There are 4 undefeated teams in the league: The defending champs, the Redskins, the Lions, and the Bills.... I think we'll be just fine.
Why are guys bashing Sanchez so much? He has NO time to throw the ball. He also has had the luxury of defenses keying in on our run game and not him. He is coming along nicely when he has had some time to throw IMO. Also I think Callahan has been a bit overrated as an OL coach. I thought we can just plug in anyone at the line and they should at least be adequate. Maybe our backups are just complete shit, but I think our o-line was good because it had talent and not because the almighty Callahan was coach.
I don't think calling Sanchez an average QB is bashing him. Statistically, that's being easy on him based on his first 2 seasons. He is. He's no Rodgers, Brady, Manning, Roethlisberger, Brees, etc. When you don't have a great QB, and you don't have a great OL, it's hard to be that good. We've still been able to score some points, but we also haven't faced a particularly good defense yet. We will against Baltimore. I should have just named this thread "Thoughts about the game."
I think its more arrogance on the thinking of the FO and CS if they think that Callahan can just make anyone a good linemen. If this shit continues, the line is going to need to be upgraded in 2 spots with a 3rd spot in 2 years with Moore getting too old.
I think we'll be fine too. But that's not the way we should be looking at it. The Jets want to win the division this year, get a home playoff game, and hopefully a bye. Losing to the Raiders, a game they should win, on a day the Pats finally lose a game is not the way to go about that.
Why don't you blame Tanny for this? Who else's fault would it be? Yes, thank God, they didn't miss on most of the picks where they traded up, but the reason trading up is not a good thing to do on a regular basis is because it does cost you depth. The best GMs can find talent with those middle and lower round draft picks that he routinely trades away. I also blame him for entering any season with a player like Hunter as a starter when his backup is a raw, inexperienced 2nd year player, much less one where there was a lockout with only a fraction of the practice time as a regular season. I blame him for not finding a veteran backup after Turner went down. I blame him for trying to build a 3-4 D with slow OLBs and no natural pass rusher. I blame him for not addressing the need at S (coverage safety) and pass rush. I blame him for allowing Shaun Ellis to leave. He may be older and not as effective as earlier in his career, but I doubt he would have given up those outside runs today vs. Oakland. I blame him for their being so little speed in the LB corps. He's still one of the best GMs the Jets have ever had, but that's only because most of them have sucked balls. He has a lot of room for improvement imo.
Good Post, but I have to disagree with you on the pash rusher bit. Tanny has technically addressed the pass rusher position by pickup Pace (who IMO is one of the most overrated players on the team for his salary) and the bust Gholston. Unfortunately, a pass rusher has been one of those positions/roles that he has missed on. Tanny is still a great GM and will probably be the best in Jets' history, though he has his shortcomings.
This. You have to assume the Patriots won't lose many games. Just because they slipped up here doesn't mean they will again in the future. Hell, they were up 21-0, and they had some crazy bounces go against their way to help them lose. The Pats are damn good. And we have our flaws. So does New England, but New England has the best QB in the league who can mask flaws. If you don't have that elite quarterback, you better be loaded with talent otherwise. And sure, we have a good deal of talent, but it's not like Keller is a top 10 TE or Greene is a top 15 RB or we have something on offense that makes you scared. Holmes is the closest thing we have to a guy you have to account for on every play, but he's not at the level of the dominant playmakers in the NFL. Our offensive line used to be the glue that held it all together. Now that's deteriorating. New England's last 5 games are the following: vs Indy at Washington at Denver vs Miami vs Buffalo They also have a home game against KC in week 11. We've played an easier schedule so far, having played 2 home games and having Jacksonville, Oakland, and Dallas in there instead of San Diego, Buffalo, and Miami. We need to get out ahead of them. Luckily, if we split with them, they've already dropped one divisional game, so if we take care of business, we could be able to get the divisional tiebreaker. But as I'm trying to say in the OP, I'm not sure if we have the personnel to be consistent enough to keep up with them game for game in the regular season, which would put us at a distinct disadvantage once again come postseason.
I just want to comment that I think people writing off Sanchez as being an average QB not just now but going forward is pretty overblown to me. His completion percentage is way up this year and it shows on the field. He isn't making randomly erratic throws anymore, and he has a lot more touch and accuracy on his short passes. I think he's being allowed to increase his responsibilities throwing the ball and he's taking too many bad gambles. The OL isn't helping matters either. Although the results of too many int's are disastrous while the problem is occurring, the way that he's throwing those picks seems easily fixable. If he stops throwing a good amount of those dumb passes I'd say he looks damn good all things considered. The sky is still the limit with Sanchez.
