As has been well-documented all week, the Jets will be honoring their football forefathers today by donning the navy blue and gold of the Titans of New York. Most players in the Jets locker room are excited about the change of scenery and equally optimistic that the change of colors may bring a change of luck.
"I'm pretty happy to be out of the traditional green and white for a minute," said Rhodes. "It's fun, just something to get something else going."
"They're sweet," said wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery. "They bring a lot of a different kind of excitement. Especially right now, we need a little excitement."
But what it still boils down to for the Jets and Rhodes is what the scoreboard — not their ensemble — looks like at the final whistle of the game against the Philadelphia Eagles
"I'm just trying to get a win, that's all — even if we were wearing pink and green uniforms," said Rhodes, who due to his fashionable social life has earned the nickname "Hollywood." "Maybe it will give us a little boost. With a different uniform maybe we'll be a different team, maybe we'll play consistent."
Pink and green Jets uniforms will remain off of the Meadowlands playing surface for at least the near future, although one teammate said he would welcome other interesting color schemes on Sundays.
"I think ours are kind of boring," WR Laveranues Coles said of the Titans uniforms. "There's really not much going on, it's just blue and gold. I'm from Florida, so I like colors; I would like some fluorescent colors in there, too."
Regardless of Coles' fashion values, the Eagles were the butt of jokes and scrutiny when they wore their powder blue and yellow jerseys of their 1933 predecessors against the Lions earlier this season.
"To see the bright colors, it was cool with me," said LC. "I actually liked theirs. I don't know why people thought they were ugly, and I liked them personally. I could have rocked them."
Rhodes, on the other hand, remains part of the consensus that shunned the throwbacks from the City of Brotherly Love.
"I think it was pretty extreme for me," he said. "Those colors were pretty loud. I'm from the South, too, but I'm pretty traditional. I like the clean and sleek stuff. I think they got a win, though, that game so it worked for them."
Running back Leon Washington, from the same neck of the woods as Coles and a fellow Florida State alum, is one of the many Jets having fun with the throwback idea.
"I like them a lot," he said. "What I'm looking forward to is just having a different look on the field and watching the guys having fun with it. I know guys are going to want to go out there and look good. It will be a good look for us. Hopefully it will change the attitude a little bit."
On Tuesday last week, Washington and fellow second-year Jet Nick Mangold hit the streets of the Big Apple fully suited up in the flashy Titans garb. The two showed off the navy and gold in the Jets organization's midtown Manhattan office before crossing the street to the SKY360° by Delta lounge for a news conference to officially launch the uniforms.
"It should be interesting. It's neat to change it up," said Mangold. "I've never worn any different type of jersey in all my playing years.
"I don't really have a preference. I've never been big into the colors. I don't have a preference whether it's duller or brighter, blue or green, whatever it is. I've never been good with fashion and probably never will be," added the Jets starting center. "It's still the same. It's a jersey. You put it on and you go out there and play."
The Jets players won't be the only ones participating in honoring the franchise's storied past. The Flight Crew, Jets game day staffers and even the coaching staff will trade in their green and white for Titans attire.
"Every once in a while it's appropriate to look back, and I think everybody is really excited about Titans week," team president Jay Cross said Tuesday. "It's an important part of our past, those early, gritty years."
And if the Jets were to pull out a win today, would head coach Eric Mangini request to wear to the uniforms again?
"I hadn't really thought that through," pondered the Jets skipper. "I'm looking for better fits in the running game, better fits in the passing game and consistency. The uniforms? I love it. It's a great way to honor a very important part of our history. But I don't know if that's necessarily going to be the catalyst."
