DV can get thrown under a Jet bus

[Wile_E_Coyote]

http://forums.theganggreen.com/showthread.php?t=23924

Ex-Chief Hicks finds new life on Jets' defense
BY TOM ROCK | To view links in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. Your post count is 0 momentarily.
August 23, 2007

Eric Hicks spent most of his NFL career in the fast lane.

No, the former Chiefs defensive end wasn't getting into Pacman-like trouble. But he was using his speed as an outside rusher and became one of Kansas City's top sackers, amassing 44.5 of them during his nine years at Arrowhead, including 14 in 2000. He was a pin-your-ears-back, come-around-the-corner torpedo of quarterbacks.

Last year, however, the Chiefs rarely used Hicks. He appeared in all 16 games, but did not start and had only seven tackles. He was released at the end of the year and not a lot of NFL teams were interested in acquiring the presumably washed-up 31-year-old.

Until the Jets started asking around about him, that is. Coach Eric Mangini said the team approached former Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil.

"He said he was a tempo-setter for years, and that he loved the guy, just loved him," Mangini said of Vermeil's recommendation. "When Dick Vermeil speaks that glowingly about someone, that has an impact on me."

So the Jets signed Hicks as a free agent in late May, just prior to organized team activities. He was one of several defensive linemen the team picked from the scrap heap during the offseason - Michael Haynes, Andre Wadsworth, even Bobby Hamilton - and figured to be a low-risk investment and a veteran presence at camp.

Now, it seems, Hicks is well on his way to making the team. Although he's not the speedster he once was, he's found a place as a two-gap lineman and has played extensively on the Jets' nickel and dime packages. By changing from a 4-3 outside rusher to a 3-4 inside stuffer, Hicks is resuscitating his career and should be a part of the Jets plans for this season.

"I'm not saying I couldn't play in the 4-3, but I think this is a little more advantageous for me, being over 30 now," Hicks said of what is essentially a new position in a new scheme.

"I'm finding my niche here, I think. I'm learning the defense pretty fast."

Defensive line coach Dan Quinn said he had little doubt Hicks could adjust to his new role. "I think good players can play in any system," Quinn said.

"When a guy has the physical characteristics to do it, they're going to find a place to play."

Hicks said playing two-gap requires much more discipline and technique than his former starting point. He said there is a lot more "hand-to-hand fighting" with offensive linemen as opposed to dealing with smaller tight ends and running backs. At 6-6, 280 pounds, with diminished speed, Hicks uses his strength and guile now to beat blockers.

While Hicks has worked to retool his game, his approach has remained the same, and that has caught the eye of Jets coaches more than anything. "I love his motor and toughness, his willingness to learn and take coaching," Mangini said.

Mangini also found Hicks' devotion to charity an impressive quality. His "The Hicks for Hearts Foundation" was formed in 2001 to help children with congenital heart defects. In 1999 he and his wife, Erica, had a daughter who underwent two surgeries to repair heart defects after she nearly died from cardiac arrest when she was just seven days old. Since those surgeries, Shayla has been healthy and her prognosis is good.

So, too, is the prognosis of her father, almost fully acclimated to life in a green uniform.

"I sometimes revert back to old habits, which is going to happen now and then, but it's happening with a lot less frequency now," Hicks said. "It's becoming almost innate now for me to do what the Jets coaches are asking me to do as opposed to what the Chiefs coaches asked me to do for the past nine years."

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by DMAC

I can not wait to see Croyle bootleg him.

Hicks is good, him make Trent Green wanna go and bootleg his ass, Trent Green is going back to the Pro Bowl .............





























OK, just a little too much.......

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by morphius

Problem is that he is in a 3-4 on the inside, which removes him from that responsibility.

There ya go, go ahead and spoil our fun , damit ..........

[StcChief]

Where's Bill Parcells.... Jets must be hard up or they are gleaning info about us for last game of year.

[Skip Towne]

Mangini must be a real dope to seek defensive advice from DV. Is he even paying attention?

[Chief Faithful]

"Tempo-setter"!

Is it a good thing when you set the tempo for one of the worst defenses in the history of the NFL?

[Coach]

Too bad the Jets are gonna be disappointed when he bites the bootleg very hard.

[Valiant]

Nice guy but one of the biggest under-achievers ever on the Dline..

One great year..

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by frazod

I always love the positive spin people try to put on picking up ex-stars of the worst goddamn defense we've seen in the history of the franchise. Thank God that's over with. And also thank God Dick and all his detards are gone.

Yea, didnt one of the Tampa news rags try and say that Sims had like 72 career sacks??? hahah

[jjchieffan]

Originally Posted by Valiant

Nice guy but one of the biggest under-achievers ever on the Dline..

One great year..

I tend to disagree there. Hicks was an undrafted free agent. He is a 9 year veteran, and was one of our better dlinemen early in his career. HE may not have been spectacular, but he was always dependable. If anything, he was an overachiever early in his career, and average the last few years. He could NEVER be considered an underachiever

[Bwana]

Hicks = Scrub

[Mr. Laz]

Jets | Hicks injured in preseason game
Sun, 26 Aug 2007 10:12:32 -0700

J.P. Pelzman, of the Bergen Record, reports New York Jets DL Eric Hicks (leg) limped off the field in the second quarter of the team's preseason game Saturday, Aug. 25, because of an apparent leg injury.

[chagrin]

Originally Posted by Wile_E_Coyote

Carl has thrown DV under the bus. Herm has thrown DV under the buss. & now Mangini can throw DV under the bus when the media asks how come Hicks sucks

~needs photoshop search

Are you getting your posting ideas from blueballs?

[milkman]

I wonder if JetFans can do the math.

44.5 sacks in nine years averages to less than 5 per year.

Take away that 14 sack season, and the average drops below 4 per.

How does that translate to QB torpedo, exactly?

[2112]

He's just a security blanket, he's not starting. the starters are Ellis/DRob and Kenyon Coleman. he's just a backup, if he makes the team.

[2112]

Originally Posted by chagrin

Are you getting your posting ideas from blueballs?

He's blueballs brother, so I guess so.