Some good tidbits from Cimini today. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/464960p-391231c.html Jets taking off While Browns head down By RICH CIMINI DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Romeo Crennel is facing tough times in Cleveland, far removed from Super days with Bill Belichick. They cleaned house after a 4-12 season. They hired a bright, young general manager. They plucked the ripest piece of fruit from the Bill Belichick coaching tree. They instilled a Patriots-like philosophy in their organization. You know that team: It's the Jets, one of the surprises in the NFL. But, wait, it's also the Browns, who might be the worst team in the league. The Jets and Browns face each other Sunday in Cleveland, making this an ideal week to examine how two teams can follow the same rebuilding formula and come out with dramatically different results. Under GM Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini, the Jets (4-3) are reaping the benefits of shrewd personnel moves and non-moves, for that matter. In 1-1/2seasons under GM Phil Savage and coach Romeo Crennel, the Browns (7-15 in that span) have made some questionable decisions and have been devastated by key injuries. So, yes, luck has a lot do with it. So far, the Jets has been lucky and good. Consider how some of their biggest decisions have turned out: Some new regimes would've started fresh at quarterback, but the Jets decided to retain Chad Pennington, surgically repaired shoulder and all. Pennington, healthy for a change, has reestablished himself as one of the NFL's top game managers. Without his smarts, the Jets wouldn't be able to run Brian Schottenheimer's complex no-huddle attack. "He's the real deal, a real football player," said an opposing scout who attended Sunday's win over the Lions. "He gets the ball where it needs to be." Mangini's top choice for offensive coordinator was Browns offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, an old buddy from New England, but the Browns refused to let him out of his contract. Mangini wound up hiring Schottenheimer. Meanwhile, the Browns' offense is so bad that coordinator Maurice Carthon resigned under pressure yesterday. The new play-caller? Davidson. The Jets decided to cut bait with defensive end John Abraham, trading him to the Falcons for a first-round pick (center Nick Mangold). It wasn't a popular move, but the Jets didn't want to pay big bucks to a player with an injury-plagued past and character issues. Abraham, who already has missed four games with an abdominal injury, will require surgery that will keep him out another three to four weeks, the Falcons announced yesterday. You think Atlanta is second-guessing its $15 million investment? The Jets called off the Lee Suggs trade when he flunked their physical. They, in turn, traded for running back Kevan Barlow, a decent addition. Suggs went back to his old team, the Browns, who eventually got rid of him. Presently, he's unemployed. Add up all the moves, and you can see there's a fine line between success and failure. Between the Jets and Browns. ON THE RUN: Leon Washington is the toast of the town after his 129-yard rushing performance, the best in 42years by a Jets rookie, but let's not get carried away. Some perspective, please. "I think he has a future, but I came from the Bill Parcells era," Curtis Martin said in a recent interview. "When I had my first good game as a rookie (in 1995), Parcells started calling me, 'One-Game Wonder.' He was right. You have to do it year after year after year. "I definitely think Leon has all the equipment to be a good back in the NFL," Martin added. "But most runners in the NFL have the ability. The true test is the consistency." One aspect to Washington's game is his power. For a small back (5-8), he breaks tackles. Before last weekend, he was fifth in the league in yards-after-contact with an average of 2.59 per carry, according to STATS, Inc. The Clipboard HOT SEAT: Defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. The Jets are on pace to allow 395 points, which would be their highest since 1996. X'S and O'S: The Jets use the no-huddle approximately 50% of the time, and they do it with very few glitches. WHISPERS: Leon Washington, Brad Smith and D'Brickashaw Ferguson get most of the pub, but team insiders feel the steadiest rookie has been C Nick Mangold.
I still have a hard time laying much of the blame on Sutton. You would think that Mangini has his fingerprints all over this defense, no?
I find it hard to blame a coach that just doesn't have the players. It's like expecting a guy to win NASCAR while driving a Corolla.
We'll see if a revamped dline and will make that much of a difference. The only guy in the LB core that seems completely out of place is J-Vilma...I wonder what we will do with him if he continues to struggle. He's no fit in this scheme.... In any case i'm interested to see if we build primarily in the draft our look towards FA for gear up for next year.
Good article, but a little bias. No mention of the guy that we traded for Suggs, Strait, is also unemployed. Additionally, I think that the Schottenheimer move has been amazing, yielding creativity and an attack that keeps defenses off guard, which hasn't happened in years. Thank goodness that Cleveland didn't let Davidson out of his contract.
