08/31 — I look at what the Jets have done with this team and my first thought is this: Mike Tannenbaum and Eric Mangini have made a commitment to the guys that are there now. They're not rebuilding. This is not a rebuilding year.

Let's take a look at some of the guys they brought in.

Alan Faneca's there, and I think he's going to help D'Brickashaw and Nick. Brandon Moore's a vet. Damien Woody's there. These are Super Bowl champs you're talking about. Faneca and Woody know how to carry themselves.

Now this might be just me, but the most important guy in a 3-4 defense, on the whole squad, is the nose tackle. And Kris Jenkins is another Pro Bowl guy who might've had weight issues in the past, but this guy is just a great big human being. There must've been something in the water where he grew up. They just don't grow that big. He came in in shape and he's another nasty guy. All that bigness, size and speed, and he has strength, which is a rarity. That's a big addition to the defense.

Then when you bring in Brett Favre, all these big signees can concentrate on what they're doing. Nobody is talking to them because everybody's talking to Brett. You don't have everybody asking you questions about justifying your money. It makes things easier for these guys. Brett can handle it, he's used to it. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer, period. That's just my thinking. If I'm there with a $36 million deal and nobody's talking to me about money, that has to be a good thing. I can just concentrate on football and worry about what I have to do to make the team better.

I just think it's all going to come down to do they jell early or do they jell late? Just what they brought in should be able to compete in the hardest division football.

New England is New England — you don't go 16-0 and not be good the next year, I'm sorry. Maybe last year the Jets couldn't compete. I'm not trying to take anything away from the team last year, I'm not, but they got handled. You bring in guys who are physical, who can put up with New England's offensive line, which is solid, and with No. 12 standing behind it, who's as cool as the other side of the pillow. The Jets did enough definitely to compete with the upper echelon in the AFC in general and in the AFC East especially. They've given themselves a shot. I think that's definitely important.

I remember the Washington Redskins, when Dan Snyder brought in Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, and they stunk. Because if you don't play together, what good is it? Eleven individuals on the field are not going to beat anybody. You've got to have 11 guys that equal one squad. That takes a lot of unselfishness. If that happens, man, it's exciting.

You can buy talent, sure, but you can't buy cohesiveness, guys who are unselfish. If that means taking a back seat to somebody, sacrificing what you think you need to be doing for somebody else, that means W's. I've been around one of the best coaches. Bill Parcells had a way to get the best out of guys like me personally. You're looking at a free agent.

Eric is up that tree. He doesn't lie. That's why I have so much respect for him. He coached me as well, in that '99 season — a lot of people don't know that. He's a student of the game. I'm not kissing Eric's butt, I'm not. I tell it like I feel it. If you can look your head coach in the eye and he tells you something that you can put in an envelope, put a stamp on it and send it out, you want to play for that guy.

Of course I never played for Eric as a head coach, but from what I see, from going out there and talking to him, he's got that quality that can bring the best out of guys that other people won't even look at.

I'm not swayed that they spent all that money to go to the Super Bowl — that's not reality. All that people should be thinking about is that if the Jets jell quickly and are unselfish enough to sacrifice their personal goals and feelings to achieve one goal, to get to the playoffs ... if they do all that stuff, the accolades will come.