Nope. Not literal fear. Sure they were the best team in the league, so opponents would have to prepare extra hard for that defense, but that doesn't mean teams are afraid. If any team went against the seahawks and played scared, they weren't winning. Teams don't fear other teams. They plan for them. Talking about the Bengals not respecting the Jets defense is nonsensical. They came with a good game plan and it worked. Many other teams have not been that fortunate. Fear is a petty emotion.
Here's a link to a Post article detailing the injury situation for both teams leading up to the Jets vs. Falcons game last year. It doesn't go into players that may have been ruled out for the season in earlier weeks, but I think it shows pretty clearly that both teams had a lot of personnel issues to deal with: http://nypost.com/2013/10/05/jets-likely-to-have-wr-hill-vs-falcons/ We had our best WR out, another coming off a concussion the week prior, our best TE playing with a chronic knee injury, our best RB coming off missing a game with a hamstring injury, a rookie forced to start at LG because Ducasse played so poorly... do those things not factor into the equation as well? The three top performers on O were all Falcons - Ryan, Rodgers and J. Jones. It's not as if they had lost all of their star players. On the flip side, a lot of Jets had to step up and have strong performances to help us eke out the win. Our top guys on O were G. Smith, Powell and Cumberland. Two of those guys were taking on a bigger role due to our usual starters nursing injuries. You say you like the complexities of the game but it seems you're only looking at one piece of the equation and ignoring all the rest. Do we also put more value on wins that happened when we were missing our key players? I think saying that we shouldn't get as much credit for beating a team because they were "weak" at the moment is a lame way of taking a shot at the team that won, in this case the Jets. If you want to take an extreme example like the Jets vs. Colts in 09 when Indy pulled Manning and let Painter play in what was obviously an intentional flop, fine, those oddities happen once in a blue moon, but your example doesn't hold water.
The Falcons were 13-3 in 12, and went 4-12 last year. What factor other than injuries do you blame that fall on? Here's an SI article, absent the pics but with the link: Take These Broken Wings The Atlanta Falcons were supposed to be Super Bowl contenders, but they’re 2-8 and last in the NFC South after winning the division by six games last season. Where did it all go wrong? And who’s to blame? By Andy Benoit· What happened to the Falcons? It was widely presumed entering the season that they would be spearheading the playoff race in late November, and yet, they’re 2-8 after getting steamrolled by the lowly Buccaneers in Week 11. This was a team that narrowly lost the NFC championship to the 49ers last season and then upgraded its roster in key spots over the offseason. But look at them now: a last-place team in the same division they won by six games a year ago. What chance do they have Thursday night against the first-place Saints? Where did it all go wrong? Injuries have hurt Atlanta in the worst way. Wideout Roddy White began the season severely hobbled by a high ankle sprain. Just when he started to look moderately healthy, Julio Jones—arguably the best receiver in the league not nicknamed Megatron—broke the three-year-old screw that was in his surgically repaired right foot. Shortly after Jones went on injured reserve, White hurt a hamstring. An offense built around two superstar receivers was suddenly devoid of any. Making matters worse, running back Steven Jackson (one of the key offseason acquisitions) also pulled a hamstring in Week 2 that sidelined him for six weeks. And left tackle Sam Baker missed five games with a knee problem before going on IR in mid-November. Coach Mike Smith can’t believe his eyes. After going 13-3 last season and advancing to the NFC title game, the Falcons are 2-8 going into Thursday night’s game against the Saints. Their +120 point differential in 2012 has turned into -78 this season. The injuries, especially at wide receiver, transformed Atlanta’s offense—the unit ranked 7th in points and 8th in yards last season, but is now, respectively, 22nd and 14th. The premise might seem simple, but it’s worth emphasizing: When a star player goes down, the team doesn’t just lose a major weapon, it also loses the threat of that weapon. For a creative schemer like offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, the latter can hurt more than the former. In 2012, his first season in Atlanta, Koetter crafted exceptional route combinations that leveraged White and Jones down the field. Defenses were compelled to keep safeties back deep, meaning their coverages were plainer and easier for quarterback Matt Ryan to decipher. As a result, Ryan led the NFL with a career-high 68.6% completion rate and threw for 4,719 yards and 32 touchdowns, both career bests. He had the most fourth-quarter comebacks (five) and game-winning drives (seven) in the NFL, and the Falcons were second only to the Patriots in scoring efficiency, putting points on the board on 44% of their drives. But now most of Atlanta’s perimeter passing game has disappeared. Defenses believe they can beat fill-in receivers Harry Douglas (who usually plays the slot) and Drew Davis with man-to-man coverage outside. More