Shonn Greene: "If you fumble, you're not getting back in the game." » By Manish Mehta Shonn Greene revealed an interesting piece of information two days after his forgettable season-opening performance. The supposed focal point of the Jets ground-and-pound attack said that the unspoken rule is that if you fumble, you’re out of the game until further notice. Greene, of course, was yanked from the Monday night loss against the Ravens after coughing it up with 4:17 left in the second quarter. “I was just waiting on when they said I could go back in,” Greene said. “I wasn’t expecting to get back in. In the preseason, that was formula: If you fumble, you’re not getting back in the game.” Greene said that the coaches didn’t approach him and explain their decision during the game. So, he waited. And waited. And waited. Consider the breakdown: After fumbling, Greene didn’t play on the next 16 offensive snaps (plus one Mark Sanchez kneel down before halftime). In those 16 plays, LaDainian Tomlinson touched the ball 50 percent of the time. The veteran had 8 touches for 40 yards, including seven carries for 33 yards. “You can’t fumble at key times like that,” said Greene, who fumbled out of bounds earlier in the game after a reception. “I wasn’t expecting an explanation.” Greene didn’t play the entire third quarter. He reentered the game with less than five minutes to go in the game and dropped a pass in the flat. Then, he was gone for the final eight offensive snaps of the game. In all, Greene, who had 5 carries for 18 yards, didn’t play in 25 of the final 26 offensive snaps. “I take that loss on my shoulders,” Greene said. “That was a key moment in the game. It turned into a TD for Baltimore…. I don’t think I would have put myself back in after that performance.” Still, it was curious that the coaches wouldn’t re-insert Greene in a tight game. Rex Ryan said that he didn't specifically talk to offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer about why Greene only played one snap in the second half, insisting that the team will continue to rotate Greene and Tomlinson. "I'm tired of talking about it," Ryan said. "We did average 5.5 a carry." Greene and Tomlinson combined for 16 carries for 80 yards (5.0 ypc) out of their traditional running alignment. (Mark Sanchez gained 5 yards after broken pass plays, Braylon Edwards gained 4 yards on an end-around and Brad Smith picked up 27 yards on a pair of gadget plays). Although the Ravens turned Greene's second-quarter fumble into a touchdown, there was plenty of blame to go around on the Ravens’ scoring drive. Rex Ryan’s team committed three penalties that helped Baltimore score the lone touchdown of the game. Greene, of course, struggled holding on to the ball early last season. He had three lost fumbles in his first 71 carries as a rookie. But he didn't cough it up once in 54 postseason carries. Greene also didn't fumble this preseason. Greene insisted that he hasn’t lost confidence after the season opener, but what kind of message does it send to the guy touted as the feature back all offseason when he’s pulled in the second quarter of the first game of the season? “I don’t think nobody wants to sit,” Greene said. “That’s what the coaches had planned. I have no problem with that. I fumbled. And I shouldn’t have fumbled." A few more nuggets from Jets universe today: Contrary to popular belief, the Jets weren't eliminated from the playoffs after their Week 1 loss to the Ravens. There wasn't a sense of panic heading into this weekend's showdown with the Patriots, but Brandon Moore did admit, "This is a must win." Ryan reiterated that he was most disappointed in the fouls committed on both sides of the ball and challenged his team to get more film work in during the week before the Patriots come to town. Like last year, the coach exhorted New York’s fans to further impress Tom Brady with their devotion and decibel levels. “Our fans were into it beyond belief,” Ryan said of Monday night’s crowd. Ryan admitted that the team re-signed speedster David Clowney because “at the end of the day we needed another receiver up.” Ryan praised Randy Moss yet again, calling the veteran “probably the best vertical wide receiver in the game.” Ryan on Bill Belichick: “I think [Belichick] respects me -- the commitment I have to football.” Ryan wasn't thrilled with running the ball only 21 times in the season opener. “When we’re running the ball only 21 times in a game … that’s not who we are,” Ryan said. Ryan declared linebacker Calvin Pace (foot) out for Sunday. Pace said that he will come out of his walking boot Thursday. 'Everything's going good so far," Pace said. "I don't want to go to fast (in the rehab) in order to avoid a setback." S Brodney Pool (ankle) was still limited in practice and remains hopeful that he'll be ready to play this week. -- With Kevin Armstrong Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/jets/2010/09/shonn-greene-if-you-fumble-you.html#ixzz0zi9UxYPz
Shonn Greene needs to be in the game. Yea, fumbling sucks, so do INT's. You cannot sacrifice any and all offensive production to eliminate turnovers. We can't go into a shell and play like pussies. Turnovers happen. Look, we won the turnover battle 3-1 Monday night, how did that work out?
yeah I agree, if we bench everyone who fumbles that will leave us with just LT, yes? what if LT fumbles? do we run the QB draw?
