Agree. But what I meant was to start with the QB. It all flows from there. A lot easier to change GM's or coaches than to change FQB's.
I believe the first time the Jets can opt out of the lease is in 2025, and then they can opt out every five years thereafter. Regarding Coughlin, do you mean as HC or Team President? I wouldn't have wanted him as HC, but he may be ok as Team President.
I agree that coaching can help, and there's no doubt that the Patriots have enjoyed better coaching than the Jets. I still think you need ability in the players to start with, and the Jets have been systematically drafting players with little or no talent at all for years. It makes me wonder what the hell the scouts are looking at sometimes. I mean, could Quinton Coples really have looked like a first-round talent in college? Kyle Wilson? Vernon Gholston? Every team drafts busts sometimes, but the Jets have turned it into an art form. So yes, it doesn't matter all that much where you're drafting, as long as you can spot talent. Let the crappy organizations above you draft the crappy players in the top 10, then pick up solid players in the 20s. This is what makes me worry about the tank job. Will the Jets make the right pick even if they do get the top pick? Or will they pick a Ryan Leaf and ignore a Peyton Manning?
If the Jets find out that Petty or Hackenberg is a good enough QB this season, then they can use their top three picks (1st round and two second rounders) on a left tackle, a right tackle and a center. If they need to draft a QB and get the No.1 pick, they can get a right tackle and a center with their two second-round picks. If they screw up and need to trade up to get their QB, they can let their new young passer slowly die behind a god-awful offensive line and start another rebuild in five years.
I totally disagree. In an ideal world, it shouldn't matter, but the reality is that especially when one is hiring a rookie HC as the Jets usually do, there's no real way to tell whether they are or not. They can talk a good talk during the interview process, but after they're hired, when things get tough, they revert to their area of expertise. Most DCs try to win with D and they get very conservative on offense. I think that until a HC has a lot of experience and has perhaps failed as Belichik did in Cleveland, he isn't gonna become the kind of HC that you're referring to. Many HCs seem to be unable to "learn" and move past their insecurities and their own systems. Unless or until he is lucky that he has great talent on the other side of the ball and can last long enough to learn, or fails in his first HC gig and then learns from his mistakes, he is going to lean more towards his area of expertise. I don't think that many HCs have had experience coaching on both sides of the ball. He is going to want the prime draft picks going to his side of the ball and that's where his focus is going to be. Rex has NOT been the closest the Jets have had to that idea this millenium. That's absurd. He's the poster child for knowing NOTHING about the other side of the ball, and not caring. All Rex cared about was his D. Bowles is the same way. Just because Rex labeled the type of offense he wanted, doesn't mean anything. He never paid enough attention to it to make it successful. IMO Mangini was the closest thing we've had to a real HC.
Even if Petty or Hack prove that they are a FQB this season, I wouldn't want the Jets using their top 3 picks on 2 tackles and a center, and I don't think it's possible for Hack to do that, and it's very unlikely that Petty will be able to because of the lack of talent around him. I think any young QB would have a pretty impossible time of proving that he's a FQB with our OL and lack of playmakers. Should Petty be able to do that however, the Jets need offensive playmakers and they need a topnotch pass-rushing prospect. With their 4 picks in the first 3 rounds, I'd hope that they would get a LT, a #1 WR prospect, an edge rusher and a very good RB prospect, but know that the odds of getting 4 topnotch prospects at those positions would be nigh on impossible. I'd try to upgrade the C and RT spots in FA. If there was an excellent RB in FA that the Jets really liked, they could sign him, and then use one of those picks on either a RT or C or ILB.
Mangini was one of the worst coaches in Jets history. He offered nothing on any side of the ball, lacked imagination on Sundays, and the players hated him and quit on him. He was the opposite of Rex, who was a much better coach than Mangini, which was proven when he took over the same squad minus Favre in 2009.
The Blueprint for the Jets has been laid out in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. IMO they run their organizations they way they should be run, they build teams they way they should be built in the Northeast, and they play football the way it should be played. Vision of the teams are physical, with an emphasis on defense and controlling the LOS on both sides of the ball. The vision is independent of GM and HC, it stays consistent, and carries over regardless of who holds the positions. In other words, the GM and HC don't define the vision, they need to conform to it. For that you need strong ownership, or a strong executive of football operations, which the Jets lack. They also draft well, and reward their own players with extensions. The focus of early rounds is generally defense and Oline to match the vision. With that base, they've been able to hit on skill players later in draft. Of course when the time is right, you need that QB to stay consistent, which is another area the Jets cannot seem to get right. On on defense, they stay within the 3-4 hybrid, as that is the best way to control the LOS while staying creative and aggressive with blitzing. This is one of the few areas we have gotten right imo, although we've busted on too many draft picks in the process. So in short, stick with the direction, but fire the owner, draft more consistently, and find a damn QB! Heck i'd take two out of the three at this point..
If he develops and turns into a solid player, then that pick could go elsewhere, of course. But I'd throw picks at the o-line for quality and depth.
Yeah Shell has a prove it season ahead of him, and I really hope he proves it. He's got a lot of positives going for him. As it is, we need to find a permanent LT, possibly a C, and C/G depth. This week we'll have Johnson and Dozier getting manhandled by Suh, which might get ugly. I'd rather see Qvale at G, but Dozier has got the nod. Agree we need overall upgrades in the draft tho..