importantly, defenses have come to realize that Ryan believes this, too. (More on this in a bit.) That’s why defensive coordinators are concentrating their coverages between the numbers, creating a compressed field for Ryan to negotiate. The shorter the field, the more pronounced the compression. This is a big reason why the Falcons have dropped from 10th in red zone offense in 2012 to 24th this season. They used to dominate in the red zone with two tactics: wide receiver screens and throws to tight end Tony Gonzalez, who put off retirement for one more year believing the Falcons were still Super Bowl contenders. (When the field wasn’t compressed last season, Gonzalez had his most productive season in four years, catching 93 balls for 930 yards and eight TDs, and was an All-Pro for the sixth time in his career.) This season, because cornerbacks aren’t compelled to play with a cushion outside, there’s less space for receivers and blockers to execute screens. Gonzalez, even at 37, can still make contested catches, but not when he’s getting jammed by two guys off the line as he did against the Patriots and Jets. For the most part, Ryan has played admirably well given the circumstances. But lately that’s started to change. The sixth-year pro doesn’t have outstanding raw tools. His arm strength is stellar when he has room to step into throws. His athleticism is acceptable, assuming he doesn’t have to improvise outside the pocket too much. But having to compensate for the offense’s unexpected deficiencies, his screws are starting to loosen on the cerebral side of his game. Ryan has been throwing more balls into traffic and it’s a trend that could snowball given his history of being susceptible to trick coverages (particularly in the middle of the field). Defenses will try to bait him. More telling are the throws Ryan is not making. With young right tackle Lamar Holmes forced to bring his slow feet and inconsistent mechanics over to Sam Baker’s void on the left side, Ryan no longer has trustworthy protection on his blind side. Or even on his front side, considering that Holmes’s replacement, Jeremy Trueblood, is iffy at best in pass protection. Quarterbacks play with a different mindset when they don’t trust their receivers and linemen. Ryan is no exception.
The Falcons were 13-3 in 12, and went 4-12 last year. What factor other than injuries do you blame that fall on?
Take These Broken Wings The Atlanta Falcons were supposed to be Super Bowl contenders, but they’re 2-8 and last in the NFC South after winning the division by six games last season. Where did it all go wrong? And who’s to blame? By Andy Benoit· What happened to the Falcons? It was widely presumed entering the season that they would be spearheading the playoff race in late November, and yet, they’re 2-8 after getting steamrolled by the lowly Buccaneers in Week 11. This was a team that narrowly lost the NFC championship to the 49ers last season and then upgraded its roster in key spots over the offseason. But look at them now: a last-place team in the same division they won by six games a year ago. What chance do they have Thursday night against the first-place Saints? Where did it all go wrong? Injuries have hurt Atlanta in the worst way. Wideout Roddy White began the season severely hobbled by a high ankle sprain. Just when he started to look moderately healthy, Julio Jones—arguably the best receiver in the league not nicknamed Megatron—broke the three-year-old screw that was in his surgically repaired right foot. Shortly after Jones went on injured reserve, White hurt a hamstring. An offense built around two superstar receivers was suddenly devoid of any. Making matters worse, running back Steven Jackson (one of the key offseason acquisitions) also pulled a hamstring in Week 2 that sidelined him for six weeks. And left tackle Sam Baker missed five games with a knee problem before going on IR in mid-November. Coach Mike Smith can’t believe his eyes. After going 13-3 last season and advancing to the NFC title game, the Falcons are 2-8 going into Thursday night’s game against the Saints. Their +120 point differential in 2012 has turned into -78 this season. The injuries, especially at wide receiver, transformed Atlanta’s offense—the unit ranked 7th in points and 8th in yards last season, but is now, respectively, 22nd and 14th. The premise might seem simple, but it’s worth emphasizing: When a star player goes down, the team doesn’t just lose a major weapon, it also loses the threat of that weapon. For a creative schemer like offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, the latter can hurt more than the former. In 2012, his first season in Atlanta, Koetter crafted exceptional route combinations that leveraged White and Jones down the field. Defenses were compelled to keep safeties back deep, meaning their coverages were plainer and easier for quarterback Matt Ryan to decipher. As a result, Ryan led the NFL with a career-high 68.6% completion rate and threw for 4,719 yards and 32 touchdowns, both career bests. He had the most fourth-quarter comebacks (five) and game-winning drives (seven) in the NFL, and the Falcons were second only to the Patriots in scoring efficiency, putting points on the board on 44% of their drives. But now most of Atlanta’s perimeter passing game has disappeared. Defenses believe they can beat fill-in receivers Harry Douglas (who usually plays the slot) and Drew Davis with man-to-man