I go back as far as you do also and Idzik has done more to rebuild this roster in two seasons than any GM in recent memory. He is building a team that can win for an extended period of time, not one that may compete for a year or two. So he is preparing us the best. A team that was so talent poor 18 months ago that it was considered the worst roster in the league is rapidly becoming young, talented, fast, and deep. No NFL team could sustain multiple injuries at any one position. The Jets would be in the same position (actually worse from a cap standpoint) at CB they are in now if you replace McDougle with Davis or DRC or Cromartie or Revis and that veteran had the season ending injury rather than the rookie. Why can't people see that that?
Is he our White Knight? I think you make a good point that an expensive Vet could get injured just as easily as a McDougle. On the other hand, I feel he is also a bit penurious with the $ for his own good. What if Cromartie or DRC delivers a superb season? We just don't know. Patience is a virtue if he is building and adding depth to the roster. However, young, talented, fast, and deep is an assumption you are making that will probably hold true for 50% of his picks if we are lucky.We will see in the long run how good his draft (not FA signings are). By this theory, will he continue to keep his future draft picks without making any trades for better players or higher draft quality players? All I am saying is I would prefer better advisors than Bradway and more flexibility/creativity on his part.
Some of what you say is true but sometimes when someone says your baby is ugly it's not because they're trying to make some other point, it's because your baby is, indeed, ugly.
Great point. As an aside, don't you hate when people want to show you baby pictures? You feel obligated to make up effusive BS, which only them prompts them to show you more! _
Only an asshole tells you your baby is ugly. That would be the media in relation to the Jets all these years.
You're dismissing the fact the for some reason, Rex's teams seem to play up to top challenges winning games we have no business winning, while at the same time we're perfectly capable of laying massive eggs against weaker teams we should decimate. We're 0-5 coming off our bye week against shit teams, but we've beaten NE more times than any other team in the NFL. So....worrying about the 6 games against top QBs ain't the problem. Worry about beating the lowly Raiders opening day.
Or, maybe it's because the Jets have won their Division only twice since the AFL-NFL merger, 44 years ago. Assuming the Nfl is cyclical, the jets are the only team in the AFC East not to have "their time".
Well, the two division wins were both in the last 16 seasons in 1998 and 2002. The Jets went to the AFC Championship Game in 1998, 2009 and 2010. They've made the playoffs in 6 of the last 13 seasons and that includes missing 3 in a row at the moment. My point is just that you can't lump the pre-1997 Jets in with what has occurred since then. The Jets have been an average or better franchise since that point. The national meme on them however remains, joke, circus, bad team. That reality is almost a generation old now. The Jets have won 149 games counting the playoffs since 1997. They've been under .500 4 times in 17 years. The national meme is ridiculous given those facts. There are probably 10 teams that have won more games than the Jets over the last 17 years. Nobody thinks the Chargers are a joke, as an example, however they've won 142 games since 1997 and made the playoffs 6 times to the Jets 7. They haven't been dealing with the NFL's #1 dynasty in their division over that span. It's the disconnect between what the Jets have actually accomplished and what the common perception is that is the problem.
Sorry..you are delusional. If Rex can pull eight wins out of this squad, considering the schedule and the lack of playmakers, he would deserve a long extension.
Alderson is a Wilpon shield and took the job as much as to help Selig as he did to actually succeed and make the Mets be good. Idzik, on the other hand, doesn't have an arm tied behind his back. He actually has resources.
And not for nothing but these writers dont keep up with all 32 teams, they get paid to do so but it is damn hard to stay on top of everything. Last year no one in the media had the Eagles doing anything, when Harbaugh took over the 49ers no one had them going anywhere that season, the list goes on. Unless you are a top team the year before, you are not going to get as much attention from the national writers. Ill bet my entire bank account the Jets do better than 5-11, a Rex Ryan team has yet do lose 11 games or more and its because Rex Ryan brings a defense that will be consistently good year to year. The NFL is great though, just watch how much everyones perception on the entire league changes after 1 week. Last season everyone in the media was penciling the Falcons, Texans, Redskins in as Super Bowl contenders, after one week, everything changed. Saints beat the Faclons and proved that they were back with Payton, and of course the Eagles took the Redskins to school. This season though ill give the media credit, most people are calling the Panthers, 49ers, Bengals all as frauds, and I believe they will be right about that.
So I'm delusional and then you take my post, which talks about building a team for future success over an extended number of years and you talk about this upcoming season as if the NFL will cease to exist after 2014. Insightful.
NFL teams historically do much much better building through the draft than by overpaying in free agency. What if the Cromarties both underperform??? What if Revis is done? What if Vontae Davis is ordinary? You add an expensive free agent when you are one player away, not when you need to restock numerous positions. If Decker, Nelson and Saunders were injured, people would be complaining about how Idzik screwed up by not signing or drafting WRs. As for Bradway, he wanted Russell Wilson two years ago. As for trades, they are so rare in the NFL it doesn't even pay to talk about them. But if you must, Idzik traded Revis and I think it is safe to say he fleeced the Bucs, who have nothing to show for overpaying the NFL's top mercenary.
And yet every time Rex says something controversial (or, to be fair, dumb) it gets thrown around how its motivating the other team and giving them more reason to come out and play etc etc - I do wish there was some consistency of approach around here. Either what is written/said doesn't matter - or it does matter. Be good to get an official GG stance on this important point of principle!
No playmakers? Offense: C Johnson C Ivory, B Powell J Amaro J Cumberland E Decker J Kerley G Salas Nick Folk Mike Vick and yes (gotta believe) Geno Smith Defense: C Pryor M Wilkerson J Babin K Ellis D Harris Coples (hopefully) Milliner ( after injury) Schedule is brutal but IMO there are 6 games we have high probability of losing: at Packers, Bears,Broncos, at Pats, Steelers, at Chiefs. Mostly playoff contenders here. Raiders, Lions, at Chargers, Bills, at Bills,Dolphins, at Vikings, at Titans, Pats, and at Dolphins are all, with some luck and team focus, winnable games. Getting Patsies at home will help. Still like 10-6
And if you look back over the years, the MAJORITY of the free agents that people hype up end up never performing up to par. Once when they get that guaranteed money, the incentive to play as hard goes down. Yes they have non-guaranteed money to earn but its not the same when you are on a rookie contract making only a couple million.
I'm not dismissing anything. If I said that the Jets were likely to lose many of the first 6 I'd be dismissing your points, however I said IF the Jets come out slowly and it takes time to gel. But there are a lot of good passing teams the jets face early on and the Jets Corner situation is pretty ugly considering how much Rex traditionally relies on Corner play...... We'll find out just how flexible Rex is on defense.