Victory!!!!!!!! In all seriousness: A coach who favors one side of the ball over another is not, by my definition, a true leader and a man of vision. So I don't think we actually disagree there. Not trying to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like you think finding such a coach is unlikely, so hiring a coach who favors a heretofore neglected side of the ball is, at the very least, hedging our bets. I don't disagree with that. Mangini was not a true leader or a man of vision. Well, maybe he was, but I sure as hell never saw any particular leadership or vision out of him. Just Belichick clone behaviors. Rex had an outdated vision and a leadership style that invited undisciplined and selfish players. Still, a bad vision and flawed leadership is better, to me, than copied vision and dictatorial leadership.
If Shell can develop that would be a real bonus. In that case I might look at a guard, or maybe a nifty running back to complement Powell. I have a feeling, however, that we're going to finish out of the top three picks and need to trade up, wiping out our second rounders. God, I hope I'm wrong. I still haven't given up all hope on Petty, if he gets a chance this season, or even Hack. But then I always was a cock-eyed optimist.
Agree Shell is worth keeping an eye on. We're due to find a positive somewhere this season no? Personally I don't think we'll need a top 3 pick to land a QB. I'm currently not convinced any of the QB's are worth a top 3 pick, so we're better served winning games with some guys breaking out in the process. Also agree on Petty, he'll get a shot at some point this year. The best case scenario is not having a desperate need at QB.
I see what you're saying, but let's take a deeper look at that Patriots comparison: The Jets get a lot of crap about picking defensive players, and particularly D-linemen in the 1st round with nothing to show for it. Other than Nate Solder, in 2011, the Pats have picked Defensive players with their first pick in every draft since 2007, and nobody says a word about it. Now, because the Pats often trade down, these weren't always first rounders, but most of them were. Further, 4 of their last 6 top picks were D-linemen (Derek Rivers-DE, Malcom Brown-DT, Domonique Easley-DT, Chandler Jones-DE). Of those, Easley is on IR for the Rams, Jones plays for the Cardinals, Rivers is on IR for the Pats, and Brown recorded one tackle in the Super Bowl. Am I being too picky by focusing on the D-line players? Okay, who are the other guys the Pats picked--Cyrus Jones, CB, played special teams last year, and had 5 fumbles with only 180 return yards, on IR since camp this year; Jamie Collins, LB, he's a Cleveland Brown now; Nate Solder was a good pick back in 2011. What I'm getting at is this: if you look at the Pats, most of the players whose names you actually recognize were 3rd, 4th, or 5th round picks. Good coaching and system stability allow guys like that to develop and find a role. Instability and bad coaching lead to what you see with the Jets, talented players playing out of position or in systems that they don't fit at all. This is also a good illustration of how winning covers up all blemishes, while losing makes otherwise fine decisions look terrible....
LOL had to laugh at the art form analogy, that made my day. I also hate this tank job and the Jets could possibly blow it like they did when they took Ken O'Brien over Marino. Do we want Macc making that pick when he is still trying to force feed Hackenberg.
I agree that the Steelers and Ravens are great examples of how to build and maintain a winning team, but I disagree that using a "defense first" philosophy is the the only way to get there. The Patriots and Packers are two examples, as well as the Broncos who recently are "D" oriented, but in the past were all about the "O". The common denominator, as you pointed out, is a strong, knowledgeable owner or President who creates the blueprint and makes sure whoever he hires follows it. While I'll be thrilled if they get the #1 pick and can take their choice of QBs, I would be much happier if they first hired a Pres. of Football Ops to create their blueprint and then draft accordingly.
I largely disagree with this post as well. The Jets have tried that approach for the last 10-15 years or more, and have flat out failed. It's time to try something different. Ozzie Newsome can't draft a QB or WRs worth a damn. Look at all the FA WRs they've brought in. Flacco is meh. He's done ok with RBs, TEs and OL, but not the real playmakers. They won in 2001 and 2013, but didn't make it back any other years. The Steelers Kevin Colbert can't draft CBs or DBs worth a damn since he drafted their sure-fire HOF Safety (if he even drafted him). He can find WRs and RBs, but isn't great on OL. They haven't been to a SB since they lost in 2011. Pittsburgh is notorious for letting their players walk in FA. The 3-4 hybrid is a joke. The players have to be jack of all trades and masters of none. It's too hard to find the right tweeners. It's a POS defense and can't be scrapped soon enough along with Bowles. That vision of emphasis on D and controlling the LOS is old school nonsense. It may keep a team competitive, but I don't think will win a SB in the NFL any more. The only things we agree on are that the owner needs to be fired, they need to draft more consistently, and they need to find a FQB.
LOL We are in agreement with what you say here except the last two paragraphs referring to Mangini and Rex. Like you, I prefer a HC who is a leader, doesn't favor one side over the other, and has vision. The problem is that very few rookie HCs have those attributes. They are developed through trial by fire over NFL seasons. So I do think that it is hard to find a HC with those attributes. It takes someone who is honest with himself, intelligent, flexible, and whose ego and insecurities are in check. One of the reasons that so many fans don't want a re-tread HC is that so many of them never learn, grow or get any better. They have rigid systems, philosophies and approaches that just don't cut it. Perhaps it is just my hazy memory, but I remember the team being more balanced offensively and defensively under Mangini, and they played in a more disciplined fashion (except Favre). IMO Mangini's problem was that he was a micro manager and too anal. He worried about too many small things and acted too much like a dictator, which alienated the team and fanbase. As you said, Rex's teams were undisciplined, and Rex didn't hold players accountable. Rex made little effort to learn and grow and kept making the same mistakes. He did admit that he needed to learn more about offense, but then didn't, and just focused on the D. The discipline that Mangini insisted upon carried over into Rex's first couple of years and are what enabled him to make the playoffs. If it wasn't for that and the bump that players coaches get when they follow a repressive, strict disciplinarian, Rex would have never even made the playoffs.
