...it's almost surreal to me that what should have been the greatest era in NY Jets history, the era that would FINALLY break the curse (a la the Red Sox breaking the curse of the bambino) ended this way. There are no words. Strange, bizarre, surreal.....An era that started off so promising, with 2 AFC championships, the Mark Sanchez, Shonn Greene, Braylon Edwards "triplets", a stifling D, all undone by 2 major factors: 1) Rex couldn't hire a decent offensive coordinator to save his life, or a decent QB coach to develop "the Sanchize". 2) Idzik's bizarre plan to undermine the strength of his team this offseason by letting the secondary be eroded in FA. We would have had a legit shot at the playoffs with Revis and Cromartie! It would have been an entirely different season, maybe even 10-6 or 11-5, even with Geno! Remember all the success with Sanchez and Greene? We had better runners and a comparable QB this year, and Decker and Harvin and who knows how far we would have gone! Typical Jets incompetence. It only gets worse from here, sadly. A golden opportunity missed, the best opportunity since Namath....
Buddy, we don't have Decker, Richardson, Harvin if we kept Revis and Cro. This team was going all in from 2008-2012, that was Tannys dice roll. Traded up for draft picks and overpaid for declining talent. These past two years are the result. Idzik needed to hit in draft picks this year and right now outside of Amaro it doesn't look like he will...
Gentlemen, WHY do we keep that useless pile of dung Michael Vick on this team? The guy has done nothing for this team, admitting that he was not even ready when called upon. After all the years this guy has been in the league he's not ready to play? It's not as if this is a contending team . He should be ready on a moments notice. Mike Ditka ( and I agree ) stated the guy should not even be in football with that attitude. Why this guy even wastes salary cap money having him on our or any team is beyond me. When he has played, he's done next to nothing. He had one good quarter and the team held on to beat Pittsburgh all because of a good first quarter and then the offense and he all but dissapeared the rest of the game. Other than that one quarter all season, he has been just horrible when he has played.
The Jets should have cut and run after 2010 and started a real rebuild around Sanchez at that point. It was the only hope to open up another window fast. What happened instead? 1. Replaced Damien Woody with Wayne Hunter, a late prime backup player who zero'd out in the first few games of '11. 2. Signed everybody who was old and slow and about to retire at WR. 3. Re-upped Cromartie at a hefty price that guaranteed the Jets were going to be cap-heavy on the backend. 4. Waited to re-do the LB corps, a process that they're STILL waiting on going into 2015. 5. Watched the veteran safeties go away, to be replaced by wave after wave of 2 year safety solutions, in at least one notable case 1 year solutions at both positions. 6. Re-signed Santonio Holmes to a huge contract for a player who then put out average production when he was healthy, which after 2011 was not often. 7. This was all compounded by a major commitment to Sanchez which went sour due to most of the bulletpoints above.
Rex never wanted to get his hands dirty with the offense - that was his downfall. It's apparent our offense lacked reps week in week out. No discipline.
10-6 or 11-5? Come on now. We have the 27th ranked passing offense in the league this year, and Geno is still Geno. If we signed both Revis and Cromartie this off-season, we might be 6-10 or 7-9 instead of 3-12 now, just like in 2011 and 2012, when we had them both. The situation in 2009-2010 was different because we had a really dominant offensive line back then, with young Mangold and Brick, Damien Woody, Brandon Moore, etc. Those guys could run block and pass block all day most games, allowing the QB to excel with limited talent level. Now it's an average O-Line at best with most of those guys either retired or old. And Revis and Cromartie are 5 years older too.
Another thinly veiled "nothing is Rex's fault" post. There are a LOT of reasons we are one of the worst teams in the NFL. Rex is #1. And the people who think he is not involved in the offense are blind. Rex muddles enough to completely ruin the offense every year. MM does not on his own choose to run direct snaps, wildcat and go ground and pound. He said as much this week. Rex the loser he is forces those things on the OC
yes it would all have been so different if we had a good QB. no doubt... and it's such a shame, because so much about him was perfect for this franchise. but he can't wash his hands of his responsibility as head coach of the team to develop that position, the single most important position in the game.
