Winless Jets Remain in Holding Pattern of Futility

Spent an entire day with the New York Jets; now understand what it’s like to be a mortician.

Dealing with the dead, save for Keyshawn Johnson who refuses to accept the last rites, is business as usual here.

The Jets have not won a division title since 1969--three years before Johnson was born. No other team has kept its fans waiting this long--not even Tampa Bay--and this season’s 0-4 start almost guarantees the futility will continue.

How bad are the Jets? They gained 42 yards and one first down with the game on the line in their last five possessions against the Giants--who ranked 30th on defense.

How bad are the Jets? They spent $80 million in the off-season to buy an offense, with Neil O’Donnell the featured $25-million man at quarterback. O’Donnell has been sacked 17 times, twice more than all last season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and has thrown six interceptions, one fewer than all last season.

O’Donnell, and the 10 offensive starters who line up with him, will earn $32.5 million in bonuses this year, but they scored fewer points, 54-39, and averaged fewer yards, 312-283, than last year’s offense after four games.

“Right now, [players] one through 47, we’re all overpaid,” defensive end Marvin Washington said. “I’ll give [my game check] back, if [owner Leon] Hess wants.”

How bad are the Jets? Coach Rich Kotite is 3-17 with this team, 3-25 going back to his final days in Philadelphia, and the team’s front office remains rock-solid behind him.

“It’s inconceivable to me that you could make a judgment about a season or a career this early in the year,” team President Steve Gutman said.

Good thing George Steinbrenner isn’t interested in buying the Jets. In this week’s New York Post, an anonymous Jet player said the team will probably just keep on losing.

“If you don’t fear for your job, then that’s dangerous,” the player said.

“There isn’t a fear of jobs anywhere around here. There’s too much complacency. Richie doesn’t even name names during meetings. We need that. If a player’s not getting the job done, call out his name.

“Plus, if you want to talk to Kotite and tell him what you think about things, he doesn’t want to hear it, whether you’re a coach or a player. What do you do then? I guess you just keep doing your job and keep your mouth shut.”

Johnson will keep his job, but he won’t keep his mouth shut. The No. 1 draft pick from USC, however, is singing the same tune over and over.

“I need to be put in situations where I can make plays,” said Johnson, who is running sideline routes when not being deployed as a decoy. “I need to be put in a situation for a run after the catch. I need to be creative.

“I’m not going to be a bust, but I need the ball. I think the coaches and the quarterback are getting the message. I think Neil will get the message, because when you have someone nagging at you all the time you’re going to put them in position to be the mess-up. I understand that, and if I don’t catch it, then I’m not supposed to ask for it anymore.”

The New York reporters rush to Johnson’s locker whenever he grabs a seat because he’s young, still full of fight and occasionally utters a quote to be sensationalized. Everybody else has been beaten down.

“I know they all come to me,” Johnson said. “I like it. I’m a player. I don’t want my talents wasted behind a bunch of bull. The whole entire system needs to wake up and know who the players are. . . .

“We need to change some things and move a player around to utilize his talents. This organization can win if they utilize their players correctly.”

Translation: Pass the ball to Johnson.

“I mean it’s frustrating, and I’m upset about it,” Johnson said. “I didn’t come to New York to be 0-4; I haven’t won a game since the Rose Bowl.”

Another Rose Bowl will come and go, and Johnson might still be looking for that first victory.

“Pretty much everywhere, we’re considered a joke,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t do anything to me, I’ll just continue to play. I guess this is the NFL, and that’s just the way it works.”

If you play for the Jets.

FOCUS ON CAROLINA

To what do the expansion Panthers contribute their remarkable successful start? Old age and the zone blitz.

Carolina has 17 players 30 or older, compared to four for Jacksonville, this week’s opponent. The Panthers have 10 players with at least 10 years’ NFL experience; the Jaguars have one.

“I wish I could get a 25-year-old Sam Mills,” Carolina Coach Dom Capers said. “But those guys don’t come along very often.”

With experienced players such as Mills playing linebacker, Capers has been able to use his complex zone-blitz attack.

“You kind of wonder how this defense would be played with a bunch of young guys,” Mills said. “It requires a lot of thinking and pre-alignment, and with older guys you can get that done.”

The zone blitz is dedicated to running down the opposition’s quarterback and forcing him into mistakes.

So far, it has worked. Carolina and San Francisco lead the league in allowing the fewest touchdowns this season--three--and the Panthers rank second in the league in sacks per pass play.

