I am sure people will have their knives out for this approval rating poll. It is time to talk about offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, now in his sixth season calling plays for the Jets.
Schottenheimer frustrates many with his calls. He also has some excellent games. I do not think he is a terrible coordinator. I also do not think he is a particularly effective one, however.
So far this season there have been more games I have liked what he has done than games I have disliked his work. I still cannot say I approve of the job he is doing, though. Why? He has a long track record. He has never run a top ten offense in his career. He has had plenty of different quarterbacks and plenty of different talent. A top coordinator would have found a way to get his unit to play over his head once.
In my praise of Mike Tannenbaum earlier, I mentioned that even when he makes mistakes, I generally understand his thought process. I cannot say that about Schottenheimer. There are too many moments where what he is doing does not make sense.
Is the offense based around Mark Sanchez's strengths? Sanchez is a guy at his best on the move when he can scan the field, and his receivers have time to get open. We see plenty of games with quick timing routes. Is the offense based around attacking an opponent's weakness? Why did the Jets not attack New England's struggling secondary down the field more in Week 5?
When an offense struggles, people tend to want to blame either the players or the coaching. It is frequently both. Sure, the players sometimes fail to execute, but the coaches cannot get off without blame if the players are not put in the best position to succeed. Schottenheimer has not been handed the best hand. The Nick Mangold injury in particular was brutal. The reason a team hires a coach, though, is to work through difficulties. Very few have fantastic tools across the board. With that in mind, very few have the tools Schottenheimer has, but it sure feels like this offense should have been better in the first seven games.
What do you think?