Once you go Geno you don't go back no matter how poorly he plays. We will see if the fans can keep from bashing when he gets to play.
This is wrong though. It's the train of thought that lead to Mark Sanchez turning into the QB he is today. If Geno Smith starts and plays poorly you sit him for a bit to remind him that nothing that he gets in the NFL is going to be handed to him on a silver platter. That's the way you motivate him to play better. Sanchez is the QB he is today because none of his mistakes, and he made many mistakes in his first three seasons, had any real consequences for him. If he'd been pulled after bad decisions on throws he'd have had a major incentive to figure out how to cut down the number of bad decisions he made. Instead he was just sent out there on the next drive and not surprisingly the bad decisions continue to plague his game and the Jets four plus years into his career. One of the reasons I'd like the Jets to go with Smith at the start of the season is that it will be very hard to insert Mark Sanchez into the game as Smith's temporary replacement if Sanchez has already been booed off the field by the fans. Smith has to play at some point this year unless Sanchez just lights it up. In that reality I think it pays to preserve the ability to replace him now and then instead of using Sanchez as a foil at the start and getting him kicked around by the fans before his real 2013 utility kicks in.
The reason the Jets were "ground and pound" is because they needed to mask Sanchez limitations. If they knew he can throw the ball with any kind of consistency they would have done so. When they did allow him to throw more it was a disaster.
LT first 5 games of 2010: 76 carries, 435 yds, 5.7 YPC, 3 TDs per game: 15 carries, 87 yds, .6 TDs LT last 10 games of 2010(rested week 17): 143 carries, 479 yds, 3.3 YPC, 3 TDs per game: 14 carries, 48 yds, .3 TDs In the last 10 games he avegared over 4 YPC in just 2 of those games w/ one of them being pure garbage time in the 45-3 loss at NE. He was decent overall, nothing more. Most of the year he was below average, we didn't have a great ground game like in 2009. we had 300 rush yds in week 17, McKnight gained 158 on almost 5 YPC, John Connor had 44 yds, Brad Smith had 60(he only had more than 40 2 other times all year). The #s were skewed, our run game was nothing more than decent.
Greene took more carries in the 2nd half of the season. LT had more carries in the beginning because Greene was struggling. Oh and why are you posting stats? I thought stats were frowned upon by a superfan like yourself?
Sanchez has regressed since 2010. He put up more scores in 2011 but his turnovers increased which nullified his increased scoring. I'm not gonna discredit Sanchez contributions to our 2 AFC Championship game appearances. He played well against Indy in the 2010 Wildcard game and had the best game of his career against the Pats and a solid game against Pitt. But since that last playoff run he's been a mess. Jets fans complained that they had Sanchez on a leash and wanted him to be able to throw more and as a result 2011 happened. Dude is shot now.
We can ad reading to your list of difficulties. I have never said stats don't matter, I am anti just throwing out stats w/o context such as we were #3 in rushing in 2010 which we all know we weren't anywhere near that good despite the final ranking of 3. Greene first 5 games: 62-280, 4.5 YPC, 1 TD Green last 10 games: 123-486, 3.9 YPC, 1 TD wrong on taking more carries and wrong on being more effective. I wouldn't say a franchise record on TDs for a QB was nullified by the TOs. It made them not mean quite as much but they weren't nullified. He's had ONE awful year, a year where no QB would have succeeded. A year where he fell into some terrible habits b/c of it. It's MM's job to reprogram him so far it has been good as he's having a good camp. We should all be rooting for both QBs to have good camps, it will only benefit the team we all root for. In 2011 he had to throw more b/c we couldn't run and we got into a ton of deficits and had to throw. The gameplan wasn't to come out and throw it all over the field, they were forced into that and he did it w/ 3 of his top weapons out of the league by 2012. The talent was significantly better than 2012 but it still wasn't very good.
Greene had 87 carries in the first half of the season and 98 carries in the 2nd half. Like I said he had more carries.
what a huge difference. Are you still going to tell me we had a great run game? 1st half: 87-391 yds, 4.5 YPC, 1 TD 2nd half: 98-375, 3.8 YPC, 1 TD
Greene and LT weren't the best runners in the game but they complimented each other. LT with his ability to catch out the backfield and Greene as that 3rd down rusher was good enough. Together they formed a good duo and were both effective.
One of the reasons we brought Gerrard in was to have a serious completion without having to put Geno under the gun to start. It also allowed for the possibility to cut or trade Mark before TC. I say that simply because if Mark were no longer a Jet, much of the controversy we are dealing with today would not exist. All the follies of the last two years would mostly be a thing of the past. Yet, Mark is a Jet and as much as it pains myself and many others, he must be allowed to compete. If he goes head to head with Geno and wins then he starts. The good news to all of this is, Geno is here and learning and improving every day. If Mark begins to faultier then Rex will finally have the ace on the hole he has lacked since the day he took over this team. Should Geno win the job then we have Mark, as an average backup with starter experience to fill in.
They were good and effective but that is a far cry from being "great" or having a "great" run game which we did not have. In 2009 the run game was great, in 2010 it was good. The pass game led the O in '10, the run game in '09.
You don't need elite rushers to have a great running game, you need a great O-line. The Jets got great play from the line when Thomas Jones was here and he wasn't even close to an elite rusher. LT was above average when he played for the Jets but he was obviously on his way out of the game. Greene should have remained a COP back, he was far too stupid to find a hole at the second level and preferred to run face-first into tackles. His body broke down very quickly in the NFL because of that.
Whether they had a "great" run game is less important than the fact that they ran the ball 534 times (second most in the league).
Yeah, that is an important point. The focal point of the offense was really the running game in 2009 and 2010. The Jets ran the ball significantly more than any other team in 2009...I mean like 100 times more than the team that ran 3rd most, literally. And, like you say, only one team ran the ball more than the Jets in 2010. This, of course, sets up the play action pass, too.
The pass game rescued an ineffective run game and up and down D numerous times during the year. The pass game led the O in 2010. you know the wildcat runs count too, right? same thing for reverses/end arounds, etc... how is that setting up play action? we had 45 attempts come from WRs(and 1 from a punter). Joe McKnight had 32 carries in what was basically an exhibition game in week 17(32 of his 39 carries throughout the year), John Connor had 8 rushes that game(all 8 of his carries that year), Richardson had 2 of his 5 season long carries. See what happens when you start to add context rather than just rankings compiled #s?
Music to my ears: http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2013/07/geno_smith_impresses_by_making_right_decisions.html At least one QB knows not to throw a pick when it's not there - and we all know that's not how Mark Sanchez plays. Just quit it, junc. Sanchez's gang green days are numbered.
I hope Geno is great but are you really comparing training camp to real games? you know mark threw his first pick today, right? I'm all for whoever gives us the best chance to win, it sounds like both are playing well so far and if that is the case Geno will probably win the job and if so I hope he's great and never gives it up.
