Idle thoughts - the panic edition.

[DarrylS]

IMO what you are seeing is a team with a lot less offensive weapons than was planned.. commencing with AH...

In the past we have about 5 major components on our offense..
- Passes(screens) out of the backfied
- Short Slot Receiving game
- Great TE play
- Run Game
- Wide receiver

Essentially, due to injury and the idiocy of AH, this team has limited itself only to slot receiver play, run game and wide receiver play..

If we are not using screens and our QB it not a run threat, the DE's do not have to worry about containment, thus the wide run game breaks down, the d front can focus on the run game..

I always viewed our WR play as complimentary to every other offensive option post Randy Moss.. and now to move it into the forefront, it has had bad results, which is magnified, due to rookiness....

The opposing D's know our options are limited, and they can focus on the remaining components of our offense.. thus we are stymied.

Things will get better, maybe Leon Washington can open up the backfield somewhat.. Gronk when he returns will be beneficial... but it will take a while to get everything in sync...

 

[smg93]

The bad:

1. For me the most disappointing thing for me wasn’t the WR’s, it the disappointing effort of the OL, especially in the run game. I think the Jets DL is good. They have spent the last 4 years drafting one early every year. But that same OL averaged over 130 yds rushing last season, and over 150 in the last game. There is no excuse for only rushing for 54 yds on Thursday. The RB’s might not have distinguish themselves, but I didn’t see ANY movement up front.

2. The coaching. - When it became clear that the that after 3 days of walk-thru's the young WR's didn’t have a quantum improvement to the WR’s The Pats coaching staff continually refused to throw dump offs to the RB’s or TE’s to try and keep the pressure off the kids.

BB is one of the best coaches in the league at not asking players to do more than they can do. Right now injuries have forcesd those young WR’s into a role they are not fully ready to fill, and the Pats offensive coaches are NOT making their lives any easier.

3. Vlad Ducasse has been a flat out BUST for the last 3 years. Yet Thursday night he looked like a HOFer against Vince. I’ve never seen Wilfolk dominated like that anytime in the last 10 years. After reading what Bedard wrote on the subject, it makes some sense.

On your first two points, it just seemed to me that the Jets did not respect the pass and were playing run all the way which made running the ball tough and throwing to backs difficult as well because there were defenders there. You could actually see it on the TD to Dobson where no one even paid attention to him when he ran his route.

On the third point, I wonder if it's just the fact that the turnaround was so short and big Vince was just a bit gassed.

 

[Big-T]

You could actually see it on the TD to Dobson where no one even paid attention to him when he ran his route..

That's because he fakes a block pretty much perfectly which makes the defender bite, hard, and gave Dobson a free release for an easy TD - that was great play design.

Another thing as a general note with the theme of the thread, the Jets will play with a defense like that a lot and with reason, Cromartie was one of the best CBs in the league last year, he really stepped up when Revis was hurt so they will still be trusting him based on last years form to lock down half the field but he was flat out abused at times by the Pats receivers which was an encouraging sign (Vincent Jackson also had a fairly easy time week 1 as well). On the other side of the field however, Dee Milliner looked AWFUL so they will need to start having safety help over the top whether that's Wilson or Milliner, neither are very good.

Next time the teams play each other it will be different for both teams, Coples will likely be back for them and the Pats receivers will be more accustomed to the NFL and Gronk will most likely be back too.

 

[Kulko]

@ Ken
So whats your Point Ken?

We are a playoff contender and September does not matter? Fine, thats what I think too. Thats why it does not matter, that we are better of than the bills or Jets, but it does matter that this team is much farther away from competing for the SB than we were in recent years.

I do also beleve that the WR will grow and get better, but lets be realistic, we have been writing that about the D for 3 years before it happened. So it may take a while. and while may be longer than 16 games.

I am still very positive about this team going 10-6 and winning the AFC East, but to beat Den or whatever the NFC is sending to the superbowl, requires a huge improvement which looks unlikely right now. So as a fan who sees the long term plan, I am happy we got two sloppy wins, but I am "panicked" how far this team is away from competing in January.

And the chance this this grows into some kind of 2008/2202 season, where we are good but not great and get beaten in the tiebreakers is definitely in the back of my mind right now.

 

[borg]

OT...Bernard Pollard at it again....may have concussed Andre Johnson. The guy is a one man wrecking crew. Brandon Merriwether launching and spearing as well...took out two players and himself....OT over

 

[Big-T]

OT...Bernard Pollard at it again....may have concussed Andre Johnson. The guy is a one man wrecking crew. Brandon Merriwether launching and spearing as well...took out two players and himself....OT over

The only way thugs like those 2 will learn is when they start suspending them, the fines are obviously not working.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

OT...Bernard Pollard at it again....may have concussed Andre Johnson. The guy is a one man wrecking crew. Brandon Merriwether launching and spearing as well...took out two players and himself....OT over

The Meriweather concussion looked like a bit of karma. He took out the running back but he himself got lit up on a successive play by a WR who lowered his head and gave Brandon a taste of his own medicine....At least Brandon wasn't taking out his own teammates like last year.....

