| | Familiarity breeds contempt for Jets and Raiders
By Barry Stanton
Special to ESPN.com
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Sticks and bones can break your stones, but sometimes, you've just got to laugh.
When the Jets make another trip into the Black Hole this weekend, their sixth to Network Associates Coliseum over the past four seasons, they know just what they're in for.
Kevin Mawae, the team's Pro Bowl center, said he's been beaned by batteries and coins and chicken bones thrown by the fanatics in the Halloween outfits, hanging over the railings, dropping bon mots at the top of their lungs.
But Laveranues Coles happily recalled the senior citizen -- "she was 80-something," he said -- who flipped him the bird.
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We've been there so many times, it's like our home away from home. We really enjoy playing in that atmosphere. I think our team feeds off that crowd and we love the hostile atmosphere. If you don't, you're beaten before you even step on the field.
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— Chad Pennington, Jets quarterback |
What makes Oakland scary isn't the kooks in the stands. It's the team on the field.
The Raiders, hosting the Jets in the postseason for the second consecutive year, finished with the top seed in the AFC, earning them the home-field advantage for as long as they last in the conference playoffs.
They're more than good. They're nasty. Or, at least, they want to be.
"They're trying to live off the legend of the people that went before them," Jets defensive tackle Josh Evans told ESPN Radio this week. "We're not worried about none of that. We got some bad boys on our team, too."
Evans and teammate Jason Ferguson screamed, though, about Oakland guard Frank Middleton's cheap shots after a 26-20 loss this year on Monday Night Football.
And Middleton's already promised more of the same, taking these teams back to their AFL roots, when Ben Davidson broke Joe Namath's jaw.
The Raiders are doing what they can to stir things up. They pinned a quote from Jets guard Dave Szott, five weeks old, on their bulletin board, and they've been chirping because the Jets, who won seven of their last nine, have been tagged as the hottest team in the playoffs while their own streak -- seven of eight -- has been overlooked.
Oakland presents Rich Gannon and a dazzling display of weapons, but some of the Raiders are toying with the notion of turning the game into a street fight.
Herm Edwards, the Jets preacher coach, insists that won't happen.
"I buy into playing the game the way it's supposed to be played," he said. "They're gonna give you the business. I just hope they get it over with, get it out of the way early. And I think our team will keep its composure. Because it's not just about our teams. It's about the National Football League. And you don't want to mar the game. That's not sportsmanship. That's not football. You're gonna knock 'em down. But you're not gonna take a cheap shot.
"What bothers me is that with all the great plays, that's what's on SportsCenter, rather than the purity of the game."
The Jets and Raiders have become pure rivals, the best of enemies.
"They know us, we know them," Edwards said. "It makes for drama. We've had some drama around here."
Last year in a regular season finale, Gannon overthrew a pass that would have picked up a crucial first down and let the Raiders run out the clock. That let the Jets come back to win 24-22 on John Hall's 53-yard field goal in the final minute, putting the Jets and their rookie coach into the playoffs.
A week later, they went back to Oakland and were beaten badly by Jerry Rice and Charlie Garner, 38-24. But their regular season victory forced the Raiders to travel to New England for the second round, where a snowstorm and a replay reversal on an obscure rule beat them.
This year, in the Monday Night game, the Raiders annoyed the Jets, stopping the game to honor Tim Brown's 1,000th career reception, stalling Gang Green's momentum and helping snap their four-game win streak.
"We play 'em all the time," Edwards said, shaking his head and pointing out that the NFL schedule sends the Jets back to Oakland again next season. "It's almost like a division game, that other division we play in."
The playoff division.
But familiarity with the Black Hole breeds more comfort than contempt.
"We've been there so many times, it's like our home away from home" Jets quarterback Chad Pennington said. "We really enjoy playing in that atmosphere. I think our team feeds off that crowd and we love the hostile atmosphere. If you don't, you're beaten before you even step on the field.
"It's a bigger challenge than the game sometimes. Teams get caught up in it or let the emotions get to them too much where the crowd is in their heads. Our team, we've experienced it enough so we can actually enjoy it.
"It makes the game exciting and that's what you like. Nobody in that stadium wants you to win, much less expects you to win. To me, that's a great challenge and it's fun."
Just as long as you remember to duck.
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Divisional Playoffs
