Not saying both,, ( S & RT ) but we need a RT, And anything that gets cut we should look at hard and be ready to make a move. If a safty is cut and its comes by the cheap I also say take a look. Also I did not say we would not be good, Im saying we can be much MUCH better then what we have now. There is always a weak link in a system... And Wayne Hunter is our WEAK LEAK.. must be changed.
Nice post Johnny. It will fall on def ears as the idiots and trolls will come out of hiding as soon as one thing goes bad, but I like it.
Tony Sparano is changing our oline blocking scheme from a zone to a man-to-man. This scheme change should favor a guy like Hunter, because it's easier to learn and he'll know who he's assigned to block pre-snap. I'm not a big fan of Wayne Hunter either. But the Jets seem to think he can thrive in Sparano's man-to-man approach.
Completely unrelated to the topic but nowhere else to put it: Just booked a vacation overseas the other day and realized that I get back on September 9th at around noon...kick off for week 1 is 1pm that day. Now I'm worried if my flight gets delayed or something I'm going to miss it. I'm already going to miss the last two preseason games. I can try and PVR it but I doubt my cable company will have it listed more than two weeks in advance. Lame.
Here's the problem I have with this. Wayne Hunter has the skills of a career backup/6th blocker. That's why he has always been a backup in his NFL career until the Jets somehow double-visioned him into starting material. Ok, so we have a career backup at RT because the FO couldn't shoot straight on keeping Damien Woody or finding an adequate replacement for him after Vlad Ducasse fell through. What else is true about Wayne Hunter? Well, he's 31 years old on July 2nd. Backup level players really don't age well in the NFL. Their skills, which are marginal already as Hunter's are, decline a bit and they fall off of the cliff that NFL competition is for players at that skill level. The odds that the Jets get improved play out of Hunter by switching systems are off-set by the fact that he's getting really ancient for a backup quality player. To understand this better: who exactly is Wayne Hunter going to be able to block man-on-man against the Bills in the opener? That's the question that should have Tannenbaum rolling in his sleep until he finds a real RT.
a few comments on your post 1) Damien Woody's knees made him an obsolete option. 2) If the Jets truly thought RT was a problem, they would've addressed the position early in the draft. The Jets front office, of course, did not. Which has me believe that Ducasse is ready to take the next step and/or Hunter is a sufficient stopgap. 3) 31 isn't that old in Oline years. If it was, you wouldn't be pining for Damien Woody. 4) Wayne Hunter will most likely have help from the TE blocking M.Williams (Bills). I think you need to try and let go of the stigma that Hunter is completely useless. I know he was awful last year, but the year before he was surprisingly decent. The new scheme should cater to his strengths.
Debatable. He certainly doesn't talk like he was ready to go when the Jets decided to let him go. This is last year's conversation. Look what happened there. If you're willing to credit the Jets with having this one right after the debacle we saw last year, well that's your option. I'm going to say that if Adrien Clarke was still the LG in 2008 the debacle would have continued. That's where we are right now with RT. There's a huge difference between being a pro bowl caliber player and a career backup. Go look at the backups around the NFL on the offensive line and see how many of them are 31. Good linemen? Yeah they have a few years left but almost all of the marginal ones are gone by that age. Wayne Hunter and Dustin Keller blocking Mario Williams because Hunter can't possibly manage the situation himself. Still sounds like over-run to me except one of the Jets primary receivers is trying to cover for the hole at RT. Hunter is completely useless as a starting player. He's probably almost useless as a backup also at this point. It just is what it is. Bart Scott's a much better player than Hunter ever was and look what happened to him last year when he lost a half-step.
Geez if we were just going to buy that "Tanny knows best!" crap nobody would bother posting here, not to mention that Tanny has a clear track record of screwing it up on the OL. Remember Clarke and Bender? And that's not all. FTr I am not quite as down on Hunter as some are here. I think Sanchez shared the blame. Most people worry about their Qb being hit from their blind side. But it was more like Sanchez seeing the blocking break down in front of him distracted him from reading the coverage. I know that is subtle, but again if you compare Qb hits to sack rate, the Jets had disproportionately more sacks than hits. I would frankly be much less concerned about Hunter if I was not still very concerned about VD. VD just looks like a huge gamble to ever get better. Counting on one of these two to get it done at RT makes me think much too much of that Clarke and Bender situation. It would be deja vu all over again (heh) if that were to happen, and it could singlehandedly destroy the Jets's season.
