Hot, Nasty Speed

It has been said that football is a chess match, where mismatches win games. If you can find a hole in an offense or defense, you can exploit it to victory. For the Seattle Seahawks, that came with pure physicality. Their cornerbacks were taller than you and they were stronger than you, and they could impose their will upon you. It's the pursuit of these mismatches that teams seek, and here is one proposal for how the New York Jets can find an edge over the competition.

It's about speed.

Not in the Oakland Raider sense under Al Davis, where they simply wanted the fastest athlete, and not football player, they could find. Not in the Johnny "Lam" Jones sense, of finding players that are just fast... and that's it. I am proposing small, quick football players, on offense, with a diverse range of skill sets that make them interchangeable, at ever position.

It is almost impossible to find a Calvin Johnson-type player who is big, strong, fast, can run the entire route tree, and will catch everything you throw to him... even in triple coverage. But it is not as difficult to find players that are smaller, quicker, and catch the ball.

I propose the Jets seek players like Darren Sproles, Dexter McCluster, Danny Woodhead, Dri Archer, De'Anthony Thomas. If you fill your team with players like those, or generally with Percy Harvin and Tavon Austin clones, I believe you can have success. Each player can line up at running back or wide receiver. They can be spread across the field and they can find those mismatches. We have seen what Geno Smith can do with one Austin, how about three or four?

You want to match your over-sized cornerback on them? Good luck. A linebacker or a safety? Have fun trying to keep up. The possible danger is an extremely physical team like the Seahawks, however they've proven themselves to be a danger to any offense, not just a small one they can overpower.

Now, I am not suggesting these are the only players on the offense; obviously you want some bigger receivers to take some pressure off and occupy the corners, along with tight ends. However, if you can get three or four of these guys, make them the focal point of the offense, and cycle them through to find those mismatches? Well to me, that sounds like a disaster for the defense.