08/04 — It’s fitting that the NFL is honoring six new inductees into the Hall of Fame today. On Friday, head coach Eric Mangini invited a future first-ballot Hall of Famer to speak to his team. Jerry Rice, arguably the greatest player in the history of pro football, was in Hempstead on Friday as the team got a rare cancellation of practice.

“I think it is always valuable for players to see people who were involved in their sport,” Mangini said at his news conference this afternoon. “But I also believe if you have achieved a level of excellence — in whatever sport or whatever field you have chosen — there are a lot of things you had to do right. There are consistent themes amongst those successful teams and successful people that we can learn from and reinforce what we are teaching them and seeing every day.”

The Green & White have a number of quality receiving targets, but Mangini said he tried to get Rice out at practice to run some routes. On a serious level, he hopes each of his men got some value from Rice, who amassed 1,549 receptions for 22,895 yards in his remarkable career and owns three Super Bowl rings.

“I don’t know how you could hear someone like him speak and not take something away from it because of what he’s done and who he is — the multiple Super Bowls, the multiple personal achievements,” Mangini said. “He said in 10 years he didn’t take a vacation because when he got through, he forgot about the last year and was moving on to the next year, which is what I agreed with 100 percent.”

The lights went dark after Rice’s speech for a viewing of “300,” a film made on the violent Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Mangini likes the courageous theme, but he doesn’t want any of his players throwing fisticuffs on the field. During Thursday night’s practice, tight end Joe Kowalewski and linebacker Cody Spencer exchanged blows.

“I think in training camp you have every opportunity to show how tough you are,” Mangini said. “Hitting someone with a helmet with your hand — where you can break your hand — doesn’t show anything. What it shows is you can’t control your emotions and your frustrations. You have every opportunity in the world to get out your aggressions.”

Kowalewski, who threw about five or six uppercuts in front of the officials, was flagged for his overaggressiveness. That infraction took his team out of range for a touchdown and forced a tougher field goal.

“It’s ridiculous, it’s selfish,” said the second-year head coach. “Any of those penalties are just selfish because it hurts the team and what do you get, two seconds of satisfaction out of it?”

Among those getting praise from Mangini included defensive tackles Dewayne Robertson and Sione Pouha. The Jets like D-Rob’s position flexibility, knowing that he can line up in either the 3-4 or the 4-3. The 6’1”, 310-pound Robertson isn’t a huge nose, but he has other qualities that allow him to penetrate. (And by the way, take a look at Randy’s piece on Dewayne. They had a good chat the other day and the piece is a very good read.)

“Where he really compensates for lack of mass is his first-step quickness,” Mangini said. “He is into the center so quickly that he gets the edge in terms of who has leverage and who has hand placement. That quickness eliminates or offsets any lack of mass, and he is a good-sized man.”

Another good-sized man who lines up at DT is Pouha. This is a big training camp for the 28-year-old who missed the entire 2006 season with an injury.

“He has done a lot of work in the weightroom and if you look at his body now vs. 12 months ago, you see the transition that he has made in terms of strength and body weight supervision,” Mangini said of the 6’3", 325-pounder. “Those things have helped him now. He's a lot stronger, a lot learner. I think that has translated well on the practice field.”

We’ll have a practice report later this afternoon.