The key to our success this season was our offense, not our defense. Our offense that featured a QB coming off of 2 major throwing arm surgeries, 2 unproven mid-round rbs, and an offensive line starting 2 rookies at the most key positions, Left Tackle and Center. Our defense which wasnt hampered by these same hardships was our weakness. I look at this season and I think the main reason for our success was Brian "the Brain" Schottenheimer. Sure Mangini had some say in the quick success of our offense, but the man behind it all was Schott. Mangini's defense on the other hand struggled. Do you think if we didnt have Schottenheimer this year we would have been a playoff team? Would Pennington have been Comeback Player of the Year? Would Mangini have been a coach of the year candidate? Obviously its silly because Mangini picked him, and part of being a good coach is picking good assistants; but whats going to happen when Schott gets a head coaching gig in the near future - Will it show what kind of coach Mangini really is? Personally I am worried for when that day happens, and it will. I'm worried we have the "next special head coach" stuck at coordinator, and Mangini's just getting too much credit for Schottenheimer's genius. thoughts?
Well you could make the same case for Belicheck..he hasnt been to the big game or won it since Romeo, Weiss and Mangini all left him.
I personally think you're wrong. The only aspect that wasnt good for our offense was our RB situation. Which turned out to be average at worst. Schotty had an although injury riddled qb, he is a proven above average starter. The o-line was young and talented, our WR corp is above average, our TE's if used correctly are above average. On the other side of the ball, there were problems up and down the depth chart. 1) No real NT (Drob did get better however) 2) Basically only one DE in Ellis bc VonOldhoffen could barely walk on the field. 3) LB's that are an average group trying to learn a brand new scheme that most of them are picking up for the first time in their playing carrears, not an easy task 4) a below average CB corp, they really werent that good, a lot of holes and a big off-season need 5) Kerry Rhodes was a stud, Eric Coleman struggles at times, but can always make the needed stop. So i think both coaches did an amazing job on each side of the ball, with what they were given. Mangini turned Drob into a decent NT, He turned Hank Poteat into a servicable player that when on the field, werent worried about making a bonehead play, or giving up the big one. Our coaches are great, young guys that know a lot about football, lets not go throwing their names around like its one coach is the reason for success and the other isnt. Mangini is the head of the team so he will get the most credit, which he deserves.
They were a minute or two away from playing in, and likely winning this year's Superbowl. I'm pretty sure it wasn't Crennel and Weis holding him up.
It wasn't like we had a duel head coaching system either where Mangini didn't coach the offense and only focused on offense. As the Head Coach Mangini gets the blame for when the offense struggles but should also get the credit when they play well.
Pennington deserves some respect here. You can't give Brian all the credit for the offense. The Jets defense was pretty solid too considering it was an entire new system. Of course the answer is it was all of their efforts combined.
I disagree with the main premise of your argument, which appears to be that the Jet's offense is what made them good this year. In fact, I believe that it was the offense that held them back and prevented them from being a legitimate contender, instead of the wildcard promoted by a weak schedule. Before I start on the details of my premise I'm also going to say that the inadequacy of the offense was clearly not Schottenheimer's fault. He did the best he could with a weak-armed but smart QB and a motley collection of runningbacks of whom none asserted themselves until near mid-season when Washington became a player. He also had a youngish offensive line that was smaller than you'd like to have playing in a division with powerhouse front sevens like the ones in New England and Miami. Ok, on to the details. The Jets lost 4 games this season largely because the offense was unable to generate any sustained attack at all until the game was all but lost. They lost 24-17 at New England, in a game that appeared much closer than it actually was, largely because a single flukey play (the Cotchery run after two defenders collided) reset the momentum late in the 3rd quarter. Up to that point (2:42 remaining in the 3rd) the Jets had been feeble on offense and basically allowed the defense to defend a short field on multiple occasions. They lost 41-0 in Jacksonville because the QB had a terrible day, and as is his wont disintegrated under pressure when he got down by more than a score. No lucky 71 yard TD run was going to bail the Jets out of this one. Both sides of the ball sucked in this one but it was an interception on the first drive of the game that gave the Jaguars opening possession at mid-field that set the tone. The Jets did nothing on offense at all during the game until they decided to give the ball to Washington in the second half. The Jaguars, with the game already won, just sat back and defended the rest of the way. They lost 20-13 at Cleveland to a much inferior squad because the offense just could not get going. The lone TD against the 27th ranked defense in the NFL was on a kickoff return by Justin Miller. The Jet's offense lost this game against a bad opponent. They lost 10-0 at Chicago because the offense could do nothing all game long. This against the same defense that had allowed 31 points to Joey Harrington two weeks earlier! The Jet's defense won this game and the offense handed it back. They lost 2 other games because the offense committed terrible gaffes that turned tight games into routs. They lost 31-13 at Buffalo because Chad threw a terrible late first half interception that was returned for a score. That was the point at which the game devolved from a close hard fought affair into a rout. That was all offense. They lost 37-16 at New England because Chad threw a terrible lateral that setup a fast score late in the game. Rout immediately followed. They might well have lost that game on the road to a superior opponent anyway, but the offense threw it away and made the loss inevitable. We all look at last season and we think "if the Jets had just had a strong defense they might have gone a lot farther." The facts are that the offense is what held them down. If the Jets had gotten consistently good performance out of the offense, well that was the ticket to 12 or 13 wins and a long playoff run. As I said at the start, I don't hold the Jet's failures on offense last year to be Brian Schottenheimer's errors. He did what he could do with what he had to work with. It wasn't enough. Eric Mangini is the guy that got us to 10 wins last year because he held together a not good enough offense and a not good enough defense and they beat most of the teams they were supposed to and a few they were not. That's good coaching.
