Some in the media are calling yesterday's "win" a jarring setback. LW was an explosive player but the CS had a hard time integrating his style into the offense. The CS was afraid he couldn't endure the workload of a starting every down back and limited his carries; as result, they had a hard go of getting LW 20 "crafty" touches a game. LW has been a more consistent RB than TJ in terms of running to his ypc, but LW hasn't had the explosive long gainers for TDs, neither on the ground, nor via the screen pass he has been adept at converting. Leon has had ZERO offensive TDs this year. He was also a player whose impact was felt on ST. I don't know why he hasn't returned punts, but since the rule change on kick offs, LW has done nothing. This fact reduced his value greatly, as he was previously a pro-bowl KR. He has Zero TDs on KO. The drop off is real and tangible. Now yes he's an explosive, shifty player, with great short area quickness. And yes it is a big human interest story with the contract and his life story. However, LW's loss wasn't felt on Sunday and it may not be felt going forward. In large part, this is bc of great and timely drafting. Greene had just been waiting in the wings for his shot. When he got It he showed precisely why the run game will not only show no drop off, but will actually become more focused and complimentary. As compliments to the stutter-and-shuffle-in-the-hole TJ, which can be effective with a tired or overcommitted defense, both LW and SG are more "burst into the hole" types. But SG is going to really wear down defenses with his smashmouth and ornery style whereas LW was never really capable of that. Nor really was TJ capable of wearing down a defense. TJ is tough, but he isn't the tough-yards short-yardage back he has been miscast as, probably bc he has huge arms and is ripped. SG is a real straight thru the hole short yardage back that we have lacked. This IMO will really compliment TJs stutter, shuffle and burst. It will wear a D down making TJs style more effective whereas before he was miscast in that role, and we were without a real third down back. As we saw, SG is not just a 3rd down back. He's quick, agile and capable of breaking tackles. He will keep defenses honest like no other player on O besides what Braylon does to the periphery. He will bruise, batter, and run thru arm tackles. Importantly, he is quick enough to the corner, so the toss sweep will not be deleted from the playbook, altho I never want to see TJ run laterally again. One thing the CS has tried is to get the ball to LW on the screen, which has limited TJ in the passing game. But TJ once caught 50+ balls in Chicago and has caught 30+ many times. While SG has terrible hands, TJ can catch the ball for reliable gains. While the loss of LW is tragic, tactically the FO has this team in a position not to lose a beat. Moreover, SG will bring a dimension of power to the running game that has been visably absent for at least 25 games, and because SG is more than just a lumbering powerback, our offense will be able to CONTROL defenses, wear them down like never before, while only lessening the explosive element a little. "Smash and Dash" never worked bc there was never any smash to Leon's dash. Now we will finally see a coherent offensive philosophy organized around the running game, which finally has the personnel to execute a coherent strategy, which bc of new personnel we saw become "Ground and Pound". We won't miss a beat in the running game, and a big test will come on Sunday. I knew the last time that Miami would contain bc our running game was incoherent, the stats skewed by a few long runs. While Miami still has an edge, I'm not so unsure of our running game. Ryan wants a run heavy offense. IMO SG helps to attain that by adding a new dimension to the offense, something LW could not add, and neither frankly could TJ. IMO Greene solidifies the entire identity of the offense around what Rex wants, and by extension, completes the identity of the entire team: tough, stingy defense and an ornery run heavy O. Both together will keep the defense fresher by the offense pounding opposing defenses. With opposing Ds softened, watch what it does for Sanchez. It will make him more patient, reduce passing turnovers, and most important, it will unlock the playaction. It's not so much that Greene replaces LW with better stuff, altho it could be argued, it is more that SG adds a new dimension, that will be just as powerful when LW and him are truly able to operate a "Smash and Dash" attack in 2010. As for KR, his lack of game breaking runs makes it easier to see Dwight Lowery or Brad Smith back there.
LW is a loss, but your right he is not the heart of the offense. TJ and greene can run the ball and possibly danny woodhead could play some and replace his explosiveness. Jenkins is a much bigger loss than this.
I don't think it is a huge loss either. His workload is up and his performance was down. Greene will easily replace his running yards. Not sure who we should use to replace him in the return game. I don't see a huge drop off here.
I could picture Woodhead taking some screen passes and running it like LW. From what I've read and hear Shonn Greene is not a great pass catching back just yet. So working Danny at WR might prove to be a genius move without the CS even realizing it.
The piling on Washington is utter bullshit. The dude is a pro-bowl player. Of course losing him hurts. Its common sense.
