If the Jets want to prove they are for real, if they are serious about giving New York a football season no one imagined, then Mo Wilkerson and his boys will chase Ben Roethlisberger all the way back to the Monongahela River on the day they induct Marty Lyons, one of the storied members of the New York Sack Exchange, into their Ring of Honor.
Lyons was the fiery leader who wreaked havoc and terrorized quarterbacks alongside Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau and Abdul Salaam, and from his current perch as Jets radio color analyst, he is excited about the promise of the steely curtain the Jets have assembled and hopes they can one day earn a nickname of their own.
“I think they can be something special for years to come,” Lyons said.
The prominent names today are Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson, Kenrick Ellis, Damon “Snacks” Harrison and Quintin Coples. Lyons, who once accidentally put his fist through a window delivering a pregame speech before a bloody playoff game against the Raiders, knows exactly what he would tell these Jets now.
“It’s time,” Lyons said. “It’s time to take the next step.”
You can’t upset the Falcons on the road on Monday night and call yourself a contender if you lose to these 0-4 Steelers, however desperate they may be.
“We understand we can’t take nothing for granted,” Jets guard former Steeler Willie Colon said. “We just can’t have a good game Monday night and come out here and crap the bed.”
Lyons loves that mind frame.
“You can’t win one, lose one, win one, lose one — good teams don’t do that,” Lyons said.
JetLife Stadium is eager for Geno Smith to again play with a poise and precision beyond his years, and for Big Ben Roethlisberger to run for his life, as is his wont behind his reshuffled offensive line, with Rex Ryan’s young predators in hot pursuit.
“They’re not the Pittsburgh Steelers of the ’70s,” Lyons said.
Lyons, the Jets’ No. 1 pick out of Alabama in 1979, knows all about the Pittsburgh Steelers — strongmen Mike Webster, Jon Kolb — of the ’70s.
“They might have been the first ones with taped-up jerseys around their shoulder pads,” Lyons said. “Their arms were the size of legs. They were men.”
So were the men of the New York Sack Exchange.
“It wasn’t, ‘Are they gonna get to the quarterback?’ Iit was, ‘How many times will they get to the quarterback?’ ” Lyons recalled.
Klecko and Gastineau were the sackers, Lyons and Salaam the run-stuffers. Lyons was asked if he saw fear in the quarterback’s eyes.
“I don’t think I would ever use the word fear, not for a professional athlete,” he said. “I think he knew he was gonna get hit.”
What makes these current Jets all the more dangerous is the diabolical mind of Rex Ryan, who has had to compensate for the loss of Darrelle Revis. Wilkerson (four sacks) is emerging as a beast and a surefire Pro Bowl candidate.
“I think he is a combination really maybe of myself and Mark,” Lyons said.
Richardson? “Sheldon reminds me more of Klecko,” Lyons said. “He doesn’t have the size but he’s got great quickness off the ball.”
Ellis? “He’s a big kid in the middle you have to double.” Lyons said.
Snacks? “Snacks is the blue-collar worker,” Lyons said. “He does exactly what the coach asks him to do and he never complains. He’s a perfect example, if you have the determination, anything’s possible.”
Coples? “He’s got long arms, he’s got good speed,” Lyons said. “He’s just gotta learn that every play, you’ve gotta keep the motor going.”
Lyons always had the motor going. For 11 seasons.
“No question I definitely gave 100 percent every game,” he said. “I tried as hard as I could.”
Lyons chuckles at the memory of his ill-fated pregame speech during the 1982 playoffs.
“We knew the Raiders were known to try to intimidate other teams,” he said. “I was just trying to get our guys fired up.”
He got his pants stained with blood. No stitches for Marty Lyons.
“I just wrapped it up,” he said.
The Sack Exchange became so popular that there were shoe contracts, autograph sessions, posters and, of course, a trip to the New York Stock Exchange. That was then. This is now.
“Don’t put expectations on this group,” Lyons said. “Let them play. Let them have fun. I hope they get to that point where they do get a nickname.
“If they do, then they’re playing the game of football the way it’s supposed to be played.”