coverage outside. More importantly, defenses have come to realize that Ryan believes this, too. (More on this in a bit.) That’s why defensive coordinators are concentrating their coverages between the numbers, creating a compressed field for Ryan to negotiate. The shorter the field, the more pronounced the compression. This is a big reason why the Falcons have dropped from 10th in red zone offense in 2012 to 24th this season. They used to dominate in the red zone with two tactics: wide receiver screens and throws to tight end Tony Gonzalez, who put off retirement for one more year believing the Falcons were still Super Bowl contenders. (When the field wasn’t compressed last season, Gonzalez had his most productive season in four years, catching 93 balls for 930 yards and eight TDs, and was an All-Pro for the sixth time in his career.) This season, because cornerbacks aren’t compelled to play with a cushion outside, there’s less space for receivers and blockers to execute screens. Gonzalez, even at 37, can still make contested catches, but not when he’s getting jammed by two guys off the line as he did against the Patriots and Jets. For the most part, Ryan has played admirably well given the circumstances. But lately that’s started to change. The sixth-year pro doesn’t have outstanding raw tools. His arm strength is stellar when he has room to step into throws. His athleticism is acceptable, assuming he doesn’t have to improvise outside the pocket too much. But having to compensate for the offense’s unexpected deficiencies, his screws are starting to loosen on the cerebral side of his game. Ryan has been throwing more balls into traffic and it’s a trend that could snowball given his history of being susceptible to trick coverages (particularly in the middle of the field). Defenses will try to bait him. More telling are the throws Ryan is not making. With young right tackle Lamar Holmes forced to bring his slow feet and inconsistent mechanics over to Sam Baker’s void on the left side, Ryan no longer has trustworthy protection on his blind side. Or even on his front side, considering that Holmes’s replacement, Jeremy Trueblood, is iffy at best in pass protection. Quarterbacks play with a different mindset when they don’t trust their receivers and linemen. Ryan is no exception.
Injuries have also stricken the Falcons on the other side of the ball. Their biggest problem on defense is their inability to generate consistent pressure with a four-man rush. This was a known concern heading into the season, but general manager Thomas Dimitroff and coach Mike Smith figured they could manufacture pressure through blitzes and pre-snap disguise as long as rookie corners Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford held up in coverage. Those corners have indeed held up, but Dimitroff and Smith couldn’t have foreseen linebacker Sean Weatherspoon (foot) and defensive end Kroy Biermann (Achilles) going down. Weatherspoon and Biermann aren’t star-caliber players like White and Jones. After all, Weatherspoon was part of a linebacker corps that floundered in coverage down the stretch last year, and Biermann was inconsistent as an edge-rusher. But both defenders have unique strengths that made them load-bearing pillars in Atlanta’s scheme. For Weatherspoon, it was his speed and agility to dominate in the flats. Maybe the former first-round pick couldn’t always cover tight ends man-to-man, but he could cover ridiculous amounts of ground playing zone. That was critical for defensive coordinator Mike Nolan’s zone blitzes and pre-snap disguises. Equally as critical was Biermann’s versatility; he could line up anywhere up front, including linebacker. He could also do almost anything after the snap, even drop back from the defensive line to assume free safety duties in certain coverage rotations. Just being able to get from the line to that spot was enough to give offenses pause. Linebacker Sean Weatherspoon (56) and defensive end Kroy Biermann (71) suffered, respectively, a foot and Achilles injury, and the defense crumbled without its two leaders. The unit ranked fifth in points allowed in 2012 (18.7 per game) but is now 29th, giving up 29.2 points per game. (Todd Kirkland/Icon SMI) The Falcons have tried to fill Biermann’s role with other athletic defensive ends—Jonathan Massaquoi, most notably—but it hasn’t been as effective. The same goes for Weatherspoon’s role. His replacement, undrafted rookie Joplo Bartu, runs well but hasn’t yet developed an incisive football acumen. (Bartu will play less now that Weatherspoon has returned for a classic case of “too little too late.”) With key pieces missing up front, more pressure has been placed on high-risk, high-reward safeties William Moore and Thomas DeCoud. They haven’t responded particularly well. Both are at their best when they can fly around, not when they have to read and react with sound discipline and fundamentals. So what’s next for this club? After another six meaningless regular season games, there will be an offseason filled with more roster tweaks and refocused workouts. Some believe Mike Smith and his staff will be fired. But that would be ludicrous. Smith’s .644 winning percentage is seventh best among active coaches. His Falcons are tied for third in victories since he took over in 2008, and this will be the first time during his tenure that they fail to finish above .500. A perfect storm of injuries is to blame, and nothing else.
