There is no question the Brett Ratliff will win any competition with Clemens or any 2nd tier free agents the Jets bring in. He has the arm, feet, attitude, size (6 5, 235), and game/huddle presence to succeed with the players the Jets have in place today. That being said... There is also no question that continuing to pursue a veteran stop gap, such as Kurt Warner, as Fat Mike Golic suggested this morning on ESPN2 is exactly THE WRONG course of action. We wasted a year of our lives with Favre, let's not do that again. Besides, if Warner couldn't beat Pittsburgh with Fitzgerald, Boldin and the other receivers they have, what makes anyone think he's going to do it with our crew. The quick fix era should be over...Woody's going to get his PSLs one way or another...time to focus on a long-term QB and a long term solution. I wouldn't draft a QB in the 1st or 2nd round...let the goddamn scouts earn their money and find a decent prospect later on. Bring in a 2nd tier guy as an emergency back-up and let them all fight it out. In that scenario, the proper scenario for this franchise's future, Ratliff win the job. Guaranteed. And the Jets will make the playoffs this year. Guaranteed.
wow....I wonder if i throw a couple of long bombs to D.Clowney in the parking lot...maybe i'll get some consideration for the QB position too.
You get lots of consideration... but for the title of BEST AVATAR on the board.... I still want to pursue a veteran back up in case of an injury. (Did we forget what happened when Vinny went down and all we had was Mirer?)
Mel Kiper has me thinking that maybe we should draft a serious weapon for Ratliff and see what he does. The guy has a strong arm is pretty acurate and mobile in the pocket. I remember when he first came in he had problems in the huddle but with a dominant play maker at his disposal maybe all the thinking scales back. Anyone think we could realistcly trade up for Crabtree or will there be a gamebreaker not solid or good/productive but a sho nuff gamebreaking wideout available @ 17? And since we no longer have a punk ass head coach who's afraid to get in a players face and let him know he's a football player first! Going after Chad Johnson seems like a good option as well.
Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion but it is hilarious when I see someone post a thread with such conviction with such a weak basis for his/her argument. Personally, I think we should entertain bringing someone in who has had some starts under his belt as a safety net but essentially let Clemens and Ratliff battle it out. Lets actually see what we have with our own draft picks. I'm leaning towards Clemens to start right now because he did show positive signs there a couple of years ago and has 2 more yrs in the league and because, if we don't, we essentially wasted a 2nd rounder on him without even giving him a chance to succeed - free agent next year. I know some people think giving him 'a chance' took place a couple of years ago with that horrendous line and very weak defense on a 1-7 team with nothing to play for (well pride I suppose). This is clearly only my opinion as of right now; I'll trust Rex with whoever he decides earns the starting role.
I couldn't agree more Sinq. Believe me I hope Ratliff pans out and develops into the great QB most naive Jet fans think he already is, but remember 2 years ago? Clemens took over for a 1-8 team and finished 3-4 (which should have been 4-3 but McCareins can't catch). He was 3-4 with no offensive line, defense or anything really. I think he has some potential still and has a higher chance to succeed than Ratliff.
I'm going to reserve judgement until I so much as see him throw a pass in the first half of a preseason game.
Ratliff couild be our Tom Brady.. HAHA. was he a sign on your drafted? (ratliff) Never mind i see undrafted out of Utah.
If there was no question that Ratliff would win, then there wouldn't be any point in having a competition.... I like Ratliff, I would like to see him win the job. But I'm just saying we need a hell of a lot more evidence than a couple preseason games to start making wild comments like this.
If any FA at all is brought in then that will be the starter. Why else do it? They will cost more than other three combined.
Why is that? In my post I stated I think we should entertain bringing in someone who has some starts under his belt. Not a savvy veteran like a Garcia, Warner. Entertain signing someone like a Boller (not sure if he is a free agent or not - someone of that caliber/experience), or of course someone who is being talked about a lot - Leftwich. These Qb's would come in very cheap and would be there as insurance in case Clemens/Ratliff go down and/or suck it up. Obviously, if someone like a Leftwich came in and blew the others out of the water in training camp, then you'd certainly consider starting him, but otherwise - insurance. And that is why you would want to bring in a free agent with a bit of experience and not necessarily start him. So if the unfortunate situation, like Pennington/Fielder going down in the same game happens, we don't have 3rd string Ainge to take the reigns with barely any reps in practice and certainly no experience a.k.a. Brooks Bollinger. This results in very little against the cap as oppose to a starting caliber free agent which results in us taking a hit on the cap. Plus it gives us a shot to see what we have in our QB draft picks.
Glad I could amuse you. My basis for my opinion is what I've seen with my own eyes, and not merely what I saw on television in Cleveland. Ratliff was just as impressive in the home preseason games even without the big flashy ESPN highlight plays. The beauty of preseason is you get to go down to the last row of the lower stands and really see how the players move. It was just such a vantage point that I had during the last minutes of a Jets Dolphins game from 2006, when Wes Welker nearly single-handily stole the game that two Coles TDs seem to have secured. I watched WW tear through the Jets secondary like an updated, faster version of Wayne Chrebet. I came away quite impressed with the guy. So much so that I made a big stink about the fact that the Pats had picked him up the next year. Many folks found my alarm amusing then, but I'd seen with my own eyes the guys talent and knew the kind of security blanket and weapon he'd be for Tom Brady. I recognized Welker's talent before he exploded in the New England offense, and I see the same talent in Ratliff. I'm going out on a limb with nothing to lose, but I believe Ratliff is going to be not just a starter for the Jets, but a great player
Football is a team sport and Warner did his job it was the Cards D that couldn't beat the Steelers. Warner was the 1st QB to throw for over 300 yard on the Steelers D.
I hate rules when it comes to writing, but just so you know, I pronounce "our" as 2 syllables, making the last line 6 syllables -- one too many. Haha. edit: come to think of it, I think I say "our" weird.
Fair enough...time will tell - I certainly hope you are right!! I hope at least one of them pan out this year coming up, otherwise we'll have to start fresh the following year by drafting a QB.
