Where Will David Clowney Fit?

by John B on Sep 18, 2010 7:35 AM EDT

The Jets cut fan favorite Danny Woodhead this week to bring back David Clowney. It was kind of a striking move because the coaches raved about Woodhead on Hard Knocks. The only thing that had the coaches raving about Clowney was the potential Mike Westhoff said he has shown since George W. Bush was President and never realized. Brian Schottenheimer said he had no real plans to use Clowney on offense. It's worth wondering whether that has changed.

Clowney is a one-dimensional player. The attribute he has is speed. The Jets could not get the ball down the field in the opener. Part of it was Mark Sanchez not even looking that way late in the game. Part of it, though, was the receivers. On the few shots Sanchez took (and there were a few), receivers could not break the coverage.

When Patriots almost went undefeated in 2007, everybody knew about Randy Moss and Wes Welker. People tend to forget, though, that Donte Stallworth had 46 catches for 697 yards. Stallworth frequently lined up on different sides of the field. His job was to run deep routes like Moss and make defenses pay if they shaded their coverage too far in Moss' direction. Clowney's job could be to play that role for Braylon Edwards.* Perhaps he can get deep on his own once against a talented but young secondary and make a big play. For an offense struggling to put together any sustained drives, that could make a real difference.

*New England fans reading this site, please realize that I am in no way saying Edwards and Clowney are as good as Moss and Stallworth.

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He definitely allows us to stretch the field better.

Which should allow Keller more space to operate, J-Co as well. It seemed like, last week, that Keller and J-Co both operated on the right side a lot. WHich is counter-intuitive because they both are most effective when running similar type of routes, i.e. short and intermediate stuff. With both of them sharing a side, they have less space to work in, which tightens the windows. ALso the safety to that side can cheat in his coverage and really overplay those short/intermediate routes.

I would think it would make more sense to just flip J-Co and Braylon, and put Braylon on the same side as Keller (usually right), since Braylon is a more physical blocker in the running game anyway, plus with both Braylon and Keller as viable deep threats the safety to that side would be less focused on flying up to support the run or sitting on shorter routes. Seems like Braylon and Edwards would actually open up more of the field for the each other. Each clearing out the safety for the other in turn.

But the addition of Clowney also allows for this effect in tandem with J-Co if/when we go 4-wide. J-Co can work the underneath stuff from the slot and Clowney can clear out a safety.

by Crackback on Sep 18, 2010 8:20 AM EDT reply actions

We went through this all before...

Clowney has had numerous chances and was basically the #3 wr at times last year, and has done nothing, he has completely blown it. Seems like a stupid move to me if we miss a tackle on ST that leads to a big gain remind yourself its partially because of this move.

by Judgegavel on Sep 18, 2010 8:55 AM EDT reply actions

How special teams tackles did Woodhead have last week? And supposedly Woodhead was responsible for the Ginn TDs against Miami last year.

At least Clowney can contribute to the offense if need be. Also, he might be more enticing trade bait for some team who might want to take shot with the kid, who no doubt has talent.

by Crackback on Sep 18, 2010 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Can he?

I’ve seen Woodhead make special teams tackles (no not last week in particular), I’ve seen him contribute here and there on offense even, and thats been in very limited time. I have yet to see Clowney do anything significant for us (in the regular season). His one decent game where he scored his only touchdown was in a route against Oakland, and pretty meaningless. Maybe getting cut will light a fire under his ass (I bet Westhoff said those same words), but until he shows it I think Woodhead would have been better for the team.

by Judgegavel on Sep 18, 2010 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Woodhead is not a good special teams player.

Clowney is not a good player, but he does have a certain talent that could maybe pay dividends once against an inexperienced secondary.

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by John B on Sep 18, 2010 10:03 AM EDT up reply actions

Woodhead is so a good special teams player, he’s not Larry Izzo, and of course has limited size, but he gets to the ball carrier and makes tackles.

I think the difference is Woodhead is your classic overachiever, and Clowney is a massive underachiever, when it comes to the end of the roster, you should take the overachiever every time.

by Judgegavel on Sep 18, 2010 10:30 AM EDT up reply actions