Game 1 (Preseason) Take aways

you're right. it was "only" 5

 

Like Jeff Blake, late round pick, sat the bench, never given a chance and goes on to make a few pro bowls with the Bungles. I believe he was a Coslet guy and went to Cinci with Bruce.

 

Do you guys want to know why "all hell is breaking loose?" (And I'm not singling you out, laxin).

It's because deep down inside we all know we're in deep shit with the two choices that are in competition with one another.


The two choices are starting La Máquina de la Interceptación or throwing an undeveloped rookie (unfamiliar with the system and players) to the wolves. Start La Máquina and you get what you got last year. Start the rookie and you risk stunting his development because he's not ready.

Enter choice #3. As crazy as it sounds (and this is only one option, although admittedly a very slim and controversial one), but if GMac could be given more time and continues to impress like hell, you COULD (again, it;s only an option), start GMac over La Máquina and then see how he does. If he stinks up the field, then you can put in Smith. You sitll have a fallback.

I agree with Mezz in that we might have a top 5 DEF this year and an O-line that looks pretty damned good. So this is not a year that we should enter looking to "rebuild." It's a year in which we have the TEAM to possibly make a run. So now you need to get the QB under center who gives us the best chances of winning in 2013.

Hence, "all hell breaking loose."

 

If the line is really solid then McElroy has a chance to succeed albeit not at a very high level. If the line is not really solid we'll have a McElroy Sucks thread in record time or alternately a Best Wishes in Your Recovery Mac! thread.

I have no vested interest at all in suggesting that McElroy is not capable of sustaining good play at the NFL level. I also have no evidence anywhere in the NFL that a player of his precise but limited skill set can succeed at QB.

We'd be better off finding a way to get Colt McCoy and put him out there because he is twice the QB that McElroy is likely to be although not good enough to start regularly in the NFL.

 

I hope Woody Johnson is making some money off the Jets. I would feel bad for him if he was losing money after investing so much.

 

So, you are saying, Jets already have a game manager type QB that will not make a mistake, even though he won't wow you with his QB prowess.

Isn't that what Ryan football was supposed to be in the first place? Only that INT machine fucked it up.

So I fail to see the logic behind ignoring this option. Isn't that what preseason is all about? Evaluating talents?

 

The Jets wouldn't be ignoring the option if McElroy was Tom Brady in hiding and they just had to find him.

This is not just Brian Schottenheimer and Tony Sparano who have looked at him and found him wanting. It's Marty Mornhinweg also at this point. Don't you think the latter two guys would have jumped all over McElroy if he was flashing real skills?

 

I like McElroy. I think we could win some games with him. But I truly dont see him as a guy that can lead us through the playoffs or actually win some games with his arm against teams that will put up 30 points a game. If this was the 2010 team, yeah, he might be a perfect fit.

I would be 100% fine with him starting until the bye, and then putting Geno in. I mainly just dont see it happening, and I think we havent seen nearly enough from Greg to warrant starting the season. Now, thats not his fault- he just hasnt been given the opportunity.

 

It's starting to get annoying. Did people watch the same game I saw? McElroy's arm strength is fine. Please cut out the "hiz arm iz week!!!" talk.

 

Get of McElroys nuts

 

I don't see it happening either (sigh). I still see them starting Sanchez unfortunately. Why do I say this?

GMac's not getting the reps. What does that tell us? It tells us he's not seriously being considered by Rex and Idzik. That leaves the "incumbant," as Rex called him, and the rookie. Using a term like "incumbant" is telling to me. It's a term used to describe the sitting, presently residiing subject who has earned the position and deserves to retain it if all is equal from the challengers.

 

I too think Sanchez will start, sadly. At this point I see him as a lost cause. It really disappointing because the season opener is the one game I can go to this year, and Sanchez will likely start... Somehow I cant see myself paying $100-200 to watch Mark play.

Id rather watch McElroy personally. He shouldve been given a shot, but if I recall correctly, I think Simms was practicing ahead of him in OTAs. Its certainly hard to work your way up that much, and its hard for the coaches and organization to justify giving someone who was practicing as your 4th stringer in OTAs, meaningful snaps with the 1s in training camp.

 

If they do wind up starting Sanchez, he will get pulled by halftime so either way you are gonna see Geno opening day... Whether it is for 4 quarters or 2, that is still to be determined.

 

I know Weiss and Belicheat weren't exactly riding Brady's jock when Bledsoe went down - so I understand that evaluating QB could be a difficult task.

That does not justify not giving a fair shot to the kid though. If at all, GMac does not turn the ball over like Nacho does - that alone should merit some competition. After all, this is preseason. If you don't evaluate talents now, when do you do it?

 

I think the Jets are evaluating McElroy on a regular basis and they haven't seen anything yet that suggests he can do the job of a starting QB.

Look at who Mornhinweg had in Philly: Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick, Vince Young and Nick Foles. Those guys were all 3rd round picks or better. They all had enough talent to draw a solid valuation in the NFL draft.

Look at who he has here: Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, Greg McElroy and Matt Simms. Two of those guys belong in the group above for better or worse. Two of them don't. Mornhinweg isn't going to look seriously at Greg McElroy unless he's clearly as good as the two highly valued players coming into the NFL and from what we've seen so far McElroy is not in that class of talent.

This isn't an attempt to bolster Sanchez or Smith over McElroy in the overall picture. It's just to point out that in the Indy 500 Toyota Corollas don't ever get to the starting line. There may be some crappy race cars there from time to time but the Corollas ain't ever getting there.

If Greg McElroy wants to play QB in the NFL he needs to figure out how to become a race car really quickly because the Corolla act while efficient is not going to get him playing time.

 

What you forgot to mention is Jeff Garcia, undrafted QB that went to CFL first. He had a few stints with Marty as well [1999, 2000 at SF, then 2005, then 2009 at Philly]. He was pretty successful in 2000~2002 and 2005, last time I checked.

And he was given the crack because McNabb [and Young] went down with injury [and they already had A.J. Feeley on board in Philadelphia too] - that I concede. But that does not mean Garcia was an undrafted donkey at best either. He beat out two draftees in 2000 [Carmazzi and Rattay] and had one of the better years.

These things, you just never know until you give them fair shot.

Last, but not the least: this is not about whether McElroy should be the starting QB or not. It's more about "give that kid a shot. see how he does" kind of talk from my end. [Frankly I can't see why he will fail. If at all, it will give him some good experience to build upon.]

 

Sanchez horrible INT (no idea what he was looking at but that back won't be in the game during the regular season) but after that 10-13 125yards and a TD? Seems to have a decent handle on the offense, can run the no huddle well, receivers look better than what we had last year. Hill looks more aggressive going for the ball.

Geno tosses some screen passes - longest pass in the air was what 7 yards? Can't really say he did anything to make you think he can start. His one scramble he hurt himself on the turf.

Running game in preseason is hard to judge since you don't really get to wear a team down and mix in play action. More base runs and there is no Ivory or Goodson at the moment.

I liked seeing that there is always an outlet for the QB - -always a dump pass/screen and jut from the TD drive that Sanchez led the passing patters just seem so much more QB friendly.