Why I’m not waving the white flag on the season or deep in worry and the encouraging signs I saw from the Jets 3rd straight loss and their first divisional game against their hated rivals Patriots.
But first, a word from the hater:
– Much has been made of the finger pointing coming from the receivers. We all know that Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress are not the quiet types. Let’s be honest, you can’t blame them if they told you that they were following the lead of their coach, Rex Ryan. But Santonio Holmes did a huge no no. Or was it Mark Sanchez? Sanchez responding to Holmes’ critique about his play said this was an in house matter and something he and Holmes had discussed. Well, that was news to Santonio because when he was asked a few moments later about the talk he and Sanchez had, he knew nothing about such a meeting. They later denied and said that things were lost in translation but I think we all speak the language of discord and that’s exactly what is rearing its ugly head. Sanchez is the leader of this group, as young as he is, and he has to know that if he tells the media something, they will do their due diligence to check with Santonio on his side. The damage is done now with Santonio denying the meeting ever took place which speaks to the lack of communication going on. Or it means that Santonio is an idiot and doesn’t know how to play along OR that he refused to play along.
I’ve never been a fan of Brian Schottenheimer. I think he holds this team back. I think in their playoff losses he’s played a direct role in them. I said this during the Giants post game reaction piece and I’ll say it again. All the offenses have a certain rhythm they play to. The defense’s job is to disrupt that rhythm. The really good offenses continue to play the game at the pace they want. The Jets have a built in rhythm with their run game. That’s their strength and I will get to the idea that they are changing the dynamic of their franchise with the way they’ve been throwing the football. They need to rely on their strength which is the run game and play off of that. But even with the notion that your strength is in your run game and that you have an above average offensive line, he refuses to use it with authority. I’m of the belief that you play the game to your strength to your pace. You allow the other team to dictate pace and game speed you will lose. As in life, if you’re not true to yourself you will eventually lose. The Recievers dropped 4 passes including one sure fire touchdown. If you want to blame your Quarterback for not making the proper reads, that’s fine Santonio, just make sure you’re doing your job first.
– Ben Jarvis Green Ellis had a huge game. And when I say huge game I don’t mean just for the Patriots. I mean for the sake of this rivalry and also for the sake of his job he had a breakout game. Why? Steven Ridley is an emerging running back who rushed for over 100 yards in 10 carries last week and many within the organization see him as the eventual replacement. Aside from Welker, the Patriots have never had a physically gifted superior athlete since Randy Moss. The kind that can change the way defenses play you and many within the organization see Ridley, a 3rd round pick, as that guy necessitating his high draft selection. Now, a guy like Ben Jarvis Green Ellis is a workhorse, powerback but also an undrafted running back. Guys like that respond to the challenge of a person trying to get their job because nothing has been promised to them. They live and die each week with their performance. Add in the spice of the Patriots/Jets rivalry its easy to see why the guy was determined to have a monster game. The Jets need be worried about another running back gashing them which has been a terrible trend. Its becoming clear that teams are finding running lanes within this Jets D and finally finding ways to take advantage of their blitzing packages to find lanes. To be fair, the Patriots packages make teams run out 6 and 7 defensive backs on every play so its not fair to say that the Jet D was completely outclassed but the Patriots run the ball in the past as more of a oh by the way. This year they are more determined to run the ball with the changes on the offensive line and the Jets could NOT stop the running game when it mattered and for Jets it has to be a sad sight to behold. The Patriots looked the part of the more physical team at the point of the attack. That should be something to watch as the season progresses.
– I have to say that as much as people hate on the running game I give the running game some credit. Shonn Greene has been awful, both from a fantasy and reality perspective but Sunday’s output for him was his best showing. Why? Because he was running down hill. That’s his strength and the Jets need to drill it in Shonn Greene’s head that he is at his most useful when he does that. The funny thing is, LaDanian Tomlinson has been the much better back through the season’s first five games but the Jets continue to run the pass heavy offense. It will be interesting how they go carry wise and how they share in the running game but LDT seems like the fresher back. But I loved the improvement by Shonn Greene. He just seemed to run with more purpose instead of always hitting a brick wall like he looked for the first four games. Hopefully this game will start a string of better starts for him.
– Speaking of which, the Jets reliance on the pass is not the end all of this team. I believe the Jets, were screwed the most by the lack of an offseason. They have been trying to be better at the pass for quite some time with the signing of Plaxico Burress thinking this would speed up the maturation of Mark Sanchez. This is all about Mark Sanchez by the way folks. They believe in their heart of hearts that if you surround a young QB with enough weapons his progression will multiply and it will take shorter for him to look the part. In some ways its true. Sanchez has looked the part of a good NFL QB in certain times. He’s definitely looked the part in his four road wins which are the most for a player at this juncture of his career or any career for that matter. But Sanchez still has many moments when he’s lost and he’s making the wrong read and being a third year player we’re not going to fault him. But this was the year that QB’s take the leap. If they are going to be good, or great, they show it in year three and so the Jets went out and shopped for some groceries. They were confident in the run game they had so they left that alone thinking they didn’t need lineman or anyone else. Of course when Damien Woody retired it took them by surprise. It was another piece of the line disappearing from the Jets. But the Jets still had D’Brickshaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold there. Then there were the receiver additions. I hated the move to cut Jerricho Cotchery for Derrick Mason but the Jets did that as a poke move against the Ravens. But the Jets thought Plaxico Burress was going to revert back to his old self and immediately propel the Jets forward. Now, this is five games in and things can change but there’s something Jet fans need to know about Plax before you continue.
