Brett Ratliff lives, even if it's as the embodiment, at the moment, of Kerry Collins and Jay Cutler. "I just try to work hard. That's what I do every week," said Ratliff, who's been the Jets' non-playing third quarterback for all 11 games. "I'm working as hard as I can." The work is being recognized. On Wednesday, head coach Eric Mangini named Ratty the Jets' practice player of the week. That meant he had to do a pretty good job of impersonating Collins, the Titans QB who was held without a touchdown drive until midway through the fourth quarter Sunday. I checked in with Ratliff after today's final practice of the week for the Broncos and Cutler, just to say hello and to see what the secret was to his nifty week of prepping the first defense for the Titans. "I had a couple of good days," he said. It wasn't the best week, but I had probably one of the best days I've had so far this season, just with my throws, my completions." He also admitted to having some fun moving around in the pocket, even though that has drawn barks of protest from defenders: "Collins doesn't do that." "You try to give them a look, but you also try to be yourself, have your own identity," Ratliff said of his role as the QB Transformer. "I just try to have fun with it, and I give the defensive guys a hard time and it frustrates them. Especially Eric Barton's always razzing me. They want me to try to take it a little easy on them. It just makes me go harder." Ratliff's elusiveness came in handy this week, since that's one tool in Cutler's skill set — "This is the one week the defense can't get mad at me." The young QB's preseason heroics are now faded memories, but Ratliff's looking ahead anyway, and he feels Brett Favre, who joined the Jets in August, is helping him do that. "It's crazy how much one guy can motivate and change the morale of the team," he said. "It's been a lot of fun. He'll give you his say on things, and he'll say more whenever you have a question. He'll take the time to talk to you about it. He's got a little bit of everything just because he's been around for so long." Many players in similar positions chafe at the seeming lack of NFL career progress as they're making while toiling on the "look" team, but Ratliff exudes a sense that he's helping the Jets with their upward mobility this season. "I'm just working hard," he said, "and I'm excited about what's to come." The Injury Front Mangini wasn't promising anything regarding his injured players — he never does — but he gave an upbeat progress report for LB David Harris (groin) and S Eric Smith (head) before today's practice. "Both of them have participated substantially in practice," the coach said at today's morning news conference. "We'll have to see with David where he's going to be. Eric, I'll look at that and see where he is as well. They're two totally different injuries. I've been happy with what they've done, where they are. We'll see them today, talk to [senior director of athletic training] John Mellody and the doctors and the players and make a decision. They're both making big strides." Both Harris and Smith were both listed as working limited at today's practice and as questionable for the Broncos on Sunday, according to today's final injury report of the week. http://www.newyorkjets.com/blog/posts/840-ratliff-s-in-season-role-qb-transformer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He still says things that make me think he's more than a backup and preseason wonder. His mentality is there to win and be great.
This is only going to make him evolve even further by being able to role play as the top QBs in the league, I am sure the kid is picking up good habits.
KC got the David Carr treatment. And he doesn't get the ball out quickly or slide well in the pocket. Ratliff did that against the same competition KC did in the preseason.
Eric Smith should be cut. I don't understand why he is still on the active roster. It makes me wish we still had Jon McGraw or "RJ Kors" (for all of you who remember the Coslet years) playing safety.
we're all high on ratti now but the moment he tosses his first INT this entire group will be like "cut the bum and fire mangini". this is life in TGG.
I still like Ratti. He seems to have the "it" factor. Made plays during the preseason every time he got playing time. the team just responded to him better than it did to KC. Also, the Ratliff to Clowney connection will be one to be feared one day sooner than later as well.
I hope Harris plays soon but Smith is not getting his starting job back. Is anybody worried that Nugent will be activated if Feely misses one easy kick? Seems Mangini is just waiting for a chance to bring in Nugent. Ratliff will get a chance to start once Favre retires, lets hope that's not for one more season after this. I am not giving up on Clemens, but may the better man win
So Ratty was standing on the practice field with bloodshot eyes holding a half-empty budweiser king can?
This is the craziest of conservations. Not one single person on this board has seen this guy throw one single throw in one meaningful game and we are excited to see what he does when he gets his shot? There are things other than football talk you could be doing today than speculating on a situation that hasn't even been decided if it is ever going to be happening. Will one of you please tell me when the end of the world is coming so I can check a few things off my list. Go JETS.
and im sure there are better things you could be doing than trying to belittle a conversation you think is worthless. perhaps learning how to form a coherent post? specifically the bolded part. what was that rambling? i tried to understand what you might have been attempting to say but its pretty hard to tell. and where did asking when the end of the world was coming come from? this post has definitely made me drop a few iq points.
I guess all the people who purchased 'New York Bretts' T-shirts will be getting extra value if Ratliff does mature into a starting QB!!
You have nothing better do do on the Thanksgiving weekend? It took me one minute of time to write my post and as I can tell tat's twice as long as it took the poster and yourself combined. People predicting the greatness or even goodness of a QB based on 1 total preseason gamerazy. Think of what you say versus all the exprets(which apparntly you are) predicting how good a QB will be, or any player for that matter. It doesn't always work out does it? Your quick to jump aren't you.
Who was Tony Romo before '05 or '06...whatever year it was? My Ratliff excitement isn't as crazy as some people here, but he's big, young, athletic, and he'll be spending years in our system.
trying to make fun of someone for posting on a message board while posting on a message board is pretty dumb but you may keep trying. i wont get into who's life is better and who has more and better things to do on thanksgiving weekend because its stupid and pointless. i like what i saw from ratliff in the preseason, i like his attitude. i hope that he can become the next starting qb for the jets after favre. you can tell me im wrong about him, and i might be. but i dont see whats wrong with liking a young player with potential.