IN QUOTATIONS

These NFL coaches--such kidders. The Kansas City Chiefs are 4-0, have won 12 consecutive AFC West games, and Marty Schottenheimer says, “I think the Chargers are the team to beat in this division.”

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What does this mean? Philadelphia Coach Ray Rhodes on Monday night’s game with Dallas: “All I know is that when we line up, we’ll keep our fists balled up for four quarters. To the man, to the coach, everybody’s fists will be balled up on the sideline. I promise you that.”

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Dallas Coach Barry Switzer on Rhodes’ promise of retribution for Switzer’s comments after the Cowboys’ victory over Philadelphia last year: “I’ve been hearing pay-back since I was in junior high school.”

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New England Coach Bill Parcells, who doesn’t take kindly to players who don’t heal overnight, was asked about the hamstring injury that has sidelined wide receiver Vincent Brisby for seven weeks. “I told him this morning that I recovered from open-heart surgery faster than he’s come back from this hamstring injury. I had my surgery on June 2 [1991]. On August 4, I ran two miles.”

Patriot quarterback Drew Bledsoe, advised of Parcells’ comment: “Yeah, Bill’s Superman. Just ask him.”

More from Bledsoe, who has been criticized for his lack of mobility. “I watched the Monday night game and saw Bernie Kosar running. As long as he’s playing, I can still think of myself as an athlete.”

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The Houston Oilers haven’t beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers since 1993. “The Steelers have been like bullies stealing our lunch money,” said Houston linebacker Micheal Barrow.

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St. Louis Cardinal owner Bill Bidwill took his team to Arizona, forever angering the St. Louis fans left behind. They are now expecting the Rams to exact revenge Sunday. St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz wrote: “Yo, Rams: If you lose this one, don’t even bother getting on the plane for the return flight home.”

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After not letting Jeff Jaeger try a 48-yard field goal last week, Chicago Coach Dave Wannstedt said he was influenced by a miss by Kevin Butler in a similar situation a year ago. “Tell Dave Wannstedt not to use my name and blame me for that decision,” Butler said. “I’m not on the Bears anymore. Isn’t there a league rule about that?”

DEVELOPING SITUATIONS

The 49ers are only resting Steve Young, or so they say.

Young has been bothered by a sore groin muscle, but the 49ers have walkovers the next two weeks in games with Atlanta and St. Louis.

Elvis Grbac, Young’s backup, will start Sunday, and some believe he might start again next week. Grbac, who earns $375,000, becomes a free agent at the end of the season and will probably draw starting-quarterback offers from teams around the league looking to get a fresh start.

The 49ers will find it difficult under salary-cap restraints to compete with those offers, unless Grbac compels them to rethink their situation.

Sound ridiculous? How often is Young getting hurt these days? Grbac was 3-2 as a starter in place of Young a year ago. And just how effective has that 49er offense been? Just how good is Grbac?

Young is no dummy, and reportedly he’s irritated. “This is a coach’s decision,” Young said. “I felt healthy enough last week and went out there and performed and got through it. I’d love to get another shot at it. The big picture is not the player’s perspective.”

EXTRA POINTS

--In considering the Giants’ chances of upsetting the Vikings on Sunday, Minnesota is the only dome team since 1992 to have a winning record outdoors--17-12.

--Giants’ upset potential, Part 2: Since the beginning of the 1995 season, the Giants are 6-0 against teams with losing records and 0-14 against teams that were .500 or better.

--Which former Los Angeles football team leads the NFL in penalties? The Rams. St. Louis is averaging 11.3 penalties a game. Only three other teams are getting penalized as many as nine times a game--Atlanta, Minnesota and, of course, the Raiders.

--Tony Dungy is 0-4 in his start as coach of the Buccaneers, but why sweat it? The franchise record for consecutive losses to start his tenure as head coach belongs to John McKay, who went 0-26. Leeman Bennett opened 0-9.

TIME TO PUNT

If the Rams start Tony Banks at quarterback, Lawrence Phillips at running back and Derrick Harris at fullback, the NFL says it will be the first time an all-rookie backfield has started a game since Coach Lou Holtz opened with Richard Todd at quarterback for the Jets along with Clark Gaines and Louie Giammona in 1976.

NFL coaches are always looking for consistency. In his final exhibition game, Chicago running back Rashaan Salaam fumbled. In his first regular-season performance last week, he fumbled. A year ago he fumbled nine times.

Consistency II: The Bears will start Dave Krieg at quarterback in place of injured Erik Kramer. Krieg, who has the NFL fumbles record, 145, has taken one snap this year. He fumbled it.