DE Douglas is Jets' best TV detective
There are those who stay glued to their high-definition televisions as they watch amateur singers empty the air from their lungs, competing to become the nation's newest heartthrob.
Others are into soap operas and prime-time sitcoms. Some just can't get enough of goofy reality shows such as VH1's "For the Love of Ray J" and "Flavor of Love."
Jets defensive end Marques Douglas? His main use for the TV doesn't really have to do with watching television. He has virtually no use for a DVR and he doesn't need to scan a TV Guide for something entertaining to kill a little time.
"[The Jets' next] opponent . . . is my 'CSI' for the week," Douglas said. "Some people watch 'CSI' or 'Desperate Housewives.' I like to watch game film."
Douglas is the Jets' version of Ebert minus Roeper, serving as a 6-2, 290-pound film critic in his own sort of way. The 32-year-old veteran probably should've majored in film study rather than human development during his days at Howard University, because he's mastered it.
"It's like watching a movie," Douglas said. "You study these game films and these plays all throughout the week and then on Sunday, when you see a familiar formation, it's almost like you want to raise your hand and say, 'I know what's coming.' "
Douglas typically watches about five hours of video a day - most are cut-ups that don't have any audio and show the front seven from an end-zone perspective - and he can check out more footage than ever now that he has an Archos, a portable media player.
Douglas' studious video-watching, which he picked up from Tony Siragusa when they were teammates in Baltimore, is a major reason he lives behind the line of scrimmage. Since 2003, when he first really figured out what to look for during video sessions, he's stockpiled 441/2 tackles for a loss, a number that places him fourth behind Minnesota's Pat Williams (52), Chicago's Lance Briggs (48) and Baltimore's Terrell Suggs (461/2).
"Those tackle-for-loss numbers are amazing when you really get down to it," Jets coach Rex Ryan said. "They [reflect] how effective he is and that [he's] a guy that knows what he's doing, knows formations, knows himself. And he'll help a teammate out as fast as anybody I've ever been around."
Douglas, an undrafted free agent, has become adept at noticing details that tip off an upcoming play. Sometimes before the snap, he'll pop up from his position and bark out the opposition's intensions to the Jets' linebackers and secondary.
He can look at the amount of pressure an offensive lineman is putting on his hand while down in a three-point stance or something as simple as the running back lined up closer than usual to the quarterback, and he'll quickly know whether a run or a pass is coming.
If an offensive lineman comes up to the line and points out the blitzing safety or linebacker, Douglas knows there's a good chance it's going to be a pass, just as he does if he hears a line protection usually called out on third down being yelled out on first or second down.
Jets linebacker Bart Scott said one has to be careful about defensive players guessing the upcoming play.
"Some guys think they know and they screw you up. [They yell] 'Pass! Pass!' " Scott said. "And then they are running right at you . . . So you have to find a guy that you can trust that's right, and [Douglas is] 95 percent right. He caught me with an okey-doke. But it's fun. Nothing is 100 percent."
However, don't think Scott lets Douglas - with whom he played in Baltimore - get away with it.
"All the time I'm like, 'Doug, what the hell, Doug?' Kind of bust his --," Scott said. "He's one of those guys that gets sensitive. He studies so well. He's like, 'Oh, dog, my bad.' But it was just a joke because whether he tells me it's a run or pass, I've got to read my keys. I get lazy sometimes and just depend on him."
Douglas is so good at picking up tendencies that one of his former Ravens coaches phoned him during the week leading up to Baltimore's Oct. 4 game at New England, pumping him for insight from the Jets' 16-9 win over the Patriots two weeks earlier. That in itself shows just how far Douglas has come, going from a practice-squad player to someone who's played in 106 straight games, the second-longest active streak among defensive ends.
"In order to get better, I didn't have guys knocking down my door or had the money early on to be sent to these amazing camps to learn about footwork and technique," Douglas said. "I basically had to get , and with the help of some coaches and a few players, they helped make me what I am today."
