SB Nation New York Editor's Pick
Identity Crisis: Jets Football
by David_Wyatt on Oct 5, 2011 9:41 AM EDT
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I've been quietly watching the performances this year with the feeling that we've been very naive in the way that we have developed this team. I've looked at how we have developed over the last two-three years and how the atmosphere around the team has changed over the past few months. We've lost a lot of experience, we have lost a lot of leadership and we've replaced them with 'work in progress'. I believe that every team needs to go through a transition at some point, but it's only ever right to do that if we have a suitable replacement.
Without Tony Richardson, without Jerricho Cotchery and without players like Alan Faneca and Damian Woody I just don't recognise the same quality through the team that we once had. We were spoiled for years having the same offensive line together, a FB that could and would run through Walls, recognise blitzes and pick up players on the edge. Rex Ryan was today quoted as saying that we built this team to run the football. We certainly did, but we didn't transition it to continue that legacy. I love John Connor, but he's not near T-Rich's standard yet. As good as Slauson has been, as bad as Hunter has been, if we are built to run the football, it doesn't seem as though the offensive coordinator agrees.
Ever since Rex took over from Mangini we have had an identity, we play good defence, we run the football we ask our quarterback to manage the game. That philosophy has taken us to two AFC championship games in a row, lofty heights that we are not accustomed too, maybe we needed to make that shift to be a Superbowl team and not a play-off team but It seems that somewhere in that locker room there is a little confusion. The defence generally still performs and with Rex in charge I don't think that will ever change. However there seems to be a lack of faith in this run game, an abandonment of the principle that has made us so successful in recent years.
I just don't think we have planned for the NFL. Injuries happen but our depth up front in the trenches where games are won and lost has to be questioned. Wayne Hunter was decent last year but we all saw his limitations. He was handed a starting job on the back of 'decent' performances. Our drafting on the line with Vlad looks highly faulty due to him looking completely out of his depth every time he takes the field. As John mentioned recently we can hide Hunters limitations to an extent through misdirection, delayed hand offs and tight end, full back help. Getting Mangold back will help but won't solve the problems we have.
I have seen too many occasions where we have emptied the backfield and spread the field for Sanchez. Every time that happens I'm thinking he better get that ball out quick as this offensive line isn't holding up, and he's probably thinking the same thing. The problem is that I don't believe the trust in Mason is there on those short routes like it was with Cotchery. I remember a number of short passes that Cotchery turned into first downs when we needed it. Although he is hardly doing a thing in Pittsburgh, I still think we miss him more than is being let on.
No this isn't a throw the towel in call it an end, far from it. We still have the potential to be a play-off team. We need our identity back, and no amount of bravado from Rex can capture that. We need to run the rock and get Sanchez back into a management roll until we can replace Hunter through the draft or free agency. Sanchez isn't a quarterback who likes throwing the ball away, he's going to want to make plays and with the pressure we are experiencing at the moment. That's only going to end badly.
We need to get out of this in house finger pointing, Holmes taking a shot at Schotty, Sanchez, Rex at Namath and Namath back at Rex. When Rex joined he brought the Jets together, us against the world but we were going to stick together. It's fractioned but not broken. 2-2 and some tough games out the way. Mangold coming back, McKnight starting to perform and maybe just maybe that speed edge rusher in Maybin that defences have to at least think about.
Problems? Sure there are problems, but let's get back to doing what we do best. Identity, identity, identity.....one shot at us, two back at you. We're coming for you, and we are not stopping, we are ramming it down your throat whether you like it or not. Jets Football!
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Mason has been horible
I too wanted J-Co to stayed but he didnt want to be here
DW you're like a breath of fresh air.
To further your point…
I think the offense needs to take a note from the defense and attack more. We’re too reactionary. Too much working the play clock and waiting for the defense to reveal itself. I’d like to see better use of our personnel packages and some quicker snap counts. Why would the defense show their cards if they know with 90% certainty that we’re going to run the clock down.
