Observations The Good: Brandon Marshall is BIG TIME Decker is a good compliment Ivory is BIG TIME Powell is a good change-of-pace back. Calvin Pryor looks like he's learning Limiting the Penalties Limiting the Turnovers OL looked really solid. The Average: Fitz overall looked like a game-manager. He's gonna throw bad INTs, but the offense can move. CBs looked so-so. They didn't directly test Revis and Marcus Williams was solid filling in. Gilchrist made some tackles but his coverage was a little spotty LBs played well overall, but looked slow. Folk's accuracy has declined. He's barely squeaking in FGs and XPs. The Bad: Jets didn't get that much pressure Jets allowed too many QB rushes Could not get off field on 3rd downs Tommy Bohanon 4th down run?!?!?! Cromartie is probably out for year Mauldin will be gone for a couple weeks most likely TEs did not record a single catch. For once the WRs looked like threat. What the Jets need to work on in offense is to get the TEs involved. Fitzy also can't force those passes into coverage because next time I bet you that Brandon Marshall won't be there to strip the ball and recover the football. Defense needs a ton of work. The secondary is not as strong as everyone was expecting it to be because the Jets are lacking good cover-safeties. CRO is now gone, and although the Jets have good CB depth, the S are the true question. Jarrett looked lost out there and Gilchrist needs to put himself in better position. I understand it was Leonard Williams' first game but he and the rest of the DL let Manziel have WAY to much time in the pocket. He and Snacks were great at run stuffing, but the Jets are really missing Sheldon. 3rd Down was killer for the Jets today. That 3rd and 19 Johnny Manziel TD was incredibly painful to watch. Bowles loves to blitz, but it leaves guys open and the blitzers are simply not fast enough before the QB releases the football.
I can't believe the negativity and some of the absolutely stupid comments I'm seeing on this site today. Posters acting like players and coaches are supposed to be perfect the first game of the season. Posters acting like they've never watched football before. Posters not understanding that we have a new CS with new systems in place and the team doesn't have two-a-days and can only practice in pads a couple of times a week. Some of you are so busy nit-picking, griping and complaining you can't even enjoy the new CS getting off to a winning start, the offense putting up 31 points, all the TOs the team created, etc. To hear some of you, one would think that we're used to seeing team win 12 games a season, routinely blow teams out, routinely create TOs, and the like. Pointing things out that were a little rough and need work is fair and fine, but some of you are way past that. It's your loss. This is going to be a fun and entertaining season and you're not going to enjoy it because you're too focused on the negatives. SMH.
I think a lot of fans stopped watching and gave up on the season when the team was down 7-0 in the second quarter. Those fans missed out on a scrappy team that made adjustments and fought hard to overcome mistakes. Second biggest blowout of the day...!
I hope not either. But Bowles doesn't srike me as that type of coach. Our team looked disciplined more today than I had witnessed in a while. Can't wait to re-watch the game.
I'd slightly disagree with you about Johnny Footballs pocket awareness. I think he played in the pocket better then his previous attempts but our D managed to collapse those pockets more efficiently as the game went on and either flushed him out or got hands on him as he (again) was trying to hang onto the ball too long to make a play and cut the lead we'd built. So full marks to the defensive line for making that happen.
I'll always remember going to see them play in St Louis and Tony Banks who was a back up destroyed the 12-4 team in 98. Just horrible
Great post man.... they struggled early and it was to be expected as they have a whole new offensive system and defensive system in place. They probably score points on the 1st drive if Marshall didn't drop that ball but he made up for it with the strip on the INT. My honest opinion on it is my buddy is a Browns fan and we watched the game together. The fact that he stopped watching with 12 minutes to go in the 4th quarter and used words like "dominated us" and "ass kicking" really tell all. They made some really good adjustments at the half and dominated the game.
Great post, thank you for putting in all of the effort. The one concern you addressed, that I'm not as worried about, is our lack of pressure on the quarterback. The Browns offensive line is one of the best in the league; definitely their strongest unit, and both of their QBs run pretty well.
Excellent point, Bitonio and Joe Thomas are both pro bowl caliber OL and while we knew Manziel was a runner we probably as fans overlooked that about McCown
I called it when I said the secondary still wasn't good even with Revis and Cro back, called it when I said the biggest weakness of this team is Linebacker, about a year ago. Harris and Demario Davis is a terrible combination. We'll get routinely exposed by TEs in the flat or by mobile QBs. Not optimistic for this season. We have holes. On the plus side we do have an offense, so we'll probably be losing 30-27, 25-24 or something. Maybe we can just keep running up the score. Also Brandon Marshall is a beast. Thank God for him. I'd rather see Geno back there. That game could have gotten ugly without him.