I think it's only exaggerated because Schotty was trying to test Leon out as a full-time back - which I think was his main mistake. BS has been so adamant about trying to find out Leon's full-time capabilities that he has let it detrimentally affect his gameplanning and Leon's production in the O has suffered for it. He wasn't putting Leon in the best position to succeed and should have been doing a standard RBBC rotation Leon, Greene and TJ and our running game would not have initially suffered for it. Instead, he had Leon doing a ton of 3rd down responsible stuff early on, with some trick nonsense like the Seminole, bubble screens, inside runs - low-percentage scheming. I think that if Leon had been used on a ton more outside runs and designed dump-offs and high-percentage screens (not that bubble screen bullshit), people would probably be more down on losing him than they are right now. Leon's breakaway speed is going to be missed, we just didn't get to see a lot of it yet because Schotty was playing mad scientist. You put a guy with his speed on the field against a defense that has more than half a season's worth of wear and tear slowing them down, and you get better results.
I don't think anyone is piling on just because they're expressing honest opinion about the Washington loss. My take is I love Leon for his explosiveness... his ability to take it to the house. And I love watching him run with the ball because his juking is almost comical. That being said, Shonn Greene is a punishing, explosive back in his own right and averaging what, 7.5 YPC right now? He doesn't have the take-it-to-the-house explosiveness that Leon has, but he's a more punishing north-south runner with an amazing nose for the hole at this young stage in his career. Quite honestly, pounding Leon up the middle lately has been frustrating the shit out of me. He's not that kind of back, but Greene truly is. So if that's what we want to do, it's almost like Greene is the perfect replacement for Leon to get the carries. Losing Leon hurts a lot, but he'll be back next year. In the meantime, his loss isn't as devastating as losing Jenkins.
Agreed. I'm surprised nobody's suggested cutting him yet. Or maybe they have, I haven't read it all today.
Losing Washington certainly hurts. At the end of the day he's our #1 playmaker--nobody else on the offense is a risk to take it to the house on any given play. Especially with Cotchery being gimpy and Keller not performing at the level that many of us hoped, it hurts to lose a guy as good as Leon Washington. That said, I agree with the sentiment that his injury is a setback for the Jets, not a disaster.
I suspect when we are in one of those close games where nothing particular is working on O and the D is doing a good job. The kind of game we had against the Pats we will miss the one or two explosive plays he gives us that immediately change field position or directly put points on the board. After a 38 to Zip defeat of one of the real NFL dog shit teams that essentially gave up after the second turnover, not so much.
There are no positive effects for this offense from losing Leon Washington. Shonn Greene has been beat up off of very little contact so far in his NFL career. Having just TJ and him as viable options at this point is really scary, and if he twists his ankle again we'll all understand exactly what losing Leon Washington really meant to the Jet's chances. I do think that the idea that Schotty will be more constrained now in what he chooses to do on offense is a valid one. No more Seminole, no more anything but power running, and both of those are good things in terms of Sanchez development moving forward this season. That still isn't enough benefit to justify the idea that losing Leon Washington is somehow a positive event. Having Leon Washington available AND having Schotty creating and implementing effective gameplans would have been much better than the situation the Jets are in right now.
Forget the offense. That's not where we're going to really miss Leon Washington. We're going to miss him when, rather than starting at the 30 or 35, we're starting at the 15 or 20. This is where Danny Woodhead has to step up. We need a dynamic kick returner. That's where Leon made his biggest impact. Jones and Greene can handle the ground attack, but it's going to be that much harder without the great field position Leon had been setting up.
+1 good call, Alio. Leon "consistently" gave the offense excellent field position off kickoffs....saying his loss is exaggerated is ridiculous.
We have had a good KO return scheme for a long time. Remember before Leon Justin Miller was a dangerous kick returner, too. Not to minimize Leon but I think we'll be ok there. As mentioned above, his ability to take a routine handoff or screen and bust it is where we're going to miss him in a tight game against a good team.
Woodhead's a legit kick returner? I don't see him back there taking kicks, didn't he muff a few punts in the preseason?
RB is one of the more replaceable positions. It is a tough loss, because of the explosiveness Leon brings. However, the o-line is really where the running game is made. Also, I would be be surprised if Westhoff doesn't find a suitable KR replacement. Nowhere near as bad a loss as Jenkins.
amen. i believe the Jets were always around 1st in field position during the entire Mangini regime. I wouldn't be shocked if it continued to be one of the elite stats the Jets hold.
Agreed. Good post, Alio. Schotty hasn't been using Leon the way he should on offense. Too many runs, not enough screens. Leon should have been split out on the O or in the slot a lot more and targeted a lot more in the passing game. Since Schotty hasn't done that this season, we're not going to miss him on offense.
