I agree. When Pennington went back in there after Clemens got flattened, I could not stand to watch anymore. I went outside. I don't buy into that whole article. I think Chad's skills declined further last year, and the camp reports right now are even more discouraging. There's little reason to think a vet like him should need work, and having gotten it would materially improve over the next three months. The article also raises the subject of Clemens's contract situation, which imo is another huge reason to play him now. But that's another story. The one thing I think the article said that is not normally covered around here is that starting Clemens on Opening Day is not the same as saying he has to start all season if he proves to suck even more than Chad did last year, and Chad started eight games before being benched. So I can go with a commitment to start Clemens for 8 games, and see how he does. If we see enough that he's not going to ever be a reasonable prospect to start in this league, they can put Chad back in there and know that they will not be signing Clemens to a new contract, not with any big numbers anyway, next off season, and instead they will have to get a new Qb in there next off season. Sounds like a plan.
If Clemens s**ks for the first 8 games then the Rookie we drafted should be the next choice or they should just let Clemens finish the season so see if he improves. Chad will never be the answer so we might as well find out what we have on our bench in Ainge if a switch is made. The thing that is scary is we have Ne and Sd in weeks 2 and 3. If we have to switch Qb's then the season is over anyway so we might as well plan for the future the correct way for a change.
You know, it may very be that the CS is planning to change the offense substantially this year. I wouldn't be surprised if the CS abandons the short pass as an alternate to running the ball. First off, it has hardly been successful the last few years, because DBs and their coaches recognize it for the poor substitute that it is and jump on it. The CS has to stop trying to "out-sly" the defense and trick them with a quick pass instead of a long run. It is time that this team grows up and kicks the hell out of the defense so that the running game works and works well, regardless of the down and yards. They have to commit to the run, abandon 'finesse', get it out of their minds, and put some blood in the eye. The CS should get committed to the idea of running the ball fourteen times in a row because it works every time and they want to punish the defense, and beat them every time no matter what they do. We need some resolve to win. What does this set up? Of course -- the long pass...! Just maybe the CS has decided to back off of all these half-assed measures. Just maybe the CS has decided this team needs to establish a philosophy of going for broke. Smash mouth football then long passes down the field. They go well together in my book.
Fourth, I did not mean to imply I would like to see Chad behind center for the Jets ever again, since I don't. I was merely noting the point made in the article that adjustments can be made during the season. Perhaps letting Ainge play is not a bad scenario if Clemens totally blows chunks. Sounds good in theory, but despite the OL upgrades, I don't see this group as a dominating rushing one. Part of the problem is lack of depth on the bench.
I agree with you. Adjustments can be made throughout the season. I also agree regarding the OL. One injury and we will be back in the top five of next years draft.
Did you mean a dominant OL? A dominatrix OL? A domino OL? A dormant OL? A door mat OL? Barring injury, there is no way that the performance of this year's line won't be vastly improved over last year's. While it has yet to be proven, there is no reason to doubt that the newly configured line has the potential to be dominant, er, ahh dominate, uh, I mean dolomite.......
If we have a dominant OL this year I may need to hire a good dominatrix for a couple of hours to replace Jets football as my main source of weekend humiliation. Great, good, mediocre, poor, somewhat sucks would all be a vast improvement over last year.
"vastly improved" Going from 32nd in the league to 25th would be a vast improvement. It would not make this OL a dominating one in the rushing game. Not predicting it will be 25th, mind you. I'm just saying that it is far from clear that the changes made have turned this into a dominating line. And the lack of bench strength is huge.
IMO this team could be serious contenders this season. Injuries to the OL could be a major problem. The fact that they had nobody better to replace Clarke last year, who may have been the worst starting OL I have ever seen, scares the crap out of me.
