Scouts Inc.: Jets need to address passing game ~ ~ ~

We should use our 17th pick for Phil McCracken.

 

While your posts normally make sense to me, I have trouble agreeing with only half the sentences in this paragraph (2 out of 4).

1) The Jets passing game will be the least of our problems this year.

Disagree. We don't have one receiver that scares anyone out of the entire bunch. To be effective, Cotchery needs someone opposite him that commands attention. Coles was a marginal magnet and now even he is gone. Despite good hands, on his own Cotch doesn't get the separation he needs and is not fast enough to get down field without having people draped all over him. Granted, a good reliable clutch receiver that makes catches when he needs to, but hardly a guy that can't be single-covered.

The "passing game" also encompasses the QB position. Clemens has some chemistry with our receivers now but he's still unproven. Same with Ratty. Huge question marks with both the QB and with all other WRs besides Cotchery and that adds up to a mediocre passing game at best. As such, it is not the least of our problems.

2) It has the potential to be the best it's been in years.
3) We haven't had 3 WR and a TE with this much potential since 98.

"Potential" is the keyword and the only reason why I'm agreeing with these statements. The "potentials" are everyone behind Cotchery... Stuckey, Clowney, Henry, Wright. Brad Smith I'll address in sentence #4. So, what we have here are essentially unproven WRs catching balls from unproven QBs, potential be damned. Keller is a great pass-catching TE, granted, but what happened to him at the end of the season? They keyed in on him and made sure they shut him down. Without that one genuine WR threat, they were able to do that.

I'm concerned we're not going to put many points on the board with this crew (as it stands). Ryan has already announced we're a "run first" team. We may have a running game (maybe.. remains to be seen), but we're going to need to put up more than 16 points on the board to win games. A running attack will serve us well in bad weather and low-scoring games, but in a shootout with Tom Brady we're not going to put up enough points to win. We don't have a game-breaking WR. We have no one (proven) that will scare them heading for the end zone. The David Clowney miracle catch is just that in my mind until I see him do it many more times.

So while our defense may be able to hold other teams' scores down, we need a WR that demands extra coverage in order for our passing attack to work well (and it will, if we acquire that guy, because the others players we have are more than adequate to get it done if they can get open).

4) Brad Smith should have no problem playing pitch and catch all day long.

Disagree. The Mangini/Brad Smith, jack-off-all trades, gimmick experiments failed miserably and Smith proved that not only is he not a QB, he's also not a good WR, IMO. Good on STs, but he should not start for us at WR. Too small, not fast enough, has trouble with his routes at times and usually gets jammed at the LOS, which sometimes takes him out of the play altogether.

Bottom line for me is, I'm not content going into this year with a potential passing game. We're going nowhere without one against the defenses we'll be facing. We should be pursuing Holt as a stop-gap for this year and we should be going after a mid-round WR in the draft also. There is plenty of WR talent this year and we need to take one.

I can't for the life of me understand why Tanny has not made a move on Holt, unless he is getting ready to pull the ultimate, all-time, balls-to-the-wall trade up and has his sights fixed on a Crabtree or some other game-breaker very early on.

My bottom line is, whatever we do, we need to address the WR position this year. If the passing game is the least of our concerns, then we're in trouble across the board. I think the passing game is our most pressing concern.

 

227 I was kidding about the Brad Smith at QB line.

It is all potential but Stukey looks like a guy who catches everything and runs nice desiplined routes and gets seperation. Clowney can outright fly and Cotch is a solid possession WR. Keller dropped a ton of balls last year but he clearly puts both the safety and LB in jeopardy one on one. The potential is there for a solid WR and TE group better than we have had in years. Do we have a guy who can throw it to them and make the right choices, who knows and until we see the results you can spin this either way.

 

LMAO... You know, I re-read your post after replying and I said to myself, "He has to be kidding."

I totally agree withe the potential all across the board, but I'm not comfortable going into the season without an immediate replacement for Coles. Let me rephrase that... an immediate improvement over Coles, not merely a replacement.

The potential of all the guys in your above remarks will come to fruition IF we have a WR opposite Cotch who strikes fear and requires attention. That would change everything... everything. It allows Stuckey and Clowney to develope, gain confidence and reach their potential earlier. It allows Keller to do the same.

Yes, Keller dropped more than he should have later on in the season, but I attribute that to "post-breakout syndrome," for lack of a better term. I think he surprised even himself early on with his ball-catching success, and then started thinking, "Wow, this is easy"... and then he wasn't playing with the same concentration. That will change, IMO, as he settles down this year. This kid is going to be an awesome TE. But again, made even better by some distraction that a Holt could bring to the table.

Bottom line is, we can definitely fix one of the two potential problems, the first being a Coles replacement (or better). The 2nd potential problem can't be easily fixed... the unkown quantity at QB. We just have to trust that one of these two guys will be the one that can step up.

