Time to end the Jets' Revis addiction!

In every co-dependent relationship, there are alot of people to blame.
With the Jets and Revis, the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Tannenbaum, Ryan and Revis.

Culprit #1: Mike Tannenbaum - For whatever reason, Tannenbaum believes you can build a defense around an All-World CB. The value of the CB position has increased with offenses becoming more pass heavy but the value of the shutdown CB position has decreased as well. Offenses are so multi-faceted that they can attack the middle of the field with TEs and out of the flats with RBs out of the backfield. Until they create a CB that can cover all three at the same time, a shutdown CB is simply no longer worth what it used to be ten years ago.

Since the Jets drafted Revis, they have built their entire defense around, especially since the arrival of Rex Ryan in 2009. It worked in 2009 and 2010 and parts of 2011, but the rest of the league has adapted and we are now seeing the results from late 2011 and through 3 games in 2012. The Jets defense are FRAUDS. Bart Scott should shut up because he is only living on reputation since 2010. Tannenbaum is to blame because he has not restocked the team in the middle of the field - at LB and Safety - in the past couple of years. As recently as 2010, no one would put up the rushing numbers against the Jets like they have in the past 3 weeks of this year. The problem here is the talent gap and the inability of the Jets to create enough quality depth.

Compounding this problem is that the Jets want to be a ground & pound offensive team to compliment what they believe is a shutdown defense. Well this premise works great if you have a shutdown defense but the Jets do not. So now they are faced with having to run a ground & pound offense that does not have the tools to play from behind. This is all on Tannenbaum for overestimating the talent of the team on both sides of the ball. More importantly, as we can see with Keller being out for 2 weeks, Sanchez has zero continuity with offensive playmakers on the edge of the field. The only silver lining to yesterday is that perhaps the light went on with Holmes when he realized he can make big plays when he runs crisp routes. Sanchez misfired a bunch but I will give him a bye on the Cumberland TD and the two INTs. He was under pressure big time and barely got the Cumberland overthrow off and the players ran the wrong route on the INTs. Even I could see that on the TV.

Sanchez, for all his faults, can win in the NFL and has that uncanny knack for playing like crap for 3 quarters and turning it on at the end of the game. The Jets, like the league, have to recognize and build an offense to his strengths. That means a solid offensive line, a good RB and continuity at the WR position.

Culprit #2: Rex Ryan - Despite all the bluster and the headlines, I think Rex is finally getting the HC thing. I am basing this on the off-the-field nonsense usually associated with Rex and the media. This year has been an unusually quiet one and I think the real reason is that behind all the false bravado, even Rex knows this is an 8-8 team at best. The problem is that Rex has designed his defense around an all-world CB with no back-up plan for when the guy is out of the game AND no attention to the fact that sometimes your offense actually has to step-up and make plays (as opposed to just not making mistakes).

Instead of working to diversify the defense, Rex continues to do the same thing over and over. Well guess what? The last 8 games of 2011 and the first 3 games of 2012 tell a pretty interesting tale and that is the NFL has caught up to Rex Ryan and his over reliance on Revis. The defense is what it is, and that is a defense that stands around waiting for Revis to make a play instead of making one on its own. In 2009 and 2010, teams would challenge Revis with a stubborn attempt to get the ball to their #1 WR and drives would often end in a PD or coverage sack. Now offenses don't even bother and just spread the field out attacking the middle. Revis (and Cromartie) are none factors on the edges as teams, to include the Dolphins yesterday, were able to attack the slow and vulnerable LB corps in runs up the middle of the field, passes to the RBs out of the flats or TEs gaining seperation across the middle.

At first blush, people would think the D-line is the problem but in the 3-4 the pass rush is supposed to come from the LBs. The problem isn't the D-Line, it is the LB corps that plays more like the LB corpse. Scott is finished, Thomas already has been cut and Pace is clearly on his last legs. Harris is a great two-down LB who can play as a blitzer or in rush downs on 3rd down but can't cover out of the backfield. The best thing the Jets could do at this point is to bench Scott, move Harris into Scott's position and slide Pace to fill in for Thomas on the backside - at least Pace still can set the edge if he can't get to the QB. I would start Davis and McIntyre at this point and live with the mistakes. That is all on Rex as the coach and means some sacred cows on the Jets - primarily Scott - will need to shut up and eat pine. However Rex is Bart's chief enabler and now Rex is faced with a decision to do what is best for the team vice what is best for Bart. It should be telling that through 3 games this year, Bart's two biggest impact plays have been on Revis and in the lockerroom.

