Jets coach Rex Ryan was shocked to hear center Nick Mangold declined his offer to skip some of training camp to watch his sister compete in the Olympics.
Mangold said this week Ryan offered him time off from camp to travel to London, where his sister, Holley, will represent the United States in weightlifting, but Mangold said it was more important to remain with the team.
“I don’t think he realized this is an amazing thing. It really is,” said Ryan, who said he will try to convince Mangold to go. “How many people are good enough to go to the Olympics and compete against the world’s best, represent our country? … I know how important the season is, this game is, our football team is, but there’s other things that are equally as important, maybe more important in the big picture.”
Ryan said he doesn’t expect to be able to change Mangold’s mind. The All-Pro lineman did not sound as if he were waffling.
“That’s a long jump over the pond in the middle of August,” Mangold said. “We’re going to make sure I can watch it and everything. I’ll support her the best I can. … It’s disappointing. If it was a week earlier, I would have been there. It’s just how the schedule worked out.”
* With the Jets coming off an 8-8 season and the Patriots coming off another Super Bowl appearance, has the gap gotten wider between the AFC East rivals?
“I think that’s the perception out there,” Ryan said. “I don’t necessarily believe it. In fact, you know I don’t believe it.”
* Linebacker Bart Scott said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has no right to eliminate the Pro Bowl. The NFL announced this week the Pro Bowl will survive despite speculation Goodell wanted to end the game because the quality of play had deteriorated.
“It’s not up to him, I believe, to cancel the Pro Bowl. It’s tradition,” Scott said. “It ain’t about that. … You can’t make someone go out there and blow their knee out. I’m not going to blow a receiver up coming across the middle. It’s the offseason. Why? It’s an exhibition game.”
Scott said Goodell should “get out there and put a jersey on” if he wants to improve the quality of the game.
* Mangold continued his quest to set up teammate Tim Tebow with Olympic sprinter Lolo Jones, wearing a T-shirt yesterday that read: “He prefers chocolate milk @lolojones.”
Tebow and Jones are both opposed to premarital sex, something that has sparked a locker room campaign to get the two together.
Scott had the line of the day on the possible pairing: “What the hell [are] they going to do? Play the Wii?”
* Defensive lineman Kenrick Ellis will go to jail on June 15 for what will likely be 45 days after pleading guilty to assault and battery in Virginia. Even so, Ellis said it is a relief to have the case resolved after two years.
“I’m happy it’s over,” Ellis said. “I really don’t want to talk about it. I have put that behind me.It’s a big relief. It’s off my chest. It’s over. I don’t even want to bring it up. That was a lot of stress.”