 

No one can argue that this crop of wideouts does not have potential. But Clowney is unproven, and Stuckey may have run nice routes, but he's not the deep threat this team needs to draw defenders away from the box.

I would be thrilled if they both succeeded, but it's a huge gamble. Clemens could also use some help here. He's got the arm to go deep.

 

Thank you for summing up in short order what always seems to take me paragraphs to convey.

But now I'm going to take this WR need one gigantic step further. All these depth aquisitions on the defensive side of the ball (Scott, Leonhard, lately Lito, Howard Green and Izzo the other day) and this supposed "disinterest" in Holt that's been reported is suspicious to me. The need is so glaring that I'm asking myself, "WTF is going on here?"

If indeed we have no interest in Holt (I doubt that, but let's suppose for the moment that it's not a smokescreen), I would not at all be surprised if we don't do something completely outrageous in the 1st Round, like go after Crabtree.

The whole situation smacks of something big coming... a few trades up and one final big splash. Sanchez would give us a 3rd solid QB option should Clemens and Ratty both falter, while Crabtree (or even Heyward-Bey behind him) would give us that immediate threat (no matter who the QB is, Clemens or Ratty).

I know Crabtree is going to be red hot and that's probably too much to ask for, but I think Tanny is positioning himself to address this issue big time, one way or another.

Check out this article on Heyward-Bey speculation:

http://www.newyorkjets.com/blog/posts/967-heyward-bey-to-jets-mocks-si-s-banks

 

What? Are you saying you enjoyed his 3 carries for 6 yards in the 90s?

I hated him in and after 2000 because he was too good of a QB. Brady >> Manning >> Culpepper >> Rest of the League. That was of course until he blew his knee.

 

227,

I am with you on the receivers, but ftr I am preparing to be happy if the Jets go with Clemens.

Jus sayin...

 

http://sports.iwon.com/nfl/stats/league/passesdropped.html

I wouldn't call it a 'ton', Keller looked excellent to me, but 5 drops isn't completely forgivable either. I think he's got to learn to use his size better to put himself in position to catch the ball and drive through defenders, but I think his hands will get better once his confidence is raised.

 

My hazy recollection is that the drops were earlier, but his relative drop off later was as troubling, and likely attributable to the coverage schemes containing him.

In fact he averaged just under 7 catches a game for games 10 through 13, and in the last four averaged only two per game. Ouch.

 

+1
I've been putting up basically the same argument about our receivers in another.

 

To be honest, i am taking a different read on the situation. I really think the Jets will make one of two moves, either they will jump San Diego and take Gilbert, or they will drop back 5-7 picks to take him. I think they are leaning toward a trade down if it's possible to pull off, then with some of the extra picks they aquired, they will look to move back up either to early round 2, or late round 1 to steal the reciever which slipped. Remember that some scouts don't even have Hakeem Nicks in their top 5, I know that outraged the board because collectively they love the guy, but if that is some teams opinion, he could easily slide out of round 1, or at least to the late 20's.

 

The issue with the passing game is that while we have potential at QB and WR, everything would have to go perfect for it to be effective. Clemens or Ratliff would have to emerge as a solid QB early in the season. Optimistic thinking would be one could become an Kyle Orton type quarterback, which is still questionable as a starter in this league. Stuckey would have to emerge as a solid 2 and Clowney would have to become a serious deep threat. All the passing game really has to do for next season to be considered effective is prevent teams from putting 8 box and allow the run game to be effective. My belief is that the personal has to be improved if we want to win this year, or we can call this a rebuilding year let the kids play see if someone emerges as a legit talent and then build from it next offseason.

 

A deeper look at Ratty

spread the word Buzz up!A Deeper Look at Brett Ratliff by John B on Mar 16, 2009 11:00 AM EDT 0 comments

Brett Ratliff will be in the thick of the competition to be the next starting quarterback of the New York Jets once training camp opens this summer. However, most fans know little about him aside from what they saw in limited preseason reps a year ago. To give more of a background about Ratliff, I asked Sean from Block U, SB Nation's University of Utah blog, five questions on the former Utes quarterback.

1. What is the story behind Ratliff starting at Utah?

Brett Ratliff was recruited by former Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig in 2005. The Utes were set on Brian Johnson replacing Alex Smith in the 2005 season, though Ratliff was picked as a backup if anything were to happen. Unfortunately for Utah, on the final drive of the second to last game of the season, Johnson was injured and lost for their big showdown against their rivals, BYU. Johnson was in the process of leading Utah on a game-winning drive when he went out and Ratliff stepped in, threw a first down and then an interception, ending any chance Utah had of winning that game. The loss dropped the Utes to 5-5 on the season and they entered their game against the Cougars needing a victory for any chance of receiving a bowl bid.

