Nicely done. One thing I think we need to reiterate - and I know BradwaySux will never admit it, but - getting Revis is one of the keys to all of this. For a while, I thought that pressure makes the Secondary better, and it does to an extent; but you need DBs that can play tight Cover 1. Otherwise, a good QB (like Brady) will still find his WRs even if he has less time.
brady definetly did have some chances, but his accuracy was really poor. the pressure was in his kitchen i guess.
Yeah, the pressure absolutely affected his accuracy. However, there were plays in which he went to Moss (when Revis was covering him) and the throws were off because he was trying to place the ball where Revis couldn't get it -- this also caused inaccuracy. Think of it this way: let's say we had the same scheme and generated the same pressure, only, Barrett or Justin Miller were the CBs on Moss (and Welker next time). IMO, even a great pass-rush won't mask their lack of skill.
Revis is a huge plus and I don't doubt that. I didn't see a single play on Sunday where Randy Moss gets the ball and wreaks havoc if he was just covered by a decent CB. That's not always going to be true of course, but on Sunday Brady was having so much trouble with the pressure that all of his passes of more than 6 or 7 yards were problematic. If he didn't have Edelman do a great job as the outlet receiver he probably would have had one of his worst days ever. How many times did Brady drop back on Sunday and get to count three before he threw the ball? I doubt it was more than a couple of times. My issue with Revis is not that he's not a great defensive back, because I believe that he is. My issue with him is that if somebody goes down in the trenches this year the 2nd round pick that we spent to move up and take him would have given us more ability to cover that eventuality. Ditto for Dustin Keller who I also think is an excellent player. There's a point at which having dominant players at the expense of good depth comes back to haunt you. We haven't been there yet with the Jets and I'm hoping that's still true in January.
I know exactly what you mean about trench depth, and yeah, we very well may be screwed if someone goes down; however, that would be for this year. I'll take the best (or 1.a) CB in the NFL over a backup lineman because you can find backup lineman anywhere. Where can you find another Revis?
[edit: forgot to respond to this] Brady definitely didn't have time to get comfortable. But if you re-watch (I think there may be a play or 2 in the vid of the D), there were a couple times when Brady had enough time to find Moss and deliver the ball, but delivered it inaccurately because he was focused more - too much - on placing it where Revis couldn't get it and only Moss could. Problem was, where ever Moss, Revis was there too, so neither of them caught it. Again, I don't think this would've been the case - even with that crazy pass rush - with a David Barrett.
When you trade up, you put all your eggs in one basket. The Revis deal was fine because he has become a star corner. If he were a bust, then it becomes like the DeWayne Robertson pick, and it sets us back a few years. If Sanchez were to bust, it would be the same thing. While I liked the player in Keller, I was never a big fan of trading up for a tight end when I felt we needed depth then. Again, the player has been worth it, so it's good.
Yeah, that's been BradwaySux's contention all along -- that yer trading picks for uncertainty, or as you said, putting yer all yer eggs in 1 basket. And if you get it wrong, it can be a major setback. And for the most part, I agree. Having said that, if you don't trade and save the picks, the players drafted with those picks could just as easily bust too, AND you may have missed out on star player you could have traded up for. I suppose if you think the player is really worth taking that gamble on, then do it. It didn't work with D-Rob, but it clearly has worked with Revis.
Great article. This is the reason I love FO. I agree completely. The only thing that I would add is that trading up too much also sets you up for failure, even if you are getting great talent. If you keep trading up then you lose your ability to fill out your reserves with younger, cheaper talent. Those late round picks typically wind up being your best source for reserves.
The Jets have drafted a grand total of 13 players over the last 3 drafts, or 4.33 a draft. That's going to catch up to them at some point.
I would rather trade up to get a superstar then having more picks but those players not turning out well Plus don't forget the UDFA list also
that's why this draft coming up has to be just like the 06 draft. 10 players, and 3 become extremely important to the team while 2-3 others are role/backup players. FAs catch up to teams way too fast.
Why? plenty of available guys on the market that get drafted and cut, burn out with a team and find life elsewhere, you can build through the draft for depth or get some all pro talent, and build depth through free agency, practice squads, cuts etc..
That sounds like the Redskins to me. I don't want to become the Redskins. It also sounds a bit like the Bradway Jets, nuff said there.
If you look at teams that continue to compete through the years, they hardly ever trade up. They are constantly addressing positions that they are solid in at starting positions to bolster the depth because they know that injuries and fatigue are what typically cripples a team in the postseason, so they have a solid rotation and a serviceable backup if injuries do arise. Tanny has done a solid job drafting for the most part, in terms of finding top notch talent, but he has ignored the depth with those trade-ups and it shows. That wouldn't matter if the Jets, during that time, found excellent depth in the trenches to make up for it, but I don't think they have. We still are terribly thin on the O-line, and the defense has to completely change the gameplan and suit up too many extra role-players to compensate for a guy like Shaun Ellis being gone. Rex pretty much said it out loud. We had to suit up 10 different DBs on Sunday. The week before, when Ellis was out, I think he suited up like 7 or 8 D-linemen. All this while they had to keep Shonn Greene, our trade-up 'diamond in the rough RB', out of the game because of it. When you have to dress that many players to make up for a lack of depth, your overall roster suffers because of it. I love the players that we traded up for, but because we had to do it, the roster is thin and there's no denying the result.
At some point, we have to just sit where we are and draft some depth. I think we can finally do that, as we don't really have any glaring holes. Obviously, we could use a WR and a better pass rusher, but neither is a glaring need. Something will probably come up by the end of the season, but either way, I think we can finally just draft guys to complement the group we have already in place rather than draft guys because we desperately need talent.
If the Jets just used the next couple of high picks to take trench players they would probably solidify their position overall. Right now I see RT, LG, NT, RDE and ROLB as the positions they should be looking at the hardest. Ideally the Jets would have a rotational NT to spell Jenkins and learn the defense next season and a good young RT to give them some flexibility and coverage on the line. With Woody able to play RT, RG and C another quality RT would be huge for the Jets. I'd also like to see them come up with a real ROLB so they could shift Pace to the strongside. He's huge and quick and would be able to manage that very well I think.
JFM is right, we don't need to desperately add any talent that's gonna require a dramatic trade up in the draft. I'd still love to get a better WR to start opposite Cotch (like Stuck but he seems like he'd be best in the slot) but I think they will try to add a veteran to fill that void as opposed to drafting somebody and waiting for him to develop.
