11/20 – When the Jets lost dynamic kick returner Justin Miller for the season with a knee injury in Week 2 of the 2007 season, nobody guessed second-year player Leon Washington would fill his shoes so decisively. A year and a half later, Washington is the NFL’s second-leading kickoff returner with a 29.6 average and is drawing praise from the coaching staff for his work ethic. “Just knowing the way to work and how it prepares you for the game, it definitely translates,” Washington said today. “He’s a great player,” said running back Thomas Jones. “He has great speed, he has great vision. He can do it all — run the ball, catch the ball and return. He’s a great player and I’m glad to have him on the team. "He has a great personality, very humble. He’s just a great person, he works hard and he comes to work every day, doesn’t complain and doesn’t gripe. He goes out there and does his job. I think any coach would love to have him on his team.” In his news conference, Jets head coach Eric Mangini described how Washington’s attention to detail is exemplified in special teams coach Mike Westhoff’s meetings. “Mike will have players present to the rest of the group,” Mangini said. “And Leon, whenever he presents, it’s like a coach. It’s so thorough. He’s the returner and he could easily say ‘The kicker’s going to offset here, the ball’s going to come out to the 5, it’s going to be this hang time.’ "But he goes through block by block, how we have to block it, who the guys are we need to target, why we need to make sure we have those guys covered, what the reads are, what the adjustment is if the ball is kicked somewhere where it’s not supposed to be. “It’s really satisfying to me to see. He’s one of the guys that came in with me, and to see his growth and development is great.” Washington and Mangini reflected on a recent conversation they had in which the player told his coach he didn't initially realize the value of off-the-field work in determining a player's on-the-field productivity. “I thought it was just pure talent,” said Washington. “When I got here, and you watch guys like Laveranues Coles, Jerricho Cotchery, Darrelle Revis, Kerry Rhodes, those guys work extremely hard in practice and you see how it translates in the games. It was big learning that and knowing that we all are talented and gifted in this sport but the guys that work the hardest and put forth the effort tend to perform better in the games.” Mangini also pointed to Washington’s training camp, as he’s done several times in the past, to show how far he has come as a player in a short time. “It’s good for the laugh,” said Washington, “but at the same time, I was telling LC back a while ago, I appreciate that. I’m glad I didn’t come into a system where the coach really doesn’t say anything to the players and then expected them to go out there and perform. "But I appreciate that Eric has been on top of me the whole time since I’ve been here, especially earlier in my career, because it definitely taught me a lot of how to be a professional on and off the field and how seriously practice is taken.” Jets fans watched in frustration during Week 2’s matchup vs. the New England Patriots as last season’s team MVP was stifled by Stephen Gostkowski’s six kickoffs, the first five of which resulted in touchbacks. So it was extra-special to see Washington set a franchise career record in Thursday’s win over the Patriots with his fourth career kickoff-return touchdown. “Later in the year the balls don’t go as far in the National Football League,” said Washington. “It’s colder and kickers can’t kick as far. We’ve returned against a lot of teams in our conference, but really not New England. They’ve really had the upper hand the last couple of years on special teams, so it was good to go out there and win that phase of the game, especially with that kickoff return. It helped us out a lot.” Special teams could be a major factor in the outcome of Sunday’s game at Tennessee. The Jets are second-best in the NFL in kickoff return average and fifth-best in punt return average (Washington's 12.9-yard average is fifth among individual returners), while the Titans are No. 31 in kickoff return average allowed and No. 26 in punt return average allowed. “If we get our blocking assignments, get the right guy, play the right plays, we’re going to have a big return,” said Washington. “One thing I’m really thankful for this year, with the guys we have, is that we rarely have a guy come scot-free on the return. Pretty much every guy gets his assignment. I’m so thankful to have a unit like that. “Special teams is something this time of year that, if you can really focus on and do it well, that’s the extra phase of the game that you can help your team win.”

