I wouldn't be surprised. It wasn't that long ago we signed Damien Robinson to help Herm install the cover-2; and in the Tampa D, Robinson had all these great stats and we thought he was going to be a playmaker and a star. I hope Scott isn't another Robinson. I know people are going to think this was a ridiculous comparison, but its really not. And its only one among many failed expectations I've had to deal with every year. I hope Scott is the real deal, don't get me wrong. But I wouldn't be surprised if he fails to be as great as he is being made out to be. He better be at least as good as Barton, if this signing means Barton won't be around. I guess we will end up releasing him to sign with NE and watch him in the pro bowl next year That's happened before as well. To this day, when I think about James Hasty in the pro bowl with KC,...uggh.
Rex Ryan was an above average coordinator, but he did not design any defense. Anyway, I think you'll get an above average/pretty good, not great, linebacker if all things go well, but don't expect leadership. Bart has never been in a position where he has had to command his team. Not even close. To be quite honest, Bart was a liability when speaking of intangibles. As I'm sure many of you saw, Scott basically conceded the game against New England a few years ago when he threw flags into the stands, and starting bad mouthing the referees. He was also the instigator in all of the "bounty" talk with the Steelers. Furthermore, he had to be restrained numerous times last season by Ray and co. as Harbaugh quite simply would not accept his crap. Make no mistake, Bart's coverage was invaluable, but I'll be curious to see how much that is worth when he is depended on to pressure the quarterback. Quite simply, Scott is not a pass rusher, and I sincerely hope that Rex doesn't put him in that position, for your sake. If, however, your defensive line eats up blocks and frees up your other LBs, then Scott's coverage will be a superb addition. Bart and Rex were all buddy buddy, which, coupled with the fact that Rex wants some continuity, is probably why the Jets were so dead set on bringing him in. Scott is not close to being worth $50 million, but he had leverage as Rex needed one big player from Baltimore. I'm not being a revisionist when I say that your Baltimore acquisitions are not impact players. - Corey Ivy is undoubtedly a detriment to any team he joins. - Leonhard made quite a few big plays last year, but he remained the worst player on the field outside of our cornerbacks. - Scott is definitely not your average linebacker, but his role cannot be successfully expanded. I'm sorry if I sound overly negative or bitter, but I honestly feel as if that was an objective assessment. If you signed Ray Lewis, then I'd be furious at our own FO, but until then, these guys don't have tremendously high ceilings. Before the season began, Bart Scott was the odd man out, and Ravens fans were fine with that as we've seen this movie before. Multiple times. With reports now coming out that the Jets bid against themselves, I just find it amazing that Rex would completely disregard the financial wellbeing of his team to bring in a player from his old system. Then again, I guess it was inevitable as he needed one guy to serve as his walking resume.
I am on board with supporting Rex and all...but it is going to take Scott being defensive player of the year to justify this price tag. We dont have Lewis or Suggs to line up next to him. We should have started spending cash on the defensive line. That would have made ANY LB we signed immidiatly more efffective. Here we are with our 3rd straight rookie HC and here we go down the same old road.
Yeah unfortunately that's how I see it. I see a lot of moves being made to improve the pass defense and none of them take into account the fact that the biggest failure in the Jet's pass defense is the inability to get to the passer. Scott looks to me to be no more significant than Damien Robinson was in the overall scheme of things. If David Harris improves and becomes the guy he looked like he could be two years ago AND we find a pass-rushing ROLB or DE AND we replace people like Kenyon Coleman and Bryan Thomas in the process then Scott might shine for us. He's just not going to make much difference if he's the big improvement on that side of the ball for 2009. The Jets would have been better off throwing Darrelle Revis to Carolina for Julius Peppers if they wanted to improve the pass defense than any move they made for an ILB.
Rex needed someone to show other Jets players the fruit of his labors. I actually like the premise of New York bringing in Lito/Scott as they're both relatively young, and the defense needs to be improved first and foremost. As long as the QB/Dline is improved at some point, as in next year, then things look promising. From what I understand, you now have a solid linebacking group, a nice secondary and a great NT. Rex is a defensive coach, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that he addressed the defense first. As a Ravens fan, though, I'll tell you right now that you'll always be pretenders without a solid QB.
