The state of Oregon will be watching the Jets-Browns game today with a Duck and a Beaver battling it out in a pro-style “Civil War.”
Jets quarterback Kellen Clemens, who went to Oregon, and Browns quarterback Derek Anderson, who went to Oregon State, are good friends dating back to some high school battles.
Clemens called the “Civil War” rivalry game between Oregon and Oregon State “one of the biggest events in the state every year.”
“In Oregon, you’re either a Beaver or a Duck, and there’s no in-between,” Clemens said. “When that game comes around, it’s a packed house in the stadium, there are people watching it all throughout the state and it’s for bragging rights.
“You can have a losing season going into that game, and if you’re a Duck and you beat the Beavers, it was a good year, and vice versa. It’s a great rivalry.”
Clemens and Anderson met as teenagers at a football camp in California and became rivals on the football field and basketball court.
“We have had a few battles … one or three,” Anderson said jokingly.
“It’s really an amazing thing how two guys from small towns in Oregon can now be starting for NFL teams and going to go against one another,” Clemens said.
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The unique friendship two quarterbacks have won’t be the only battle amongst friends today. Eric Mangini and Browns head coach Romeo Crennel have been close friends ever since they worked together on Bill Parcells’ Jets staff in 1997.
“‘RAC’ is a great friend, a great guy,” Mangini said. “He’s a guy that I can call with a lot of different issues. He has had the same experiences a year ahead of [me], so I was able to run some ideas off of him because he had been going through things for the first time, and we had a similar frame of reference.
“We could draw on those experiences and compare and contrast. So that was a nice sounding board. Still is.”
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Jets S Kerry Rhodes has an interception in each of the last three games. Rhodes, who leads the Jets with four interceptions, has been playing up to his Pro Bowl-like level of a year ago.
The Browns have committed more than twice as many penalties (95 for 716 yards) as the Jets (46 for 360) this season.
The Jets will be without leading receiver Jerricho Cotchery (broken finger) for the second consecutive game. WR Laveranues Coles (ankle) is expected to play … The Jets will conduct a Toys for Tots drive today at Giants Stadium and are asking fans to bring a new and unwrapped toy to any of the stadium gates.