Greene lost ONE fumble. I don't understand why this issue is getting blown up. Mistakes happen, but it doesn't mean they're going to happen continuously. I don't think Adrian Peterson gets benched after a fumble. I really think we'll have a top 5 rushing attack in the league again but that all starts with Greene getting the ball.
Greene fumbled twice and dropped a wide open swing pass that would've resulted in a first down. He deserved to be benched.
Greene played like a slapdick practice squad player on Monday, he deserved to be benched. He's taking the right attitude about it tho and looks to rebound from that awful performance.
He dropped the swing pass in the 4th quarter. It was bad, would have been a first down and possibly the game... Still, you gotta play the kid. what are we grounding him?
The team didn't lose because Greene was benched, although I thought it was definitely overkill to bench the guy. The problem was the Jets continued to operate their offense as if they had Greene in there. If they had said "we're benching him, run accordingly," it would have been an afterthought, but instead, they went ground and pound with LT, who's not as suited for it. The Jets are going to have to allow young backs to make mistakes and Sanchez to make mistakes the way they'll allow Kyle Wilson to make mistakes. -X-
No.. he fumbled once on the sideline, that was harmless. He fumbled again when he ran into our own guy, that was very bad. He then was benched until late in teh 4th qtr when he was brought back in, htats when he dropped the swing pass. Can't expect a guy to sit there for 3 qtrs and then, hey go back in and catch a pass. I hate this, its such a stupid approach. You fumble you are out!! wtf? How is someone supposed to learn, to get better. This isn't some 3d string HB we use occasionally, this is the FEATURED BACK!... terrible coaching move.
Sure we won the turnover battle, but you aren't always going to win the game. Two fumbles on 5 carries is just not acceptable. If your back up starts playing well, as was the case, you can expect to warm the bench rest of the way. Greene is an excellent runner, but I don't want him out there if he is to fumble twice on five carries.
That's a dumb "rule" for the team, you can't have players playing that are afraid if they make a mistake they are coming out. It's just asinine.
I'm not opposed to the coaching staff benching fumblers. You need to hold onto the effin" ball. And as much as I like Shonn Greene, if you're gonna have a rule you need to apply it to everyone as written or you lose credibility as a coach. With that said I expect both Greene and LT to have productive games against a weak Pats running defense.
Im fine with benching green in that situation. He coughed up the ball at a crucial point. The coaches said before, funmble and your out. They followed up and Greene expected it. Whats wrong with that coaching move? LT did exactly as he was expected when he went in for him.
He did gain 62 yards on 11 carries. He's been a workhorse for a long time, how is he not a ground and pound type of RB? Its hardly ground and pound when u go 21 passes and 21 rushes.
They're just trying to shock the kid into shape and make him learn. I'm just not sure if you can change some things about a player by taking away downs from him. It's not like he was trying to fumble. More than anything, LT gave us a better chance to win Monday night. F ground and pound. It's a shitty, vanilla gameplan. Throw the ball more, to everyone.
I didn't like the length of time they had him benched, but I also didn't like how he responded. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember that swing pass was the play where they took him off the bench. LT had a couple of nice gains before that and the offense was pumped. Greene murdered that drive. When Sanchez threw that pass, Greene choked because there was plenty of room to make a move on the defender. I would have liked to see him perform after chomping the bit on the sideline for so long. Jaws was whining about Sanchez immediately checking down but it looked to me like that play was designed to go to Greene.
It was a great decision by Sanchez to pass it to Greene on the swing pass right there. Greene catches that we probably get a 1st down. Instead he drops it, next play Sanchez gets sacked and we punt.
