Four questions concerning the Jets upcoming season.

by BIG OH!!!!! on Sep 11, 2011 12:41 PM EDT

Can the Jets develop a high power offense like most of their competitors have?

From what I seen in the preseason this don't seem very likely to happen. The key is getting off to fast starts. Something as fans we really endure last season. The other issue is red Zone efficiency. The Jets feel Plaxco Buress is the answer to this issue. I disagree, I think its more play calling. The Jets need to learn to go after mismatches more often then trying to keep defenses off balance. The third factor is Sanchez raising his completion percentage. Starting games with quick slants or outs should help Sanchez in this department, it also takes the game out of his hand giving his receivers the chance to make plays with YAC. He got four good/great proven receivers inccluding Keller, however, they need to do their part and help Sanchez too.

Can Cromartie do his part and shut down his assigned receiver making the Jets corners the top duo in the league?

There is a lot of dislike towards Cromartie among Jet fans. I'm not one of them, I believe he played great at times for the Jets last season and at times he played stupid. I can think of only one game where he got dominated and that was the first Miami game against Brandon Marshall. My answer to that is that was against Brandon Marshall. He shut down Brandon Lloyd who was tearing the league up before he met Cromartie. I can also add Randy Moss, Chad Johnson, and a few others who had average days or worse against Cro. As Jet fans Revis has spoiled us. We feel either or the Jet corners should give up passes. As the other corner opposite Revis, Cro was challenged a lot last season, I feel he did a great job and will be better this season. The one thing I hope is Cro holding when his man gets a step on him, seems like he gets caught every time.

Can Pace be that double digit sack specialist the Jets crave?

Didn't see too much out of Pace this preseason. Pace had 8 sacks in 2009. Not bad considering he only played 12 games missing the first four due to suspension. Last season after missing the first four games again because of an injury to his foot, Pace only had 5.5 sacks. It was told he never recovered fully from the foot injury and was only 20% healthy last season. So its put-up or shut-up for Pace this season. I personally think Pace is an decent pass rusher, but he needs that animal on the other side that could crave most of the O-lines attention. Westerman is not that animal, sure hope he proves me wrong (Westerman).

Can the Jets establish a home field advantage at Jet-Life stadium?

The jets lost three games last season where they gave up 10 points or less.They lost a game against Atlanta the season before 10-7 What makes this more embarrassing is all three games plus the Atlanta game were at home. If they win those games, they would had finish 14-2, probably still had to go to NE, but Pittsburgh would had to come to new meadowlands stadium. I remember a game two years ago at the meadowlands against NE where Brady had trouble hearing, couple with a great defensive effort, the Jets won 16-9. I hear the new stadium is not as loud as the first one. Thats a shame, because if they go 8-0 at home and 4-4 on the road, that's 12-4 and a great season in my opinion. I really like opinions on this one, can the Jets establish a home field advantage?

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I would add...

Can Shon Greene be the bell-cow running back? How many yards does he gain this season?

On 1), I think they just need to improve in the redzone by run or pass and they will be high powered on offense.
On 2), I hope so, but alot depends on 3).
On 3), I expect him to get doubles this year.
On 4), geez, I hope so.

by CervezaVerde on Sep 11, 2011 2:56 PM EDT reply actions

Good question about green.

He need to improve them hands too, catch a few out of the backfield.

by BIG OH!!!!! on Sep 11, 2011 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Who Knows

They don’t leave him in the game long enough or give him enough touches to tell.

"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

by joeklecko on Sep 11, 2011 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions

1) Yes. Sanchez is ready and the weapons are in place. The offense will bust out.

2) Cro is a big question mark to me. If he can consistently be aggressive in bump coverage, then I like him to be a true shut down. If he plays much the same as he did last year, we’ll see the same topsy-turvey results.

3) I think Pace can be a double-digit sack guy. Our D-line will largely determine that though.

4) Yeah, I think we’ll win the division this year. I think the Pats will lose a few more this year than they did last year.

by Crackback on Sep 11, 2011 4:09 PM EDT reply actions

I'm

hoping Cromartie has a great year, time will tell. I think this is the year Sanchez breaks out.

This is what it sounds like When Doves Cry- Prince

by PuffDaddy18 on Sep 11, 2011 4:48 PM EDT reply actions

Based on Tonight

sadly I’d say the answer to all 4 of your questions is a resounding “NO.”

– Yefim Novikov

by joeklecko on Sep 11, 2011 11:46 PM EDT reply actions

Wow

by CervezaVerde on Sep 12, 2011 12:12 AM EDT up reply actions

Here's Why

In retrospect, perhaps I’ll change my mind on #1. Both Sanchez and BS showed some improvement tonight. Anything’s possible there.

