As far as I can tell the difference between Tannenbaum and Idzik so far on veteran talent is that Tanny tried to use free agency and trades to fix problems long-term. He acquired a bunch of 26+ year old players with the expectation that they'd be 3+ year starters. People who fit the pattern are Andre Dyson (26 - 5 yr deal in 2006), Thomas Jones (27 - 4 year deal in 2007), Kenyon Coleman (28 - 5 yr deal in 2007), Alan Faneca (32 - 5 year deal in 2008), Damien Woody (31 - 5 yr deal in 2008), Kris Jenkins (29 - 5 yr deal in 2008), Calvin Pace (28 - 6 yr deal in 2008), Braylon Edwards (26 - 2 years on old deal in 2009), Bart Scott (29 - 5 year deal in 2009), Lito Sheppard (28 - 4 year extension in 2009), Jim Leonhard (27 - 3 year deal in 2009), Santonio Holmes (26 - 4 year deal in 2010/11), Antonio Cromartie (26 - 4 year deal in 2010/11), Wayne Hunter (30 - 4 year deal in 2011). So far Idzik has given out two big deals that are attempts to find a multi-year starter, that being Eric Decker's 5 year deal and Breno Giacomini's 4 year deal. If he continues to add veteran free agents on long-term contracts we'll probably wind up where we were in the latter stages of the Tannenbaum era, with a top heavy roster full of declining talent and making concessions to the current year by squeezing future caps. So far, Idzik has resisted the temptation to do that. He's acquired cheaper short term veteran free agents and avoided the big long-term deals. The team that reminds me of the Tanny Jets right now is the Cleveland Browns. It will be interesting to see if they can make the same run the Jets did before the weight of all the vet free agents sinks them.
The first thing you ever hear about from Rex after a game win or lose is his team's D stats. Mostly the O stats stink anyways. But I've never heard him talk offense.
Just because he says good things about the way a particular unit played on a given day, doesn't mean he's bragging. He's building confidence in his players and explaining who did well, like pretty much all coaches do after winning games. Rex just has a very simple, very informal way of doing this, and people don't like that. Many prefer a guy like BB who dodges every question and keeps it simple. Of course I don't know how any Patriots fan can sit through any of their press conferences as they are boring as fuck. With the Jets you can tell Rex works his ass off and will do anything to support his players. They have a connection that many players do not have with their coaches.
I try to catch Rex's post game pressers as much as I can, because I love the SNY post game show. He was really getting bad there toward the end of 12. I began to wonder if he was losing his mind when he was defending Sanchez, that after the tatoo thing came out. You had to wonder. And he is as capable of being untruthful as any NFL HC, which means a great capacity for that. But I don't think overall he is unfair to the O in his comments. He's pretty accurate about who had a good game and that is true regardless of which unit the player belongs to. That's my opinion.
Well then you dont listen. He has talked about the offense a lot. Especially O line and RB. He also loved Mark.
The long term aspect of the Decker and Brenno deals is no problem. What matters is whether you can get out of the deal if it turns south. With Decker and Brenno, the Jets can get out of the deals after 2 years if they end up being bad. That's worth the risk, especially for Decker. Also, the annual value of both contracts is reasonable- the big problems arise when you pay someone a huge bonus and have to keep him for 3 - 4 years to avoid accelerating it into one year. With Holmes, we were locked in long term. And with Sanchez, the extension also locked us in for several years- this is a different situation because we can get out much more quickly and painlessly if we need to.
Bro, I live in New York and listen directly after every game to the SNY coverage including the interview with the HC. It's all about D stats to Rex. And he knows them all. That's cool except for one thing: you can be 1st in the league in D or 5th or 10th but if you blow coverages in key situations often times because you blitzed when you shouldn't have who cares. As for wanting Rex to coach the team forever like one guy said: Give me a break!
He knows offensive stats, too. He always comes out with Geno's QB rating if he does well, or mention the number of rushing yards, or mention the number of turnovers, or mention completion percentage the few times it's actually positive. To say Rex only praises the defense in post-game interviews is just wrong. Lately, he may be leading a little bit more with the defense, but the offense has been atrocious for two years and has never been the reason for victory.
I like the moves he's made. I really like that he avoided trying to fix CB by signing a 27 or 28 year old vet to a huge deal. As long as the drafts work out I think we're in good shape. With this much cap space Tanny would have signed like 5 veteran free agents to 4 and 5 year deals and then probably gotten blindsided by D'Brick and Harris falling out or something similar.
Idzik career with the Jets isn't based on how well he works with Rex. He just provides the players. If Rex can't work with them. Woody will make sure Idzik has a say in the next hire.
