Well in some way or another I believe Woody put his paw prints all over this past off season. Douglas had been following his "blueprint" for 5 years, and then all of sudden chucked it aside and went "all in" right now. Maybe Woody didn't force him to trade for Rodgers, but I'd bet he told Joe, "If we don't get to the playoffs this year you're done", more or less forcing Douglas to abandon his "slow and steady" approach and swing for the fences. In any case, I think Woody continues to inject himself in things and continues to screw them up.
Well it may have been Woody but it also may have been JD admitting that Zach sucks…and then once he got there, he had to choose a path forward. Either draft another rookie QB without having a top 5 pick, and risk his soon to be over contract on another rookie QB gamble, or go all in for a HOF QB. Could easily have been JD on his own
I think @Jets79 nailed it. The idea was that Zach was going the be the centerpiece of the rebuild. When that didn't happen for whatever reason, JD had to pivot and get the best FA QB he could, because defense was #4 in NFL and there were some pieces on offense to try to make a run. You don't want to waste this defense. And it would have worked if he didn't miss this offseason on the OLine and WR. I am sure Woody didn't force him to draft DE in 1st round or count on Brown as LT. I am afraid it's on JD directly.
Sounds an like a good, young, intelligent candidate. Far too intelligent to take a job reporting to Woody Johnson. I think our expectations as Jets fans are somehow still unrealistic. Look for the guy with the gimp leg, Borat. That's our guy.
There are only 32 of these jobs, extremely well paid. Woody opens up his wallet (#3 in actual spending this year). I gotta keep hope alive.
I'm not absolving Douglas for those moves specifically, but if he didn't go for Rodgers, and if he stuck with his "slow and steady" build to the blueprint, I think he might not have felt compelled to make those decisions. That said, the lack of urgency and attention he's paid to the OL is mind boggling and inexcusable and I doubt Woody told him to do that. That's all on Douglas.
Maybe he doesn't stop them, per se, but he absolutely forces them to go down paths they weren't prepared to or intending to take. Far too much empirical evidence to not believe what one is seeing.
100%. I don't think though that he gave him a playoff or else ultimatum, I think he absolutely forced him to go get a new quarterback, and once Rodgers became a possibility, was all over it. When have you ever seen an entire management team jump on a plane just to recruit a guy? That's like a college move. If he hadn't done stuff like this before, I would say that maybe Douglas felt some pressure and went and did it on his own. But we've seen it to a much smaller degree with Tebow, we saw it with Brett Favre - this guy wants his big name, and he forces it to happen when things are not going well with his current quarterback.
What path and what evidence though? To me the biggest fuck up was the OLine in the offseason, and also by the trade deadline, plus he should have done better at WR and signed a better back-up instead of Siemian. I don't really see the evidence of Woody fucking this up, to me it was all JD. Also Saleh picked two OCs that sucked. Woody ultimately did fuck up by not brining in a better GM, but I don't really see other paths where he forced JD to do something that prevented a successful season.
Sure, it could have, but it is unlikely in my opinion. There were a lot of moves that could be made to preserve the salary cap and the state of the team two years from now without going all the way to the Aaron Rodgers thing. I honestly feel that everything they did in the off-season was completely counter intuitive to what they had done the past three seasons. Obviously, it didn't always work, some of the moves were poor, but there was a constant in that youth was sought after, bad contracts were not given out, and high draft picks for the most part were not dealt, but instead accumulated. Suddenly we blow everything up, destroy the whole youth movement, give out bad contracts left and right and give up high draft picks like there was no NFL after 2024. Now if you want to say that Woody Johnson went to Douglas and said you're out of here after 2024 no matter what, then I could see Douglas doing that. But I doubt that is the case. I think Woody Johnson told Douglas that he had given him the shot with Wilson, that shot failed, now you do it my way and my way is a big name. This franchise has lacked a quarterback identity for decades, let's get an identity in here at all costs.
The offensive line thing is blown way out of proportion. He has used draft picks over the past couple of years, he has signed free agents, they've all gotten hurt or performed badly. A combination of the wrong moves and bad luck. He absolutely has not gotten the line fixed, but it's not for lack of trying. The only thing that Joe Douglas has done terribly wrong is that he has never once tried to have a solid veteran quarterback available to either tutor or step in for Zach Wilson. You may not actually see the evidence, and as I stated earlier, the evidence wouldn't be so obvious if he hadn't done this type of thing before. It has become a pattern.
What does the slow and steady blueprint look like though? It was time to win some games, I mean he's been here 4 years and defense was #4 ranked.
Twice he has let someone else tell him who to hire and it has been absolute disaster. Woody is a hope vampire.
I've already explained why I think we have many injuries on OLine. Dr Chao rather explained it very well, and it makes sense to me. Bad line to start with increases probability of injuries, lots of out of position movement increases injuries, and injuries beget injuries. If he built a good line and had good back-ups that didn't require entire Oline reshuffle we would end with better injury probability and likely better "luck". So no, it is not blown out of proportion, it is the single biggest reason for failure this year. But again what specifically did Woody force JD to do that otherwise would result in a successful season? I mean understand hate for Woody: the guy hasn't delivered good product and he is ultimately responsible. But to me that means hiring bad GMs and coaches. I do not see any evidence that can point to anything specific personnel wise where he interfered and caused inferior outcome to what otherwise would happen if he didn't.
