Get to Know: Marty Mornhinweg

JB's Note: I'd like everybody to join me in welcoming Rich MacLeod to GGN. Rich is a life-long Jets fan who has experience producing videos for SNY for the Mets and editing highlight tapes for NFL players and those aspiring to make the NFL. Over the next few weeks, Rich will take us through the coaching staff of the Jets to talk about the team Rex Ryan has assembled, their past, and those who have influenced them.

What we know: After the one-year experiment that was Tony Sparano as Offensive Coordinator crashed and burned, the New York Jets went a different direction in hiring former Philadelphia Eagles OC Marty Mornhinweg.

While Tony Sparano has historically had a run-heavy offense, Mornhinweg has always run a West Coast Offense, which leans more on the passing game rather than rushing. When the hire was made, certain members of the New York media were outspoken in their distaste for the move, but they may have not been looking at all of the facts.

Take a look at Mornhinweg's career path that has led him to Florham Park:

Philadelphia Eagles fans have been harsh on Mornhinweg over the years, but in my eyes it's been undeservingly so. While the Eagles never did win a championship during the Andy Reid/Mornhinweg era, the offense was far from the problem. Up until the "Dream Team" debacle, Philadelphia was a constant in the NFL postseason.

Since 2006, Mornhinweg's first season as the Eagles Offensive Coordinator, Philadelphia led the league in passing plays of 25 yards or more with 219. For a team like the Jets who have been desperate for big offensive plays during the entire Rex Ryan era, Marty Morhinweg is the perfect person to have running that offense.

Not only that, but there have only been four times--out of Mornhinweg's 11 years as an offensive coordinator--where he's had an offense that was not ranked in the Top 10. In 2008 with Philadelphia and 1998 with San Francisco he ran the #1 overall offense in the NFL. He also had the #2 overall offense in 1997, his first season with the 49ers.

At West Virginia's Pro-Day, Mornhinweg became infatuated with quarterback Geno Smith. Low and behold, with the 39th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, the New York Jets got their coordinator a new toy on offense. In his time with the Eagles, Mornhinweg's starting quarterbacks were Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick. While Geno Smith prefers to stay in the pocket, he is extremely athletic and elusive. Not only that but he's got a canon of an arm and had a completion percentage of 71.2 in his final season with West Virginia, which will be key in a pass-heavy WCO.

There's no dispute that the Jets still have major question marks moving forward when it comes to personnel on offense, but if there's one person who can bring out the best in this group, in my opinion, that person is Marty Mornhinweg.