<rant> Guys.. I know we're upset because yesterday's game was ugly (thank god for Sunday Ticket). However, in terms of the record, what's the difference between this loss or the loss to the Pats? I don't see much. Yes, we made a comeback in one, and not in the other, but in reality, we were getting blown out in both. You had to expect some growing pains this year. My goal going into the year was to be able to watch, until the end with the outcome in doubt, 12 of the 16 games. I expected to be blown out of 4 games. So far, I'd call it 1.5. (I'm giving a little credit here, but did you ever REALLY think we were going to win the Pats game after they got off to the large lead?) Onto the team, we shouldn't get too high when someone does something great statistically (Pennington, or even Washington yesterday. Most of those yards were garbage time yards). Our OL is one of the smallest in the league, and it's going to be hard for them to open holes. I think Ferguson is going to be a very good player, but I think the find is Mangold. I think he'll have a better career. However, I think both will be on our line for at least the length of their current contracts, if not longer. We need to anchor things with 2 beasts at either side of Mangold. This is how other teams open up holes and run. On defense, you all KNEW we did not have a good NT to start the year, so this should not be a surprise. I honestly thought Vilma would do better, even without a NT, but that was my mistake. I also thought Justin Miller would take strides.... WRONG (unless you count backpedals as strides). My intent here though is to not bash people on the team. The fact is this team was slated to go 4-12 again. We're 2-3, and have a bunch (6?) winnable games. That doesn't mean we'll win them all, but we have games we'll be competitive in. Think about this some more. Before the season, who had us slated to beat the Pats? Colts? Jags? Noone... so don't be surprised. People probably had us losing to the Bills in Buffalo too and we did not. We need to be happy with progress, and not overkill each and every play. If the team is making the same mistakes they made yesterday in week 12, we have something to bitch about, but there are going to be pains. </rant>
Once again EXPECTATIONS CHANGE. Once we saw we had a healthy Chad expectations go up alot higher, I don't mean division title hopes or SB hopes but we should be playoff contenders and it's disappoiting blowing a game at home to Indy then not even showing up yesterday. Coming into the season I thought we'd be 1-4 at this point so from that standpoint we are ahead of what i thought BUT I think we easily could have be 3-2 and the last 2 weeks have been huge disappointemnts. The major problem I have w/ this team is the defense sucks and it has not gotten even slightly better from week 1. We have alot of talent on D and we should be playing alot better so to not see any progtress is disheartening.
expectations do change....and Im not so sure on the defense its growing pains because I think a lot of these positions simply need to be upgraded....I think our defense is horrible.....ten years later I still think our corners suck.....our linebackers suck and our Dline sucks
Our D hasn't been bad for 10 years. You won't get any argument from me on this year though. We have not shown that we can stop anyone when it really mattered or didn't matter for that matter.
The teams doing exactly what I expected them to do. Pennington is good enough to beat the mediocre to bad teams and his limitations show up against the stronger Defensive fronts. The D front 7 has been worse than I thought but the emergence of Cotchery as a solid WR has more than compensated for that. I expected us to be 2 & 3 and we are. I expect us to play a very good game against Miami at home. It's a tough game but winable. This is a game that the season will turn on.
Talented players on the Jet's defense: Shaun Ellis, Jonathan Vilma, Eric Barton, Kerry Rhodes, Andre Dyson. Average players on the Jet's defense: Rashad Moore, Eric Coleman, David Barrett. Below average players on the Jet's defense: Dewayne Robertson, Kimo Von Ohlhoffen (age), Victor Hobson. Terrible players on the Jet's defense: Justin Miller. This defense is not as talented as the sum of it's parts and the sum is fairly average.
What the Jets do in the next three games will tell me more about the team, the coaches and the direction of the organization more than what happened yesterday. And that doesn't mean we need to win every game in the next three to validate the improved outlook for the future. Can we as a middle of the pack team beat the bottom dwellers? This was a viper pit for the Jets from the beginning. Had Jax beaten Wash the week before, it may have been different. The concerning thing for me yesterday wasn't necessarily the outcome; rather, it was there didn't seem to be any fight in the team. Outside of Leon Washington, no one was cracking the opponent, or giving back as good as they got. One play in particular bothered me: Chris Baker was lined up in the backfield for a max-protect scheme, and he gave half an effort on a play that resulted in a sack. That's unacceptable, and I hope he gets called out on it in film sessions today.
This is fair. I can't defend the D. No doubt. Our D is, and should be, our #1 concern right now. We are flat out bad on D.
I agree wholeheartedly with 2004. We have a favorable schedule now and things should improve, but good teams are going to take advantage of our numerous deficiencies. Sure, Pennington looked great early on, but you can't beat the good defenses if you can't run the ball. This team is a project, and it's in need of some extra parts. Temper your expectations a bit. We still have a chance to do some good things, but until we can run the ball and stop the run, we're not going anywhere. -X-
Expectations changed to being unrealistic. If this team wins 9 or 10 games I'll be surprised. I'll be happy, but I'll be surprised. Some around here went from expecting 4 wins to now expecting 10 wins and the playoffs. The team is just missing personnel in too many areas to be a playoff contender at this point. If they wind up shocking the world and make the playoffs, then great, but I'm not going to be expecting it. I think people are just expecting way too much.
We've had 4 extremely competitive games and beat two teams on the road. I can't ask anything more from a rebuilding team. You gotta remember that there are more L's than W's in "rebuilding".
We don't have a lot of talent on the D, we have a decided LACK of talent on the D. Vilma and Barton are the only two linebackers we have that are worth a sh!t. There is no NT, and the DE are very average (yes, I'm including Ellis in there). Miller looks lost as a CB. Robertson, who has been very average as a 3T, has been even less effective in this scheme. Some of this can be chocked up to a new system, but most of it to lack of talent. Back to the original post, all I expect to see this year is steady improvement. Yesterday was simply a debacle, and I'm already forgetting it happened. Overall, I believe 8-8 is still a reachable goal this year, and that mark will a great indicator that this team is headed back in the right direction.
You know what's sad is that you left out Bryan Thomas. Not a knock on you, I agree with that assessment, but the guy is so invisible his name doesn't even come up in discussions. What we're left with on defense now are a few guys (Robertson, Thomas, Hobson) who were mediocre the 4-3, their natural fit, and are now completely out of place in a 3-4. If the CS is intent on sticking with the 3-4, it's going to continue to be ugly this year. They simply do not have the right personnel.
Just using the Chargers as an example...it amazes my how a great dt like Williams can make an entire defense better...and how a weakness at that position can make an entire defense look average or below. Totally agree with you Tony. As of today..its official in my book....Robertson is a bust..a total bust. If average is what he is (and I think you might be a bit generous) hes a bust..and it will have to be the number one thing addressed in the off season..over running back..over everything. Great teams have showed that running back by committe can work. Having a severe weakness in the middle of line will not work.
Right, the guy with 8 solo tackles is invisible...even though he's not making huge plays he still contributes. So he's as of now below average, I'd say. Meanwhile I would never call the combo of Aaron Glenn+Marcus Coleman "sucks", nor did Marvin Jones+Mo Lewis when healthy, d-line, I'll give you that one. We haven't a DT worth a damn as long as I've followed the team.
jaywayne12, I was a fan of the Robertson pick, but he's busted in my eyes as well. He'll flash every once in a while, but overall, he cannot get it done with any level of consistency. If Mangini is serious about the 3-4 (and it looks as though he is, almost to a fault), then they need to just cut bait with Robertson this offseason and look around for a good FA NT.