Rex is not number 1--Every week he reminds me of "number 2," if you know what I mean. The jets will be SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better just getting rid of Rex Ryan. He gets totally outcoached every week and usually wastes a timeout or three every game. Firing him will give new meaning to the phrase addition by subtraction.
The era that should have been: At 8-5 in 2011 the Jets should have made the playoffs. Instead they lost 3 straight to miss the playoffs. The first game PHI just outplayed them up and down the field. The second game was a moronic gameplan asking Sanchez to drop back 60 times against a great pass rush. They lost that game. Then when they still thought their playoff lives were on the line, Sanchez throws 3 picks including one in the 4th Q with 3 minutes left down 6. And then Sanchez, the Jets, Rex, and Tanny were broken. Sanchez didn't develop, Rex didn't develop him, Tanny's go for broke strategy missed on the draft picks they did have and his FA signings ended up being expensive players who lived up nowhere near the contract they got. If only Rex could get the Jets up for every game like he does the Pats games recently.
One thing that I think gets overlooked, but had a major impact in the Jets' (and Rex's in particular) demise was the new CBA. Remember how physically dominating the team was in his first years? Then the CBA comes along and limits practice reps, and seriously limits contact in those drills. Sure you can say that affected everyone, but I have to think that a team based on defense and smash-mouth running feels it exponentially more than a team with a WCO where there is no emphasis on that contact---if anything it keeps their receivers healthier through the season. Just something I think about that nobody else ever seems to mention. I also think it's sad that we didn't hire Rex much earlier; how well did our offense with Curtis and Penny fit into Rex's offensive philosophy? I mean a hyper accurate QB who makes great reads and a RB who never fumbles and is always good for 30+ carries a game?
Timing is everything. If the Jets were terrible in 2007, Matt Ryan is there. If the Jets were terrible in 2011 Cam is there. If the Jets were terrible in 2012, Luck is there. Instead the Jets in 2007 were bad, went for a QB in 2009 and again in 2013. 2008 draft (following 07-08 season) Matt Ryan at #3, Jets at #6. If you lose a few more games, do we get Matt Ryan instead of Gholston? What happens then? 2009 draft (following 08-09 season) Stafford, Freeman, and Sanchez are the top QBs. Uhhh bad QB draft compared to the year before with Flacco and Ryan. 2013 draft (following 12-13 season) EJ Manuel, Geno, Mike Glennon. Not the best bunch especially following 2012 draft
I can't wait to get a coach in here who doesn't throw our timeouts in the trash. Rex is the main reason we keep games close, but still lose them in the end. He is an unmitigated disaster when it comes to clock management, challenges, and calling timeouts for no other reason than being unprepared to snap the goddamn football. 6 years of the same nonsense. Unreal. You need your timeouts at the end of close games. If you don't have them, you're going to lose ... And he is the fucking Master of NEVER having them. Good riddance.
rex is nothing but a glorified dc. doesn't care about the other aspects of the team and doesn't want to know about them. he is good at what he does as long as he has the talent but otherwise the hiring of this guy was a complete disaster. we need someone who cares what the offense, defense, and special teams are doing. when it's cut day, we need someone who is in town and not tailgating some college game. we need someone who wants to add talent to any part of our team that can help the whole team, not just his pet projects. we need someone who doesn't think just one pick per draft is his pick, but them all and they all receive the proper coaching and attention needed for them to succeed. and lastly, we need someone who isn't delusional. someone who can see reality and not declare the next scrub who walks in the door, the next HoF candidate. rex has run this team into the ground with bad decisions, coaching, and his obnoxious mouth. always taking swipes at belichek and talking about popping others in the mouth with silly bravado. next Monday can't come fast enough and I hope he takes another gm down with him.....
All of your points are valid, but especially what I bolded. Rex spent the summer of 2014 bragging up Clyde Gates (of all people) on how Gates has come back from injury, looked so good, etc. Just once Rex let the players do the talking with their play and keep your big mouth shut.
Excellent post. Rex even calls timeout before the JETS attempt the field goal, usually it is the other team trying to ice your kicker. Rex is the worst clock manager/game coach (soon to be ex-coach) on the planet.