Paeans for Leon as One of NFL's Top Returners

11/20 – We postponed our normal midday blog on Coach Mangini's news conference because he had a short session with reporters today. But here are a few points to ponder. In Mangini's opening remarks, he noted that today's practice would be primarily working on third downs. "That's an area we've made quite a bit of improvement on since the bye offensively," he said. Word. The Jets' six games from Cincinnati through New England have produced a 48.1 percent conversion rate on third downs that is the third-best third-down rate for a six-game in-season span in the last 10 years. Here are the best six-game stretches of chain-moving since 1999:  Season Span Conv.    Att.     Pct.   2004 Games 12-PO1 41 84 48.8  2007 Games 1-6 40 82 48.8  2008 Games 5-10 39 81 48.1  2004 Games 11-16 41 86 47.7  2002 Games 13-PO2 38 80 47.5  2006 Games 11-16 41 88 46.6 The leading third-down players for the Jets: Leon Washington with nine conversions, Jerricho Cotchery with eight and rookie TE Dustin Keller with seven. For curious minds that want to know, the last time the Jets went better than 50 percent on third downs in six games, it was from Game 12 vs. Carolina through the first playoff game vs. Jacksonville in 1998, when the Jets converted at a 52.9 percent rate (46-for-87). Mangini also had words of praise and awe for coach Jeff Fisher, whom he will try to beat upside the head in Sunday's Jets-Titans matchup. Fisher is now in the thick of his 15th season coaching the Tennessee franchise that was called the Houston Oilers when he first took over in 1994. "It’s incredible," the third-year Jets boss said of that run. "You don’t see that very much anymore, the Don Shulas, the Tom Landrys, guys that were there 25, 20 years. It seems to be much rarer than it used to be. It’s a real testament to Jeff. He’s done it in different places in terms of where the team was, all different types of players, young, old. It’s been the whole gamut and he’s been consistently successful. It’s impressive." The I-Report Today's injury report came out a little after 4 p.m. There was no change for the Jets but an interesting set of migrations on the Titans' list. Tennessee had several starters listed as not participating in practice Wednesday, among them LB Keith Bulluck (chest) and RB LenDale White (calf). And Kyle Vanden Bosch, who pressured the Jets in last season's Game 15, was limited by a groin injury. Seems Fisher was just resting his big guns. Today Bulluck, White and Vanden Bosch are all listed as participating fully in practice. But on the other hand, DE Jevon Kearse appeared on today's list with a knee injury that held him out of practice.

