As a Jets fan allow me to state some things.
A: Not all Jets fans are terrible.
B: If the Jets were as insignificant as the Buffalo Bills we wouldn't even have this thread in April/May. This proves that hatred is only saved for the worthy.
There are no Bills fans posting on our board. The Bills don't have a loud-mouthed blow-hard coach who is a buffoon.
D: Let's face facts...the Jets were 9-7 last season. Even with an AFC Championship Game appearance (albeit with some help) no one was fooled enough in thinking this team should stand pat with it's personnel. I remember in Pittsburgh, PA, 2004 playoffs, the Jets were two Doug Brien field-goal misses away from advancing to the AFC Championship Game; where the Patriots would have wiped them out anyway. The point is the Jets brain trust thought they were only a kicker away from glory and drafted Kicker Mike Nugent in the FIRST FREAKIN ROUND!!!!! They over-valued their talent, didn't shore up any weaknesses, and the Jets ended up 4-12. They were NOT to make the mistake again and I for one am glad they didn't stand pat.
Well heres the thing though, where is the improvement?
QB- Same (I don't buy the argument that the 2nd year is better than the first automatically because it hasn't proven to be true)
RB- Unproven Greene replaces Jones who for the full season was the best player on your offense. Tomlinson is done. McKnight isnt Washington.
WR- Better here, for up to 3/4s of your games, but if you can't get the ball to the WR, how much is he worth?
TE- Same
OL- You replace a probowl player, who was the catalyst to your OL improvement with a rookie T from Div IAA
DL- Nothing added, Jenkins a big question mark, rumors are Ellis may be getting cut
OLB- Jason Taylor is done, rumor is you are cutting Thomas, so that would be a decline.
CB- Replaced one disappointing corner with another, and added a draft choice.
S- Replaced one jag with another.
I think the real concern that is being ignored is depth. You cant draft 6 players in 2 years and not have depth issues, especially when you approach free agency with a 1 in 1 out plan.
What is the depth at OL? I see no one. You can't expect zero OL injuries all year again, can you? QB? You don't have a proven backup. WR beyond the 1-2-3? I see no depth on the DL, you dont even have 2 effective starting DEs. None at LB either.
That depth may be a huge issue this year, and will probably cause more special teams problems like you had last year.
E: I think that the Jets have more overall talent that the Patriots have. There was only a 1 game difference between our teams last season. But now: the Jets are F**kin stacked!! The only clear advantages towards the Pats are of course QB and WR's. And maybe the WR battle is closer than we think....naahh that's just the Jets kool-aid I'm drinkin (orange).
See what Kotnra wrote
But, I disagree with him on DL
Wilfork is better than whoever you play at NT
Warren better than Ellis
and we have Wright, Lewis and Warren at the other DE and you are starting a little known 1 career start player
Kontra considered that we have a ? at DE but didnt see you do too, and yours is bigger
F: Washington will be missed...but I think the Jets will win without him. He was a pro-bowl KR and I think that the system/style of Kick Returning a team has implemented is more important than the player returning the ball (No Dante Hall). Before Leon Washington was a pro bowl KR, there was Chad Morton a pro-bowl KR. So we will plug in players and be juuuuust fine.
I dont get that Washington isnt good because you had a kick returner before who was good? You are working backward from everything is fine and creating why it must be
G: The Jets have it of the mind to sacrifice some of the run attack in favor of having an above average passing attack. Thus the need for Faneca to depart in order to have a better pass protecting O-Line. Whether it's a rookie, a second year player, or a vet they bring in, the line will be better (pass blocking wise). Holmes/Edwards/Cotchery/Keller will be a lethal set of receivers if Sanchez continues the play he displayed in the playoffs.
You were an average team last year because of defense and running game. Those were your strengths. If you eliminate or weaken a strength you don't get better unless the other area is a strength. I have seen nothing in Mark Sanchez to tell me you will have a good passing game.
