Great stats on this site..... Jones did not look too good as a RB.....of possible plays, TJ performed below average in comparison to all other RB's on the same play. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/rb The left DE/LB side (Ellis/B.Thomas) was great against the run. The right DE/LB side (Devito/Pace/Gholston)needs to improve against the run. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/dl
The lowest yards per carry is against the side where Bryan Thomas and Shaun Ellis are which people thought were two expendable players and are very undervalued my most Jets fans. Shaun Ellis has been a considerably good player for the Jets throughout the years, without a doubt not an all star, but still an above average player. Whereas Bryan Thomas might not have the credibility of being a great pass rusher, he has the ability to stop the run and pass coverage, which is why the aquisition of Jason Taylor is key, for him to take over for Bryan Thomas on passing downs and make this defense even more diverse.
Ellis has been terrific since the switch to 3-4 . As for Cactus, he does nothing that's flashy but he's a solid player against the run.
LT looks even worse than TJ in those rankings. I still can't figure out why we signed an over the hill back that we did not know would perform well for us and let another over the hill back that probably would have been ok go. If the point was that we couldn't afford an over the hill back in a year when we were going all out, well that's management's call and probably a good one - but to bring in another wheelchair case in place of TJ was really not very bright.
you have to factor in the O-line situation and system. If Jones and LT were to swap o-lines last year, I'm sure the production would of been different for both (in LT's favor) especially since Jones would of been in San Diego's Passing system where he would of failed miserably. I have my money on LT. The stats prove it. We had a hell of an O-line yet Jones performed below average in comparison to all other RB's on the same play. Get Jones out of here.
Tomlinson was also playing against an inferior offensive line. He'll also be playing an entirely different role than Jones did in New York. Who has better hands: LT or Jones? Who is the better pass protector: LT or Jones? LT is far better in both phases of the game and that's why he was signed. Shonn Greene, a young and up-and-coming back, is taking over Thomas Jones' role...not LT. I don't see how posters, especially "the most knowledgeable" one, can't see that.
I agree mostly, where it becomes a problem though is if Greene gets injured and LT has to carry the load. Greene's running style makes him more prone to injury than your average RB, and he hasn't yet proven he can play through the pain. If Greene stays mostly healthy I think LT is definitely the better #2 option given Jones' strengths/weaknesses as a RB.
It really bothers me that Greene is so fragile, because he's a violent runner - so I fear that he won't get up after every single carry. Hopefully Conner and McKnight can take some of the wear and tear off of LT and Greene. I'm not banking on either of the two making much of an impact offensively as rookies, but they could have very minor roles. I think Tomlinson has enough left in the tank to take over for a few games, but he won't be able to handle everything by himself if Greene is seriously injured.
Analysts and Knowledgeable posters same situation, so fucking annoying man, how many times do people have to repeat this?
If things go the way I hope, this discussion won't go further than Week 1 of the regular season. Thomas Jones isn't going to do anything behind the Chiefs' offensive line, while Greene will get the majority of the carries running behind an elite set of blockers.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol looking at our o-line DWood is one of the strongest yet we ran that way 23% of the time
One thing I've learned over the years is that injuries do not happen in a vacuum. When a player experiences nagging injuries over the course of a season that tends to be because they are injury-prone, not random. Another thing I've learned is that runningback is a position in which injuries, especially nagging ones, tend to happen all the time and if players can play through them that's fine but if they can't that's a problem. The third thing I've learned over the years is that it's a huge transition from part-time back to 250+ carries. Most promising runningbacks cannot make that transition smoothly if they are also injury-prone. I'm not primarily upset that the Jets replaced TJ with LT because I think that LT cannot do TJ's old role with the team. I know he can't do that job and my guess is the Jets do also, so that's not the issue of concern. I'm primarily upset because I think the odds are that Shonn Greene can't do TJ's old job either over the course of the season, and the fact that LT is what's likely to be on tap if/when Greene begins to falter is extremely upsetting. If the Jets decided not to go with the aging back who broke down at the end of the season last year as Greene's backup that's cool. That they signed the other aging back who broke down last year when his team needed him most is not. And really don't start talking about how there will be better options available if Greene breaks down because right now the Jets don't have any of those on the roster. McKnight is raw and unlikely to be able to hand the full load next year and nobody else comes close to qualifying. By signing LT the Jets created a powderpuff cushion behind their likely powderpuff main option. I'd have held on to TJ no questions asked if the alternative was to sign LT, at least that wasn't another powderpuff on the depth chart.