The game was played down in Provo and Ratliff was making his first official start for the Utes. No one gave Utah a chance. since they were without their starting quarterback and their best receiver, who had been lost earlier in the same game. Yet Ratliff stepped up and guided Utah to a 41-24 overtime victory over BYU. The win guaranteed the Utes a bowl berth and in that bowl game, Ratliff again would lead Utah to victory, this time over the nationally ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by a score of 38-10. Ratliff instantly became a hero for Utah fans, since he stepped in and saved the Utes' season. Since he was only a junior and it became obvious Johnson was not going to be able to return for the 2006 season, as a senior, Ratliff won the starting job and guided Utah to an 8-5 record. He ended his career with a 10-5 record at Utah, including two bowl victories.

2. Did he run the Urban Meyer spread option his entire college career with the Utes, or did he ever operate out of more conventional pro formations?

Utah had run the spread option for the entire 2005 season, since Johnson was a spread-option quarterback. But Ratliff wasn't and had pretty much established himself as a pro-style quarterback. The final two games of the 2005 season saw little adjustments, but in 2006, with Ratliff not as conditioned on the spread, Utah adjusted its offense and built it around his strengths. There were bits of the spread option being used by the Utes, but not at the extent you saw during the 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons (or the last two seasons with Johnson again leading Utah). With the lack of a spread-option quarterback, Ludwig opted to run a hybrid offense and often would line Ratliff up under center or in the 2006 season, use Eric Weddle for the option aspect of the offense.

3. How would you compare him with Alex Smith, the last pro quarterback prospect from Utah?

Alex Smith was a very intelligent quarterback, but they both stepped into the starting position in very similar ways. Smith was a backup to Brett Elliott when Urban Meyer arrived from Bowling Green in 2003. However, in the second game of the season against Texas A&M, Elliott was injured while trying to go for the game-tying two-point conversion in the final seconds of that game. The injury ended his season and career with the Utes, throwing Smith into the starting role for their Thursday game against Cal. Smith would lead Utah to a late victory and then proceed to go 21-1 at Utah, including the 12-0 2004 season where the Utes became the first non-BCS team in history to play in a BCS bowl game. Ratliff did not have nearly the success at Utah and didn't pick up the spread-option as easily as Smith did. Smith wasn't recruited to run the spread-option, as he had been brought to Utah by Ron McBride's staff and McBride ran a more conventional offense here. Yet in 2003 -- and especially 2004 -- he ran the spread-option better than any quarterback I've ever seen.

So it's hard to compare the two. Smith is a legend at Utah and the most successful quarterback in school history, even though Johnson recently became the winningest quarterback here. It's not say he failed, but there were moments were Utah struggled with Ratliff as their quarterback, including a mind-numbing two game stretch during the 2006 season that cost Utah a conference championship. With that said, he also stepped up and had some great games as a Ute. I mentioned earlier how we walked into Provo and beat the Cougars, even though Utah was a double-digit dog. But outside of that, and the Georgia Tech victory, he beat TCU, who finished with only two losses that season, had an amazing performance against nationally ranked BYU that same year, though lost that game due to the defense collapsing at the end and once again managed to lead Utah to a bowl victory over Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl. Much of this happened without any real running game, as Utah had lost its 1,000-yard rusher from 2005 due to graduation. So, if you look at the holes the Utes' offense had, it isn't hard to see why he struggled here at times.

4. What attributes do you think Brett has that will help him succeed as a pro?

I think he's very tough, not allowing distractions to bring him down. This is a guy who walked into the Holy War, the biggest game on either Utah's or BYU's schedule, and won. I talk about that game a lot because it's one of the greatest moments in the rivalry's history.

5. What attributes do you think will hinder Brett's attempt to win the starting job?

Here at Utah he had a tendency to make dumb decisions. There were bad passes and questionable decision makings, but you often have to wonder how much of that was due to Utah's offensive coordinator and lack of offensive firepower. The thing is, Ratliff was not recruited to be a starter at Utah and that's exactly what he became. Because of that, you've got to look at his performance in context and though at the time it was very frustrating, since Utah had gone from a team that was 22-2 over two years to 8-5, looking back, I think he did a good job.

A big thanks to Sean for taking the time to answer my questions and offer his perspective on Ratliff.

 

Thanks Kentucky Jet. That's some great information on Ratliff. One typo. I think that has to be a 31-24 victory over BYU in OT. Not sure you can win by 17 in OT. :wink:

 

Jags wr just released today, he's big and has good speed. I say we sign him to a one year deal, league minimum and see how it works out. He definitely would give us that big wr we need and he's got proven nfl experience. Sign him, he'd create match-up problems cause he's so big.