Prior to the season many, including myself, would have said Jenkins is the most irreplaceable player on the team. Remember when the D went to shit after he got injured last season? Revis was still in town, but the D went to shit. I'm not trying to take away from Revis at all, he's been outstanding this year. My point is that Rex's scheme seems to have had a very big impact on how this defense plays. Revis allows him to do some things he wouldn't without him, but I think he'd be able to scheme up a good D without Revis.
We haven't seen a Jet turn in the type of defensive performance Revis is doing since the days of the sack exchange. If our record was better you could make a case for him being the MVP of the league, as it is he is odds on favorite for DPOY.
The defense went to shit when Mangini turtled his attacking defense in 2008 in favor of a soft zone defense with no pass rush - many times I saw Revis in a zone, rushing to where the ball was thrown even though it was not his assignment and I think a lot of people thought he got burned. That is not on Revis. When he first came on the scene, Mangini placed a lot of responsibility on certain players; Revis off the bat was counted on against elite wideouts in his rookie season. That worked out pretty well with Revis and Harris even though our pass rush was putrid and we had a ton of injuries. Right now, Ryan is doing the same thing - his playmakers are put in position to dominate, and guys like Harris and Revis are rising to the top yet again. I can't think of a single player on this team that does more with less help than Revis. Either opposing QBs are scared of him and it limits their playbook to plays not including their top receiving option, or QBs aren't scared of him and he kills their drive with pass defenses and picks. At the beginning of the season, I would have said that Jenkins would be the team MVP on defense, but even when Jenks was healthy, teams had to adjust their gameplans against Revis as a one-man entity far more than any other player on the team. That easily makes him the MVP of this team. It's not even close.
What's really amazing to me is that opposing teams don't respect Revis more. There are balls thrown in his direction all the time and particularly when he has one-on-one coverage down the sideline. That's the last time I would ever throw a ball in his direction because he's more likely to come down with it than the guy he is covering. I guess it's going to take another season before teams adopt the Deion rule and just ignore his side of the field.
I picked Revis, but I think there are really four players that are some combination of totally essential and/or having great seasons. Those in addition to Revis are Jones, Mangold and Ellis. Ellis has stepped up huge with Jenkins out. He may be having his best season, this far into his career. He is blowing up plays, not giving up his assignments, playing every down with effectiveness, and most of all doing all he can to protect the team from Jenkins's absence. Mangold is the best player on the strongest unit on the team, a unit that would not be half as effective without him. Faneca is still the big name to casual fans around the league, but we know he'd be near ineffective without Mangold there. Mangold is also working with a rookie Qb, and there have been no snap problems, and Mangold has done a great job protecting. His absence would also be huge. Jones has quite simply been the major force on O, getting it done, not turning it over, wearing down opponents. He's having a great, great year.
TEAM MVP? Thomas Jones there is no god damn question about this. Lost Leon & we got a a rookie QB the RB is a rookies best friend.
gotta be revis. without thomas jones we plug in shonne greene and it hurts us but we can still be competive. our dbs have been so banged up name anyone of em on the roster put them in for revis and our top d starts to suck.
Most Jets fans are of the belief that the OL is main reason the running game is as good as it is. I would rather take my chances with any two RBs running behind this line then another CB completly shutting down one side of the field.
Describe this team without Nick Mangold. Describe this team without D'Brickashaw Ferguson. Describe this team without David Harris. That is a strawman argument.
I agree with your point, although I don't think I would call it a strawman argument so much as a different one, that being where the Jets have the biggest dropoff from a starter to their backup. By that measure, I guess as great as Revis is he wouldn't necessarily be my first answer. Probably it would be Mangold. With Ellis and Ferguson next, that being a function of the lack of bench for the lines. Jones is somewhat different since, in theory, the Jets have Greene, but he's already in a bit of a doghouse - him as the primary back? Wow. How many more turnovers would that mean? We don't even know how much he could stand up to the beating. So Jones is in there, too. Harris? Well I guess despite the hopes in the pre-season that there's not much bench for the linebackers, either, is there? So yeah, he belongs up there, too. The Jet roster sure is a thin one, isn't it?
Depth will be this team's problem for years until they start taking draft value seriously. Trading up for impact players is nice, but if you don't have competent backups in most impact positions, you are a couple of injuries away from insignificance at any given time.
The Jets right now are on the same progression the Redskins were on along about 2003 or so. There's one significant difference between the two teams and that's Mark Sanchez. The Redskins did not have a real franchise QB prospect to go with all the trimmings they kept trying to force into a winning team.
Our D depth hasn't been very bad considering we lost our centerpiece in Jinx, Pace for 4 games, and our #2 and #3 CBs for half the season.
Absolutely, but Revis alone is a phenominal player. Even on a poorer defense he'd still be an elite corner. He completely shuts down his side of the field. The MVP is an individual award, and you can't factor any other elements into its award. Given that, on Revis' individual play, he's by far the most valuable player on the team. Everyone else has the benefit of other players around them helping them do their jobs. Uh, yeah. This. :wink:
