Because I'm not satisfied with the playoffs. Neither is Denver apparently. Say what you want about Shannahan but there is a coach with a pair of rocks on him.
You have to go to the playoffs first, they don't let you go straight to the Super Bowl because you feel good about your rookie QB. Shanahan won when he had Elway and never without him. He cost his team last night and could very well miss the playoffs while Cutler learns the ropes. I thought before they played Seattle it was a bonehead move and it's already backfired. You want us to do that? No thanks.
If at the beginning of the season any one said the Jets would be 7-5 at this point and that we split games with the pats and already beat the Bills and Fins I don't think anyone would think that this season was anything but a glaring success. So why does the measuring stick change just because we exceeded expectations? What happens in the next 4 games is gravy and the fact that anyone is talking about the Jets and the playoffs is nothing short of extacy. So lets not get ahead of ourselves and start focusing on 12/10 and beating the Bills. Also, the fact that Clemens is not playing is a positive. I like the guy and I am glad he is in the position to ride the bench his entire first year.
Davis was the difference maker for Shannahan, at least in the postseason. And I'm not saying the Jets should put Clemens in now as they obviously haven't reached the point where they don't think Chad can take them any further. A stumble down the stretch here or an embarassing postseason performance would do that, I think.
I agree about Davis, but Elway was still no slouch, even at the end of his career. It seems to me you're just waiting for an excuse to dump Pennington when all he's ever done here is win, that's what I don't get. He's not retiring and he still wins, I don't see a problem or a need for change at QB. Not now and not in the immediate future. A new QB is always a crapshoot, all the skills in the world don't equal winning, why fix what isn't broken? You chance setting the team back years, while the reward is what? We're already winning. Chad has spent his career here while New England is in the midst of a run as a great team in our division, which makes it harder to get in the playoffs, and we've still been able to get in with Pennington. I just don't get what the people expect that want to get rid of him.
I guess we just have different expectations out of the QB position. The problem I see is his inability to make plays and win against good defenses. The Jets wisely seem to be working towards building a dominant offensive line, but after that whether they try to bring in a big time RB and try to let "just manage the game" is up in the air. The other option on offense is attempting to upgrade the QB position and hoping the running game falls in line if you have a dominant passing game. I bet you can guess which option I'm hoping for.
I think I can figure it out. :grin: I just want to win, that's all. We've had QBs with big arms, we've had can't miss prospects, #1 picks, I just want to win and Pennington wins. In the northeast you need a good running game and to do anything you need a solid O-line, I agree there. But I think with a line that Pennington has proven he can win. I don't get the thing about good defenses. If they are good, it means teams will struggle against them, that's why they're good. We just won at NE with Chad at QB, are we still going by the 2002 Oakland game? Or the year he played with his arm falling off? Again, I just don't understand where Pennington has failed that people get so down on him. When he's in there, we win.
And what, floating duck passes and dink and dunks don't win SB's? hahah j/k. Penny still as good as option as we have now. We can make the playoffs with out D alone, just look at the Bears.
He wins a majority of the time when he's in there because a majority of the teams in the league are bad. He's the Paul Hackett of QB's. Whether Hackett ruined him or helped him get the most out of his limited ability is up for debate. The ability to beat up on the bad teams is certainly a point in his favor but at some point he's either going to have to show he's able to carry the Jets against a good team or the Jets are going to have to get a whole lot better if they want to have real success in the NFL.
In the beginning of the season all I heard, Rebuilding , rebuilding, rebuilding, now the same people want us to go 11-5. What a joke. When we could have easily beat the colts , I said we should have won that game, what do I hear. " No we should not have, they are the colts, and were REBUILDING". Were 7-5, when most fans projected us to finish at , at least 5-11, maybe 6-10. Now he have to go 11-5 so we can prove ourselves, O please. Probably because he does not have a rocket laser arm.
Excellent points 227. I was just going to respond exactly to dbj's post. You did it much better then I could. I hear what you are saying dbj. The only disagreement I would have is that you and I...like all of the rest of Jet fans this morning, are asking a lot from a team that is good...not great. Asking a team to win 6 or 7 in a row even in a waterdowned NFL is a lot. With that said, yes, my expectations have changed too...I just wouldnt get down on the team or the coaching staff if the Jets finished 9-7 and went home. Too many promising things have begun to happen to this franchise...with number 1 being that a standard has been set. EM has this team moving in the proper direction..and thats all we wanted from the beginning.
The stakes have never changed. The entire season is based on Pennington being healthy and always has hinged on that. The Jets aren't an elite team but there isn't an elite team in the league. The Jets made the playoffs with Herm Edwards as the HC. The Jets have talent and they have an excellent young HC. We also have a schedule that is the envy of the league. I have killed Pennington on this board but the reality is the QB play in the NFL blows and while Pennington lacks quality NFL physical skills in this league right now he is good enough to win with the talent that has been assembled around him. We should go 3 & 1 down the stretch, we might not but we should. The low expectations around here have been created by history, a boob of a HC and injuries. The Jets are not only as good as most of the crap in the league, they are relatively healthy, and we make relatively few mental errors. Good players, healthy players, smart players and a veteran QB who doesn't give the game away is a winning formula.
We underachieved last year having played 5 QBs, losing a HOF RB, losing our starting TE, having 1 Ol start and end the season in the same position, losing a PB caliber DT, a PB DE, our best defensive player from '04(Barton), our best STs player(McClover) and others. Vince Lombardi w/ bill walsh as his OC and Bill belichick as his Dc couldn't have won more than 4-5 games w/ that beat up group. The SOJ's letf about 10 years ago.
I have seen him lead us to 7 wins and w/o him I think we probably have 3. We win when Chad starts, we don't when he does not.
I expect us to win the last 4 games just because the Jets are a better team then them. (Vikings, Bills, Lphins & Raiders)
Expectations change quickly in this league. Do you think No thought they'd be 8-4? You think they are happy b/c they weren't expected to be 8-4? Did people expect NE to go 11-5 in '01? SL to go to 13-3 in '99? I am not comparing us to SL '99 or NE '01 but expectations change quikcly. It would be a major disappointment if we don't win 3 of the last 4. Now if we were 4-8 and ended up w/ 7 or 8 then that would be one thing but to be 7-5 w/ 4 games against teams we can beat anything less than 3 wins would be a disappointment.
This is a ridiculous argument, if a backup is better then the starter he's not going to be the backup for long. So of course when your starter is out for extended periods of time the team is not going to win as much. But thanks for pointing out that Chad is better then a decrepit Vinny Testaverde or the plain awful Brooks Bollinger. Quite the vote of confidence.
Then why is it Minnesota had a better record w/o daunte than when daunte started? daunte is a top QB to you, right? Vinny won 10 games for us in 2001, in 2002 he started 1-3. he also won 6 games w/ dallas in 2004. he was more than capable of winning some games for us. When Chad plays we win more often than not when he doesn't we lose.
