Jets midseason report card: Gang Green is halfway there BY RICH CIMINI DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Tuesday, November 4th 2008, 10:20 PM Kostroun/AP Brett Favre and Eric Mangini (below) are pumped about a first-place tie in the AFC East. Weissman for News Despite questionable play calling, occasional defensive lapses and Brett Favre's dirty dozen (interceptions, that is), the Jets reached the midpoint in a three-way tie for first in the AFC East. If somebody had offered that to Eric Mangini in August, he would've jumped at the chance to be even with the Patriots at the turn. ALSO SEE: GIANTS MIDSEASON REPORT CARD The Jets are lucky to be in this position, having benefitted from a huge break (Tom Brady's injury) and terrific timing. They were able to deal with their growing pains (read: Favre's transition) while facing mostly inferior opponents. It has been choppy, but say this: They hung around, finally finding themselves in Sunday's win at Buffalo. You can almost see where this is going. The Jets, and possibly the Dolphins, will be battling for a playoff berth in the final game, when Chad Pennington returns to the Meadowlands. That would be cool. QUARTERBACKS: C-plus Favre is the ultimate enigma. They've won because of him and in spite of him. His presence has changed the culture around the team, but legend or no legend, the turnovers (14) and poor decisions have to stop. A former GM, studying tape, noticed a slight change in his delivery, causing him to think Favre's shoulder/arm is hurting. Say this for the gray gunslinger: He makes those around him believe. That's big. PSL SAGA PART I: AGONY OF THE SEAT RUNNING BACKS: A-minus Thomas Jones is having a sneaky good year. Can you believe he's the second-leading rusher in the AFC with 601 yards? Jones hasn't been dominant (only two 100-yard games), but he's getting to the second level more consistently than last season. Leon Washington might be the team MVP ? again. If it weren't for him, they would've lost to the lowly Chiefs. FB Tony Richardson is an effective lead blocker. WIDE RECEIVERS: B-minus PSL SAGA PART II: NEWS ANSWERS YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS Save for the Arizona game, where Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery combined for five of their eight TDs, the group has been relatively quiet. Based on his production, slot man Chansi Stuckey (19 catches, 16 first downs) deserves a bigger role. TIGHT ENDS: C The committee approach isn't working. Except for the opening series in Oakland, Chris Baker has been an afterthought. Rookie Dustin Keller has the physical tools, but he's prone to mental errors and hasn't made much of an impact. Bubba Franks was supposed to be a factor in the red zone, but the only time he's a go-to guy is when a reporter needs a snappy quote about Favre, his former Packer teammate. OFFENSIVE LINE: B The line has taken some unfair criticism. The Jets are gaining a healthy 4.5 yards per carry and only nine of the 16 sacks can be blamed on the line, according to STATS, LLC. LG Alan Faneca and RT Damien Woody, the big-money additions, have yielded 3.5 sacks apiece. Faneca hasn't been an $8 million-a-year player. The bright spot is LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson, who has only one penalty and 1.5 sacks allowed. DEFENSIVE LINE: A-minus Mammoth NT Kris Jenkins could take down Shea and Yankee Stadiums; he's a wrecking ball, the main reason why the Jets are ranked fourth in run defense. He deserves consideration for NFL Defensive Player of the Year. DE Shaun Ellis (team-high seven sacks) is enjoying his best year since 2004. The rest are blue-collar role players. LINEBACKERS: B They're getting strong run play on the outside from $42 million man Calvin Pace and the rejuvenated Bryan Thomas. Pace is a valuable, every-down player, but not an elite pass rusher. Inside guys Eric Barton and David Harris tackle everything in sight, but there haven't been many impact plays. David Bowens is a terrific role player. The unit doesn't cover well in space, and certain teams have exploited that weakness. DEFENSIVE BACKS: C-plus There are obvious strengths ? S Kerry Rhodes and CB Darrelle Revis, who is having a Pro Bowl-caliber season ? and glaring weaknesses. There hasn't been much production from the other safety spot, save for Abram Elam's TD return, and nickelback Drew Coleman has struggled. Rookie CB Dwight Lowery has encountered a rough patch. If the pass rush falters, the coverage won't hold up. SPECIAL TEAMS: C-plus Lots of instability. They changed the coordinator, the punter and the kicker, the latter due to an injury. The star is Washington, who makes great plays even when he doesn't run it back ? i.e. his Buffalo ?step out.? Two bad plays figured prominently in losses ? Oakland's successful fake punt and the Jets' unsuccessful onsides kick in San Diego.. COACHES: B-minus Mangini pulled up his grade with the big win in Buffalo. Prior to that, there seemed to be a disconnect between him and Favre in terms of a vision for the offense. The play calling has been inconsistent and there have been curious in-game decisions. Otherwise, the team is generally well-prepared and, except for a couple of Favre hiccups, they've controlled the fourth quarter ? a sign of a resilient, well-conditioned team. Mangini has the pieces to win the division; let's see if he can bring them home. FRONT OFFICE: B-plus The Jenkins trade was brilliant, and the big free-agent signings have ranged from solid to very good, but Mike Tannenbaum's legacy will be determined by the outcome of The Favre Experiment. Give him credit for improving the two biggest weaknesses ? the offensive line and the front seven. His grade takes a hit because top pick Vernon Gholston hasn't contributed at all. __________________
For Cimini to say they could take the division is big. I like the resilient, well-conditioned part too. BTW, The Jets are always better in the 2nd half of the season under Mangini. They went 6-2 in 06 and won 3 of their total 4 wins in the 2nd half of 07.
Ron Jaworski was the one who did this, on ESPN NFL Sunday Matchup, and he is not a former GM, he is a former quarterback. He said he literally reviewed every throw Favre made from the Cincy, KC, and Oakland games to support his conclusion (it was very convincing by the way, and led to a very interesting followup: why on earth did the coaches call so many passing plays in KC if Favre's shoulder is hurt? It seemed very irresponsible and unnecessary) Why didn't' Cimini give Jaws credit by name? My guess, based on the fact he also said he was a GM, was that he read it somewhere and wanted to use it, but was just too d@mn lazy to look it up and get it right. having been reading him on and off a few months, I've come to the conclusion this guy is not a terribly insightful sports journalist. All we ever seem to get from him are "me too" reshashes of things other sports journalists already thought of.
Cimini sucks, but it's possible he did speak with a former GM who either rehashed what Jaws said, or did his own analysis. I wouldn't be surprised if Cimini is just making up his "source" though.
Why would a "former GM" be studying tape of Brett Favre? Just in case he gets a new GM job, and then wants to try to trade for him? LOL No, what probably happened is that Cimini read this in an SI column or something, saw Jaworski's name at the time and is so clueless about history that he thought he was a GM because he's old and wears a suit all the time or something, and then when he wrote this article he was too lazy to google 30 seconds to refresh his memory or get his facts straight.
