III after quarterback Joe Namath made his famous guarantee. That moment didn't make my short list because the Super Bowl didn't necessarily change the Jets' fortunes; it was the Jets' fortune.
The pivotal development to get the Jets to their lone championship was Namath eschewing the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals and taking a chance on the upstart AFL. Broadway Joe became the face of the league and remains a transcendent New York icon. In four decades, no other Jets player has come close to matching the impact Namath made.
Highlights have been minimal in the years since, but the New York Sack Exchange of Mark Gastineau, Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons and Abdul Salaam provided the franchise milepost of the 1980s.
The Jets made a splash when they hired Bill Parcells as general manager and head coach in 1997. His arrival sparked a Jets-Patriots rivalry that has grown into one of the NFL's best, featuring Curtis Martin's jump to the Jets out of loyalty to the coach.
Although he has been with the Jets only two seasons, I don't think it's premature to include head coach Rex Ryan's arrival as an option for the defining moment. The culture under Ryan is a stark contrast to the organization under predecessor Eric Mangini. The Jets have gone to back-to-back AFC Championship Games and are considered a hot destination because free agents want to play for Ryan.
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Did Andre Reed tip Bills' hand on Ponder?
Did he branch out Thursday by spilling the beans?
Reed has been chosen to represent the Buffalo Bills next week at the NFL draft in Radio City Music Hall. All 32 clubs will have a former star in attendance to announce the second-round picks.
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Reed tweeted a potential preview message to Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder:
@cponder7 Lookin forward to calling your name Draft Day!!!!!!!!!Bills brash like ur style.
Reed deleted the note and quickly posted another tweet that toned down the excitement.
@cponder7 Lookin forward to the possibility of calling your name Draft Day!!!!!!!!!Bills brash like ur style.
The Bills own the third and 34th picks in the draft. Mock draftniks project Ponder to be available early in the second round, but waiting might not the safest approach to getting a quarterback.
Some analysts wonder if there will be run on quarterbacks late in the first round. The Patriots hold the 33rd choice and will be fielding calls for it in the hours between the end of the first round and the start of the second round.
"It could be a record number," Bills general manager Buddy Nix said Tuesday about first-round quarterbacks. "There's so much need for a quarterback."
NFL Charities celebrates three AFC East givers
Three AFC East stars are among the five players being highlighted for their community work as part of the NFL Charities Week.
The NFL has awarded $1 million in grants to 89 player charities. Five of those organizations are being singled out this week to publicize the substantial philanthropy done throughout the league.
New England Patriots tackle Matt Light on Tuesday morning will receive $10,000 from NFL Charities for the Light Foundation. The check will be presented to him by Patriots owner Robert Kraft at Woonsocket Middle School.
New York Jets fullback Tony Richardson on Wednesday will receive a $25,000 grant for his Rich in Spirit Foundation. Richardson will be handing out dictionaries to 240 third-grade students in Corona, N.Y.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington's organization, the 1st and 10 Foundation, will be presented with a $50,000 grant Thursday at a function where he'll be donating shoes and backpacks to 75 children from the Miami Cooperative Feeding Program.
Other AFC East players receiving a portion of NFL Charities' $1 million largesse for their organizations are Dolphins defensive back Jason Allen (J. Allen AllStars Foundation), Bills receiver Terrell Owens (Catch a Dream Foundation), cornerback Drayton Florence (Drayton Florence Foundation) and Bills punter Brian Moorman (Punt Foundation).
Foundations with ties to AFC East teams include Hall of Fame quarterbacks Jim Kelly (Hunter's Hope Foundation) and Dan Marino (Dan Marino Foundation), former Bills and Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie (Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism), former Jets coach Herm Edwards (Herm Edwards Foundation), former Jets back Bruce Harper (Heroes and Cool Kids), former Jets receiver JoJo Townsell (MEFIYI Foundation), former Jets defensive lineman Marty Lyons (Marty Lyons Foundation), former Patriots linebacker Junior Seau (Junior Seau Foundation), former Bills lineman Reggie McKenzie (Reggie McKenzie Foundation), former Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor (Jason Taylor Foundation), former Dolphins defensive lineman Daryl Gardener (Gardener's Kids Center), former Dolphins receiver Nat Moore (Nat Moore Foundation) and former Dolphins linebacker Twan Russell (Russell Life Skills and Reading Foundation).
Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Graham
It took us an hour and a half to get through Friday afternoon's AFC East chat. But you'll need only about 10 minutes to read through the transcript by clicking here.
A couple riveting examples of the types of exchanges you'll read:
Bill (York, PA): Speaking of the Bills trying, yet coming up short (again): What's your opinion of Cameron Wake? He didn't cost Miami a whole lot? In my opinion, he's a much better fit in Miami's 3-4 than in Buffalo's whateveryouwanttocallit. Your thoughts?
Tim Graham: I'm skeptical of any CFL Paul Bunyan story. I lived in Buffalo long enough and have spent enough time in Canada to know these tall tales pop up every year, but they're usually quarterbacks. That so many NFL teams were in pursuit of Cameron Wake leads me to believe there's something there. One person explained it to me as the team that signed him would be getting an extra first-day draft pick this year.
Tim Tebow: This just in: I've cured cancer, fixed the economy and restored Telly Savalas to a full mane of hair.
Tim Graham: Did you let Telly out of his coffin before you gave him hair, or were you just being cruel to his corpse?
Jets turn wild expectations into a lofty standard
With three games to go, the New York Jets already have doubled their win total from last year.
But if they don't make the playoffs, their season will be considered a failure.
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| Kyle Terada/US Presswire | |
| After a five-game winning streak, Eric Mangini and the Jets have dropped their last two games. |
Turnaround, schmurnaround. The Jets established an awesome standard over a torrid seven-game stretch, but two disconcerting losses have them on the cusp of panic heading into Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills at the Meadowlands.
Super Bowl proclamations have given way to renewed skepticism about Jets management and head coach Eric Mangini. Fans are expressing sentimental regret over Chad Pennington's departure.
"I don't want to say I'm hitting the panic button," said Jets linebacker and captain David Bowens, "but the leaders need to step up."
The Jets' front office spent lavishly on free agents in hopes of barging into a New York sports consciousness so occupied by the Giants and Yankees.
Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum executed daring trades for quarterback Brett Favre and nose tackle Kris Jenkins, each transforming the dynamic of the offense and defense.
But an AFC East title? A Super Bowl?
Although that might have been the intention, nobody thought it actually could happen.
Then the Jets ripped off five straight wins and took six out of seven. They popped the defending AFC champion New England Patriots and undefeated Tennessee Titans -- perhaps the most significant back-to-back regular-season road wins in franchise history.
The Jets won five in a row, six of seven and hadn't lost in regulation time since September.
Expectations went from "Get outta here" to "Hey, now, wait a minute ..."
Jets fans were introduced to the bold possibilities. Their team was referenced in reverential tones by every NFL commentator on the planet. A mouth-watering Jets-Giants dream Super Bowl matchup became the hot topic.
And in the span of two weeks the Jets and their fans were swatted back to earth.
Now they can't figure out what has gone wrong.
Increased expectations bring exaggerated pressure. Pundits already are wondering who will replace Mangini and Favre if the Jets don't make the playoffs.
Watch out Cassel: Jets lead NFL in strip sacks
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New York Jets have asserted themselves as one of the NFL's best big-play defenses.
A substantial reason for that is their inclination to force fumbles while sacking quarterbacks, a trend the New England Patriots are concerned about heading into Thursday night's game in Gillette Stadium.
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"Their defense is playing very well," Patriots guard Logan Mankins told me Monday. "They're getting after the quarterback better, causing a lot of turnovers, a lot of strip sacks. It's going to be a challenge."
The Jets have jarred quarterbacks into fumbling eight times and have recovered six. Both figures lead the NFL, according to data compiled by Puneet Nanda of ESPN's Stats and Information department.
The Jets have amassed 31 sacks, meaning they force a fumble on 26 percent of them.
The Pittsburgh Steelers lead the NFL with 34 sacks, but they've forced only five fumbles. They've recovered three.
"We do a lot of work in that area," Jets coach Eric Mangini said. "That's something that I learned when I was first with the Jets. We spent a lot of time on what's called ball disruption. I know [Patriots defensive line coach Pepper Johnson] does it a
lot up there.
"We focus on individual players, and you look at different areas you can exploit, maybe the way they hold the ball. It's maybe where the quarterback holds the ball and scramble patterns and giving the guys the awareness of 'If you do get an opportunity to get a sack or be the second guy in a pile, where you should pressure the ball, what would be the most vulnerable point?' "
Shaun Ellis leads the Jets with seven sacks. He's one of 15 Jets with at least a half-sack.