We have a lot of versatile weapons. We can move Keller all over the place; Kerley can do some wildcat and play some slot; McKnight can run it out of the backfield or motion to the slot, as can Tomlinson; Holmes can play out wide or in the slot, as can Mason and Plax; Baker can be moved around…
We should be using this versatility. We can go from a base-I formation, to trips, to empty set without huddling (or quick-huddling). We don’t have to do it for an entire series. But we should mix it in and make teams reveal themselves sooner. Theyre not going to screw around with their looks as much, and they’ll be hesitant to change personnel.
The game-plan every week should begin and end with creating ways to get Keller matched up on a LB in space. That should be the genesis of everything on offense. The run game should be used to get off Keller, we should be using formations to get him in favorable match-ups…
He’s our Queen chess piece. He opens things up for EVERYBODY else.
If you look at the Baltimore, GB, last Miami, and Jacksonville games
If anybody was really watching you see these teams jumping the Jets slants and out routes. In fact Oakland was doing it too in the second half. This offense is extremely predictable. And to piggy back off what you said Crack, why is Sanchez letting the play clock run out on every freaking play? Another thing i notice is their receivers are not getting separation, again making me think the defense knows what is coming. I mean Ray Lewis is great, but why does it seem he’s always in the right place to hammer Keller. The funny thing is the rest of the NFL knows what’s coming, but the jet offense don’t.
Not an Identity Crisis, Just Not the Same Team
Burress, Plaxico ACT REC 10 YDS 160 AVG 16.0 TDS 2
Mason, Derrick ACT REC 12 YDS 108 AVG 9.0 TDS 0
Holmes, Santonio ACT REC 13 YDS 164 AVG 12.6 TDS 1
Keller, Dustin ACT REC 18 YDS 261 AVG 14.5 TDS 2
Greene, Shonn ACT CAR 51 YDS 157 AVG 3.1 TDS 1
Tomlinson, LaDainia ACT CAR 20 YDS 59 AVG 3.0 TDS 0
McKnight, Joe ACT CAR 6 YDS 14 AVG 2.3 TDS 0
Sanchez, Mark ACT TDS 6 INT 5 YDS 1,005 RTG 75.9
This year we have no rushing game and not much of a passing game either. Multiply the above by four and you see what an 8-8 team looks like.
This team is better than 8-8
Second half of the season is quite manageable. If we can get by NE, worst is over:)
Identity Crisis -> Offense
I agree with everything in this post by David Y & Crackback’s follow-up. Why oh why do we continue on with an offense that tipsy toes around instead of instilling their will on the defense. Bring on the attitude " We’re Scoring here, Stop Us if you can" everytime the offense takes the field. Instead we get the feeling that there in the huddle taking a vote on whether its a 3 and out or longer. We have an offense that should be scaring people. But on the field of play we don’t. We use very predictable playcalling. WE don’t go for the other teams jugular – we don’t know how to stand on their necks and choke them out offensively ie. pile on the points…..and I don’t mean FG’s.
I think schotty is afraid to attack..
He plays not to loose the game because if he plays not to loose and doesn’t loose the game for us outright with turnovers, Rex will blame it on his defense. He will say the defense needs to play better and give Schotty a pass. if we loose 10-13 and O-didn’t turn the ball over and the D let them drive into our territory 3 times. Rex will pin that on the D…if our O turns the ball over Rex will blame Schotty. Rex is happy with Schotty running our offense at a level where he doesn’t screw up too badly. He doesn’t require Schotty to run it well…just not mess up so bad the D can’t win us the game. This level of performance is somehow seen as acceptable.
We treat our offense like a secondary unit. We try to win the game with our D and not screw up with our O. What we should be doing is trying to win the game with both our O and D. The O should attack, play aggressive and put up points. When mistakes are made the D can help pick up the slack and save the game for us. The D will likely do a much better job because they will be a lot more rested with the O sustaining drives.