Here's the bottom line about Hunter and VD: The Jets have talked these two up as the way they intended to go at RT all off season so far. They let Hunter's K go guaranteed without trying to redo it. They made no noise in FA to get another RT in here. They did nothing more than get Howard, who has camp cut written all over him. As for Sparano, let's not forget how last season all the talk was how Callahan was going to continue coaching Hunter into a suitable replacement for Woody. Now Cally is gone, and Sparano has this job. What in Sparano's track record suggests he will do better? He had three years running the O in Miami (yea along with the rest of the team, but he was an O guy just like Ryan is a D guy), and that was enough to get him fired. This was shaping up as the year Sanchez makes it or breaks it, yet the Jets essentially have not even tried to upgrade their worst offensive position of last year, and that could undo any real hope of Sanchez progressing. Maybe these guys will show us all what geniuses they are. But if the Jet O blows up because they can't get it done at RT, Tanny should be fired, and I am starting to wonder whether Ryan should join him as well. We shall see. But the lack of action at RT is.... troubling.
that's clearly your opinion, and not fact. Fact: Woody retired on his own accord, nobody forced his hand. Wayne Hunter is not Adrien Clarke. He's also not Ryan Clady either. What he is, is serviceable, as demonstrated when he blocked the Pitt pass rush consistently in our win against the Steelers in 2010. Keep in mind, Hunter is merely a stopgap. We're going to be running the ball, and as much as Ducasse is horrible at pass blocking, the kid is a road grater in the run game. He's not a 10 year starter nor is he the long term solution at RT, he's a stopgap for this year. What makes you think it will be Dustin Keller? He's not a blocking TE. This is completely false. Hunter is serviceable at best. You can't have probowlers at every position. I saw Bart Scott's name, and didn't bother reading that excerpt. He's irrelevant to the topic being discussed.
The entire conversation that I'm hearing from you is that 2011 never happened. Let's just do it over and everything will go fine this time. I've been a Jets fan for long enough to know with some certainty that if Wayne Hunter is still the RT after camp next year we're probably looking at a down season. It's not like Tony Sparano is a genius with a great rep coming in here to bail us out. The offenses in Miami were mediocre at best and they had much better RB's than he's going to have available to him next year. Something is going to have to give and unless the Jets really improve the line play from last year it's going to be the Jets playoff chances most likely. And BTW, talking Hunter up as though he's acceptable based on a half dozen games TWO years ago when he was still 29 is ludicrous. He wasn't that good back then and he clearly was much worse last season. Projecting him to somehow get better this year despite the fact that he was bad last year, he's over 30 now, and Tony Sparano's offensive linemen mostly came under a lot of fire in Miami for under-performing, is even more whacky.
Thanks man, I dont doubt that the "idiots" will overlook this but for the occasional fan looking for some guidance is who the main target is here. Everyone just has to keep cool and go with the flow of this season, whether that entitles ups and downs is 50% up to them and 50% up to this team.
I'm not saying 2011 didn't happen. But one bad year doesn't make or break a player. What if Hunter thrives in the man-to-man blocking scheme? You and I could debate until both our heads explode, but we won't have any hard evidence to back our opinions up until Training Camp opens. It's obvious that you're looking at this under a negative light, and that's your prerogative. But don't assume that your hatred for Hunter will translate into him being a perennial piece of shit. You compared him to Adrien Clarke, and that's all i needed to know in regards to where you stand on Hunter. Do I like having Hunter as my RT? Heck no. But i can appreciate the Jets wanting to use him as a stopgap while they groom Ducasse or draft a RT next year in the first round or 2. The Jets obviously have a plan to curtail any oline blocking problems for the upcoming season.
Heh. You don't have to go so far as to compare Hunter to Adrien Clarke to say that the Jets had a plan for curing OL blocking problems when Pete Kendall left and it worked like shit.
In Vlad we trust at this moment. This team will go as far as the offensive line. We got the weapons now, now it's all about solidifying that right side. Hopefully Vlad's technique is much better at this stage
Sorry, I didn't realize I was dancing around anything. I'll try to be as clear as possible. Over-reliance on the passing game is a problem because the whole passing attack sucks. The QB is a big question mark, but he doesn't have enough quality weapons to throw to, or a line that can adequately protect him. The QB hits stat was an interesting one, I hadn't seen that before, but I'm not sure it's a great indicator of how well they pass-protected. I'd be more interested to know how they rank in QB hurries, but I'm not sure where to find that info. I know my eyes told me they gave up a lot of pressure last year, did you see differently? What I was trying to say is that they can cover up the deficiencies they have in the passing game if they establish a quality running game, but if that remains mediocre they have no shot at the playoffs.