Cro is a wussy plain and simple. He’d rather let the WR hit him and redirect him rather than being the aggressor and knocking the WR off his route. I think he does this so he can try to intercept the ball rather than shutting his man down. The problem is that he isn’t coming close to intercepting the ball. He should have had that ball to Austin in the EZ, but let Austin take it away from him.

Pace is too slow to be a double-digit sack guy. The only times he got pressure tonight was when the pocket had broken down, Romo was scrambling and had already held the ball too long. He was even worse in coverage. I despise him. One of the worst FA signings the team ever made, and he’s handcuffing them due to his contract.

I don’t know why, but the Jets usually play poorly at home. Rex’s comments that they feed off the fans is a BS excuse. How does he explain their playing so well on the road, where they have few fans present? I think it’s in his and his player’s psyche. They relax at home rather than trying to make this a place where other teams fear or dread to play. Until this changes, I don’t see the Jets even making it to a SB, much less winning one.

– Yefim Novikov

by joeklecko on Sep 12, 2011 1:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Cro played pretty well

He didnt get thrown at two often, the TD from Dez was sloppy play by Cromartie but the Austin TD was just a WR makin a play and youhave to respect the WR for that play. Even if Cro came up with the ball it was ruled a simultaneous catch which means it goes to the offense.

by Nu York Fan on Sep 12, 2011 8:06 AM EDT up reply actions

It Isn't the Two TDs He Gave Up

that I’m criticizing his play for, although he never should have allowed Austin to take that ball away from him. It’s that he plays like a wussy. For all his height, speed and athleticism, he lets WRs take the game to him and dictate to him. If I’m not mistaken, in his rookie season, he used his hands and pressed more at the LOS and had his best season. For some reason he stopped doing that. I think it’s because he realized that if knocks a WR off his route, then the pass will go elsewhere and he won’t get an opportunity for a pick or a pass defensed. I could very well be wrong about that and hope I am, but he just doesn’t seem to listen to the CS regarding being more physical.

– Yefim Novikov

by joeklecko on Sep 12, 2011 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions

I seen the game different when it comes to Pace

Him and Westerman were getting decent pressure outside the pocket all night. The problem is there is no inside rusher to stop Romo from stepping up in the pocket. I see this as a problem. Pace motor was non-stop when he rushed, but there was no one getting pressure up the middle. I see the same problems as last season. Bart Scott was getting pressure early, but Dallas adjusted and after that there was no pressure up the middle. The Jets need a Kris Jenkins, I’m hoping Kendrick Ellis develops to be that missing piece on the line.

by BIG OH!!!!! on Sep 12, 2011 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Fair Enough

We’ll just have to agree to disagree. My question is this, however…What good does it do to have a non-stop motor, when one is so slow that one isn’t really a major threat to get to the QB anyway. The only sacks he gets is if he’s left untouched, or the coverage is excellent and the QB holds the ball too long and the pocket begins to break down???

I agree with you about no inside push or pressure and hoping that Ellis becomes that guy.

– Yefim Novikov

by joeklecko on Sep 12, 2011 6:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Can the Jets develop a high power offense like most of their competitors have?

I believe so. After watching the Dallas game and seeing them throw a lot more than we’re used to seeing and switching away from the Ground and Pound game I think we’ve established that we can be somewhat successful here. Team are used to respecting our run game but they aren’t used to respecting the pass even when we had Holmes/Edwards/Jco. This year they will have to respect the pass and we can kill them with the run (if we can get Greene going) and if they try to play the run we can attack them with the pass. Especially with Sanchez being able to audible.

Can Cromartie do his part and shut down his assigned receiver making the Jets corners the top duo in the league?

I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot on this so I apologize but I do not think Cro played poorly in coverage against Dallas and I think he did well all last year. His penalties need to stop though. Even on the Dez Bryant catch they coulda got him for holding. He’s athletic and just needs to be a bit more physical on the line. I think he really needs to watch how physical Revis is and pick up that ability. Other than that you really can’t say that his actual coverage is bad. All corners get burned on occasion whether it’s Revis, Aso, Jones or Woodson. Cro is going to get burned to. He’s just going to take so much more flack for it because we expect him to play as good as Revis on the other side of the field every game, all game long.

Can Pace be that double digit sack specialist the Jets crave?

