1) The offense looks a lot better through 6 games but still seems like they are too predictable. Sanchez it seems could have 3 or 4 picks every week and that shouldn't be the case. I know the offensive numbers for the year are good, but something needs to improved if this team is going to make another deep run. I don't know if it's the design of the plays, the sequence in which they are called or the execution. I'm not saying that this is a big problem, but it's an area that needs to be improved. 2) Drew Coleman- I don't think anyone would have guessed that Coleman would become the third corner and actually be good. He's an extremely physical player and he's doing a good job so far. 3) The pass defense is going to be scary when Revis is at or near 100%. You could see yesterday for the first time that the pass defense started to come together. 4) The Jets had to burn a timeout early in the third quarter for some sort of confusion. That time out along with the bad challenge of the catch on the phantom call on Leonhard created a situation where the Jets only had one timeout (one challenge) a good portion of the second half of the game. Like last week with Sanchez snapping the ball well before the 2 minute warning, these things can not happen if the Jets expect to make another deep run. 5) Weatherford, Folk, Brad Smith and Eric Smith. The Jets special teams units have been close to flawless. 6) Tomlinson, Braylon and Keller are all playing at a very high level right now. 7) No one talks about these guys much but players like Mike Devito and Brandon Moore just keep playing well.
Yeah, I think nows the time to give Sanchez some different kind of plays to run. I think running the offense itself is becoming second nature to him, now lets throw some variation to confuse defenses.
One more thought...you know one name you keep hearing less and less?.... Matt Slauson! Jury's still out but it's looking more and more like he may not be as big a downgrade to our O-Line as we feared. May even turn out to be an upgrade.
Slauson is going to be very good. He's got great size and strength and his footwork and technique are improving. I trusted Callahan and Tannenbaum. I expect Vlad will take over at right tackle in 2011 or 2012.
It would be great if we could get two starters out of them. Got to give Slauson credit that he has really buckled down to the job and he gives his all. He seems to be still improving, so who knows have far he can go?
Now that you've mentioned Slauson/Vlad... It's great that Slauson + Cro/Coleman + LT are playing as good as they're doing it now... that's allowing the 3 rookies (Vlad + McK + KDub) to do what rookies usually do in great teams: learn the system from the bench the first year instead of being thrown to the lions with no swords. Now, about giving Sanchez more different plays... I'd rather keep him working on the plays that he's using. I don't think is broken, I don't see why try to fix it.
Excellent Post. Agree with your sentiments. Sanchez made some really good throws yesterday (Keller in the seem, that huge first down to Holmes on the last drive near the sideline) and his feet are just amazing, he is very elusive. He still seems a little tentative with the ball at times. I think he hesitates and pulls back on his throws more than any other decent QB in the league at this time. Seems he is mostly on the Red or Yellow color code. Doesn't it seem that the receivers never really get much seperation. Even the completions are really tight. Once in a while Braylon gets behind somebody, but you look at some other teams and receivers seem to get much easier catches than our guys. I'd like to see more crossing patterns about 5-6 yards from the line of scrimmage (ala the Pats) with Holmes. He has the speed to turn them into 10-15 yards gains. Also it seems that teams have picked up on the Jets penchant for rolling Sanchez out to the right. He has gotten caught a few times in the last 2 games where the DE stayed home and ruined the play and even if the DE bites, the coverage is there as he essentially cuts the field in half. Not that we should abandon it, but we can use this to our advantage. Look at the Henne to Fasano TD yesterday, something like that could work for us. Also love the wildcat, we seem to average 6-7 yards on that play and I'm waiting for Brad to fling one downfield one time.
I think the pass defense has been pretty good overall. It really started to come together yesterday at some points because of the pass rush. You could see that the guys up front were actually getting to Orton later on, and this is what is the key for me going forward. Our pass rush has been non-existent for the most part of these games. The overload blitzes are getting picked up, and these guys are not winning the one on one match-ups which is just not going to cut it. If you cannot apply the pressure, our secondary is going to get beat eventually no matter the coverage. I expect that Rex will be addressing this going forward into the bye, but it does worry me because this was a problem last year as well at times. Hopefully, Pace will be a big key in helping solve this issue with proper rest to his foot and rounding back into game shape.
Especially on first down. This naked bootleg is really getting predictable. Its served its purpose, but Schottie needs to come up with something else now. The other play thats seen plenty of air time is the deep route. All well and good for stretching a D, but to do that you have to make the completions, and they are not happening enough for Ds to worry about it enough. Whilst I'm happy with Keller, I actually think he could be doing a bit better. He seems to struggle with some routes and can't make the catch, his fault or the CS, it needs addressing.
Slaw's been good. His size and strength help a lot and his technique will improve with game experience and repetitions. I still expect him to get beat occasionally because of the lack of experience but his stock is definitely rising. Vlad should be penciled in to replace Woody in 2012. If Slaw cements himself in his position, then Vlad should be groomed properly for the RT job.
...which reminds me... how good is to have drafted John Conner? --- Another thought about yesterday's game: I'm pissed about that last PI play. Not that it was called (obviously) but that it happened... It was 4th and 6, less than 2 minutes left, Mark throws a 50 yarder to Santonio's hands. The feeling we would've had if there had been no interference and he made the reception (which I think is fair to assume) would be totally different and a huge confidence boost to Mark.
I was surprised to see that Sanchez essentially has the worst completion % of any starter in the league. After yesterday, he also dropped back to the middle off the pack in passer rating. I don't think he'll ever be a statistically great QB, but as long as he wins, that's all that matters.
Damn, I knew he was pretty bad, but I had no idea he was that bad. He has been pretty awful though in completion % this year. There is no denying that. It isn't all his fault though. He has had plenty of drops from his receivers as well, but moving forward, it is important for that number to go up. The good thing is that so far he seems to make the key throw when they really need it which makes you ignore the horrible completion %...for now.
Statistically, our passing attack is quite weak, but at least they don't make mistakes. I don't know if its because our running game takes away a lot of passing attempts, or Sanchez is just struggling lately. It isn't all about stats because he's made plays when it counts.
It does seem that we never get any easy pass plays. Sanchez comes up with huge 3rd down plays but they never seem easy. It seems like other teams always have someone get open it's just a question of will the offensive line give them enough time to get to that progression. With the Jets it seems like the receivers are never truly open.
And as for Nacho....on the game winning play, he got pressure...sidestepped and pumped.. then sidestepped and pumped again...then ran several steps to his left and (would have) hit Holmes if not for the PI. Big Time Baby.
