The honeymoon is over. It was fun while it lasted, but the universe needed to fix itself, and it chose this past 7 days to do it. Fair enough. I'm not looking forward to 2012, so I'd rather not bring it here earlier. This post is going to probably have a hint or two of irrationality to it, given that I normally wait until Monday morning to do it. But I have jury duty tomorrow, so I can't post. So let's get to it. It all started at the top again today. As in Miami, this team is woefully unprepared and horridly coached within the game. Big Rex was completely out of it. Very telling was Leon Washington having to hand him back the red flag because they both received the TD call, and the horsecollar assessment on the ensuing kick. Worse was Schottenheimer. Holy shit. I've been in his corner all along, but his coaching is showing itself to be completely clueless. The running game works a little bit? Let's throw. And not just short passes, let's throw downfield, in the wind, with my offense's most comfortable receiver out. Better yet, let's throw to Dustin Keller, who is playing like Anthony Becht, without the blocking skills. Sanchez was not good. Hell, he was bad. But he didn't play as terrible as I'm seeing being said on this board. He was put in bad positions, and tried to force things. Yes, whether you want to hear it or not, he's a rookie. He made mistakes that rookies make. Sorry, he's not Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco. He's just not a year 1 phenom. Deal with it. He's got a great skillset and he's going to be a great player going forward. Whether you want to see it or close your eyes, he's improving each week. I'm not happy with Thomas Jones. He had a great day, but he still doesn't fight for yards. I want to see him fight. For all the yardage he gets, he should get so much more. Leon didn't have a great day, and where the hell was Shonn Greene? Is this guy hurt, or do they just not want to use him? Our receiver corps seems to be as deep as Cotchery and Edwards. No one else is contributing. Is that coaching or talent? I thought the OLine was decent today. Sanchez had some time quite often, and the running game had some nice holes. Not making anything of that is on the guys making the money, not the ones up front. Special teams, apart from that terrible muffed hold that resulted in an INT was good, as usual. Leonhard still isn't doing anything on PRs, but whatever. The defense did its job most of the game. Revis, after early struggles with TO, proved once again why he's one of (if not the best) corners in the league. Losing Jenkins hurts. Hopefully it's not bad, but I could swear I saw him mouth "It's bad" while he was rolling on the ground. It's a positive that he walked off the field. It's time for people to stop ripping Kerry Rhodes. He's elite. He's playing better every week too. He's freaking everywhere. It drives me crazy when people bitch about him. This guy is fantastic. The defense overall did its job today. If I were on that defense I'd be pissed off that this team lost. Now that's not to say there weren't far too many penalties, but as far as play, the defense played more than well enough to win. I said before this season that this was a 4 win team. They're obviously better than 4 wins, but not by a lot. Early on we had good success, but we have weaknesses that have to be addressed before we are a real playoff team. It sucks, but we were all fooled for 3 weeks. No big deal. This wasn't "the" year to any but the most glowing sunshiners. On to Oakland. Ugh...
I wish everyone would get fucking board with me and acknowledge drafting a back up NT or even a NT which Jenkins can tutor is cardinal for the 2010 draft. When Jenkins is out of the game, the game changes. Momentum shifts...the war of attrition is lost. Now that Jenkins is potentially gone for a few weeks, the Jets are done.
I have said before I believe NT and the lines in general need to be addressed. The Dline more than the oline.
GQ, we MUST draft an NT in the upcoming draft, no doubt. Alio, did you really rip TJ just now? Youre looking for Shonne Green? We ran for over 300 yards dude....200+ for TJ.....
We absolutely need a NT who can stay healthy and make an impact. Not that losing Jenkins lost the game for us, but the NT position in our defense is a big piece.
I'm sorry, but when you write that you're not happy with the guy who just set the franchise record for rushing yards and you're completely serious, I can't keep reading.
Yeah I did. Dude, read what I said. It's not that he's running poorly. He had a career day. My problem with him is his complete lack of desire to fight for yards after first contact. If he would stop his dancing garbage he could break quite a few more than he has. He's clearly not a big issue compared to the plethora of other things, but he's also not innocent.
I agree for the most part. I disagree with your criticism of TJ, but I understand that's the thing to do now. Let's not forget he ran through a tackle on one of those long runs, and fought for extra yards a few times today. The sick thing is if we could just get all units firing on all cylinders at the same time we'd be dangerous. I don't think we've seen that yet.
I just don't think you can make that judgment. He runs for 200 yards, and you're gonna say he's not fighting enough? That's so incredibly subjective, with nothing else to back it up. I just don't know what I would say if I were Thomas Jones someone told me that today.
there is a lot of bashing going on here re: play calling. Ask yourself this though: If Schotty cannot call a deep passing play when our backs are running for 300+ yards, when, if ever, will be a good time to allow Sanchez to throw? At some point, you can't just keep running. It sounds like a lot of people here want Pennington back to throw dump offs and manage the game.
I've been a big TJ antagonist...aside from that, why is Shonn Green on the active roster clogging up a spot if he isn't going to play/or make an impact?
I think he's slightly off base today, but we all have to see that he ran for 140 yards in two runs where he literally wasn't touched. Not hard to just run. That leaves him with about 65 yards on the rest of his 20 or something carries? Not that good. Now I'm happy to keep giving him the ball, because he's a workhorse and has shown that when u keep pounding he breaks ones. But Schotty just doesn't seem to wanna do that. Plus, he goes down on first contact a lot. I think what Alio is saying is that if Jones had the tenacity and fight of Lynch, he'd have 40 more yards every game. He goes down and does his little hoppity-skippy thing more when he should lower his shoulder, break tackles, and grind out the one or two yards on every carry that Lynch is automatic on.
Great post Alio.. your take on the game each week is pretty refreshing given all the other crap out there. With Rex's TD challenge, the refs took forever to rule it in, so maybe he was playing it safe, or maybe someone upstairs said something.. I don't blame him for throwing the flag on that. I thought they ruled Jones short at first too. And I agree with you about Jones but he did have a great game. He actually fought hard for a couple of those first downs today, not just with the big runs. Greene wasn't hurt, I think they just put him in to let Jones catch his breath. They really need to utilize him more.
He got one run today. He got hit behind the LOS like TJ often does and may have got back to the line of scrimmage. He's the savior though.
YES! Because 100 plus yards of his rushing came from gaping holes. Any running back would have hit those holes and gotten to the second and third level of Buffalo's defense. The point is, when the holes are not there for TJ or when he gets initial contact, he doesn't fight...
You said you stopped reading. This is what I wrote: If I rephrase it to say "I'd be a lot happier with Thomas Jones, a player I have stood by for a long time, if he would just fight for more yards. This guy can be an absolute top-tier beast if he would just run with some balls and fight off tackles" would it make you feel better? Or would you just like to add me to your list?
This is such bullshit. Why is it always TJ that gets these long runs if any RB can do it? I understand he gets most of the carries, but let's get real. He fought for yards today fine, you guys just have it in your heads that he isn't doing it. He ran through a tackle on one of those long runs today. I can remember a few other runs where he fought for yards too. The man set the single game Jets rushing record today!
