Hell of a player, when he played, that is. The lasting image for me is him sitting out of the two playoff games not wanting to risk further injury. Great player, but also whiny and egotistical.
My lasting image of John Abraham will be of someone who has wasted talent. Remember when he was a sack machine, Donnie Henderson said that he had the talent to break the single season sack record. Bottom line, too fragile, not tough enough.
Abraham was my favorite defender while he was here on the team. I have a favorable memory of him. His biggest problem was that he couldn't stay healthy.
was a pretty big fan of Abraham. Loved his pass-rushing skills and always going for the strip-sack. His injuries did get a little annoying but I usually turned my head until the 04' playoffs. When Chad Pennington is playing with a torn labrum and playing alright, that's huge and that's what you want in a football player. But with Abe's hammy and the flu, he couldn't even play on 3rd downs? I somewhat believe that Abe didn't want to play because if he got hurt even more, he was just looking at the $$$ go down. I was a fan of Abraham until those playoffs started and he couldn't even play the Pittsburgh game... Unfavorable.
Unfavorable... Incredible talent who made absolutely no mark in any game of meaning for the Jets... Good riddance and thanks to ATL for Mangold
As someone who voted favorable for Gastineau, it would be unfair to vote unfavorable for Abraham. He was also a very talented but one-dimensional player who seemed to put his own welfare over that of the team. I go 51-49 in his favor. This has nothing to do with the fact that I was thrilled when they let him go and got Mangold in return.
I voted unfavorable although I did vote favorable for Gastineau. The difference for me as a fan was that although I now know that both were selfish players, I did not know that about Gastineau while he was on the field/sidelines like I did Abraham. Like someone said before about the Nose to Nose book. I read it and thought it was great but did not know many of those things were happening during the actual seasons. Probably the fact that I was younger during the Gastineau days has something to with that. I could not imagine Gastineau sitting out a playoff game though... Just my $.02 Mike
I voted the same way as you for both guys. To me, the difference was that Gastineau knew he had Lyons and Klecko (and for a while Salaam) beside him, so he didn't need to worry about the run as much, he could go after the QB since that was his skill. And he was a gamer, rarely hurt and he played big in the playoffs, aside from the roughing the passer everyone hates.
He was really hurt in 2004! What don't you people understand? He had a sprained knee ligament and couldn't turn on his knee. He's a speed rusher and was robbed of his speed. He would have been a liability out there for us so he unselfishly sat out.
That would be easier to take had he not also missed the Raiders playoff game with a stomach ailment and then played 16 games in his contract year when we sucked.
It's too bad. I really liked this guy in 2002 but after that he became inconsistent. An injured pussy and an overral pain in the ass. We're much better off now.
One thing about John Abraham... he could always find a warm spot to sit on the bench in December or January.
Unfavorable. He was a good pass rusher, but he was sorely needed in the postseason and was too often missing...
"I can't play in the important playoff game because I have a paper-cut and I think my throat itches a little." ... Glad he's gone :beer:
When he sat out in the PLAYOFFS because of the tummyache - that sealed his fate in my mind. Nothing could ever offset that transgression.
