I completely disagree with your assessment of Scott/Sheppard/Leonhard. Scott - One of our biggest weaknesses last season was lacking coverage skills from our LB's. Scott is excellent in coverage for a LB. That alone makes him a huge upgrade over Barton. I don't think there is a question that he's faster in pursuit than Barton either. His rabid on field personality will hopefully be contagious for the defense too. Sheppard - If healthy can be a solid #2 across from Revis who has man coverage skills. Lowery and a 97 year old Law didn't meet that description. IF HEALTHY Sheppard is a clear upgrade. Leonhard - We were lacking a safety with good coverage skills across from Rhodes. Leonhard brings that skill to the table which allows Rhodes to freelance and be more of a playmaker. Elam has a knack for making plays but stuggles in coverage. You also have to consider the schemes that Ryan will bring to the table. I don't think there's any question he's been one of the better defensive schemers in the league over the past 6 years or so. On paper, it's hard to say our defense isn't upgraded. I don't see how you say it's nothing more than just "new". As for the offense, you can't say the defense looks a lot better on paper and just say the offense is a question mark. The offense looks a lot worse on paper without Favre and Coles. Hopefully someone can step up to fill those holes.
Sure the team can be worse. We lost a weapon on offense. Even though that weapon wasn't used to it's full potential it's still a loss. Especially since we've yet to replace him.
Defense I think we are set besides some depth and talent to develop for future (DL especially) Favre was a turnover machine. Coles was a dropping machine. These are addition by subtraction in my book. Favre scared teams to let us run more effectively true but I think teams are going to be in for a surprise when they put 8 in the box and our QB's pass action on them all day. I'm usually not a very optimistic guy but I think we have the chance to be a contender this year.
I think we are much better this year, especially on D! And now that we don't have to go to the west coast 4 times this year, it is going to help allot. I think we will have the best hard hitting "D' in the division and they are not going to know what hit them. The JETS will be playing the last game at the meadowlands! in the playoffs. Yup I said it.
You should do something different for the next 40 years, champ. Maybe make the text in BOLD or put an angry face at the end or something. Accessorize, my friend.
Brady is back so the Afc East division winner will be 12-4. Hopefully we can sneak in the playoffs with 9-7 if all the chips fall into place.
The defense will be much improved, there's no doubt about that. But you say a few things I just can't agree with... 1. Coles' production isn't what I would call "pedestrian." That's a lot of catches, a fair number of yards, and a decent number of TDs. It's far from amazing, but it's beyond blind optimism to suggest that anyone on the roster can replace him. 2. As much as I hate Favre I think you are undervaluing him. The offense was putting up a ton of points last year, at times. Opposing defenses also had to play the Jets differently out of respect for Favre's arm strength. This would also help open the run for Jones. This year you are going to have opposing defenses see a young QB and lackluster WR corps and do all they can to shut down Jones and dare the QB to beat them. 3. It doesn't make sense to say "last year we could have still been okay with Clemens/Ratliff" and then assert that this means that this year the QB play won't be so bad is silly on several levels. First off, you can't argue for a negative. Ratliff/Clemens playing last year didn't happen, therefore it is a negative. Thus it makes no sense to bring this up as a hypothetical and then refer to it as though it were fact. Also, last year's offense had a better WR corps and opposing defenses respecting Favre's arm. This, as I stated earlier, helped Jones out. The QB this year will struggle unless he gets some WR help in the draft. The defense will be much better, the offense will not be as good as last year. I think if you want to figure out wins and losses, look at teams with good defenses. I can see those teams stifling the Jets offense and beating the Jets in low scoring affairs. My prediction is 9-7.
That misstates the premise on Favre. He came in for all intents and purposes at the beginning of the season, and was still getting in the system through the first three games. Record 1-2. Once he got hurt he was no longer effective down the stretch. Record 1-4 the premise is that a healthy effective (Average for the sake of argument) QB over the full 16 game schedule, does a little better in those 8 games, maybe not as good in the other 8.
Rabies has never contributed to a significant increase in defensive performance from season to season. It's possible that a few teams that greatly improved had recent additions who went undiagnosed, however it's going to be hard to prove that. Sheppard is in a two year freefall at this point. IF HEALTHY? This is the NFL, if he wasn't healthy in the recent past the odds are overwhelming that he won't be healthy for very long now. Damien Robinson redux? Yeah that'll really help out next year. Mangini will bring the Patriot 3-4 in and we'll be much improved, probably to a top 10 defense... I can say that because all it has going for it over last year is "new". It is what it is. The offense is a bigger question mark going into next season than in any year since 1996. No QB, no #1 WR, 31 year old HB as the mainstay, no #1 TE, that's kind of the textbook definition of "we have no clue if we can score or not."
so completely ignore the points about being much better in coverage and much quicker to the point of attack. I understand, it's a good debate mechanism to just ignore points that prove your stance wrong. Time will tell. Again you fail to address the point. I'm not surprised. So by ignoring the facts pointed out and blindly comparing him to someone the Jets picked up in the past you're somehow making a point? Sorry, you aren't. There is zero comparison between what Rex had accomplished prior to becoming the Jets HC and what Mangini did prior to becoming head coach. You know this. You also know Rex is calling the defense on Sundays. If you ignore all the facts, then I guess you're correct. I agree except that we do have a #1 TE, he just sucks at blocking.
Green glasses. Wear them. Enjoy them. Get really pissed off when they turn into 7 wins next season. I'll do the latter but not the former.
I don't think 7 wins is an unreasonable estimate. It's going to depend on what our offense can do IMO.
