CENTER STAGE
HOF nod well deserved for durable Mawae
THE timing, as it turns out, is a bit ironic.
Two days before Kevin Mawae — the Jets’ center for eight seasons and one of the best, most consistent players ever to wear their green-andwhite uniform — was to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday (7 p.m. on ESPN and NFL Network), his former team lured Pro Bowl center Ryan Kalil out of retirement.
If they could have brought Mawae back, the Jets would have done it.
Since Nick Mangold retired in 2016 after 11 seasons with the Jets, the center position has been manned rather inadequately by Wesley Johnson in 2017 and Spencer Long last season.
Mawae, when he was signed by the Jets in 1998 after four seasons with the Seahawks, began a run of excellence and uncanny consistency at the position that left the team spoiled. After Mawae left for the Titans following the 2005 season, the Jets drafted Mangold in the first round in 2006. Mangold went on to play 11 seasons and 164 games.
Mawae was almost revolutionary at the center position for his agility and ability to pull in blocking schemes. But aside from his rare and raw skill, the hallmark to Mawae’s career was the fact he always was there for his teams — first the Seahawks from 1994 through 1997, then the Jets and finally the Titans from 2006 until he retired in 2009.
Mawae blocked for five different
1,000-yard running backs in his career, and his running backs rushed for 1,000 or more yards in 13 of his 16 seasons. He was voted to eight Pro Bowls, received eight All-Pro selections and was selected to the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 2000s.
Centers aren’t generally known for their statistics, because there aren’t really any stats directly associated with the offensive line position. They don’t pass or run the ball. They don’t make interceptions or record sacks or return kicks. That often makes it difficult for the untrained eye to evaluate just how good a center is.
But Mawae owns a pretty impressive stat: He started 177 consecutive games.
If there’s a moment that best defines his career, it was Oct. 4, 2004. That’s when Mawae, who is righthanded, played against the Dolphins with a broken right hand. A righthanded center snapping with his left hand is not a lot unlike a right-handed quarterback having to throw with his left arm or a right-handed artist trying to paint with their left hand.
Mawae had gotten his right hand tangled in the face mask of a Chargers linebacker while blocking for a screen pass during Week 2 and fractured his fourth metacarpal.
His consecutive starts streak stood at 157 at the time and — despite understandable skepticism from head coach Herman Edwards and offensive line coach Doug Marrone — there was little chance in Mawae’s mind that streak wasn’t continuing on to 158 games.
“It plays a part in everything that I do,” Mawae said at the time. “Guys rely on me. They know I’m here each week.’’
Mawae played that game at Miami, and he snapped the next five games with his left hand, helping the Jets start 6-1. Martin went on to win the NFL rushing title that year to become the oldest player in NFL history to do so.
Edwards, now the head coach at Arizona State, speaking by phone with The Post on Friday, recalled the broken hand and how Mawae, who’s now a film analyst on his Sun Devils’ coaching staff, handled it.
“Obviously we were concerned with the injury and I figured there’s no way he’s going to play,’’ Edwards said. “Once he got the test results he told me, ‘Don’t worry about me. I’ll use the other hand.’ I looked at him and was like, ‘You’re going to do what?’ He said, ‘I’ll snap with my other hand.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ He said, ‘No, I can do it.’
“And obviously, he did it. That kind of tells you about the guy.’’