SILVER & BACK
Jets’ OC returns to Oakland, where career began
WHEN you see John Morton — unshaven, slightly disheveled and with an animated “let’s get after it’’ look in his eyes — it appears as if he’s just dusted himself off after a scuffle with someone and is fired up for his next tussle.
When you listen to the Jets firstyear offensive coordinator speak, he sounds like he wants to suit up right then and there and hit someone, like he wishes every day of the week was an NFL Sunday.
The fact that Morton has significant ties to the Raiders, against whom he’ll coach when the Jets play Sunday at the Oakland Coliseum, is beautifully fitting, because he has the intense look of one of those crazed Raiders fans from the Black Hole.
Morton is a former Raiders practice-squad receiver who worked in their front office and then became an assistant coach.
“I wouldn’t be sitting here right now if it wasn’t for Al Davis,’’ Morton said Thursday, referring to the venerable late owner of the Raiders. “I owe him everything … and I can’t wait to go to the Black Hole and listen to that AC/DC music. It gives me goose bumps, man.’’
Morton was brought in by the Raiders to their practice squad in 1993. He ran a 4.36 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine and Davis, who was legendary for his obsession with the fastest players, signed him.
“He’s the one that got me started,’’ Morton said. “He’s the one that gave me a job. I was just a practice-squad player there for a couple of years. After practice, he’d bring me over and we’d always talk football. I was a football junkie, and he told me, ‘ When you stop playing, give me a call.’
“And that’s what I did. I gave him a call and he gave me a job. I was just his little gopher for one year, making [film] cut-ups for him. Then Jon Gruden got hired [as head coach in 1998]. Jon Gruden and I had a relationship because I was in Green Bay and he was my receivers coach. So that’s how that got started.’’
Morton, the ultimate football lifer, coaches every day with the intensity and enthusiasm of a guy who thinks he’s about to coach his last game.
“He brings great juice,’’ Jets veteran quarterback Josh McCown told The Post.
“I love the energy he brings the offense,’’ right guard Brian Winters said. “He’s a very aggressive guy who gets you going. He’s a very upbeat, intense guy and those are the type of guys you want coaching you.’’
If we’re stereotyping, Morton’s in-your-face coaching style makes him more like a defensive coordinator than the usual more mellow and cerebral offensive coordinator (Jets fans, think Chan Gailey and Brian Schottenheimer).
“I think his [coaching] style helps us, because we’re a young team,’’ center Wesley Johnson said. “He’s able to pick us up when we’re dragging a little bit. He’s intense. It shows us that he cares about his job a lot, that he’s as pumped to be out there every day as any of us are. That makes us want to work for him.’’
Based on the shortcomings in last week’s 21-12 loss in Buffalo, Morton, McCown and everyone else associated with the Jets know more needs to be done Sunday if they’re even going to have a chance to compete with the more-talented Raiders. The Jets have zero chance of beating the Raiders if they rush for 38 yards as they did against the Bills.
“It wasn’t good enough — all across the board, and that incudes me,’’ Morton said. “I’ve got to coach better, players have got to play better. We just need to get everybody on the same page, and that starts with me.’’
What better place for Morton than in Oakland, where it all began for him?
“I have great memories there,’’ Morton said. “I can’t wait to go back.’’