Eli Manning got vilified by Plax for not being there for him when he was going through his prison sentence. It would be understandable for a stand up guy to be upset had he himself been there at every turn for Eli, but that’s never been the case. How the media turned it around on him and every black journalist ran to Plax’s defense was absurd and beyond me. This was a man who selfishly shot himself in the foot and ultimately ruined the Giants season. He was the most fined player in Giants history for simply not showing up to meetings on time. And when he did, he was usually asleep. In the 80’s Bill Parcells had a similar player in his locker room. A player he excused and treated differently because he was made so that way. His name was Lawrence Taylor. Who’s going to tell me that Plaxico Burress is on the same level as LT? Yeah, I didn’t think so. This was a man that the Giants, a team I believe is the most professional in all of football and one of the last family owned from the beginning teams in the NFL, treated like family and he went and lost his shot at that. And now he’s the man we should feel sorry for? He’s the man Eli should come visit in prison? The same man who would constantly criticize Eli? The man who’s one great postseason (and Giant fans know how great he was, and honestly I’ve never seen a receiver dominate a game of that magnitude like he did in that NFC Championship game in Green Bay) and seemingly reaching his potential as a football player was the guy we were supposed to defend and drop Eli Manning on the drop of a dime?
Now, Eli is an easy target. He looks aloof and half the times he looks confused and we can argue whether that’s just the Southern Miss in him, but let’s rest that case because it isn’t about the Giants anymore with Plax. His main duty is to help nurture Mark Sanchez. Help to give him his confidence. If I were a Jet fan, I’d be concerned. Having Cotchery was a life saver and he was the longest tenured Jet among receivers. He was the guy that should’ve had the job of helping Mark Sanchez out. Instead, you have malcontent Derrick Mason. You have a rookie receiver in Kerney. You have Santonio Holmes with his brand new rich contract so you know he doesn’t care anymore, and you have Plaxico Burress. I dont know if Plax has changed and frankly no one does. But for the sake of Mark Sanchez I hope he has.
– I think the Jets passing so much in these first four games is by design. Thanks to a limited offseason, they weren’t able to get all the kinks worked out and it will take time. But if they got the running game moving in the right direction, I think the Jets become scarier. As time goes on and barring injuries, the offensive line will get better thanks to the work of Bill Calahan who is one of the best offensive line coaches in the game. So there isn’t worry setting in for me if i were a Jet fan. Its more of hope. How the Jets do in their next four games will be important. I dont think now is the time to worry. If you look at the Patriots and Bills, there are far more legitemate concerns on different sides of the ball. The Bills have forced turnovers at a completely unreliable rate. You can’t expect it to continue. The Patriots meanwhile have an offensive line that has been playing sneakingly bad. Look how often the Jets got into the Patriots face? The Jets have a good pass rush because of their scheme but they were in the face of Tom Brady for much of the night. Their defense is statistically one of the worst and Belichiek won’t be able to hide that deficiency for too long. Albert Haynesworth has been a bust and Devin McCourty has regressed as a corner and they can’t guard anyone which puts the onus on the offense to put up points in bunches. The Jets have a run game somewhere hidden. I think they have been trying out their passing game to work out the kinks they weren’t able to do without a full preseason. Look for the Jets to emerge in the next few weeks and put together some good games and for all the fretting and worrying to stop.
– Don’t pay attention to the final score and pregame hype. Divisional games always carry a bigger sense of doom and added hype that teams feed into. Its clear that both teams played harder because of who they were facing. I still think the Patriots are on a downward trend unless Devin McCourty begins to improve and Albert Haynesworth does the same. Losing Jerrod Mayo is going to suck huge for the Patriots. He’s led them in tackles the last two years. The Pats have no real pass rusher on the roster. Eventually the Patriots will need production from Chad OchoCinco to offset all the attention that Wes Welker is going to receive. The Jets meanwhile will need to begin fixing that run/pass ratio and start leaning heavier on the run as the weather gets tougher. Give some more carries to LDT and allow Shonn Greene to run downhill and not do all the shimmying that he’s been prone to do for some reason. Also, getting your receivers in line and relying heavier on Dustin Keller will be more appreciated. By the way, that can only happen if Keller doesn’t drop catches.
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