N.Y. Times Article: Life On The Practice Squad

Leaving It All on the Practice Field

KAREN CROUSE

Published: December 2, 2006

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Dec. 1 ? Whatever the veterans on the Jets are hungry for, whether it is fried chicken, pizza or sandwiches, Joe Kowalewski and the team?s other rookies are sent out on Saturdays to fetch it. When they return, all the players gather in the locker room and eat lunch together.
It is a weekly team-bonding exercise that is followed by a wrenching split. At the end of the meal, the players on the 53-man active squad will pack up their gear and depart ? either for the airport to catch a chartered flight to whatever city the Jets are playing in or to the hotel near Giants Stadium if it?s a home game.

This Saturday, Kowalewski and the seven other practice-squad players will stay behind to pick at the food scraps while their teammates head for Green Bay. Their hunger to be on the team bus to the airport will be enormous.

When Kowalewski was in college, Saturdays were his fun days. A four-year letterman at Syracuse, he started 22 games at tight end. Now, ?Saturday?s a sad day,? Kowalewski said. ?The guys on the practice squad, we?ll sit in the locker room when the team leaves and eat some of the food and talk about the week of practice and how we wish we could go out there and play.?

Like presidential speechwriters or designer suit makers, practice-squad players work hard behind the scenes so that the people in the spotlight can look their best. They make good, but not ungodly, money ? $4,700 a week, which amounts to $79,900 for the 17-week season ? to give and absorb hits while impersonating the opposition.

It is a peculiarity of their position that practice-squad members are asked to be a different National Football League player every week even though they are not officially N.F.L. players themselves, their time on the practice squad does not count toward N.F.L. free agency or the league?s pension plan.

?It?s tough to work your way in,? Kowalewski said. ?Hopefully, one day if I keep working hard and getting better, I?ll get my shot.?

The 24-year-old Kowalewski has had to work hard to make it this far. He sustained a shoulder injury during his senior season that required surgery, which prevented him from participating in any N.F.L. workouts. After he went undrafted in April, he was contacted by the Jets in May and offered a three-day tryout, during which he made an impression by playing every down as if it might be his last.

?I said if I was going to get cut, I wanted to make sure I left everything out there,? he said. ?My legs were so sore after those three days. Oh man, it was bad.?

After surviving more cuts than he cares to remember, Kowalewski is the one inflicting the pain. ?You always know a practice player is doing his job when he can frustrate the defense, and they?re angry throughout practice because of the tempo that he?s setting,? said Coach Eric Mangini, who named Kowalewski the practice player of the week after Sunday?s victory against Houston. ?Joe consistently makes people angry.?

Kowalewski?s job every week is to impersonate the opposing team?s tight end. That means for the past three days in practice he has been running the same routes as Donald Lee and blocking as ferociously as the 6-foot-6 veteran Bubba Franks, who broke into the league when the 6-4 Kowalewski was a high school junior in upstate New York.

His audience describes Kowalewski?s impersonations as spot on. ?Sometimes he does things better than the tight end he?s supposed to be,? linebacker Bryan Thomas said. ?He goes out there and gives us a great look.?

The practice-squad team may go largely unseen by the public but it does not go unsung. ?Their role is very important,? Thomas said. ?If we don?t get a good look throughout the week we?d be having mistakes during the game.?

Mangini is not a fan of the term ?practice squad? because of the image it musters of sacrificial lions. ?I think it is a little bit of an unfair label,? he said. ?I think it?s more of a developmental group and that?s how we view it.?

The Jets? eight ? Kowalewski, defensive linemen Titus Adams and Keyonta Marshall, offensive linemen Ed Blanton and Matt McChesney, safety Jamie Thompson, fullback Stacy Tutt and receiver Wallace Wright ? take the Clark Kent metamorphosis and turn it inside out.

During the week they participate in team meetings and punish their bodies during practice alongside the other players. But on game days, the practice-squad players turn back into fans, watching the games from the stands, if the Jets are at home, or in front of their television sets, if the team is on the road. There is no N.F.L. rule that prohibits practice players from traveling with the team, or standing on the sideline, but the Jets choose to draw a line.

Kowalewski goes to every game at Giants Stadium, but not because he has to. ?Some guys choose to watch the game at home,? he said. ?On T.V., sometimes it?s better because you can see the instant replay.?

Every Sunday when the Jets are on the road, Kowalewski and his roommate, Blanton, invite the rest of the practice squad to the Point Lookout home they are renting on the south shore of Long Island. They order pizza or sandwiches and settle in to watch the game, each player observing it from a slightly different angle.

?All I watch is the other team?s tight ends,? Kowalewski said. ?You?re always hoping that the guy that you replicated in practice doesn?t have a good game. So when he catches a pass or makes a good block, you?re like, ?oh, no.? All the guys are like that.?

EXTRA POINTS

Bryan Thomas, who made the switch from defensive end to weakside linebacker this year to accommodate the Jets? new 3-4 defense, was signed to a five-year contract extension. Thomas, the No. 22 overall pick in 2002, has a career-high five sacks this season after recording six in his first four years. He also has 58 tackles and a fumble recovery.