The Jets had 29 sacks after eight games, a franchise record. Not bad considering this is the team that brought us the New York Sack Exchange. The celebrated crew of Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau and Marty Lyons had 27 sacks at the midpoint of 1981.
The Patriots have been susceptible. Matt Cassel has been sacked 29 times, behind J.T. O'Sullivan of the San Francisco 49ers.
Cassel, however, has been sacked just once over the past two games. The Buffalo Bills did force him to fumble. The Bills recovered.
Overall, Cassel has done a decent job protecting the ball. He has fumbled three times while being sacked, losing two.
The Jets have recorded at least two sacks in all but one of their games. They've recorded four or more sacks in six games.
In their past six games, the Jets have forced 15 fumbles and recovered nine. They recovered all three fumbles they caused in Sunday's victory over the St. Louis Rams, returning one for a touchdown.
"I was really happy the last game because of the types of fumbles that we were able to generate, where guys went in and really ripped the ball out," Mangini said. "Sometimes those fumbles are a function of how you hit the player as opposed to a conscious effort of finding the ball and getting it out."
AFC East no longer open-and-shut case
The New England Patriots went into this season a guaranteed playoff team. Sure, there were the obligatory Super Bowl hangover references, but nobody truly believed them.
One game into the season they were reclassified slightly. Maybe they weren't favorites to win it all without Tom Brady, but they still were a surefire postseason club.
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After all, they didn't have to dominate to reach the playoffs. They merely had to finish among the top six teams in the AFC.
That's going to be tricky because there are doubts they'll finish in the top half of their division. Maybe not among the top three.
The AFC East is that competitive.
The first-place Buffalo Bills and the last-place Miami Dolphins are separated by two games. Then sandwiched between are the New York Jets and Patriots at 3-2.
How refreshingly competitive. The past two seasons the Patriots bolted to a forceful start and at least one of the other four teams did a face plant out of the blocks, creating a sizable gap in the standings.
Since the NFL realigned in 2002 and moved the Indianapolis Colts out of the division, the only time the AFC East standings have been this tight heading into Week 7 was in 2005, but none of the four teams had a winning record. The Bills and Patriots were 3-3. The Dolphins were 2-3. The Jets were in last place at 2-4.
This season, however, three AFC East teams are above .500, and the revitalized Dolphins are two plays away from being tied with the 4-1 Bills.
Givens no longer reside here.
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"You could look ahead a year or two at the AFC East and see the toughest division in all of football," said former Dolphins linebacker Kim Bokamper. "It's good for competition, and no matter what players say, if you got the weak sister in there -- back in my day it was Buffalo -- you always were chalking up two wins. You don't have that anymore."
The Patriots, Jets and Dolphins all are 1-1 against each other.
Here's a breakdown of how the AFC East stacks up after six games:
Buffalo Bills (4-1)
The Bills might be the NFL's most balanced team. They don't rely on any one facet of their roster to bail out the others. A glance at the depth chart doesn't turn up an abundance of Pro Bowlers, but try to find a glaring weakness.
"Buffalo is the team to beat," Bokamper said. "With a healthy Trent Edwards, they are as good as any team in the AFC."
Edwards staying healthy is a real concern. He suffered a concussion in Week 5, and the Bills' offensive line has been playing on its heels at times.
The O-line still is dealing with the aftermath of left tackle Jason Peters' prolonged holdout. He missed voluntary offseason workouts, mandatory mini-camp and all of training camp before reporting without a new contract. Right tackle Langston Walker was moved to Peters' spot, further fiddling with the continuity.
"They just don't have it," said former Bills and Chicago Bears guard Ruben Brown, a nine-time Pro Bowler who still hasn't officially retired. "But the good thing is all these guys have worked together for a while. It'll start picking up, and now is the time to turn it on."
The Bills are the only AFC East team not to have played a divisional game, making for a rugged homestretch. Both Bokamper and Brown claim that augers well for them.
"I'm banking on the Bills beating the Jets each time, and I think that will shake up that division," said Brown, who is host to a weekly radio show that can be heard at BuffaloMainEvent.com. "It boils down to who wins out of the Jets and the Bills. That's where it's going to be."
