What a couple days in the NFL! First on Monday, Rams head coach Scott Linehan gets fired and today the Raiders let go of second-year head coach Lane Kiffin. While Linehan and Kiffin both deserved to lose their jobs (because the Rams and Raiders, who both play the Jets this season, are having horrible seasons), but the way Kiffin lost his job was in a way I really didn’t like.

Their is no arguing that he shouldn’t have been fired (because he probably was going to be at seasons’ end) but his situation got worse everyday. Owner Al Davis didn’t help “the man he thought he hired”, instead of firing Kiffin and keeping private anything that the media still doesn’t know, Davis decided to spill guts in a 45-min press conference Tuesday night. It was the first time in 14-months Davis had a press conference according to the Associated Press.

And even if Davis had a problem with how Kiffin handled certain situations in Oakland, he should have just let bigons be bigons, let it go and not make this a media war. For Davis not only did he fire his head coach, he made it very difficult on himself when he starts looking for a head coach next season.

Kiffin was the Raiders 4th head coach since 2002. If you are a head coach looking for a job would want to take a job where coaches get thrown away every couple of years? Probably not!

And another thing I didn’t understand. Davis he said he is firing Kiffin with “cause”. Isn’t everybody fired for a reason. The Rams fired Linehan because they were not playing well and he lost control of his players. Mets manager Willie Randolph was fired be”cause” the Mets were not playing well. The bottom line is for everyone who is fired, their is a cause for why they are being fired.

Side note, I will be in Florham Park tomorrow covering for Mark. Tomorrow is the Jets last day of practice before they are off for the next four days.

What a half for Gang Green. Head coach Eric Mangini must be smiling as everything went the Jets way in the first half. Defensively, after being owned by San Diego, the Jets defense is playing the perfect game. Five turnovers, 2 INT’s and countless number of sacks have Arizona rattled going into the dressing room. If you are Jets fan you have like the way that everyone on the defensive side of the ball (including newly resigned CB Hank Poteat) is getting into the action.

Offensively, WR Laveranues Coles and QB Brett Favre look like they have been together 18 years. With the help of some luck on the 34-yard touchdown pass those two haven’t missed a beat. The thing that I like the most about that half is that Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Scottenheimer have worked RB Leon Washington more into offense.

What to look for in the second half: 1) The Jets should start milking the clock. That’s means Arizona will get a healthy dose of RB Thomas Jones. 2) Shaun Ellis- he left the game limping in the first half, it would be a big loss if he can’t do much 3) The reserves -  In this half look for some second teamers to see some action especially defensively. We know CB Ahmad Carroll and LB Cody Spencer can play specials teams, but can they play defense. We will probably see in the second half.

Throughout the afternoon (as I watch the Mets close Shea and hopefully clinch the wild card and the J-E-T-S), I will be sharing my insights on Gang Green and Sunday’s game against the Cardinals. So log on to www.jetsinsider.com/blogs for coverage all day.

While many people think that their is no such thing as a must win game in September, for the Jets this Sunday when the Cardinals visit the Meadowlands it is a must win! After a poor showing on Monday Night Football last week, the Jets and their secondary will be put to the test on Sunday.

To me whether the Jets win or lose, falls into the hands of rookie CB Dwight Lowery. In his first year of duty CB Darrelle Revis has shown he has answered every challenge thrown his way. But after Lowery received his official welcoming to the NFL, how he rebounds from last week is important. Lowery, who will probably be on Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald, will have his hands full as Fitzgerald is four catches away from 350 for his career.

If Lowery and Revis can contain Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin (who tweaked his hamstring in practice on Friday) and NT Kris Jenkins plays like he did the first two weeks the Jets should go into the bye week at 2-2. I see the final score being Jets 27, Cardinals 20.

P.S. My sources told me that QB Brett Favre will play and keep his iron-man streak alive.

Hey Jets Fans, I want to start this blog by apologizing for my absence. The reason why I have been gone from the Blog for the past week is because I was away celebrating my 23rd birthday at Atlantic City. But now I am back (with less money), so back on with the football talk.

Boy am I disappointed with Gang Green. After playing a terrible game at home against the longtime rival New England Patriots, the Jets followed that up with an embarrassing loss against San Diego on Monday Night Football. But as bad as the Jets have played over the past two weeks, they are still in good position for a possible run at the AFC East title.

