Sit Down Ian, It is you that has missed the boat

In his latest article on the Jets, ESPN writer Ian O’Connor argues that the Jets “missed the boat” on signing Revis. On the contrary, it is O’Connor’s article which misses the boat in his analysis of the Jets organization and planning.

O’Connor begins the article with a strong point that one can make an educated guess the Jets didn’t want to sign Revis because they didn’t want deal with the hullabaloo possibly surrounding a resigning next year. I will give him that. I think one reason he wasn’t signed is because of how he had acted in the past regarding his contract and the Jets had no interest in repeating that cycle.

His next point is weak and begins laying out the narrative for the Jets, in particular, Woody and Idzik as being inept organizational managers. The other reason the Jets didn’t sign Revis is “because Jets owner Woody Johnson would rather watch the Giants win five more rings than concede he needed one of the best players in franchise history after all.” Pure hyperbole which attempts to portray Woody as an owner who would rather spite his own team and see his hated rivals win half a decade’s worth of Super Bowls rather than sign a player who could help them win. It also assumes the fact that Revis “is needed’ to win and without him the Jets have no chance. A simplistic view to say the least. Our winning or losing never comes down to one player.

He extends his argument by claiming that the alternative to signing Revis was to sign Patterson,

“an undrafted player with a history of injuries and pink slips. If it seems Patterson already had been hired and fired by half the league, hey, at least he wouldn't cause the kind of trouble Revis caused when it came time to getting paid.”

In addition to the hyperbole of being fired by half of the league, O’Connor gives no weight to the drafting of McDougle, who until he was injured, showed some promise that he might be able to man the fort. Yet, no mention is made of McDougle at all. Nor was mention made that perhaps the Jets were trying to create competition at the spot by bringing in a rookie and signing a veteran, who despite being cut by “half the league” had 4 interceptions in 6 games last year. Yes, we took out a flyer. Patterson has gone mad and awol and dealt with injuries, while McDougle is out for the year with the ACL. However, these happenstances could not have been foretold, particularly the AWOL episode. Yet, O’Connor would have you believe we simply had no plan in place for the CB position except to sign someone whom half the league discarded—in fact, Patterson has only been on 5 other teams. I’m not arguing that Idzik had the best plan in place—I think we should have signed a 2nd tier CB. However, there was some sort of plan in place that wasn’t just to pass on Revis and sign Patterson as O’Connor tries to simplify it.

He continues to attempt to lay out an argument that positions the Jets as incompetent in arguing that we could have signed Revis to play the Bucs for a fool and in not signing him, we gifted him to the Patriots.

“By showing no interest in making a deal, the Jets didn't merely miss a golden opportunity to play the Bucs for fools. They also hand-delivered Revis to New England, of all places, home of the team favored to win its 12th AFC East title in the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era.”

This line of reasoning is also flawed in two ways. First, you don’t sign a player simply to make another team look like a fool. That, in fact, is being an incompetent franchise. You sign a player because they will make a positive contribution to your team on the field and in the locker room. Secondly, it is unsure that the Jets knew that if they didn’t sign Revis, he would go to the Patriots. Even O’Connor concedes this. So, these supporting points also fail to strengthen his argument. The use of the phrase “hand-delivered” is over the top and only adds to the hyperbole in his argument, unmasking his lack on analysis.

He further claims that Rex wanted Revis back and did not want to trade him after he tore up his knee: “Of course, Rex Ryan wanted Revis back to help him change all that. In fact, even after the cornerback tore up his knee early in the 2012 season, Ryan had no interest in trading him to Tampa Bay. So this is one triple bogey that doesn't belong on the coach's scorecard.” While this may be true, O’Connor fails to provide a source and thus this appears to be simply speculation. His weak analogy of the “triple-bogey” perhaps suggests O’Connor should stick to analyzing golf.

In closing the article, O’Connor uses some Brady quotes in which he fawns over the brilliance of Revis, which again attempts to make the Jets look like fools for not bringing back, “one of the best players in franchise history”

O’Connor misses the boat heavily on this one here. Since Idzik had gotten here the mantra has been fiscal responsibility and competition. Not signing Revis was fiscally responsible. Of course, we could have signed him for only 1 year, but do you think he would not have wanted to come back and get paid a ludicrous amount in 2015? Have we ever known him to want to take a pay cut? That money can be better used elsewhere viz., to pay Mo and create depth with solid second tier signings.

While signing Patterson and drafting McDougle may not have been the ideal plan; it was a solid plan that could have worked if we didn’t have to deal with two random occurrences, as a torn ACL and an AWOL episode. We could have managed the position, albeit weakly, with those two players, Walls, Lankster etc.,. You can’t be strong at every position now and a little competition is good now and then to bring out the latent talent that might not surface without competition.

Finally, the article simply looks to paint the Jets as a team who will cut off their nose to spite their face, who will make the stupid choice even when a brilliant one is staring them in the face, who will work against their own interests and willingly give up Super Bowls for some power trip. This is reductionist thinking and is the media version of the SOJ discourse. This is not a defense of Idzik and Woody or the plan for CB for 2014, rather a defense against the trolling and mocking of the Jets that consistently passes for staunch sports journalism. Have a seat Ian. It is you who has dropped the ball on this one.