As a weather forecaster, we're not sure how Marvin Jones would do. The very solid decade-long Jets middle linebacker landed himself at Jets House late this morning after the three-hour flight from his South Florida "Shade Tree" home.
"The weather nowadays is not extreme as it used to be," Marvin observed. "There was so much energy at the airport with people handing out Super Bowl programs, selling mitten and hotpacks, but I'm not even wearing a coat."
Indeed, Jones walked in off 33rd Street in Manhattan, where it was actually flurrying this morning, wearing no other layers on his upper half than a long-sleeved shirt and a not-so-thick sport coat.
But besides the purveyors at the airport, Jones was certainly also feeling the heat from the love today. It was a banner early session for our Super Bowl home away from home for fans of the Green & White with visits from head coach Rex Ryan, Ring of Honor D-lineman Joe Klecko, Super Bowl RB Emerson Boozer, fan-favorite CB Ray Mickens, but Jones was welcomed as warmly as any of them.
"This is kind of what it's like in the Green Room on gameday," Jones observed from the raised Presidio VIP Club area at the restaurant formerly and in the future known as Lugo Caffé but for this week billed as Jets House. "That's the kind of environment I kind of feel.
"Heck, it looks like nobody's working today," he added with a laugh at the full house of green-clad partiers.
Marvin still keeps in touch with our fans through occasional visits like today's. You can also hear him if you're so inclined on his fairly new media endeavor, "The Marvin Jones Show," a weekly two-hour gig on an Internet station known as deforadio.com, named after founder and long-time South Florida sports radio voice Jeff De Forrest.
We like Jones' reasoning (although we disagree with his pick) on Super Bowl XLVIII, to be played in MetLife Stadium, located a few hundred yards from the site of the old Meadowlands stadium where he played his home games from 1993-2003.
From that timeline, you may be able to detect Jones' unique connection to Sunday's game. He was taken in the first round of the '93 draft by the Jets and so spent his first two NFL seasons playing in current Seahawks coach Pete Carroll's defense, the first year with Petey as D-coordinator, the second with Carroll as head coach.
And from '98 (actually '99, since he lost the '98 season to a knee injury) through his final pro season in '03, he got to duel current Broncos QB Peyton Manning's offenses once or twice a year when he was guiding the Indianapolis Colts offenses.
"We beat the Colts, 41-0, in the playoffs" in 2002, Jones remembered fondly, as did Wayne Chrebet here at Jets House two days earlier. But he added, "I just think a lot of people are rooting for him because of how many years he's been playing, so I respect that. I would love to see him win it.
"But but but," he said, not stuttering but repeating the word for emphasis, "it is what it is."
That's because Marvin still marvels at Carroll, not only his defenses but his perhaps surprisingly tough love at times in that '94 season as our HC.
"I was telling somebody the other day that when I was at the ['93] combine, Indianapolis had the first pick, Seattle had the second and the Jets had the third after switching with Arizona. So when I saw Pete at the combine, I said, 'Hey, whatever you do, bring me to the Jets.'
"Pete is so freaking complicated. I mean, to learn his defense, you have to be a smart guy, on your toes. I'm just saying in my whole 11-year career, nobody had a more complicated defense and lingo than he did. And with me as a rookie, man, he didn't have zero patience. I made one mistake, he threw my butt out of the game."
And that's some of why, as Marvin said in his own inimitable way, "My favorite would be, I honestly think, I'm kind of leaning with Seattle. And the reason is I like the way they play on defense."