New England Patriots (3-2)
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| Kim Klement/US Presswire | |
| Former Dolphins linebacker Kim Bokamper thinks a Randy Moss breakdown is forthcoming. |
For the first time under head coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots have suffered two losses of 20 or more points in the same season. There are 11 games to go.
"I think New England is going to take some more lumps," Brown said. "It's just time. They've been on top for so long."
The Patriots have been unable to reinvent themselves without the injured Brady, who last season conducted one of the most prolific offenses in football history. Now the Patriots have the AFC East's lowest-scoring offense with 89 points. The winless Cincinnati Bengals have scored 88.
"And the Randy Moss tantrum hasn't really set in yet," Bokamper said. "It's going to happen at some point. When that blooms anything can happen there."
New England also has shown troubles on defense, particularly in the secondary. Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington owned the middle of the field in an eye-opening 38-13 laugher in Gillette Stadium. San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers chose to drop bombs on the Patriots' cornerbacks in Sunday night's 30-10 rout.
"As long as they have Bill Belichick and Randy Moss and all that talent they have there, they just need to treat it game by game," former New York Jets defensive lineman Marty Lyons said. "They didn't play well and made a lot of mistakes against the Chargers, but it's only one game. Belichick will learn more about his team, his quarterback and realize the NFL is a long season.
"They're well-equipped to make a strong run. You haven't heard the last of New England."
New York Jets (3-2)
The more Brett Favre becomes familiar with the Jets offense, the tougher they'll be to beat.
The Jets already have established themselves in the trenches. The Patriots line up Pro Bowlers from center out to left tackle, but the Jets' offensive line is the best in the division despite inserting free agents Alan Faneca and Damien Woody. The Jets' defensive line anchors a unit that's third-best against the run.
Favre through five games has a 103.0 passer rating, which would be the best in his career over a full season. He has even more potential because he's still learning the offense. Brown's days with the Bears taught him the best way to beat Favre is to knock him around, but the Jets' O-line will make that difficult.
"If you take him out of the game early you can win," said Brown, whose Bears were 6-2 against Favre's Packers. "You have to contest everything he does. But he's like Michael Jordan. If you keep it close, he's going to beat you."
The Jets need to better establish their running game. Thomas Jones hasn't eclipsed 100 yards since the season opener, but he scored two rushing touchdowns in Sunday's victory over the Bengals. He also had a receiving TD for the first three-score game of his career.
"They just have to take care of business," Lyons said of the Jets. "They don't have to win by 50 points. It doesn't have to look pretty. They just have to win. That would set up a big game against Buffalo.
"It's potentially a game for first place if both teams do what they're supposed to do. But they can't look ahead."
Miami Dolphins (2-3)
Let's see a show of hands from NFL head coaches: How many of you want to play the Dolphins?
Zero would be the appropriate response.
The Dolphins aren't handing out free wins anymore. Pennington's leadership, while not cutting it with the Jets coaching staff, has been perfect for the Dolphins. Running back Ronnie Brown is flashing All-Pro talent. Their revitalized defense, energized by linebacker Joey Porter and cornerback Will Allen, has given up the fewest points in the AFC East.
"Tackle to tackle on both sides of the ball, I don't want to say they're as good as anybody, but they can compete with anybody," Bokamper said.
And we're not even going to factor in the Wildcat, an entertaining offense that often overshadows what's going on in Miami.
Football operations boss Bill Parcells, first-year general manager Jeff Ireland and rookie head coach Tony Sparano have changed the culture dramatically. The Dolphins
are not losers anymore.
Brown calls the Dolphins the most dangerous team in the NFL, though he isn't quite sold on them for this year's AFC East race.
"It's five games into the season," Brown said. "It's going to get tougher. I don't think they're going to hold up in the long haul.
"Most teams that have new administrations, they start to wear down as the season goes on. Guys come in with a hard-line attitude and work the guys hard to develop an attitude or prove a point. That wears a team down. The only exception has been Jon Gruden in Tamp Bay, but he took over Tony Dungy's team, which was good to begin with.
"They're spirited. I think they're going to cause problems for people, but if they make the playoffs I'll be surprised."
ABOUT THIS BLOG
James Walker
Walker joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four seasons covering the NFL and NBA for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. He's a Temple graduate and Hyattsville, Md. native who lives in Miami.