While I consider Schott a great coach, the offense wasn't anything to write home about. Did it show potential? Yep. Truth is though, unless the ball was in Coles or Cotchery's hands...I wasn't thinking "here's that big HR play." I think we're a good offensive line, RB, and better QB away from being elite. But thats way easier said than done. This offense had very little fire power, and we would look absolutely terrible in the red zone at times. Schott's creativity, the development of D'Brick/Mangold, and the explosiveness of a few guys (Washington, Smith, Coles, Cotch) were really the only things that made our offense even seem alive.
i dont think you can blame the offence that much for the playoff loss. the lateral was not chads fault first of all. do u want him diving for the ball then getting owned by 11 pats.
ACTUALLY, it was Mangini that talked Schottenheimer into running the hurry-up style at the line offense... it was in the papers as such.
I was in the process of writing a treatise of how wrong this thread is. But you said it pretty damn well. Really I think I watched a different team than some other people did. To be clear, I thought I was watching the NYJ's. I thought I noticed a D that dramatically improved during the year from terrible to being ok. I also thought I watched a D that helped the Jets win some important games while the O languished. Oh well I am going to get my eyes and head checked. One other thing............... Holy shit this is going to be one long off season. On a serious note, no matter what anyone says this team needs talent. This staff did a fantastic job with lack of talent in some glaring areas. By staff I mean Eric Mangini first and foremost. He brought the system and the other coaches. He brought discipline and smarts to this team. This team will rarely if ever be out coached, out prepared and out worked. This is a top down league IMO. It all flows down from the head coach. It boggles the mind how far the coaching has improved from the last 6 years to present. You have to be completely blind not to see it. That is saying a lot about the this staff and the guy that runs it!
One thought--Mangini is the head coach. He does not share authority with B. S. He is the authority, He approves every aspect of the game plan and he changes what he wants to change. Schottenheimer is his minion. Case closed. The king gets the credit. We have no idea what went on behind closed doors. And the Jet doors were more closed than most.
On a serious note, no matter what anyone says this team needs talent. This staff did a fantastic job with lack of talent in some glaring areas. By staff I mean Eric Mangini first and foremost. He brought the system and the other coaches. He brought discipline and smarts to this team. This team will rarely if ever be out coached, out prepared and out worked. This is a top down league IMO. It all flows down from the head coach. It boggles the mind how far the coaching has improved from the last 6 years to present. You have to be completely blind not to see it. That is saying a lot about the this staff and the guy that runs it! Nothing else needs to be said from the above by Miamipuck. This is Mangini's show from top to bottom.
a head coach's job is to build a staff that can work together, and then make key descions,that are not up to the coordinators. And the god coaches are able to replace them when they leave
My only critisism of Shot was his failer to cultivate Baker in the passing game. Yes, we had decent doeses of Baker on and off, but never consistently like teams with all pro TE's. Folks, we have one of the premire TE's who can catch ANY ball thrown his way, then RUN with it, AND, get this, is a good blocker in the run game and can pass block as good as any TE. You read it hear 7th, Baker will blossum big time in 2007.
Wow that’s a strong indictment, but that’s like saying Parcelles and Edwards owe all their success to the coordinators. Shoot, what do we need a head coach for anyway! Let’s say Shotty left next year, the coach that replaces him will either install his own offense or build on the existing one. Here are the guts of the offensive coordinator position, it’s all the same! Every teams play book is virtually the same; it’s the terminology (The name of the plays) and the formations that change from play to play. A quick slant is a quick slant. It’s all a team effort.
Edwards might not give all the credit to the coordinators, but he certainly has no issues with placing all of his team's failures on them.
