Pepper expecting ‘D’ best from Jets
PEPPER Johnson was once a young linebacker with a lot of lip, who loved to hit and prove how good he was. A rookie on the Giants’ 1986 Super Bowl team playing alongside future Hall of Famers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson, he learned to compete amid high standards. Now in his 15th season as an NFL assistant coach, Johnson is trying to get the Jets’ talented defensive line to settle for nothing less than greatness. Would you expect anything different from a disciple of Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick? “I’m going to be hard on them because I think this is the ultimate team sport: football,” Johnson said on Monday during a rare session with reporters. “If you can’t play together as a team and work hard for each other and feel excitement for each other, then sooner or later it’s going to show and we won’t have the success we want to have at the end of the season.”
Sheldon Richardson’s fourgame suspension is over and the Jets’ defensive line can expect to be pushed even harder this week as it prepares for Sunday’s game against Washington at MetLife Stadium. Johnson is hardly impressed by the Jets 31 record, their No. 2 ranking on defense and No. 8 standing against the rush after limiting the Dolphins to just 59 yards in London. What Johnson envisions is a sustained level of dominance like he learned during his early days with the Giants and as a coach during three Super Bowl wins with the Patriots. “I want a lot and hope and pray for the day to come where we become that team and people are preparing for us a lot differently and not looking at us as though they had a good run in September,” Johnson said. “I want it to be grinding to prepare for us.”
He’ll know that time has arrived when teams have to decide whether to doubleteam Muhammad Wilkerson, Leonard Williams, Sheldon Richardson or Damon “Snacks” Harrison.
“We cannot be selfish,” Johnson said. “We have to help our teammates out. I’ve been there. That’s what I’m trying to preach to my players.”
Coach Todd Bowles said Johnson was a perfect fit for his staff. Johnson was a secondround draft pick of the Giants in 1986 and played with them through 1992, winning Super Bowls XXI and XXV. He also played with the Browns (199395) and Lions (1996) before finishing his career with the Jets (199798). He spent 14 seasons as an assistant coach with the Patriots, working with linebackers and the defensive line before spending the 2014 season as the defensive line coach with the Bills. He applied to be the defensive coordinator for the Giants before they rehired Steve Spagnuolo. That left him available when Bowles asked him to be the Jets defensive line coach.
“He gets after them as a DL coach and with that group you need someone who can get after those guys and think and act like them,” Bowles said.
Johnson has two Super Bowl rings as a player with the Giants and three rings as a coach with the Patriots. He often reminds his players of that even though Harrison might be tired of hearing it.
“Snacks always want me to forget my past the same way I tell them I want them to forget their past, but the difference is I’ve been to championships and he hasn’t,” Johnson said.
What Johnson wants is what Parcells, and Belichick have wanted, sustained excellence.
“When it’s all said and done, “How did we show up each and every game? Did we wear people down? Did we really and truly dominate or did we just make some plays? That’s the difference what I’m trying to get out of my guys. It might take to November. It might take to December. It might take to next season. They might get it next week and roll with it. I don’t know. My job and the promise I made to Coach Bowles is that’s [the goal] I’m shooting
for.”