http://www.nj.com/jets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/119129923396670.xml&coll=1 Jets Offense Afraid of the Deep End Lack of long throws stifling drives BY DAVE HUTCHINSON Star-Ledger Staff HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Thomas Jones was acquired last March to be the answer to the Jets' running game woes and put the play-action back into quarterback Chad Pennington's repertoire. And after a breakout game last week against the Dolphins -- 110 yards rushing on 25 carries -- the Jets felt they had the perfect scenario as they prepared for the Bills. Buffalo's defense was crippled by injuries, with four starters out. The unit ranked last in the NFL in run defense, yielding 177.3 yards per game. The Bills had no Pro Bowl run-stuffer in the middle of their defense. Inexplicably, the Jets, who didn't even activate 240-pound fullback Darian Barnes, abandoned the run in the second half and Jones finished with a mere 35 yards on 12 carries in a demoralizing 17-14 loss in Buffalo on Sunday. After four games, Jones has only 254 yards rushing -- tied for 19th in the NFL -- and no touchdowns on 75 carries. He has a pedestrian 3.4-yard average. "They (the Bills) did a lot of different things with their defense,'' Jones said yesterday. "We had to make some adjustments. They bring a lot of guys in terms of penetrating the gaps and have a lot of guys, safeties and cornerbacks, that made a difference.'' If the Bills committed all those players to stop the run, why couldn't the Jets beat them with the pass? Pennington hit a career-high 32 of 39 passes -- including 15 straight at one point -- for 290 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, but nearly all of his completions were of the dink-and-dunk variety and didn't really hurt Buffalo. Therein lies the problem with the Jets offense, which ranks 28th in the NFL (283.3 yards per game). Opponents are able to commit to stopping the run and Pennington isn't making them pay by stretching the field with deep balls despite having a pair of game-breaking receivers in Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery. "I'm going deep, it's just when I'm going deep, I'm clearing out (for short underneath passes),'' said Coles. Against the Bills, Cotchery caught eight passes for 106 yards, including two 28-yard receptions on which he did a lot of the work on his own with yards after the catch. He had receptions for 50 and 44 yards against the Ravens but the strong-armed Kellen Clemens was the quarterback. This season, Cotchery has 26 receptions for 382 yards (14.7-yard average) and no touchdowns. Coles had eight catches for 65 yards and a touchdown against the Bills. He has 24 receptions for 211 yards (a paltry 8.8-yard average) and four touchdowns this season. His longest catch was for 24 yards and that came against the Ravens with Clemens again at quarterback. Running back Leon Washington had a career-high eight catches for 38 yards against the Bills. Wide receiver Brad Smith did have a 26-yarder on a deep out pattern, perhaps the best thrown ball of the game by Pennington. The fact is, the Jets offense has become as predictable as rush-hour traffic with teams apparently having caught up to offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's dizzying array of pre-snap shifts and motion and different personnel packages. If Pennington can't get the ball downfield, opponents figure they'll just play a soft zone and keep everything in front of them. The Jets certainly didn't help themselves by committing nine penalties against the Bills. "I think there's been some opportunities to ... there's been some plays called where you'd like to stretch the field, but you have to ... it's like anything else, you don't want to force it,'' said coach Eric Mangini. "You can take shots for the sake of taking shots, but sometimes that can be counterproductive if you're really throwing it in a place where they have strong coverage.'' Often, however, just showing a team you'll take a shot deep is enough to make your point and loosen up the defense. "We have the ability to stretch the field and I think teams are aware of that,'' Cotchery said. "Each week, we go in and secondaries are playing deep and they're not letting us get behind them.'' Opponents, though, shouldn't be able to have it both ways against the Jets. In theory, if they're going to play a deep zone, the Jets should be able to run the ball. If they stack the box to stop the run, the Jets should be able to pass. "We tried to go off what they (the Bills) gave us,'' Cotchery said. "We did a good job but we were inconsistent at times. If you're inconsistent in the NFL, you end up with losses and days like this where you're trying to explain with happened."
That's one of the first articles I've seen this season that put forward the facts, without simply looking at the stats and praising Pennington.... It's all so obvious, but the stat sheets seem to cloud a lot of people's judgements....
Chad arm does limit what we can do...however last week i think we should have ran the ball more....Jones only had 12 carries and Leon only had like 6....unacceptable IMO
I think that really sums up the REAL things wrong with our offense. The good ole reliable Dink and dunk pass. Plays designed with a safety valve if Penny doesn’t like what he sees. Id rather take the pick on a long pass then a 5 yard rainbow during the most crucial time of the game.
Pennington has no arm and Boobway has no clue since he gave Chad $64M. Look at our first 3rd and long from the Buffalo game--Chad throws a horizontal screen to Brad Smith--most teams throw downfield on 3rd and long. Chad can't.
whats the point people with a terrible line (except mangold maybe clement) and zero running game, even a high octane passing game couldnt get us out of the afc! a one dimensional passing game would only make our terrible defense play more! if pennington had all day to throw and a half way decent running game maybe we could keep the opposing defense honest. until our lines are up graded we are along way from contending, besides that the rest of the afc is not going to sit around and wait on us. they got better in the off season we did nothing serious, minor fixes in the wrong areas i might add.
If we had a hight octane passing game at least we would have a punchers chance of winning a game. We do have very good receivers. If they could spread the field it would open up the running game.
im angry with chads play but that is one glaring truth that has been understated. the worst run d in the league and you only put out 18 attempts from your backfield. fucking retarded.
exactly. we wont find out until CP is gone though anyways. I expect alot of the same this year and alot of 8 in the box.
Things happen like this on any given sunday the passing game wasent giving us anything but short plays so the CS should of ran the rock 3 x more then they did and we could of had a better outcome.
Sure there is...how about the fact that most of Cotch's yards on the 44 and 50 yard passes were YAC. When they get YAC after a Clemens pass, it's all because of the QB, but when they get YAC after a Pennington pass, it's because of the receiver. That's nothing more than a stupid double-standard.
did you see Jones ypc? They were horrible. He was getting 2 yards a pop. That is why we werent scroing in the 1st half because we were forcefeeding Jones and he was doing nothing. If we kept running the ball, we would have been shutout.
Listen, we will be waisting a good runningback if they don't start using him. Then he will be gone scoring touchdowns for another team.
It would not make our Defense stop anyone. Since you mentioned the Defense it is obvious you realize they are going to give up alot of points this year. With that said Scoring alot of points is not something Chad Can or ever will be able to do. With Clemens in there we might have a punchers chance of outscoring some teams. The Defense can't be fixed this year but maybe the offense can adjust to score some points.
There is not running back in the league that can have a good year on this team without the threat of a passing game.
Hutchinson hit the nail on the head: Therein lies the problem with the Jets offense, which ranks 28th in the NFL (283.3 yards per game). Opponents are able to commit to stopping the run and Pennington isn't making them pay by stretching the field with deep balls despite having a pair of game-breaking receivers in Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery. It's not anti-Chad - it is what it is...
To me the Baltimore game and the Buffalo game was the same game, just with different QBs. We didn't really open it up in either one until we got down multiple scores late and we had to. Then we came roaring back and fell short in both games. So I'd say changing Qbs, based on that, probably won't make that much of a difference.
