Gang Green Nation
Twenty-eight years ago Aaron Glenn wasn’t the head coach of the New York Jets. He was starting at cornerback.
Bill Parcells was the head coach and general manager. It was his second offseason with with the team. That offseason Parcells made a decision that changed the course of franchise history. He signed Seattle Seahawks center Kevin Mawae in free agency.
The signing of Mawae is a well-known part of Jets lore. He played the best years of a Hall of Fame career in green and white. The year Mawae left the Jets drafted Nick Mangold. This meant the signing of Mawae started an almost two decade run where the Jets had elite level play at the center position.
The reason Parcells targeted Mawae in free agency is discussed less frequently.
The first time Mawae met Parcells, earlier this year, the coach told him: ”I’m 56. I’m getting old. I’ve won two Super Bowls. I want to win one more.”
And then Parcells explained what major role he had for the center, who was a free agent after four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.
”We want you because you’re going to face Ted Washington twice a year,” Parcells said.
We old timers know Ted Washington was a really good reason to sign Kevin Mawae. (I think I’ve been around long enough to refer to myself as an “old timer.” Right?)
Washington was a 360 pound mountain of a defensive tackle in the middle of the Buffalo Bills’ 3-4 defense.
The 3-4 was growing in popularity in this era, and a player like Washington was the centerpiece of the system.
A tackle like Ted Washington would line up at nose tackle over the center (or shaded in the gap between the center and one of the guards). For lack of a better description, his job was to essentially dominate the center.
If the center could not block the nose tackle one on one, a guard would need to help on a double team. That meant the guard couldn’t block the guy he was assigned to block. It led to a domino effect of failure for the offense.
Washington was one of the most difficult nose tackles for offense to face in this era, but he wasn’t the only one who caused problems. Teams were adopting the 3-4 all over the league with their own space clogging nose tackles. (And there were some teams who adopted the 3-4 without that space eating nose tackle. A pre-old timer version of John B complained incessantly about Eric Mangini installing a 3-4 when he had nobody better than Dewayne Robertson to play the nose tackle spot).
The Jets made the Playoffs in half of Mawae’s eight seasons with the team. It is fair to say that having him around to handle elite nose tackles gave the Jets an advantage few teams had in this era.
The space eating nose tackle isn’t exactly extinct in today’s NFL, but he is no longer...