As a Ravens fan you have nothing to tell us about being pretenders. We've been pretenders all but 4 years in the 39 years I've been watching the Jets now. And we've been pretenders WITH a solid QB in more than a few of those seasons. The Jet's identity basically is the little old lady at the slot machines. She's kind of a fuzzy thinker but she keeps putting her quarters in and every once in a long while she gets three cherries. Then the next pull has lemons in it of course.
I don't doubt that Scott is a good linebacker just not at 48M one. When you compare his stats to Barton's they are pretty similar. Considering that Barton had a 16M 5yr contract dollar for dollar that would mean that Bart should give us 2.5 times the value of Barton. I just don't see that happening. It is a lot of money to pay for not such a great performance increase. I understand that Rex needs to get one of his guys and that adds value for him but I am very skeptical that we will recoup our returns for this guy. I hope I am wrong though.
Like when you felt that we should give Mangini a 15 year contract after his first season? I'll take Rex's and Newsome's feelings about a player first. Thanks for trying though.
My point was that Rex can bullshit all he wants about wanting to have a "killer" mentality on defense, but that does nothing for you without a quarterback.
The fuck do we care if we spent 48million? Do you not want a better team? Or would you rather just get the average players we'd sign for cheap and complain that we couldn't sign higher priced FAs. Make up your minds.
Over paid Scott? not really. Look at the money that is being paid to players this year. Dansby got the franchise tag and he'll make what, 9.5 mil? Hayenswoth will get over 15 mil a year? How good is Scott? He is a very solid well above average LB. More importantly, he is of more value to the Jets than he is to any other team. He can cover, number one. That is something the Jets desperately needed. He knows the system, number two. This applies to Leonhard as well. The Jets now have a starter up front and in the D backfield that know the system and can direct players accordingly. Number three, Scott brings a meaness, and agressiveness that the defense has been lacking. Can Scott fill the leadership role? Don't tell me he can't, any team with Lewis on it would naturally suppress any other player from the leadership role. This is Scott's chance to show if he has leadership ability, his first real opportunity to do so. As for the Ravens, you can keep Ray Lewis. He isn't nearly as good as he used to be, and has a year or two left in him at best. I don't think "his in your" face pre-game screaming ranting and raving would fly on a new team with new team mates either. It works on the Ravens because he grew into that role and he's established. On a new team? Players might have the opposite reaction, thinking he's a jerk. Lewis is more important to the Ravens than Scott is, and Scott is more important to the Jets than Lewis would be. Especially on defense, it's how they play as a team, as a unit. Scott fits the Jets' needs far better than Lewis would. In addition, as Ryan talked about, Harris OR Scott could be the mike. That flexability would not be there with Lewis. If the center calling the blocking and the QB can't identify who is the mike LB on a given play, that can cause havoc. I know the Ravens fan tried to be objective, but I think he falls short. He says Leonhard was the worst DB other than the CB's? OK, so that means he was the second best DB behind Ed Reed? That's OK by me. It seems it's OK with Ryan too. I'll go with Ryan's judgement over a Ravens fan's opinion. I'll take our D backfield, TYVM, with Revis and Sheppard (likely another highly drafted rookie) at CB, and Leonhard, Rhodes, Lowery and Elam at Safety and for depth. If the Ravens D could play the way they did last year with such a horrible D backfield (as pointed out) then I have to say we're in good shape. The only real difference in talent between these two defenses now is Suggs, but the JEts D backfield offsets that to some degree.
You didn't have a QB last year either. Flacco worked out... but you are so sure that Clemens or Ratliff won't? NOW you become transparent. Yer pissed. I don't blame you.
I think you misread my post. I said that Leonhard was the worst player on the field, not the worst DB. I do agree with you, though, in that Scott is more valuable to the Jets than Lewis would have been.
I like how Coach Ryan says the guy plays "violently." We need all of our Defense to act that way on the field. I can't wait to see the MadBacker in action!!!
That is NOT what you wrote, THIS is what you wrote: - Leonhard made quite a few big plays last year, but he remained the worst player on the field outside of our cornerbacks. Yer backpedaling and tripping over your own feet now. What you wrote was that of your DB's, he was the second best out of four.
Huh? What are you talking about? I clearly said that he was the worst player on the field outside of our cornerback rotation, not the worst DB.
I guess you could manipulate my words in that manner, but my point was that Leonhard is/was the worst overall player on the defense outside of our backup CBs.