Well put. I've got a "friend" of mine that I never hear a word from when the Jets are playing well & making plays but as soon as something negative happens he's texting me like a HS girl who's boyfriend just broke up with her. The freakin' dude texted me in the 1st pre-season game how Bowels is a disaster and should be fired!!!! Some are always complaining how the NY media is so tough on us and this and that but I have to say some Jets fans would win the damn lottery and complain about how much taxes were taken out! Anyone who didn't see this season as a roller coaster ride is fooling themselves so lets enjoy the good times because I'm sure they'll be some frustrations ahead. The biggest test will come Monday night against the Colts and will really say something about who this team and CS is. Will we come out flat like we always seemed too after a big win under Rex or will Bowles have us ready to play and keep guys focused on the "1 game at a time" mentality. I took a lot of positives away from this game besides the score. 1- We FINALLY seem to have an OC that gets it ! I mean did you seem RF spread the ball around utilizing most of his weapons! Decker Marshall Owusu all made big plays in this game , not to mention the running game. What's going to happen when Smith gets back at WR, that'll free these guys up even more having a deep threat like that to worry about! 2- TD's instead of FG's This is the biggest thing that stands out 3- RF seems to have his timing down with his WR's Some of those balls to Marshall made it seem like these 2 guys have been playing together for years! I don't want to anoint RF as anything more then he really is but the guy seems to have a feel for where to put the ball for his WR's to go and get it. 4- We've got HUGE WR's who can really exploit DB's This is something this team has been lacking since well, FOREVER! 5- Defense was more physical then I've seen since Rex' 1st 2 seasons here TAKEAWAYS TAKEAWAYS TAKEAWAYS! 6-DEPTH This teams got it on both sides of the ball. The "next man up" mantra really showed up today for this team. I want to keep things in perspective here and not blow this 1 victory out of proportion but you really have to be happy with what you saw here in a game that we've seen us come out on the short end of the stick on in the past. You can't help but feel the arrow is pointing up for us and at the very least see that this team and organization as a whole is going to be exciting going forward. I can't wait until next Monday night!
Coples had 3-4 nice rushes and QB hits, he was stout against the run. He played well, he just isn't an edge rusher. I think you meant Pace.
What drove me nuts with him was how our D-Line kept opening up the middle for him to just walk through. It's like they used stunt plays every time Tebow/Manziel wanted to throw the ball and then you had a giant hole up the middle for him to get at least 10 yards. Why not force him to beat you with his arm instead of making him into Tebow and help him beat us and run all over us? I don't get that part. Clog up the middle and then let's see if he can make more plays with his arm. Chances are he won't. Let them beat themselves, you don't have to beat them.
We beat a bad team, that's what it boils down to. They actually beat themselves. For people to say that certain people are complaining "just because it wasn't a PERFECT performance", that's just laughable. Those are the same people who will burn this team to the ground next week if Luck tosses 4 touchdowns. Hyping up a team after a win, having them go to the Superbowl, and as soon as they lose a game the season is over and we compete for the #1 overall pick next year.
Powell looks like a completely different player... he looks bigger to me and I don't remember him having such a nice burst. Very encouraged by his performance
Thats because they prepared for slow ass McCown not Manziel. Once they knocked McCown out Manziel found running room up the middle but they made the adjustment accordingly. Look at the Mauldin play for just one example. They rushed guys on the outside and shifted Wilkerson to the open hole instead of having him rush and it caused a fumble. There are other examples of that too. late, very late in the game Manziel found room to run again but only because the Jets got up big and thus dropped back a little to preserve the lead. Also it is a case a perception when you talk about Manziel running as a couple of his big runs got called back for holding anyway. He only had 35 yards rushing, lets not act like he gashed them. The D made the appropriate adjustments.. they did exactly what you are claiming they should've done
Exactly.. offensive line is the strength of that Cleveland team by far. I am actually very encouraged by the fact that Cleveland couldn't run the ball for shit, outside of Manziel with the occasional scramble. He was their leading rusher with only 35 yards. other than that the D line/LBs did a great job stuffing the run against a very good O line. Planned rushes went nowhere against this defense. Cleveland running backs: 20 carries, 46 yards. 2.3 ypc. very impressive and the Jets will face much worse offensive lines this year