03/19 — Today we kick off newyorkjets.com's series of stories looking back at the Jets' 2007 season and looking ahead to the 2008 season, position by position.

Eric Allen got a hold of Jerricho Cotchery the other day and Jerricho always has some great thoughts, whatever the subject. He talked about his and his wideout mates' year that was and also what he is doing personally this off-season to come back with an impactful season in the Green & White offense. You can read EA's story on the WRs on our home page now.

Our plan is to provide one or two position stories every week through the week before "draft week," nine position pieces in all. Each one will feature a player or two as they pass through the Jets' training facility to participate in the off-season strength and conditioning program, lending perspective on what went right and wrong in '07 and where it will lead in '08.

We're well aware that most fans don't want to dwell on the 4-12 season past, but our emphasis will be on reviewing and previewing. As center Nick Mangold told me the other day: "You learn your best when something goes wrong. So there's plenty of stuff to learn from, but you can't dwell on the fact of what last season was."

That's our approach precisely: Learn, don't dwell, move forward. The position stories will be mixed in on the site along with other player features, Real Football pieces, draft and free agency info and Jets Flight Crew information, all taking us through the next five weeks as the drumbeats of the 2008 NFL Draft get louder and louder.

Ryan Serves as a Reminder

Former Jets head coach Herm Edwards was among the multitude (well, a reported 42 representatives of 22 NFL teams) in attendance at Boston College's pro day Tuesday, and as Coach Herm accurately stated it: "He's the main reason we're here."

"He" is QB Matt Ryan, and I mention him here only because of something Edwards told CBSsportsline.com — that Ryan has a lot of mannerisms that he saw in Chad Pennington when he was coaching the Jets. Edwards, of course, "inherited" Pennington when he became HC in 2001 and then installed Chad to great effect as the starter in Game 5 of the 2002 season.

"He's fiery but he keeps himself under control. You have to do that at the quarterback position because so much can happen," Edwards said of Ryan. "He has a good enough arm, he's smart enough and, in my opinion, he has good poise in games. I've watched him in games where he's behind. He has all the intangibles for a quarterback to play in our league."

Taking Flight

I mentioned the Jets Flight Crew above and it's only appropriate. Since the Flight Crew announced it was expanding from 10 to 22 members and is now accepting applications for auditions and for prep classes before those auditions, there's been a great response. Click here to read about what the Flight Crew is planning and to find a link to the audition application.

Flight Crew director Denise Garvey sat down with Eric Allen on Tuesday and we'll have the story of that interview on our home page Thursday morning.