Holmes/Edwards/Cotchery do not strike me as 'lethal'. Holmes is a good #2 or poor #1, Edwards caught 35 passes. That is pathetic. Cotchery is a solid 3. Hardly lethal, and with a poor QB, they will struggle.
The idea that Sanchez became good because of the calendar is just not reality.
H: The run game doesn't have to be NO.1 in the league in order to win games...it's just that with a rookie QB and the dominant (run blocking at least) O-Line we had we HAD to run the ball to take the pressure off. The Jets passing game was BEYOND inept last year. Be it a rookie QB or a wideout who shall remain nameless dropping passes, the Jets were terrible passing the ball. No way we would win a ring with that kind of O. The Jets defense while NO.1, was not the all-century defense of the 2000 Ravens or the 2002 Buccaneers. Manning proved that in the AFC Championship Game. The Jets had no natural pass rush and when they blitzed, inferior CB's were picked on.
If it wasnt #1 last year, you would have been worse that 7-7 plus gifts. The makeup of your team is not much different than the one that needed to be #1 rushing to be average.
Every team doesnt need to run that well to win, but YOURS did need to.
I: People are stating LaDanian Tomlinson is replacing Thomas Jones...but they're wrong. Tomlinson is replacing Shonn Green and Shonn Greene is replacing Thomas Jones. It was Shonn Greene who's injury in the AFC Championship Game killed the Jets running attack because Thomas Jones was ineffective and shut down.
That could be considered 2 downgrades.
Don't we all remember how Lamont Jordan's part time success was supposed to mean he would be a stud if he ever started?
Greene is unproven in carrying the load, and in doing it over a full season. To base his 2010 on what he did when he was the freshest player on the field. At best he is a guy to be optimistic about, but in th e1st 10 weeks of the season he had 44 carries, 19 of them vs the Raiders in a blowout. Far from proven.
If he can't handle the full load, the Tomlinson is going to be relied on even more heavily. Pretty much everyone on this board considers Tomlinson worse than an average RB at this point, so you can't consider him part of the alleged improvement.
So in conclusion: The Jets are a formidable football team who should be winning 11+ games despite the hard schedule. The only way they fail, (barring injury of course) is if Sanchez plays terribly. There is too much talent on this team to not do well. If the Jets have an average QB last season the record shoots up from 9-7 to 11-5 easy. We don't lose to the Bills 5 INT's and we don't lose to the Falcons 3 INT's. I would include the 2nd Pats game 5 INT's, but Brady was throwing the ball all over us and made it look easy. Still without those 5 picks the game is more competitive than 31-14.
I don't know how you leaped from 7-7 + gifts to 'formidable' and should be winning 11+ games. Why didnt they come close to winning 11 last year? The only real upgrade is WR otherwise its a few guys with different names and equal abilities. You still have that QB who threw all of those picks. He would have thrown a lot more but your coach took the ball out of his hands. Starting as a rookie, playing poorly and having your offense take the ball out of your hands is not the formula that leads to a good or even adequate QB in year 2.
I would put it this way:
The 2008 Jets were 9-7.
The 2009 Jets replaced Favre with a terrible rookie, but improved the running game, and defense enough to be competitive.
By being competitive they snuck into the playoffs because their last 2 opponents didnt try.
In the playoffs they won 2 games.
They went from mediocre to medicore, with different strengths and weaknesses.
That gave them the opportunity to get better than medicore, but as far as I can tell, they digressed on the OL and running game, added a head case WR to play part of the season, and otherwise changed around a few guys without much change in the end result.
Bottom line:
If the QB who was terrible plays better, the team may improve.
If the QB doesnt play better, or only a little better, AND the changes made require more reliance on him, the team could take a big step backward. Take a look at weeks 4-11 last year to see what that led to.
Seriously you went 1-6 in those 7 weeks and only played 2 teams with winning records. How does that team become one that 'should win 11+'???????????????????????
