After going through a bunch of threads this morning, it amazes me how any NFL coach can be successful in this day and age of the internet. With Monday morning armchair QBs galore, I wonder if Vince Lombardi would have still been Vince Lombardi. Anyway, putting aside the inconsistent officiating for a moment, the Jets defense and special teams played well enough to win last night and with a bounce here or there, the Jets end up with a 16-10 victory last night. That being said, the offense's production was not got great but certainly not suprising given a bunch of different factors. First and foremost, I think everyone would have agreed beforehand that this was going to be a low-scoring game. Second, this will be one of the best defenses that the Jets play all year. Consequently, the expectations that the Jets were going to put up 31 pts were a bit farfetched to begin with. However, the nonsensical rantings about Sanchez's performance need to stop. As a fan, you can't have it both ways and that is what people have been doing non-stop last night and today: Last Year: Sanchez is being reckless and throwing it down the field too much? This Year: Why didn't Sanchez throw it down the field? Last Year: Sanchez isn't going to last long in this league playing like that and not sliding. This Year: Sanchez should have gone for the 1st down instead of sliding like that. Last Year: Why doesn't Sanchez check down and throw to his backs? This Year: Why doesn't Sanchez wait a bit longer and throw to his receivers? These complaints are completely contradictory and irrational. Last year Sanchez was a fearless rookie chucking the ball down the field with reckless abandon. The Jets probably lost at least 2-3 games because of his poor decision making at critical points last year. How do you fix that? -Well the Jets got a running back who could catch the ball out of the back field in LDT. -The Jets worked all off-season in getting Mark to check down to the underneath routes and not force the ball into coverage. -The Jets added additional audible options so Mark could have options at the LOS. -Additionally the Jets worked on speeding up his internal clock. What you saw last night - in a game that was going to be a low scoring game between two of the NFL's best defenses - was a QB executing what he was taught. Sanchez repeatedly killed plays at the LOS, checked down to his backs, and got rid of the ball much more quickly than his rookie year. Was it too much? Yes, there is a happy medium that elite NFL QBs get to in order to be successful. Is Sanchez there yet? No he isn't, but he is only a 2nd year QB in playing what amounts to be his "rookie season" when you factor in he came out as a Junior. That is why QBs have a difficult time in their 2nd year in the position. The go from the reckless rookie extreme to a more cautious 2nd year pro approach. Neither is optimal for the team and successful QBs will either recalibrate their approach or be replaced if they can't. After one game calling for Mark's head because he didn't make the mistakes of last year? Geez...that is ridiculous. If at the end of the year, you see no progression from Mark, than there may be some valid cause for alarm. But not at this early point of the season and certainly not until Holmes returns and gives them that game breaking/field stretching option. Throw in some untimely penalties (the one on Edwards would have given the Jets the ball at the 3 yard line) and at least 4 receiver drops by my count, and you get what you had last night. Ultimately the other 10 guys on the field need to step up and make a play and no one did that. Manning, Brady and Brees (and I am not comparing Sanchez to them) thrive on making those key check-down completions, which force the coverage to push up and ultimately loosens up the match-ups down the field. That is what gives them the high completion % and yards by attempt average provided their receivers actually catch the ball and make the play. That was the big difference last night as the Jets receivers didn't step up and basically stood around waiting for another guy to make the play.
I'll tell you what's contradictory - The Jets talking like they're on the road to the Super Bowl yet they are babying their second year QB and not taking the training wheels off. They will not win that way. Either you commit yourself to developing a young QB and live with the mistakes or you bring in a capable veteran while the young guy holds the clipboard for his first couple of years. How bad would Chad have been if he had been forced to start his first or second year?
