Of all the legit things to complain about the Jets you're going to go with they don't have an "identity"? I mean really? Who gives a shit.
Open your mind, if you can. The problems you refrence, have a starting point...Lack of organizational direction IE. Identity. Have a plan of attack and stay the course. Identify your goals and how you will achieve them (basic life skill). The Jets dont seem to have a plan, other than being brash, creating headlines and under-performance. Who is held accountable? We seem to reward decline and mediocraty (Holmes, Sanchez, Hunter's guarentee ect...). I just want to see this team continue to draft and develop a player to fit that identity and back fill it, ala the Giants pats, and Steelers. Instead, like many teams, the Jets too often draft for need based on bad contracts and dont have the ability to develop. But hey what do I know...
He said Franchise QB, not new or starting QB. A Franchise QB is the guy that can stick with franchise and take them deep into the playoffs for years to come and a guy that makes other players better (Manning, Brady, Rodgers,etc). Many clubs hope they have their franchise QB, but you never really know until they are few years deep in the league. Teams constantly go through QB after QB looking for this guy.
Precisely. There are teams who are finding out about their QBs, but outside of Brady, Manning, Manning, Rodgers, Brees and Rapistberger it's all question marks and unknowns. Not all of them will work out and if they don't they will be in our position.
The Jets identity has become very clear. They are built on defense/ball control w/ special emphasis on size & physical style of play. Where they've gotten in trouble is they lack athletes,explosion & the ability to come from behind offensively.
Actually I believe it is very important to long term success. The Steelers have remained a power running team and a zone blitzing 34 defense for years despite coaching changes. Tomlin was a 43 coach coming in but stuck with the players and staff that were there instead of overhauling the system. I think his willingness to adapt is a big part of why he got the job. I think part of our identity is a base 34 defense. Both coaches under tanny have run the 34. Under Rex it's a cover 1 with all the corners in man most of the time. The real lack is on offense. We were a running team the first two years one Rex. Under shotty it was a zone blocking scheme. At the end of the shotty era we tried to become more of a passing based offense and it blew up completely in our face. Now, we are a man blocking scheme with the intent of being a run first/play action offense. In other words being an offense that will eat up clock and wear out defenses like Rex wants. Part of the problem is we have lost too many important parts along the oline and replaced them with ok players, not dominant ones like in the past. To truly regain the mantle of a power running team we need to upgrade our guards. Howard has been up and down this year. If he can develop some consistency he may be the answer. I think you can see the attempted identity if you watch the games closely. It's a matter of execution and talent level that holds it back from being obvious.
Being a power rushing attack to wear out defenses makes no sense because by the time you've worn them out you've already either won or lost the game on the other side of the ball depending on whether the opponent was able to score on you much. Controlling the clock makes more sense, since it keeps the ball out of the opposing offense's hands. Neither of those approaches can hold a candle to just trying to blow the other guy out though. That's why the Pats are the best team in football the last decade. They just blow away half the teams they play and then win their share of the close ones. That's the way to go. Building a G&P team with a great defense takes more great pieces to do right and then you run the risk you'll get blown out in a half by a great offense at the end of the year and go home. Which is exactly what happened to the Jets twice when they were still a good G&P team with a great defense.
Sir Eric Mangini started the process, and Rex has done well to continue it. Defense. For those who say "There can't possibly be 25 teams looking for a franchise QB" you're right. There are closer to 30 teams. Having a Tom Brady is the easy rout. It really is. You have ONE FACE to your franchise, sell lots of jerseys, sell lots of seats, negotiate ONE important contract, and maybe even win a ring. Most NE fans probably can't name 5 other players. Hell, Kraft probably can't either. That's the 'easy rout'. How many teams would trade their QB today for a young Tom Brady? Yup....31. The rest of us don't have Tom Brady. We have to shape and define a team that can win as a TEAM. Take the Giants. Eli is not Franchise, but they laid the wood to Tom Brady twice in the SB. The first time after sneaking in as #6, playing on the road, and then beating the snot out of Tommy and his 18-0 Pats. 'Lucking' into the arms of a Franchise QB is the 'easy' rout. For the rest of us, building a team that represents a winning alternative is the challenge.
I agree The Jets identity is good defense bad offense and headline grabbing free agents that don't always make sense. To have an identity you have to have a distinctive style of play or do something consistently well. There is a misconception about great teams with a given identity. For example, the Steelers are know for their great defense but in reality they are more than that and if all they had was just a great defense they wouldn't win anything. Baltimore is an example of a great defense without a good enough offense. Jets suffer the same fate. If your offense can't stay on the field then your defense is going to get tired out. Take away the Steelers running backs or Roethlisberger what do you have? Steelers didn't win Superbowls of recent until they got Ben. Even though Ben is a very good QB the Steelers use him in such a way to win in their style of play. Control the clock when possible, score enough points to let the defense win the game. With the Jets you don't get the same sense that an over all principal is guiding the team. Sanchez does what ever he can do and doesn't seem to have the luxury of being party of a larger identity. In today's game teams that have dynamic offense like the Pats do best because they can adapt to exploit a given opponent's weakness. Belechek is the master of finding multipurpose players to achieve this dynamic identity. The Jets seem to be the opposite of the Pats. We try to do one thing well and if that doesn't work we are basically screwed. For a long time our team has become know for its one dimensional vanilla offense. As of recent we have made half-hearted attempts to improve the offense by acquiring free agents which have amounted to patch work hap hazard offense that isn't particularly good at anything.
No defense can hold up for long if their offence is constantly turning the ball over or going three &out.
I think the Jets do have an identity, it's G&P with a solid defense. The problem is they invested a ton of money in bad drafts picks which left them with little choice but to sign expensive free agents who many of, sadly also underachieved. In Rex's first two seasons he overachieved with an average team, since then the Rexpectations have been higher with talent being the same or less. Rather than staying with a game plan to build a solid team over 2-3 years, they went the instant gratification route after the first years of success. They rolled the dice thinking Sanchez would continue to improve and carry the offense... so far he hasn't. Mark isn't the only one who has failed to live up to expectations, Green, Keller, Hunter, McKinght... have also been let downs. You could argue it's bad talent evaluations or you could say it's guys with potential who were given a chance to step up, haven't. Either way, it's left us where we are today, with under performing players at key positions and not much money to deal with the problem. The sooner we admit we are not "one player" away from a SB, the sooner we will be one player away from a SB.
Looking for a new QB and hoping that the one you have turns into a great one are different thigns. We know that Ari, Jax, Buffalo, and KC all need a QB badly. ... but Miami, the Jets, Cincy, Cleveland, Ten, Houston, Philly, Minny, Atl, Car, Tampa, Seattle and San Fan are all hoping that the guy they have now will become a great QB. None of these teams have a true superstar QB as of now, but a collection of guys who with the right cast may be good enough. That is 17 teams. The list does not include Oakland and Denver who will need a new QB in a year or two at most. It also leaves off Indy and Washing ton that look to have young superstars in the making. That gets it to 19. Are there 11 super star QB's in this league? Do Stafford and Cutler make the cut despite a lack of playoff success? What about Joe Flacco? The scary fact is most of the NFL does not have a QB that seems to be set in stone. Many teams look like if they are not looking for the next guy now, they very well could be in a year or two.
