We are struggling with next years team identity. We worry about the draft. Many expect a big splash in FA, others wisely point out our cap limitations. Some here feel we are doomed next year, other calmly recognize we have a good team in need of just a few tweaks.* Me, well I'm confused as hell. Sometimes I feel we search for answers everywhere except within.* Don't get me wrong, I am hoping for a real good draft for us, players in rounds 1,2, and 3 that can be immediate contributors, *but beyond that I am hoping that the biggest improvements will come from the young folks we have.* Enough talk about those on the way down like Scott, Thomas, Pace, you name it. We should have long term plans for them. They can hold the fort for 1 or 2 more years. But who will step up for us and become the Diamond stud we need to get us over the hump for years to come? Wilkerson, Ellis, Wilson, wait, *how about Mark Sanchez?* *The division will be tougher with Buffalo, and even Miami becoming more competitive so minor improvements won't get us there. We need a few of our young heroes to become game changers in 2012 but none more so than Mark. Like it or not we have a hell of a lot riding on his future. Will we be pleasantly surprised or disappointed ?
I expect Slauson to be better without a torn rotator cuff and bicep. Mangold will play better not having a sprained ankle. Brandon Moore not coming off hip surgery could be a good thing although we don't know if it affected him this year. Brick had a terrible year by his standards last year, one would hope he rights the ship. Wayne Hunter has obviously given us no reason to be optimistic. Shonn Greene and Joe McKnight will play only as good as the OL lets them. Ditto for Sanchez. Basically, the entire offense will go as the OL goes. Defensively I expect a top 5 unit as always. RR always brings it on D, with or without a passrush. Wilkerson, Dixon, Ellis, and Pitoitua should only get better with more reps. LB core is a concern due to age but I don't think Bart Scott is as bad as people here say he is. Secondary will be solid but Safety is a concern. Reggie Nelson would help. The team fumbled 43 times last year, leading the league. One would assume that number goes down. A lot of those happened on special teams as well, key turning points in games. If we get that cleaned up we'll be in good shape.
I expect the biggest difference to be in our secondary, because I can't imagine that we'll go into next season with a starting safety combo as bad as Leonhard/Smith.
I expect our true confidence to be our biggest improvement. Players said themselves that the pressure to win and come through for Rex's constant talk got overwhelming and they ended up losing their cool and confidence. Between Rex and Sparano I expect us to be more disciplined and more ready and overall, more confident. Rex and Sparano just seem like they are on the same wavelength on how they want to play football from comparing their days as HC's. I believe we'll have a much better swagger this season than we did last season.
I would expect the Jets to cutdown on TO's and as a direct result, obviously giving away points as a result of them. TO's were BRUTAL last year
I expect our offense as a whole to improve (though our RT situation is still a great cause for concern as it now seems clear it is not going to get addressed in FA and so the best we can hope for is to start a rookie out there). Sanchez will be (much) better than last year I am certain of it. My main concerns are the LB corp (dependent on who we draft) and the safety situation. At this rate we are looking worse at safety than last year (which I didnt think was possible).
I expect we will not again lead the league in points given up because of turnovers and give up less than the 126 points we gave up in 2011 because of turnovers.
I expect our ground name to back to where it was in '09 and '10 and significant improvements by Sanchez esp decreasing the # of turnovers
If everything else stayed the same and we diminished points off turnovers only by 50%, that could mean 10-11 wins
I expect improvements overall but the biggest ones are obviously Sanchez, the Oline and, honestly, special teams weren't great last year either. Too many miffed punts, fumbles on the return and I'm not sure but I bet we didn't have the best punts ourselves. I think we basically would have one at least one game, probably more, if not for a bad miffed punt (i.e. the one Cro gave up which lead to a TD for other team...don't remember who that was against). Sort of a side note on improvements but not player specific: less infractions by the oline and better play calling. For all the shit we give Sanchez I don't think he got a lot of help in those departments. We had a lot of third and longs and a lot of that had to do with a) Oline losing us yardage on penatlies and b) stupid play calling (i.e. all the wildcats, trick plays and whatnot on first downs). Part of the play calling falls on Sanchez too because he should change it at the line if he doesn't like what he sees, but just saying in general if those things improve that would help a lot.
That was the one. Without that mistake we're only down a TD at the start of the 4th with the ball. That's a whole different game than being down 14 at the start of the 4th. Cro was brutal that game in general, too.
As much as I dislike him - Holmes. Not only do I expect him to be the biggest improvement, but I believe he has to be as well if this offense really expects to take off. Right tackle as runner up since I'm not certain Hunter is going to even start.
Just speaking in general terms, Rex/Sparano work to limit the mistakes that cost us 4-5 games last year and we win 3 of them this year to finish 11-5, tied with NE for the AFCE.
Just less confusion on offense - LESS PENALTIES!!!!! There is no excuse for penalties like they had last year other than Schottenheimer trying to outsmart everyone, including his own team...
Thank you all for renewing my confidence. Great points about the key enablers going forward. OL needs to be addressed without a doubt. I expect far more discipline with Sparano and Rex this year. Safeties and OLB will be the weak link defensively. Hopefully both improved through the draft and selectively through FA. A great input on the many players that were hurt last year and still played. Depth will be essential as injuries are part of this game. Investing in depth on the O line and defense is more effective than spending all our money on one superstar. So far our limited signings seem to follow that blueprint.