On offense, it is time for Rex to take stand once and for all. If people are concerned about Sanchez's completion percentage, it isn't going to get any better with Tebow. The Jets do not have a defense that can stay in the game after 3-4 straight three & outs with Tebow at QB. The wildcat can be an effective change of pace when used in the right situation. However yesterday it probably cost the Jets an early 7 pts when they pulled Sanchez out at 2nd & short and Tebow lost yardage. As for the WRs, it is time the hammer came down. They continue to drop passes and run wrong routes - that isn't on Sanchez and anyone watching the game can easily see when the WRs have screwed up. Sanchez has taken the bullet at the podium but it clearly isn't all on him. The offensive line has actually down a pretty good job in pass protection and Sanchez has been stepping up against the blitz. The poor patterns and drops have just been absolute killers. Finally, it is time for Ryan to pull the plug on the Shonn Greene experiment and start Powell. Powell clearly has a decisive burst out of the backfield is much more effective than Greene running behind the offensive line.

Culprit #3: Darrelle Revis - Look, I love Revis and think he is a great player. He probably is the most technically proficient CB I have seen play and is great in run support. The problem is that he simply came at the wrong decade for the Jets. As recent as ten years ago, before the widespread use of the spread offense, a shutdown CB would have been golden. A team's passing offense flowed through the #1 WR and taking that WR out could really impact a team's offense through disruption in timing and flow. However, with multiple options in the passing offense, the CB position is simply not as valuable as a DE.

The problem with Revis is that he is simply holding the Jets hostage. He wants an All-PRO QB salary yet the simple fact is that his position of CB does not have the same impact on the outcome of the game. It would be obscene for the Jets moving forward to allocate $12+ million in salary to a player who may be coming off a knee injury and sugery. What makes this situation even worse is that instead of the knee injury settling the impasse with the Jets it will only make things worse. The Revis camp will be emboldened saying this is justification of why Revis needs his money now. The Jets camp will use it as justification for why he shouldn't be paid that much money. Given the past history of two hold-outs by Revis and the fact that he is Feinsod & Schwartz's primary A-list NFL client, there is no way this ends pretty. In the best of all worlds, the Jets can pay him a reasonable salary with injury protection for Revis while making him a Jet for life. Even if he lost a slight step, he would still be at least a top 5 CB who could then transition to FS with his strong tackling skills in a few years. In the worst case scenario, the Jets have a nasty hold-out into next summer with no end in sight and no way to pay him do to a crappy salary cap situation.

How does this all end?

Well my gut tells me that if the Jets miss the playoffs this year, that Tannenbaum is gone and Rex may not be far behind him. I can see the Jets making a run at Bill Polian and/or Bill Cowher. If that happens, the new regime will not have any attachment to a player coming off of an injury and who has a history of holding the team hostage. New management will need to make a decision on Sanchez and even if they do keep him around they will realize that more talent is needed and the salary cap needs cleaning up. Even if Tannenbaum & Rex do survive, I don't see Revis as a Jet in 2013. Of course the injury will result in bringing down his price to a #1 and #3 from a team thinking they are one player away, but that actually is probably a more likely scenario than the Jets getting two #1s that everyone was talking about.

There is only way the above doesn't play out - and that is if Revis is not out for the year and the Jets go deep in the playoffs with Revis contributing. My gut tells me that isn't going to happen but it wouldn't suprise me if the Jets actually play tough the remainder of the year if Revis goes down. A "Ewing Theory" scenario is not entirely unlikely - as for me the biggest frustration with the Jets since mid 2011 has been the funk of the team sitting around waiting for something to happen instead of making something happen. Perhaps this is just the catalyst to change that mindset!

 

Milo - I agree to a certain extent with what you are saying but to me Revis just isn't worth the $$$ or the drama. Abraham needed a change of scenery and that was a win-win for the Jets in that we picked up Mangold. As for Vilma, the guy they should have taken was Wilfork but that is another issue (compounded by the horrible Robertson pick the year before).

I certainly hope that Revis is not injured badly, but I think in this case the silence from the Jets FO is deafening. The MRI is only a formality to confirm what they already know.

 

Ryan designed his defense around Revis upon his arrival in 2009. Revis was drafted by Tannenbaum in 2007. What is Ryan supposed to do, bench Revis? Of course he bears culpability in this as well. And of coure the D is much worse without Revis and I wouldn't claim otherwise.

But Revis the player and Revis the salary cap hit are two different issues. So you can call this a disgrace but that is because you can't accept the reality that the Jets are a poorly constructed team both on the field and off the field with the salary cap.

 

Demarcus Ware and his 103.5 career sacks say hello...