I know we have an amazing D. If we attacked, sustained drives, and put up points with our O. Our D could pick up some of that extra slack. We need to play as a team to try to win the game, not an offense and a defense…
by RhodesRocks on Oct 5, 2011 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Betchya he learned that in Baltimore,
with all those years of a bad to mediocre offense, he had to be telling his D something when they lost to keep them on their toes. But as a HC instead of a DC he doesn’t realize it looks like he’s not holding his OC accountable for the unit losing them games. It’s one of those things Rex will need to learn to be more successful as a HC.
Playing not to lose on offense...
Is like playing the prevent defense. It prevents you from winning. Thing is, if you have a fantastic defense you can afford to take chances on the offense and oddly, for all of Sanchez’s inconsistency, he’s good at making big plays out of changes like that.
Ironically, if our offense didn't touch the ball last week we could have won 14-13.
In all seriousness though, if our offense doesn’t adapt when things aren’t working, Shotty should be fired. Sanchez got pounded every dropback, and will still be feeling that beating physically and mentally this weekend as well.
If our line isn’t up to the task of pass blocking, then run the ball 2 downs, throw a 2 step drop on 3rd down, then punt on 4th down. I don’t care if we are predictable and run for 2 yards per carry, the backs are built to take that, Sanchez is not.
Oh and I totally agree with you on prevent offense (Marty Ball).
I’m just saying, at some point you need to pack it in, so you can live to fight another day.
Awesome post. I couldn't agree more.
It’s been a let down and disconnect through the whole organization from Woody Johnson to the coaches to the players. I love the mention of the disconnect between Rex and Shotty mentioned. The is the reason for the identitiy crisis and the sniping overall, imo. The reason for that coaches disconnect could be just because of how Shotty wants to be an OC, what personnel (or lack of) that the GM or FO refuse to provide while sitting on 9 mil in cap space, or just the fact that Rex is too chummy with the organization to be a HC.
It’s fixable for sure, but there needs to be some kind of acknowledgement that there is a problem and some sort of an attempt to start fixing it. I was horrified that we didn’t see it all last week up through the pregame interview with Rex last Sunday. It looks like they have a fire lit under them this week and it is a good sign for sure. Hopefully, that fire is under Shotty and the other coaches too so we can see a focused effort to turn this team around. No excuses, no exceptions, just man up and get focused.
Careful Wyatt
People don’t really buy the leadership stuff around here.
Talent beats leadership all the way
Its gonna be tough to establish a new/old identity up in NE
if our defense doesn’t show up. The Jets are probably going to need to pass some up there.
Our identity now is Greene running dives into the teeth of the defense for 2 yards. Then we go to the slant route. Sanchez looks, see’s that it has been jumped, becuase it’s about the only play we run. He fake pumps, has nowhere else to go, and takes a sack. 3rd and long, drive over.
J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!!!!!!!!!
Good Post
No one seems to be talking about the absence of T-Rich….is that bigger than we think?
Crack is right. We need to play to what we have and that’s alot—Joe Mcknight needs to see the ball out of the backfield this week—it’s no different than another team that decides a player has more skill than just special teams—Devin Hester—-give Joe some touches….he’s explosive and is a great change of speed guy from shonn—a little Bradshaw/Jacobs tandem?
All I can say is WOW !!!
Loved it miss you around here DW, actually, I think the Magic man Tanny could pull off some deal for an upgrade right now, I mean we have Miami, KC, Minn, Indy, ST.Louis, Denver and Philly that seem to be falling apart . Miami has Nate Garner just collecting splinters and, Minn has got Loadholt maybe they’d be willing to make a deal. Now I know that Loadholt would be a longshot but hey you just never know. KC has Richardson and Philly has Justice he’s better than Hunter. I also think SD has an interesting situation with Dombrowski sitting and Clary with McNeill playing, if my memory serves me correctly Dombrowski played a lot last year,because of McNeills holdout. He is listed as G/T and started games 1-5 and in 09 he started 2 games at RG and another seven at RT so he knows the position IMO he could be a guy we could use and get for a conditional pick anything has got to be better than Hunter
I Don't Want Any Trades
A big part of the problem with this team is that Tanny has traded away too many draft picks (particularly high and mid-round ones) in the past. With the multitude of issues the team has, and with Schotty still the OC, this team isn’t gonna go back to the AFC Championship game. Trading one of next year’s top picks that could go for an OLB, S, WR, or possibly better OL for an upgrade of Hunter is not the way to go imo.
