Ready To Get Jets Airborne After 1-15 Season, Quarterback O’Donnell Set For Fresh Start

Nineteen months ago, quarterback Neil O’Donnell was in cruise control after driving the Pittsburgh Steelers to Super Bowl XXX, then signing a five-year, $25 million contract with the New York Jets.

The next thing O’Donnell knew, he woke up on the side of the road, trapped in the twisted wreckage of last season’s 1-15 wipeout.

“I prefer to not even think about last year,” he said this week. “That was then, and this is now.”

Now, as it stands, is definitely preferable. Heading into Sunday’s regular-season opener at Seattle, O’Donnell has fully mended from the shoulder and leg injuries that knocked him out of 10 games last year.

The mental healing will begin when he takes the first snap against the Seahawks.

“I feel a lot more comfortable this year than last year,” he said. “Just coming in here last year, everything was so different. I’m ready to get things started (anew).”

Last season’s tone was set in the first week at Denver, when the Broncos stampeded through a patchwork Jets line to sack O’Donnell eight times seven in the first half. Tackles David Williams and Jumbo Elliott, expensive free-agent imports like the quarterback, were sidelined by injury, and Roger Duffy, then the left guard, was plugged in at right tackle for the first time in his career.

O’Donnell was sacked 10 more times before injuries ended his season five weeks later.

“There are so many things that weren’t right last year,” O’Donnell said. “We asked people to play positions they never played before, and that’s not really good.”

The Jets will be in much better position, literally, this time around. Williams, despite a balky back, and Elliott are at full strength, with Duffy entrenched at center and right guard Matt O’Dwyer recovered from an ankle problem. The only nervous twitch for O’Donnell may come at left guard, where journeyman Lonnie Palelei will be making his first professional start across from bull-rushing Seahawks tackle Cortez Kennedy.

“If we’re giving him some time,” Williams said, “some good things will happen.”

O’Donnell, who threw only 31 passes last preseason and didn’t play in the finale, had 91 throws in nine quarters this year. He was sharp, completing 52 passes for 663 yards and four touchdowns, plus one interception, and was sacked seven times.