 

[Rob0729]

Not meaning to try and put a negative spin on it Shmessy, but do you think that some of that could possibly be due to the specific defensive gameplanning from the NYJ?

It seemed to me that they were pretty much daring Brady and the WR's to try and connect by stacking the LOS/defending the run. I suppose we'll have to wait and see how the larger sample size plays out over the course of the next few games, but I definitely agree that it seems to be a positive thus far.

Of course the truth may also lie in the middle if the Jets were playing the odds and stacking the box as I thought I saw a lot of the time. Only time will tell of course.

I don't think it was the defensive game plan at all. Looked to me to be the same game plan the Jets use all the time. They have always been a team that blitzes a lot and crowded the line of scrimmage and played man to man in the backfield.

The Jets are not a gameplan specific defense. They basically run their defense the same way week after week with a few wrinkles. Their problem is that they don't have the DBs to play man-to-man like they did. Cromartie has looked mediocre over the first two games. Milliner sucks right now and was benched. Their safeties are average at best and that is probably an overstatement.

Yes, it made it easier for the WRs to get open with a mediocre secondary, but even a bad secondary isn't burnt all the time. In critical situation? Maybe. But as much as the Pats' WRs did? Not that often.

 

[jb1095]

We need Gronk back in Week 3 like he is scheduled. At the very least, he will be able to knock some rust off and play at full NFL speed for a full game before heading to Atlanta to face a real football team.

Are any of you hearing rumors that Gronk will NOT be ready to play Sunday against TB?

 

[chasa]

this is just the rookies slowly catching up to brady after having to play nearly 9 full quarters of preseason football with tim tebow throwing to them.

They will be gelling so well next week 45 points are going to get put up on tampa.

 

[shmessy]

Not meaning to try and put a negative spin on it Shmessy, but do you think that some of that could possibly be due to the specific defensive gameplanning from the NYJ?

It seemed to me that they were pretty much daring Brady and the WR's to try and connect by stacking the LOS/defending the run. I suppose we'll have to wait and see how the larger sample size plays out over the course of the next few games, but I definitely agree that it seems to be a positive thus far.

Of course the truth may also lie in the middle if the Jets were playing the odds and stacking the box as I thought I saw a lot of the time. Only time will tell of course.

Good point, could very well be. Their D was definitely targeting the run first.

However Ryan benched Milliner for the second half and publicly threw him under the bus at his presser for bad coverage, so I am not sure the Jets coaches were content with what happened there.

 

[supafly]

I don't think it was the defensive game plan at all. Looked to me to be the same game plan the Jets use all the time. They have always been a team that blitzes a lot and crowded the line of scrimmage and played man to man in the backfield.

The Jets are not a gameplan specific defense. They basically run their defense the same way week after week with a few wrinkles. Their problem is that they don't have the DBs to play man-to-man like they did. Cromartie has looked mediocre over the first two games. Milliner sucks right now and was benched. Their safeties are average at best and that is probably an overstatement.

Directly from the film review: (courtesy of the Boston Globe)

■ The Jets clearly dared the Patriots to beat them with their young receivers. Of the Patriots’ 65 snaps, we counted 21 plays in which the Jets stacked an extra defender in the box to stop the run. The percentage is even higher when you take out the dozen or so red-zone plays, in which defenses generally defend the end zone and don’t stack the box.

There's no doubt that it definitely was part of their specific scheme for the game, as they did not give much respect to our depleted/new receiving options, especially with Amendola out too.

That said, there certainly were times where the receivers got nice separation despite the reasoning, so hopefully that continues moving forward.

 

[Rob0729]

Directly from the film review: (courtesy of the Boston Globe)

■ The Jets clearly dared the Patriots to beat them with their young receivers. Of the Patriots’ 65 snaps, we counted 21 plays in which the Jets stacked an extra defender in the box to stop the run. The percentage is even higher when you take out the dozen or so red-zone plays, in which defenses generally defend the end zone and don’t stack the box.

There's no doubt that it definitely was part of their specific scheme for the game, as they did not give much respect to our depleted/new receiving options, especially with Amendola out too.

That said, there certainly were times where the receivers got nice separation despite the reasoning, so hopefully that continues moving forward.

I don't know if I trust Ben Volin's analysis. But what's the difference? The Jets play man to man coverage near exclusively. That means no matter if the Jets played to stop the run or the pass, both Dobson and Thompkins were going to be matched up one on one with a CB. The only difference is that there was only one safety for over the top help instead of two. If the Jets played zone defense or they ran a lot of over the middle routes, it would mean more. But they were beating one on one coverage on the outside for most of the night which was minimally affected by an extra man in the box.

The rookies beat man to man coverage frequently. The Jets strategy is kinda irrelevant.