most of this was a response in the "Steelers Take a Jab" thread but it became more broad so I decided to break it down in a post Regarding the Steelers Comments these are no jabs or shit talking. if anything its a compliment in the sense they mention how they plan on seeing us again and being ready. what everyone feared was true. the Pats game was our super bowl. as fans were allowed to feel we can take anyone after that game. as actual players they grew complacent and it showed in the first half. poor fundamentals across the board. whatever rex ryan said to them in the second half pulled their head out their ass and they fought valiantly but you dont win playing one half of football. the saddest thing of it all is we added guys like LT and Jason Taylor to instill the sense of urgency onto our younger players about the shot to actually get in a AFCCG let alone a Super Bowl. it was lacking last year and it was lacking this year. people might want to blame rex but the guy gives about as good of a speech on tuesday morning of week 4 as some coaches prolly ever give in the playoffs. DEFENSE -the defense without Kris Jenkins lacks a true leader and thats all there is to it. Scott is the mouthpiece for swagger but thats about it. Lunchbox was the only guy you ever saw taking people aside and putting a real fire in the huddle. and off the field when not joking around, all he ever mentions is people being held accountable and stepping up. -Revis for all the money hes making, I'm not reading enough about him tutoring guys. especially in a defense as complicated as this. -We need some coverage safeties. its great to have a in the box presence but with Rex loading up on CB's, QB's just tend to rip the middle of the field up intermediate or over the top the few times we call zone. -Front seven presence. By this I mean either a Gap controlling DE(we get penetration but we either dont come off blocks or hold our lanes consistently enough with the blitz packages we have) or a OLB whos great off the edge. Either one would allow us to manufacture a better pass rush through scheme. Less sacrificing of DB's in coverage, more pressure up front equals more Turnovers and getting off the field quicker. -LB depth we need more situational players who can make the field. any 3-4 team should have at least 2 great LBers and 4 good ones. Scott-Great Harris-Great Pace-Good Thomas-Above Avg the fact that all our talent in the middle explains the stifling run defense and the tendency to allow big passing plays on long distances. -basically we need to upgrade the pass rush, backside coverage, and improve the front 7 depth overall. our FO has a tall task to cherry pick some low profile FA's who can be role players under rex. Offense -Slauson was a pleasant suprise considering he was brought in here to be a rotational guy with the potential to start down the road. for all the glaring mistakes he made he also made great strides by the end of the year. If he continues to improve theyre definitely better off kicking Ducasse out to RT to replace Woody. -Sanchez became less of a game manager and more of a reason for us winning this year. He didnt light the world on fire but hes shown that sink or swim, your gonna get his best effort. Those are the things you simply cant measure until youve gone to war with someone. Year 3, time for more peaks and less valleys in his development. The first year he had training wheels. This year we took them off. Now its time to take off the helmet and pads and let the kid ride out and take control of this offense. We noticed this with him starting to make more audibles at the line near the end of the year even though most of the kill calls were taken away earlier. -Dustin Keller, I dont know if its the gameplanning or lack thereof. I dont know if Sanchez needs better chemistry with him. I dont know if Keller is just a streaky player. Either way, hes too talented to not become a major focal point of this offense. Especially if Braylon or Holmes goes. I really think he should be getting at least 5 catches and around 60 yds either or. -Shonn Greene. Ok I love LT. he was great. I want more Shonn Greene. plain and simple. the guy only gets better as he gets the ball more. the steelers game was a prime example. they tend to get scared around 6-10 carries for him after he gets stonewalled. and i think that playcalling mentality is for a scatback not for Greene. -Another Pass Catching TE. Nobody amazing. just someone worth gameplanning for the possible threat whether theyre a solid route runner or strong with YAC. I also say this cuz we run out of double tights alot and this would open up the offense alot. -John Conner. its your time to shine buddy ill talk more but this was all that was really on my mind for now. and of course the young guys from last year HAVE to step up.
I agree with everything you posted, the future is bright for the jets. Finding adequate help on all levels of d will be tough without some contract restructuring though.
Get that feeling as well. Revis is a dick And This is the worst offseason ever. We should be talking about the Packers right now. ****'ing Jets
nice breakdown, coach. I got the same feeling when Jenks went down....he really is the catalyst for this defense.
Losing Jenkins the last two years really hurts. I can't imagine he will ever be the same player he was before the injuries. The front 7 has to be rebuilt. Right now they don't really any type of identity on defense. Are they are a 3-4 or a 4-3? They don't really have the personnel for either with the exception of the middle linebackers being 3-4 players. They don't have big lineman that play 2 gaps and they don't have the outside linebackers that 3-4 teams have. They can't play a real 4-3 because they don't have the speed at end or linebacker. The front seven needs to be gutted over the next two off seasons. By opening day 2012 I wouldn't be surprised if all these guys are gone: Jenkins Ellis Scott Taylor Pryce Thomas Your basically looking at Devito, Pouha, Harris and 4 new guys. Fortunately Rex is a master at developing down lineman. Tannenbaum and the rest of the front office are going to have to find multiple linebackers that fit what Rex is looking for.
More youth in the defensive front seven and Sanchez to take that next step. This team will be scary good for the next decade if those two things take place this off-season
If jets had jenkins they probably would've won out this year and beat the steelers. they really needed him on the front line.
Agreed. A massive NT the likes of Jenkins is key to any good 3-4 defense. The fact that the Jets D still defended the run well for most of the season and were one of the best defenses in the league is a credit to the coaching.
Absolutely. They basically lost the only guy who needs to be double teamed. Against the run Jenkins would get double teamed and then Scott could actually be a defender instead of just trying to blow up the guard.
Agree with your thoughts. I think,as you alluded to,our biggest task this off season will be finding those lower level FA's that can come in and buy into what Rex is selling and play above their contracts. It's pretty easy to sign a Woodley but with the $ we've got tied up in the secondary/LB's we are going to have to find a few diamonds in the rough. Maybe the draft will yield a few suprises,who knows?
Just wondering...why do SOJF even exist? If they have no faith in their team's future, why bother being a fan?
Jenkins will be back next year at a reduced salary with incentives and bonuses based on playing time is my guess. And my hope. Because when he's out there, he's one of the best D-linemen in the NFL. I know he can't be relied upon, but he'd be back as more of a part-time guy, and they have guys he can rotate with like Tevesau, Pitoitua, Pouha, DeVito. He won't have to do all the dirty work, and Rex can try to keep him fresh for the stretch run. Besides, how many teams are going to be willing to throw big money at a guy coming off 2 season ending injuries like he has? He won't get much more anywhere else than what the Jets can give him. And you know he loves playing for Rex, he's said it many times. So for the d-line, I think Ellis is probably going to be a goner unfortunately. But we have a nice foundation with Pouha at the nose, DeVito at end, and young backups like Tevesau, Pitoitua, Gilbert, Dixon. If just one or two of those guys step up, with Jenkins mixed in, we will be fine on the d-line and can put off drafting someone high for another year.
Ropati Pitoitua 6'8" 315lbs Is he going to be a player? Rex seemed very depressed when he was injured
I dont agree that they took the handcuffs off of Sanchez. Hell im sure most people forgot week 1 already. Schotty still handcuffs Sanchez far more often than not, only reason you think they took them off is because they do come off when were trailing in the 4th quarter. Outside of when were trying to overcome a deficit not only is Sanchez handcuffed, but hes got a ball and chain around his ankle. We can only hope this year they start to let him loose, and the first step in that is making sure hes got his two best recievers back .