The Jets are giving the fans what they want. What do you want them to say? "HEY JETS FANS, I KNOW WE HAVEN'T WON SINCE 1969, AND WE DON'T PLAN ON TRYING TO WIN THIS YEAR. PLEASE BUY A PSL!" No fan - especially the unclean masses of the TGG.com - wants to wait in the NFL these days to develop a QB. IF the Jets started Brunell or Clemens, everyone would have just whined about them not playing Sanchez. Pennington? Huh, the Ravens were playing with a lot of men in coverage against the Jets and daring them to beat them with the underneath stuff. If the receivers can't catch the balls, it doesn't matter if you get the ball to them. Penny doesn't have the arm strength to the throw deep down the sideline or the 20 yard out. The Ravens D would have simply moved their coverage up and been sitting there waiting to jump the routes. The fans here and elsewhere have been lapping up the Super Bowl talk, Hard Knocks, etc since the draft. The problem is everyone is finally waking up from the offseason party with a nice hangover now that the season has started.
Great post Klecko. The fanbase, myself included, was hoping to see Sanchez already be at that happy medium or the occasional bomb in between dink and dunk and dump offs. However your points on Sanchez are on the money. He's really a rookie now and the CS has ingrained him to protect the ball - hence no down field shots.
Klecko73, fantastic thread. I guarantee it'll be left in shambles by the end of the day, but I agree with you 100%.
Amazing post, you are on the money with every single point. Sanchez is just doing what he has been taught by the CS. Give the kid a few more games to get things going, and once we get Holmes back things will start to open up.
Another thread contains a discussion relevant to this one, which is essentially that the choices listed are binary, as if there is no happy medium. It really should not be an either or choice. In any event while the CS wants Sanchez to be conservative, I highly doubt they told him not to throw deep if he sees an open receiver. Klecko thinks the Ravens shifted their pass D to protect against the long pass. I don't konw about that, but in general the high percentage shot to take IS to hit receivers underneath the coverage.
I agree with you about the defense shifting to the long pass. I thought they were covering the short-intermediate routes, daring Sanchez to either go deep or check down, IMHO
The Ravens were clearly dropping more into coverage than their norm. I never said the Ravens shifted their coverage to defend the deep pass, so please don't put words in my mouth. There coverage, as stated by CP was that they were loading up in the 7-20 yard range to stop the intermediate passing game. Consequently, Sanchez was left with two choices: #1 - High percentage check downs #2 - Low percentage deep throws In order to do #1, you need to have the personnel in the backfield (LDT vice Thomas Jones) who can catch and you need a QB who can identify the coverage and check down accordingly (which Sanchez couldn't do last year and certainly demonstrated he could do yesterday). The problem was when Sanchez did check down, the players dropped the ball on a least 4 occassions. In order to do #2, the Jets need to have the personnel with game breaking speed (Holmes who is suspended for the first 4 games), protection up front and a QB who can identify 1-on-1 coverage. Without Holmes, the Jets don't have that speedy option on the field to stretch the defense. On several occassions, Sanchez may have had an opportunity but the offensive line coverage wasn't that great. On two occassions that he had both the offensive line protection and identified the man coverage, Sanchez hit Keller on a beautiful pass down the seem (which was called back on the Edwards penalty) and he slightly overthrew Cotchery who was well covered (although given the flags throw around for less infractions, an argument could be made for a holding/PI call on the Ravens). Given the tribulations from last year, I am sure the Jets emphasized ball security to Sanchez and the fact that this was going to be a close game. Hence the reason, Sanchez did not take any unnecessary risks in the downfield passing game. Comparing him to Flacco is unfair - Joe is in his 3rd year in the pros after a full career at Delaware - and the chances the Ravens took last night are not the same ones they would have taken last year. The bottom-line is that the 4 drops where the ultimate drive killers last night, not Sanchez's inability to make the right call or deliver the ball.
This year we gave up 10 points at home to the Ravens, people blame the loss on our offense. Last year we gave up 10 points at home to the Falcons, people blame the loss on our defense.
Klecko, I am not sure I agree with you about the Ravens pass coverage. You may be correct that they were shifting to defend the long pass, but I don't think the implication, that there were no open receivers downfield, is correct. I think there were open receivers sometimes, and MS did not hit them.