But if Gang Green can even think about an AFC title run, they MUST win their next six games, starting Sunday when they host the Arizona Cardinals. After starting 2-0, the Cardinals dropped a tough one to Washington last Sunday. And now having to spend their second consecutive week in the Eastern time zone, Sunday’s game is very winable for Gang Green.

Now after the Cardinals comes a string of games against some of the leagues weaker opponents. After the Cardinals (then a week 5 bye) the Jets face Cincinnati, at Oakland, Kansas City, at Buffalo and St. Louis. In that five game stretch the Jets face four teams at the bottom of the NFL. The Cincinnati, Oakland, Kansas City and St. Louis games should all be wins for the Jets. And if the Jets can find ways to beat Arizona and Buffalo, their could be a good possiblity that they could 7-2 when they travel to Foxborough for their annual visit.

According to an ESPN Chris Mortensen report the Jets have officially signed placekicker Jay Feely. Feely, a journeyman kicker, spent training camp with the Miami Dolphins before losing his job to rookie kicker Dan Carpenter. It is still unknown the severity of Nugent’s injury, but the signing of Feely probably means that Nugent won’t be ready in time for Sunday’s game against New England.

It is not known who the Jets cut to make room for Feely. (I am thinking OL Wayne Hunter but time will tell)

Despite being stuck in traffic on the L.I.E at 6:30 in the morning and making a wrong turn (in which I had to go through Newark Airport to turn around) I made it to the Jets new facility in about an hour and 45 min. From first impressions this place is exactly what everyone has said it is which is Big and Beautiful.

The only problem is the press room is much smaller than the press room the Jets had while the team was at Hofstra (more about that in a later blog). As for whats on tap today, Mangini will hold his presser at 10:15-10:35 then around 11:15 the media will be allowed to watch the Jets stretch. After practice we will talk to the players then speak to offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

For the most part my prediction of Jets 53-man roster is pretty close to the actual roster. Minus OL Wayne Hunter instead of OL Nate Garner and CB David Barrett instead of CB Hank Poteat it was pretty close.

Here are some tidbits on what the Jets might have been thinking when they made their decisions on some of the players.

-They must really like QB Erik Ainge. Ainge, who will probably be inactive all season, never got a chance to prove himself until the final preseason game. And with not knowing how long Brett Favre will be a Jet, if Ainge spends a year learning the system under QB coach Brian Daboll, he could challenge for the starter’s next season.

-RB Jesse Chatman must have showed the coaching staff something behind closed doors. Despite being impressive against the Eagles, Chatman still got suspended for 4 games for violating the leagues substance abuse policy. And in the back of head coach Eric Mangini’s head he must be irate as one of his pet peeves is discipline.

-WR Wallace Wright will have to show something to this coaching staff. With WR David Clowney having a monster preseason, Wright might be the wide receiver to go when Clowney returns (which might be in a month). Clowney performed very well in the preseason and will get an opportunity to earn playing time once he is healthy. That opportunity might come to the expense of Wright, who is more know for his contributions on special teams.

-Defensively, Congrats to LB Kenwin Cummings for making the roster. Cummings, who played his college football at Wingate must have really showed the Jets coaching staff a lot as he was the only rookie free agent the Jets kept. The only surprises defensively was the cutting of CB Hank Poteat. I would rather have Poteat instead of CB David Barrett. The other surprise was the keeping of CB/KR Ahmad Carroll. He definately made the team because of what he does on special teams.

Nothing.

I can tell you this, Eric Mangini did move his 1 p.m. conference call to 6 p.m. With the final 53-man roster having to be done by 4 p.m., many things rosterwise have become possible. It could be a trade in the works (Kellen Clemens-Vikings, Jesse Chatman-Ravens)? Or is Mangini planning to cut a veteran like Hank Poteat or David Barrett.

When I find out more you will too! That should be within the next two hours.

As we get ready to embark on the 2008 regular season, questions may arise about the Jets (personnel decision or play call) or any other NFL topic. Don’t hesitate to ask those questions as a comment on this blog as I will have no problems answering them.

Enjoy the season and let’s go Jets.