I doubt this very much. I think our biggest concern is our OLB. We have a very light rushing game when it’s so pivitol to our defense. I’m seeing Banta-Cain being looked at today and this makes me happy. Pace is just SLOW. If the QB has all the time in the world to throw the ball maybe Pace makes it through. But what I saw Sunday night Pace was almost a non factor and now he’s suposed to be 100% right? He looked better at 20%. He’s getting old. I don’t think Westerman is the answer though. And aparently neither does the Front office if they are shopping.

Can the Jets establish a home field advantage at Jet-Life stadium?

I actually hope they don’t. I posted this before but this team doesn’t do very well after a bye week. We are 4 of 6 on the road in playoff games the last 2 years. That’s not a bad record and if you remember correctly against Indy we had a nice lead and just got sliced up by Manning and against Pitt. we were making a very strong come back. But after a bye week we lost to Jax 22-24 in 09 and GB 0-9 in 10 (both at home). We’re too rusty and look awful. And in the last 2 years we’ve lost more at home than we have away. I’d take my chances on the road without a bye to keep the momentum going.

I think Jim Leonhard should be in the next Nike "Boom" Commercial or at least the next time he makes one of those tackles he needs to jump up with a can of Kool-Aid and shout "Oh yeah".

by Tamarack on Sep 13, 2011 3:16 PM EDT reply actions

Interesting

On #1 you may be right. There were some encouraging signs on Sunday night.

We just have to agree to disagree. I don’t think was very good in coverage at all. I read something that I think was very telling. Cro himself said he felt like he was playing pretty poorly until he saw the tapes after the game, and now thinks he played pretty well. His coverage was tight on the two TDs he gave up. I don’t fault his coverage on those two plays, only his execution. On the Bryant TD, if he had jumped instead of trying to keep Bryant from jumping, he could have knocked the ball down or had an interception. On the Austin TD, he just let Austin take it away from him. He had perfect coverage. It was actually the other passes that Cro didn’t have very good coverage on.

we totall agree. Pace sux.

I think you have the wrong attitude on this one. Any team NEEDS to develop a home field advantage. They should want to do that for their fans. In the playoffs, it means not having to travel and being able to perhaps play one less game. It’s ridiculous that they play badly after a BYE. That crap must stop. You don’t accept it, and hope not to have a BYE. That’s silly. Rex needs to learn how to fire up his players and make sure that BS doesn’t get too cute or outsmart himself.

– Yefim Novikov

by joeklecko on Sep 13, 2011 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t disagree actually on most of what you said. I don’t fault Cro’s coverage but yes his execution needed follow through. If he had jumped instead of holding, if he hadn’t given up on the fight for the ball and wrestled it away.. I agree.. but I guess I’m stressing he’s no Revis but he’s not horrible either. He’s going to get picked on a lot opposite of Revis and if his coverage is there, we can yell at him for execution but don’t pick on his coverage.

I do think he needs to be more physical no doubt though. That’s the huge difference I see between him and Revis. Revis is smacking and flapping and just really really physical whereas Cro tries to let the reciever go to “bait” the pass in hopes of an interception every time. And I use that from that same article you read. He wants to bait the QB to throwing his way. I don’t think he needs to bait any QB… with Revis on the other side of the field the ball is probably coming his way more often than not.

My attitude on the home field advantage is from a fans perspective. I would honestly HOPE Rex doesn’t have his team thinking they shouldn’t fight for that every step of the way lol. My take is simply looking at the last 2 years (Rex/Sanchez era) and saying statisically (by a narrow margin) we play better on the road than we do at home and the last 2 years we’ve sucked after the BYE week. Statistically it would just seem to me that if we are in this situation we handle ourselves pretty well on the road and in the playoffs.

I agree though.. the crap after the BYE must stop. But looking at our home/away ratios and our ratios after a bye week frankly that scares me if we had a bye week and came back to playing at home in the playoffs. It is silly but it’s my perspective on the last 2 years.

I think Jim Leonhard should be in the next Nike "Boom" Commercial or at least the next time he makes one of those tackles he needs to jump up with a can of Kool-Aid and shout "Oh yeah".

by Tamarack on Sep 13, 2011 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks guys for your responses

You got to write something like Sanchez stinks to get guys to respond to posts here sometimes.

by BIG OH!!!!! on Sep 13, 2011 5:01 PM EDT reply actions

Wha, wha, wha, what? Sanchez what? How dare you!!??

No, you just need to have a slightly different, well stated, uh, controversial point or two. It just goes to show how controversy seems to sell. To bad there isn’t an “approve” next to “Rec’d”. Just to say, its worth a read.

by CervezaVerde on Sep 13, 2011 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions