New York Post, Thursday, December 3, 2020nypost.comLangi grateful
just to play, in
any situation
By GreG JoyceThe Jets are trudging to the
finish line of another lost sea-
son, but for Harvey Langi,
there’s no such thing.
For the Jets’ new starting in-
side linebacker, there are five
more chances to do what wasn’t
always a given after he and his
wife were involved in a horrific
car accident in 2017: play in the
NFL. And in the three games
since he broke into the starting
lineup, Langi has led the Jets
with 29 tackles while playing
with the energy and motor of a
man who is determined not to
let a second chance go to waste.
“Professionally, once I knew I
was OK and I was alive and I
could move my body and move
my feet, I’m like, ‘You know
what, whatever
anybody says, I’m
going to over-
come this. I’m go-
ing to work hard
to get back on that
field,’ ” Langi said
Wednesday after
practice.
“Now being back on the field,
before the game or before prac-
tice or anything like that, I take a
deep breath and I just go back to,
‘Man, I can’t believe I’m playing
this game again.’ ... It just helps
me professionally, that I can’t
just sit back and let this opportu-
nity slip away.”
Langi was an undrafted rookie
with the Patriots when he and
his wife, Cassidy, sustained seri-
ous injuries when they were hit
from behind by a car that was
going over 50 mph. He said doc-
tors and others told him it would
be tough for him to get back on
the football field and that maybe
he should consider other oppor-
tunities.
It briefly crept into Langi’s
mind that his way back to the
field might be as a coach, he
said, but he fought off any doubt
that he could play again. He
signed with the Jets practice
squad in 2018, made three spot
starts in 2019 and now has the
biggest defensive role of his NFL
career. The spot opposite Ne-
ville Hewitt at inside linebacker
opened up in Week 9 when the
Jets traded Avery Williamson to
the Steelers and lingering inju-
ries to Blake Cashman and Pat-rick Onwuasor kept them side-
lined, bumping Langi up from
his special teams duties.
“A majority of the time, I told
myself, ‘No, I’m going to be pad-
ded up and ready to go. I don’t
know how long it’s going to take,
I don’t know how
I’m going to do it,
but I’m going to
do it,’ ” Langi said.
“Man, I’m living
it, so it’s awe-
some.”
That perspec-
tive has helped
during a trying season for the
0-11 Jets.
“It’s not going to be a perfect
road in front of us all the time,”
Langi said. “Right now, it’s pretty
bumpy for us. There’s a lot of
things you can do. [Outside line-
backers coach] Joe Vitt always
tells us, ‘You can either fall back
or you can fight.’ ... We’re gonna
keep fighting.”
That mindset was on full dis-
play for Langi in Week 9 against
the Patriots, in his first start of
the season, when Cam Newton
slipped out of his grasp for a po-
tential sack. Instead, on the same
play, he got back up and flew 15
yards down the field to make the
tackle on wide receiver Jakobi
Meyers.
Langi said he would have pre-
ferred the sack, but he won’t
stop playing until the whistle is
blown.
“All we can do is come in every
day to work, willing to work,
willing to put down all your
pride to do the things you need
to do for your job,” he said. “I
want to come in here and do my
job as well as I can do it and as
consistently as I can do it for as
long as I can do it.”
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Line: Jets +7.5 • O/U: 46.5from Deshone Kizer and took
Baker Mayfield No. 1 overall in
- Mayfield has been incon-
sistent in his first three years,
but has shown promise.
OTHER BUILDING BLOCKS
One of the biggest hurdles for
Douglas is the overall lack of
talent across the roster. The Jets
have a few promising young
players in Quinnen Williams,
Mekhi Becton and Denzel
Mims, but all remain unproven.
It was clear the Lions had a
star in wide receiver Calvin
Johnson, who had 78 catches for
1,331 yards and 12 touchdowns in
the 2008 season. The Browns
had just taken defensive end
Myles Garrett No. 1 overall in
2017 and he had seven sacks as a
rookie, a sign he was going to
be a stud.
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE?
Jets fans should start
dreaming of 2023. It took
three years for both the Li-
ons and Browns to become
winners.
The Lions went 2-14 in 2009
and 6-10 in 2010 before going
10-6 in 2011 and making the play-
offs. They have been back to the
postseason twice since then.
The Browns went 7-8-1 in 2018
and 6-10 last year but are now
8-3 and in the playoff hunt.
Things could go wrong for them
down the stretch, but it looks
like they are about to end their
playoff drought.
The Jets are a little more than
a month away from bottoming
out and then the rebuild can be-
gin. Judging from history, it will
take a while.
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2017
Browns0-16
2008
Lions0-16
Harvey Langi
Starting at inside linebacker.2020
Jets0-11