Third Down's Been the Charm for the Offense

11/20 – Picture a small, proud town where everybody knows everybody and folks gather to talk about the favorite sons who've left the neighborhood but have never really left and what they all may be up to next. As far as the NFL is concerned, there are lots of those towns. One of them is Aliquippa, Pa. "We talked about this situation all the time at home," Ty Law said of being reunited with his hometown protégé, Darrelle Revis, as cornerbacks on the Jets last week. "We'd get the family together at my mom's house, everybody'd come over in your yard and have big barbecues, and people would say, 'Imagine you and Darrelle playing on the same team.' "You would never think it's going to happen, but it's here." "After the game," Revis recalled about the warm moments after the cool 34-31 overtime win over the Patriots, "we had a couple of people from Aliquippa at the game and we talked to them. One of them, his name is 'Book' — he's a cousin of one of my cousins, one of Ty's best friends. They were excited as well to see two guys from the same hometown playing out there." The NFL being a clearinghouse for such sudden coincidences and destinies, Law, the wily old vet, and Revis, the competitive "youngster," working side by side for the first time isn't unique. "You never know," Revis said. "If Brett Favre comes walking in here one day, anybody can." But it's a great story just the same. By head coach Eric Mangini's count, the two played together 57 of the Patriots' 79 plays, since that's how many Law was in on while Revis played the whole game, usually keeping tabs on Wes Welker in the slot. That's a full NFL game's worth of reps. What could possibly top that? Perhaps the two old "Quips" starting opposite each other on the Jets' corners in a game this season. Law was asked if he might even start as soon as Sunday's game at Tennessee. "There's a pretty good chance," he said with a sly smile. "Whatever the case is, whatever my role is, I'm going to do the best I can." "He's Going to Be the Next One" Law, who came in from the cold to join the Jets for their abbreviated week of work before Thursday's game in Foxboro, Mass., went through his first full practice in 11 months or so on Wednesday and admitted afterward he spent some time in the cold tub and some more time in the hot tub. "I'm still trying to recover a little bit. It's taking a little bit longer, getting thrown out there for that many plays," he said. "But I feel pretty good. I'm still trying to catch up. I'm learning this system and everything on the fly as far as the terminology and things like that." But despite the mental and physical stress the 34-year-old must be feeling this week, the gift of gab learned in those Aliquippa back yards and bleacher seats shows no sign of fatigue. That's especially apparent when Law is asked about the 23-year-old Revis, now no longer cities but rather lockers away. "The first time I saw him play? When he was probably like 9, when he was in 'Little Quips'," Law remembered. "I grew up in his uncle's era, Sean Gilbert, so at that time everybody was saying about Darrelle, 'He's going to be the next one. He's going to be the next one.' But hell, everybody's going to be the next one when you're running for five or six TDs in a Pop Warner game. "But you saw he had amazing talent. Then as he got up to junior high and high school, he still kept setting himself apart from the rest of the guys. He went to Pitt and you knew he was 'three-and-out.' I was three-and-out, Sean was three-and-out. That was the goal going into it: 'I'm going to start as a freshman and by my junior year, it's time to go.' " "Go" as in the NFL Draft. Law was taken 23rd overall in the 1995 draft by the Patriots and went on to play in four Super Bowls and five Pro Bowls and grab 52 interceptions — including a career-high 10 in 2005 in his first Jets tenure. Revis went 14th in the 2007 draft and is just out on his numbers and awards trail. The New Standard on the Corner Law is biased but he also knows what he's talking about. Asked what he saw when he looked at Revis those 20 lockers to his right, he didn't flinch. "I see myself 12 years ago. It's like a spitting image," he said. "Just the way he approaches the game, the confidence, the swagger that he has. That's something no matter how you try, you can't teach. Darrelle definitely has that. He doesn't let anything affect him. "It's going to be a challenge, but to his credit, people are fearing him already," Law continued. "One thing that Coach Parcells told me when I was young was, 'Everybody in this game is scared of you. For what reason I don't know.' I took that as a compliment. And that's how Darrelle is. People are starting to fear him." Then Law invoked the exclusive neighborhood of elite cornerbacks in recent NFL history. "Darrelle's going to be the standard," he said. "He's going to be the knew Ty Law, Champ Bailey, Deion Sanders. You know how you go through those eras of guys being 'the guy'? He has the ability to surpass us because he doesn't have any glaring weakness whatsoever." Whew. And how does Revis react to such praise from one of his mentors? Also without flinching. "For a guy who's been to a number of Pro Bowls, I thank him for saying that," Revis said. "I'm trying to do the best I can, work hard and try to be the best. He's taught me a lot, too. Learning from a guy that's been to Super Bowl championships and is getting a whole bunch of interceptions, I still look up to him. I just thank him that he respects my game as well." Then after reciting Law's past triumphs, Revis repays the compliments by saying that based on the Patriots game, the old guy can still bring it. "He can still play. He came in here in shape and ready to go," Revis said. "He's still trying to learn the schemes and stuff that we do, but he's a smart player. We can do a lot of things with him and he can help us as well." If the two wind up starting together on the Jets' corners down the stretch, that will give Aliquippa something more to talk about. But one thing you probably wouldn't hear the townfolk say over the chicken and ribs at Mrs. Law's house is "We never thought it would happen."

For Ty Law and Darrelle Revis, a Neighborhood Play