I don't think Schotty is calling dink and dunks, I think Sanchez is still checking down too much. An example is after one of the sacks he zips it to his check down receiver without even looking downfield. I got the impression he didn't want to get sacked again so he zips it away which only nets a few yards at best. Sanchez's timing is just off and then of course he tries to force it in and gets that interception.
Jets have lost the ability to win in the trenches. The past few years the jets have made a living of dominating the line of scrimmage and forcing team's skill guys to match up w/ Revis/cro on defense & hold up to a stubborn physical running attack w/ receivers who can make big plays. The D-line actually hasn't played that bad. They hold up at the point of attack and get off blocks.Most of the problems against the run yesterday were a result of a mismatches between Mcfadden and the jets Slow LB corps. But the DL aren't exactly pushing the O-line backwards and imposing their will. I see this getting better as the year wears on. The youngsters seem to play better w/ every game & I expect the CS to get a better feel for the rotation with every game. It's time to activate Kenrick Ellis. Pouha tends to wear down on long drives and a big guy like Ellis to take a few snaps on long drives/short yardage would serve the D-line well. The O-line concerns me. It's not even so much the sacks. To me that mostly falls on Schottenehimer/Sanchez. Why? Teams have decided the best way to stop this O is to just blitz the heck out of sanchez with multiple looks. The O-line generally does a decent job at initial blitz pick-up but either schottenehimer is afraid to make d's pay over the top and/or Sanchez panicks right off the snap and unloads the ball a half second too quickly. What scares me is this running game. Past couple years Jets have had one of the most unique rushing attacks in the nfl. A zone blocking scheme with big physical thumpers who don't just fill space...but also punish the opposing front 7 until they wear down come the 4th qtr. Uually ZBS personell contains average sized O-linemen who quickly get to their spots with proper technique but don't offer much in drive blocking or punishment. Unfortunately that's the kind of line the jets appear to have become. No longer do they fire off the ball and punish opposing trenchman. Now we see guys coming off the ball w/ no power just trying to get to fill their spot. That type of running game doesn't fit Green or LT nor is it "Ground & pound". Despite Hunter getting the most flack I see the interior as the biggest culprate. Slauson has gotten better as a pass protector but has regressed as a run blocker, and Moore si starting to show his age. It's time for this O-line to respond and starting being TRUE ground & pound.
Evene with all the "this position sucks for us, these players suck for us, we need upgrades here" This game was lost because of 2 bone head mistakes. sanchez throws the ball away in the endzone instead of throwing into triple coverage (a rookie mistake he shouldn't be making in his 3rd year) and Cromartie decides not to play place kicker with the football on the 1 yard line. You eliminate these 2 mistakes and we win this football game. We have never been a team to go and just blow teams out. We aren't built for. We won so many games last year in the 4th or by a TD/FG at the end. It's how we are built to play... A couple things just needed to go our way and they didn't
I'm still thinking 9-7 with no playoffs. Called that at beginning of the year before we touched the ball. Not one of those SOJ rants either, just going with my gut.
I agree with the OP. This is not as good a team right now as last year. Both lines have regressed. I am not sure I am willing to write off Buress and Mason as receivers who can help, though, but other than that, i agree with the analysis. Let's put it this way, there was only one player who had a very good game yesterday, and that was Revis. Lack of depth his becoming a real problem. Cromartie went out and Strickland took his place, not Wilson. The linebackers look slow and were probably getting a bit gassed, and who can come in to spell them and make plays? OL depth is a huge problem, obviously. There is next to none. Greene and Sanchez do not look any better than last year, so far. Perhaps worst of all, since I am a big Ryan fan, is Rex looked perplexed in the post game. What happened? How could the Jets have been so ill prepared? As one of them said, they knew they had to stop McFadden. They practiced for it all week. Then in the game, they could not stop him. Unlike the OL, the defensive front seven had all starters playing. That's a concern. The D played poorly in the Dallas game, and now has for a second out of three games. There will be focus on the O against the Ravens, but if the D has another poor outing, and going back to the OP's point, the Jets will only have more questions than today.
I really hope you're wrong here but it's tough to win in the NFL when you're getting pushed around on the line of scrimmage the way the Jets were yesterday.
A great cornerback having a great day is only as effective as the other 10 guys on the defense. That's why Nnamdi Asomugha and Champ Bailey have no rings.
I said this in another thread, but I'm getting the feeling that the Sanchez we're seeing this season, as well as the one we saw last season may be the Sanchez we're going to be dealing with for a long time. Not saying that's a bad thing, just that I don't expect him to turn into an elite quarterback.
