Last offseason I was thrilled with the spending spree the Jets went on - we acquired top flight talent at the Jets biggest positions of need based on the system we were running. Jenkins / Pace / Faneca / Woody / Richardson have ALL turned out to be excellent additions to this team, if to varying degrees. Now... with an offseason like that out of the way, the Jets shouldn't continue to go on spending binges like that again any time in the near future. Going along the lines of what is being discussed in the Identity thread, the Jets need to develop an identity by combining the talent we have here with fresh blood from the draft. If you look at the teams remaining in the playoffs at this point, the core of all of their teams consist of primarily drafted and homegrown players, not free agent castaways. While free agency is a reality of the NFL and a strong part of it, it isn't what championship teams are built on. All four teams have franchise QBs that were drafted, only one of which isn't playing due to the starter being a future hall of fame QB still playing at an elite level. All four of the teams have defenses with strong pass rushes. In fact, in the overall scheme of things, the pass rush is equally important to the QB situation. All four teams have an aggressive hard-nosed style of football... not necessarily in the old school style of Earl Campbell hard-nosed football... but aggressive and in your face nonetheless. These teams don't react to other teams, they force other teams to react to them... they force other teams to beat them, rather than try not to lose. They take the players they have and use them to their strengths, rather than try to force them into doing things they aren't suited for. The Jets next coach needs to be able to take someone like Vernon Gholston and make him successful. We need a coach who is going to look internally at our talent, and not worry so much about the Julius Peppers and Nnamdi Asomugha's of the world... those players would be nice, but they aren't going to win us a Super Bowl. Favre or not, the Jets need to figure out their QB situation for the long haul. They need to address this either with what we have, or through the draft. If we bring in a free agent washout hack to replace Favre, it will be a disaster. The Jets have a solid team in place... supplement it through the draft, use what we've got, focus on turning this group of players into a real team, a winner.
The only place that I want them to spend some money on this off season is the secondary. They need a proven safety and cornerback to play with Revis and Rhodes. After that I would shy away from free agency. I think they want Ratliff to be the next qb but it's going to take time to develop him. I would bring in a veteran qb as insurance in case Ratliff and Clemens both suck which is certainly a possiblity. Through the draft they need to really focus on team speed. The linebackers need be faster and more dynamic. I do think if Ryan is the head coach that he will develop Gholston and he will get the most ouf of Thomas/Pace/Harris. I really feel if they sure up the secondary and add a faster linebacker in the draft that the defense can be nasty next year.
This was one of my top 3 problems with the CS--there's value to adapting a certain gameplan to the competition but they reinvented themselves every week. And what is worse, is that if the opposing team was able to counter effectively, we never were able to counter them. As you allude to, our personnel is good enough to make a run for the PO's and with good coaching and a pick-up or two, we can be competitive for the ring. But if Shotty stays, we're screwed IMO. We need a winning CS without any loser mentalities.
People keep talkin about the secondary but in reality the DL and LB's on this team are a bigger weakness than the secondary. They are not Elite by any standard but they can be servicable. You could have Ronnie Lott, Ed Reed, Revis and Deion Sanders all playing their best in secondary and with no Pass Rush , and no LB that can cover a TE or RB you will still get eaten alive in the passing game. We are very Slow at the LB postion, mark my words Harris is not the answer he will not be a starter for long , Gholston is a bust anyone who thinks otherwise better stop sniffing the glue - Neither Spags , Rex Ryan , Rob Ryan or Buddy Ryan can ever change that. He might be out of Football by 2010. On the DL both Ellis and Jenkins are getting Old and both are 4-3 players in a 3-4 scheme, and they are the 2 best DL we have.
