A. Kellen led us to 3 victories in 7 games and it should have been 5 if Jmac (Baltimore) and Cotchery (Washington) could catch. B. His receivers overall dropped tons of passes that hit them in their hands. Smith and Cotchery especially. C. Our coaches who have access to game film, play calls, correct read progressions, and etc. only blamed 5 of his INTs on him. For a guy starting behind a terrible OLine, 5 INTs that are his fault in his first ever 7 games is not bad at all. D. 40% of our starting OLine from last year was so bad that they were cut by us and NOT SIGNED by a single team in the league! This is not the situation you want to throw a kid making his first career starts into and Kellen handled it very well. When the rest of the league tells you that 40% of your starting OLine doesn't even belong in the NFL then your QB's are in a totally unfair situation. E. Our OLine was significantly upgraded this year with the signings of Faneca and to a lesser extent Woody since he is not on Faneca's level, but he must be a significant upgrade from Anthony freaking Clement. F. Clemens played all but one game without our best WR Laveraneus Coles and had Brad Smith starting alongside Jerricho Cotchery. Smith is awful and wound up losing his starting gig before season's end due to being pathetic and Wallace Wright began playing along side Jerricho in 2 WR sets. G. He showed a ton of poise and leadership leading multiple 4th quarter comebacks & drives (B'more, Washington, Pittsburgh, Kansas City). H. None of us know anything about his pocket presence because he never had a pocket to show presence in. For everytime he had happy feet there was another time he hung in there till the last second and took a monster hit while delivering a completed pass. He did that multiple times vs. Washington, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. I. If Clemens was in this year's draft, and he had the Sr. year he had his Sr. year at Oregon and did not break his ankle he would have been a higher rated prospect than Matt Ryan was since he had both better stats and a better arm. Even if you want to debate that, he was surely a first round pick in this year's draft. He just happened to break his ankle and come out the same year as Vince Young, Matt Leinart, and Jay Cutler. Even with those high profile QBs and an injury that limited him at the combine he was still an early 2nd round pick his year. J. Our coaches could be in a make or break year and felt they saw enough from the kid to not go out and draft a high priced rookie QB. Again, they are the guys who had and have access to all the game film and play calling, etc. and they were willing to hang their hats and their careers on this kid's ability to play the QB position. From another site, some good reasons to why you cant label Clemens as a failure. Clemens can be succesful, and has a few young players to shoot with in Keller, Cotchery, Washington, Stuckey and possibly Woodhead who I like.
There is no reason why anyone could label Clemens a failure. It really drives me nuts. Must just be the New York market or something. The team was (1-7) when he was named the starter. Enough said.
There are plenty of fools on this very site who label Clemens as a failure without actually having any clue what he is capable of.
Great Post! We will all see how good Kellen can be this year. Was at every game this year including his first start in Baltimore and was more than impressed considering the situation he was in. The kid is good and will be good.
Holy crap. I thought you were going to rag on him and that I was going to have to type out that post. Thanks for saving me the time man, excellent insight.
People who think Clemens sucks are the same people who think Chad was the only reason the team started the season 1-7. Chad benched, Clemens comes in, what? the team is still bad? I guess he is a bad QB too. Sad.
I am behind Kellen and really think that the Keller pick is a pick intended to help Kellen, not Chad, in the offense. The interesing thing, though, is how the enrirety of the media has already written him off as a complete failure, and assume we are going back to a QB that performed so badly he cannot hold onto his job. I really do not get it at all.
We got some very good players , Now.. We shall see how clemens can really do. Or Penny might out perform him in T.C. again.
They both saucked in 07. Because of the O line etc. But Chad led the team to the playoffs the year before and mark my words,will be the 08 QB for the Jets.
Go Kellen!! Nice positive post. I'm excited to see what he'll do this year. The team was a train wreck last year. A running game, new targets to throw to, and a second or two of more time to throw can do wonders for any QB.
Clemens proved nothing either way last year other than he has a nice live arm a quick release. 6 million dollar QB aren't paid to sit on the bench. Clemens will start when Chad goes down with an injury or a veteran is brought in at a reasonable price and Chad is cut.
Even being his first year starting and playing behind a horrible line, I still didn't see much from him that would give me the confidence that he can turn into a great quarterback. Sometimes you see flashes of "it" in young quarterbacks the first few games, but I'll admit that I haven't seen anything from him. Prove me wrong, Kellen. Prove me wrong.
with an o-line Kellen should be able to suceed in the NFL. He has a huge arm, and has some mobility. He is good on the run. Now that he has Keller as another weapon to throw to he should have a big year. KC>CP
lol at the money situation. The best player will start. and if the FO doesnt know this then apparently, I should be the new head coach?
