Jets talent has declined significantly the past two years By MARK CANNIZZARO October 10, 2012 Sign, sign, everywhere a sign. There are plenty of places for Jets owner Woody Johnson, his general manager Mike Tannenbaum and his head coach Rex Ryan to look and see signs of the demise of their franchise from Super Bowl contender two seasons ago to middle-of-the-pack ordinary today. They can look at their roster, which has far less talent and depth than it had two years ago. They can look at their team’s annual decline in the NFL rankings — particularly on defense, which has always been the backbone of Ryan’s reputation. Their ranking on defense has gone from No. 1 in the NFL in 2009 to No. 6 in 2010 to No. 20 last season to its current No. 22. They can look at their recent drafts, which have produced far too many misses and not nearly enough hits. They can look inside their injury-depleted locker room, where some players are so new to the team they don’t even have nameplates on their lockers yet. They can look across the MetLife Stadium parking lot at the Timex Performance Center, where the Giants have been managing injuries to key players more successfully by replacing starters with capable backups because they have stocked their roster with better players. Most of all Johnson, Tannenbaum and Ryan can look in the mirror, because the fall of the franchise is a result of their shortcomings. A mere 20 months ago the Jets were playing in the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh and looked like a team on the rise. Since that loss to the Steelers, they are 10-11. Is there a team in the NFL that has fallen further faster — from Super Bowl contender to virtual irrelevance? “What’s gone wrong with that team? In a nutshell, talent,’’ a respected NFL personnel evaluator told The Post yesterday. “Look at the talent base now compared to a couple years ago. They haven’t drafted well. There is nobody that scares you on that roster. The problem is the Jets don’t have explosive players on their roster. There are no playmakers, not enough talent. “That goes to the top. It goes to Mike [Tannenbaum]. At end of the day you’ve got to be accountable for this roster that you are ultimately responsible for.’’ Johnson clearly has grown complacent in his trust of Tannenbaum as a talent evaluator. Tannenbaum, who has the last word on personnel, has to answer for the depleted roster with poor depth and draft picks whose production has not been commensurate with the places they were picked. The shine, too, has been dulled on Ryan since he came out of the gate so strongly with those two AFC Championship runs in his first two seasons. His bombastic personality and press-room bravado has slowly disappeared the way his blitz-happy, take-no-prisoners defenses that were all the rage the first two years have. The best thing the Jets did in their hard-fought 23-17 loss to the Texans was avoid becoming a punch line after their embarrassing 34-0 loss to the 49ers a week earlier. A second consecutive blowout loss — coupled with their ongoing confusion at quarterback (to Tebow or not to Tebow?) — would have marked the return of the “circus’’ moniker they detest so dearly. So, Monday night’s good news was the Jets didn’t look like the wreck most thought they would against the Texans. The sobering reality, though, is they looked like an undermanned team without enough talent to hang with one of the better teams in the league. The Jets have drafted 21 players since 2009 and not one has emerged as an impact league-wide star who has even remotely been a part of a Pro Bowl conversation. Their Monday night opponent, the Texans, represented the perfect example of a team that has progressed while the Jets have regressed. When the Jets faced the Texans in 2009 in Mark Sanchez’s NFL debut, they won big, 24-7, in Houston. At that time, the Jets were a team on the rise and the Texans a model of mediocrity, having failed to make the playoffs in their first nine years of existence. Now, the Texans, a year removed from their first-ever postseason berth, are 5-0 and considered one of the top Super Bowl contenders while the Jets are 2-3 and headed in the wrong direction. mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com
Imagine if we were 1-4 or 0-5? how many teams can lose the best defensive player in the game and their best playmaker on O and still thrive?
It's not that the Jets don't have talent... it's that they don't have any high end talent (or at least very little). A lot of these guys are good players, none are great or at least good enough to scare other teams.
Yeah Revis and Mangold are our 2 special talent player. Honestly Cromartie is pretty close. He really is a great corner he's just a bit inconsistent. If he had Revis' fundamentals he would be a freak. With Revis out though there is nothing that is really dominating about our D anymore. It used to be our ability to shut down WRs and stop the run. With Revis out and our run D softening its just not the same D. As a team we desperately need Imo a LB over a DT or DE who can be dominant. Someone who can pass rush but stop the run and drop back. We need another 3 down LB. Our Patrick Willis. On O Holmes, Hill with another year, and Kerley with another year isn't that bad of a WR corps. Especially if we resign Keller and pick up another good WR for depth. What we need is a RB. Greene isn't cutting it. We need someone who can make people miss even occasionally and break a long run. In order for Greene to get a 20+ yard run we would need defenders to be falling or a huge hole.
I'm not sure what you are trying to say here Junc. The Jets aren't thriving though, that's for damn sure.
That's it right there. You put a dynamic RB on the O, even with our OLine and you have a better passing game cause the run game keeps the safeties honest.
This isn't new..pretty much every NFL analyst has been saying this since week 1. There is nobody on this team that scares any NFL coach who has to prepare for them.
You simply have no chance when this happens. If you're going to blow something up, blow up the scouting department. Mike Tannenbaum was never a talent evaluator, he was a salary cap/contract guy who leaned on his talent evaluators(scouting department) to tell him who to select. He is obviously getting really bad advice, and he needs to fix it.
Or just get a better offensive line/system and have a back look better. Or a QB that is a legitimate passing threat that teams can't stack the box. There are a bunch ways to do it better than how the Jets are.
That doesn't make any sense at all. For that, hire a real GM who knows football and then hire an accountant who can crunch the numbers.
Gee whiz what is new in this report? I have only been posting this since last off season began that the NYJs were only a 6-10 or lower team this year & that they were in decline & that it would be 5/7 years before they would be SB contenders again if they they hit the draft lottery correctly :sad:
I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you. I'm just saying that Mike Tannenbaum is not a talent evaluator, or at least not a good one. And at a minimum he needs to fix the scouting department, because they're recommendations have been bad. And yeah, having a GM who is a good talent evaluator would be nice. But if you don't have that, you sure as hell better have people giving you the right advice. And he obviously doesn't have that.
everyone HERE has been saying that. we dont have talent at LB. we dont have a pass rusher. we dont have any big playmakers on offense. we dont have a good QB. we havea great corner, a good corner, a great cetner, and a good left tackle. after that, everyone is very average and very replaceable
This guy deserves a pulitzer for almost making this sound like interesting news. It takes talent to make year old news almost seem ground breaking.
Not thriving but have the same record as the immensely talented Packers. It's a long season, we lost 2 critical players, we don't know how this season will end so why are we giving up 5 weeks in?
It isn't that the jets aren't thriving they are floundering. this isnt just about this year the decline started last year. the problem wasn't losing Revis and Holmes it is that the talent level drops so significantly after them. not just their replacements but most if the players on the team.
Exactly. Still no excuse. Not many teams are deep enough to handle losing top defense and offensive players, plus best TE.