"Reality is purely the perception of the individual mind. It follows, that since no two minds are alike, no two perceptions of reality are alike. It further follows, that what reality is to one, may seem complete madness to someone else."
– Yefim Novikov
The thing is........
That you mentioned an o-line prospect, rather to a trade for a proven player. The keyword’s is prospect and, proven, Dombrowski is a proven 6’5" 325lbs 26 year old that has game experience at RT and RG for a very very good team, whom could be had for a 4 or less. IMO I’d rather have proven than a ? that has to develope, the only way the Jets would get a plug in RT is to have a very high draft pick say 1 – 15 and, 15 is a push. The post is about getting back to the identity that made the Jets the Jets! This is what I feel the fix is not waiting around for Vlad to step up, and Sanchez to get blown up with an injury that could sideline him for a year or even more with Hunter manning RT. It’s been his deplorable play that has put pressure on the rest of the OL. This coming draft will have plenty of WR, OLB, and SAF. plus free agency
by JETSFAN IN SC on Oct 6, 2011 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions
I Haven't Seen Dombrowski Play
If he’s as good as you say and could be had for a 4th round pick,. then ok, but no way I’d want to give up anything higher. Even if Dombrowski is worth a #3 or #2, I just don’t think the Jets are gonna go anywhere this year. Is Dombrowski a true starting-quality RT or OG, or is he only a very good backup/marginal starter? If it’s the former, that would be one thing, but if it’s the latter, I’m not sure they’d be any better off then they are now and would be less one draft pick.
Stinchcomb, O’Hara or other FAs won’t cost any draft picks, the Jets have the cap space, and those guys are capable of shoring up the OL.
"Reality is purely the perception of the individual mind. It follows, that since no two minds are alike, no two perceptions of reality are alike. It further follows, that what reality is to one, may seem complete madness to someone else."
– Yefim Novikov
Great Post
Rec’d
I’m in total agreement with everything you said. I said during the offseason that there was no point in bringing back both Edwards and Holmes if this team was gonna be a “ground and pound” team, but based on what was being said and what was happening with the team, it was clear that they were moving towards a passing attack and away from the “ground and pound.”
Cotchery wanted to go because he wasn’t appreciated and respected. If the Jets had stuck with a ground and pound attack, BE and Cotchery would have been a perfectly sufficient #1-#2 WR corps, and then they could have added Plax, a blocking TE, Mason or whomever they wanted.
The OL depth should have been addressed even before Turner went down.
"Reality is purely the perception of the individual mind. It follows, that since no two minds are alike, no two perceptions of reality are alike. It further follows, that what reality is to one, may seem complete madness to someone else."
– Yefim Novikov
Good Article - lots of good points
There is still a lot of season left and hopefully these last week’s game is the worst we will see all season but I can’t help but think how the OL would be with all the new additions if they had a real training camp this summer. I know all the teams had abbreviated training camps but it’s clear the Jet’s could have really used the full time in camp. Oh Well…
The O line's biggest problem is Turner...
Turner has been on the team for many years and he should know the system inside and out by now, if he got a full training camp this off season or not. Turner is actually the only new O-Linemen we added. Baxter would have been in San Diego’s camp if that’s the other person your counting as a new addition to the OL, so it really wouldn’t have helped him either. Its hard to believe that just swapping woody for hunter could put our line in such disarray. The loss of Mangold only compounded that but even with four starters back from last year our line was playing terribly the first two games.
*Hunter not Turner...
Was very late at night…but loosing Turner hurt really bad too..
Good to see you around.
I really hope Rex takes it on himself to reestablish an identity with this team.
Darrelle Revis once won a game of Connect Four in three moves.
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