Yeah, that was dumb. But I see some hope that he at least looked at Philly last time and picked a senior guy there. Well it was Chris, but still. Maybe he can do it again and pick Alec, their assistant GM. Your earlier point was that he wouldn't want to work for Woody, but I think if Woody is smart enough to offer him a job with good compensation, there are compelling reasons why Alec would accept it.
I should probably clarify my stance by adding "until this year" - I can't explain any of what's gone on this year. From the outside looking in, it looks like Aaron Rodgers was the only plan, and once that didn't work out, the season was thrown away for no apparent reason. So most of my response was towards your question about slow and steady and the plan leading up to this year. There is no excuse for anything that's gone on this year, from no backup quarterback to not getting linemen in here at the trade deadline. That said, the offensive line is not the biggest problem. It is terrible, but most of these guys are second and third stringers, and with a quarterback that is better than what we have would only be a bad line, it's not the dumpster fire train wreck that it is right now. With an honorable mention towards the lack of planning for such a bad line with game planning and designing better plays. The biggest problem, and I'm surprised surprised this is even a debate, is not having some sort of proactive movement to save the season by getting a quarterback in here after Aaron Rodgers went down You can't go away from Zach Wilson, spend money and draft picks bringing another guy in here attempt to go for it all over a 1–2 year period, and then when that guy goes down on the first drive of the first game, not do anything about it and just revert back to Zach Wilson. That is unforgivable, unfathomable, and the entire reason we are in the position we are this season.
I respectfully disagree with the bold. In fact we had a poor line to start the season is what in large part caused us to have a bad QB. If you recall Mike White started well but then suffered the same fate last year and we lost 6 in a row. It is massive problem. A QB maybe can last for a few games but then ultimately the hits will take a tall even if they are not injured. And without running game, more hits. That's the biggest problem I have with JD, and I am not just saying this in retrospect, I have been saying this for several years now and particularly this offseason when we acquired 40 year old QB and expected Duane and Max be starting OTs for him. I do agree that not getting a better QB than Boyle and Simien is also a big problem - I just think without the line playing well, we simply can't win many games and will ultimately get the QB hurt, whoever it is. WR is a problem too, behind GW. Play caller also. But the Oline is to me the biggest issue, and ultimately, along with some bad luck, #1 reason why we lost AR.
Unfortunately the app I'm on doesn't show any bold, but from context I can figure out what you mean. I still think the line, even at the beginning of the season, was adequate. At some point you have to game plan properly knowing you have a subpar line, and also for your quarterback's strength and against his weaknesses - and actually game plan against the other team's weaknesses. The Jets never do any of that. So a lot of blame has to be placed at the feet of Hackett, and at the head coach for not forcing his offensive coordinator to do so No team in the NFL these days will have five all pros upfront. Just doesn't work that way anymore. Over the past couple of weeks, the line has degenerated to a point no one could play back there. Agree completely on that. However, for those few weeks when Zach Wilson was holding the ball too long, a quarterback who could process the defense more quickly could get the ball out and I think we would've been OK. Now, having mostly backups of backups in there, nearly impossible. Agreed about the receivers. Once Davis retired and Lazard turned out to suck as bad as he does, we stood no chance with Wilson in there since he can't get through more than one or two reads and the defense only needs to concentrate on his main option while taking their chances with his second.
What you're actually saying is he admitted to himself he was not equipped to hire the right guy for the position. He tried basically a head hunter type organization and he hired a couple of old time NFL guys who may no longer have been in touch with what was going on in the league to identify the right candidate. They were wrong, or maybe they just threw a bone to an old buddy. The problem remains that Johnson is too far removed from the movers and the shakers in the NFL to know what's going on. In other words - he hasn't done his homework. This is from the Jets own website: "Upon purchasing the team in 2000, Johnson established his commitment to a culture of success built on three key elements: passionate players, supportive fans, and a new stadium. Under his leadership, the Jets entered their new home field, MetLife Stadium, an award-winning venue that has been ranked as the #1 highest grossing venue in the world and recognized by Billboard as stadium of the decade. He also moved the Jets into the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, a world-class 224,000 square-foot complex that united the entire organization, and provided the perfect facility for everyone—players, coaches, and staff—to continually improve and excel." Note that conspicuous in its absence is any effort to maintain a professional, experienced and successful management team. History and geography take care of the fan base. I'm not sure the Jets should be patting themselves on the back for the stadium which does nothing to enhance the fan experience. Players, especially young players, come with passion built in - the team can only subtract from that area without winning and that's where the key missing ingredient, leadership, is lacking. It would be interesting to know how in touch Parcells has stayed with the NFL hierarchy and his own health situation if Johnson goes looking for input again. Reap what you sow, Woody.
Well yes, it was too "slow and steady", but there was some apparent method to it. Then all of a sudden that plan is tossed and it's "house on fire" moves. Maybe that was just Douglas overreacting to his own lack of progress, but I doubt it. I think Woody had turned the heat up considerably on him, and when Rodgers became a possibility that became the new plan.