Have a look at the box score. Those two superstar receivers that he cited as the most important losses both played against the Jets and combined for 12 catches and 144 yards. Gonzalez, whom the author complained couldn't make catches against us because he was being jammed at the line by two guys, was targeted 14 times for 10 catches and 97 yards. Please try again.
I forgot all about that! Gonzo was getting BLASTED from multiple directions play after play. It became comical after a while just watching Rex's thinking having two guys just curb stomp him at the LOS every play. Gonzo was got VERY frustrated. He kept waving his mits at the ref like WTF???????? bahahaha leave it to Rex.
I considered the Falcons over rated before the 2013 season began and predicted they'd miss the playoffs. I'm not trying to toot my own horn as I also predicted the Bucs would be a wildcard team lol. In 2012 when they went 13-3, they had a much easier schedule. I never considered them actual title contenders as they seem to always choke in the playoffs, especially the year before when they got manhandled by the Giants. I don't think Matt Ryan is as good as folks proclaim plus their defense took a few steps back last year. Obviously injuries factored in as well, but it's more than just that, IMO. They just weren't that good of a team. They were pretenders. With that said, I don't think they're nearly as bad as the 4-12 record suggested. At full strength last year they are probably a near .500 team.
Not talking about entire teams, because that would be too broad, but you don't think offenses come in afraid of certain defenses. Say, receivers going across the middle against certain teams? Another example......a team knows they can't run the ball against a certain defense, so they don't. Game planning sure, but they don't run because they are afraid of the consequences. Teams can definitely be afraid of other teams. How many times have you seen teams afraid to pass against a certain defense because their QB is terrible? Teams/coaches, etc, can most definitely be afraid and play scared.
Fixed it for you. [then again, Sanchez:nyjunc = Tone:Barc = Big Blocker:Bullshit analogy still holds.]
All I know is that game against the Falcons was my favorite game of the year - and I was at the Pats and Saints home games.
God I'm sorry I brought up the Falcons. My point is that teams like the Falcons, Saints, and Packers are all currently what I consider "soft" teams, and can be punched in the mouth by a hard nosed team that will assert their will on the opponent. Still very hard to do (there's a reason Rogers and Brees are future hall of famers), but it can be done. This is the vision Rex has for the team.
This is the best I've felt about the Jets in a long time.Now this group is real young..but there is alot of talent as well as alot of depth. Think about some of the tandems that could develop right before our eyes. Think about Pryor & Allen w/ a dash on Dawan Landry as a calming influence 3rd safety. Do the Jets keep 4 Rbs? Powell/Goodson(law withstanding)/Richardson/Green could be real interesting competition behind Ivory & Johnson.Which has a chance to be special. Young CB's & young WR's both trying to step up & earn a #2 job. That is gonna get real feisty in camp. I think good days are ahead.
I don't think that any team with a QB that can lose his composure by getting punched in the mouth is necessarily soft. That's most professional QBs. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Big Ben, a guy who can get his leg nearly torn off and still come back in the game and win it, but I'm sure there are a couple more.
Yeah, I remember seeing a game where Big Ben's nose was almost sideways, and he still played and won after having it popped back. I doubt he could even breathe through it for the rest of that game. Tony Romo played through a game with a punctured lung in 2011, and didn't miss a game afterwards. He has to be one of the toughest QBs. He easily could have died (literally) from that punctured lung, yet he still stayed and won that game.
If you don't think Kam Chancellor doesn't intimidate receivers over the middle well I don't know what to tell you. They're putting their careers on the line taking hits from guys like that. Although altogether you're mostly right, I remember reading an account of a QB who said the only team he was ever actually afraid of was the 85 Bears. It was an account of a game where he got knocked out of the game, his backup came in and got knocked out of the game, so he came back in and got knocked out again. He said after the second time he got knocked out of the game, he was just relieved to not have to go back on the field.