i agree with a number of your points. i really agree that you must have a good pass rush and impose your will on the other team not adjust continuously every week. that was a HUGE problem this year. the team ends up not knowing what its own identity is. it just doesnt work and if eric doesnt figure it out he will have serious problems in cleveland. i cant say enough about how important imposing your will is. i also agree that we have a pretty good base here right now and need to build further through the draft, continously signing free agents is not a long term answer, just ask the redskins. having good drafts year after year is HUGELY important. we have done well through the draft other than a few picks, one of which very well may be gholston as he showed 0 improvement this year, i really dont know that anyone is going to be able to fix him and make him good, thats one thing i disagree with you on. he very well may just not be good. time will tell but i wouldnt make that a priority for anyone as i dont know if he will ever become anything due to his limitations. hard nosed is the only way to play, soft teams dont win in the playoffs. its easier said than done to solidify the qb position, there are no guarantees with that position when you have unproven players. there are as many complete busts as there are greats that come out in the first round of the draft, and the guys we have really havent shown anything that makes me too confident that they will be the next joe montana. and screwing up on a qb this year after possibly screwing up a #6 pick last year would put this team back terribly. please remember that kurt warner is a cast off, has been a couple times now. and that lienart really just didnt win the job, he isnt that good. trust me if he were someone that they think will end up being good he would still be playing. fact is he isnt any good and they will pay for it. they were lucky to get one of these castoffs you are against to come in and play well for them. he hasnt been amazing like he was in st. louis but has definitely been able to do what has been asked of him.
Where did you get that gem from? Harris is more than solid, he was hurt this year. And before he was injuried, he looked just like he did last year. The problem we don't really have a good rushing ILB beside him. I personally don't think Barton fits the mold of a 3-4 ILB. You make it sound as if Harris and Gholston are the only LBers we have. Pace is very very good, and Bowens is decent as a back-up. We do need an OLB and ILB to compliment Harris. And we need to ditch Thomas. But we are a couple of players and a decent coach away from having a solid unit. First I agree that Ellis is getting old, but he was drafted as a 3-4DE. Second, Jenkins just made the Pro-Bowl and All-Pro team as a 3-4NT.
Flacco may be a franchise QB some day. But right now they are not letting him do much, so how can you make a claim like that?
Mangini talked about finding mismatches before the season. I do not necessarly disagree with that. You don't change everything you do, of course. You have to find mismatches within the context of what you do. The other part is, who are you going to mismatch Coles and Cotchery with? They are average players. The person they should have gotten out on the wing was Leon. But he did not run a lot of plays from scrimmage.
And Vernon Gholston was drafted to be a 3-4 LB. Regardless of what system was in place when he was drafted. He is still better suited to be 4-3 Defensive End , He is even more so better suited to be 4-3 DT than 3-4 End but that is irrelevany because his best seasons are long behind him, I give him 1 or 2 more mediocre production season.
Sorry but Harris looked pretty lost this year - way before the injury, he never once resembled the player we saw in his first 3 games. Jenkins was drafted in 2001, Ellis in 2000 so by acknowledging Ellis is getting old you are also acknowledging Jenkins is. Jenkins made the Pro Bowl (2) ans All Pro (3) as a 4-3 DT also. Keep in mind his selection this year was made before he disappeared down the strech the last 4-5 games. As good as he looked the first half of this year , Both Jenkins and Ellis best seasons have been palying the 4-3.
Roethliesberger didn't do much the year the Steelers won the Super Bowl... he was on a very tight leash. The Steelers haven't won a Super Bowl since then, but they are in contention now and since that Super Bowl, Roethliesberger has been one of the elite QBs in the NFL. I have no doubt from watching Flacco play that it will be the same deal for him... especially if they get him an elite WR, something Baltimore has not had in my memory.
Falcco and Big Ben look very similar in thier rookie years. They both have the benefit of a stong power running game and great defense. Both are not gifted runners, but have the ability to escape from a sack and keep the play alive. Both have strong arms and keep looking down felid on a broken play instead of trying to run. I feel that we do not have the defense that either of these two had comming into the league, but do have the stong running game and a vetren O-line that would benefit a young QB greatly if we go that route.
