There have been many threads regarding where the Jets will head with their QB situation. Some of it quite thought provoking, other parts utter nonsense. I'm not an expert on breaking down QB technique, but I've watched football for over 45 years and I can usually tell a good QB from a bad. With that being said here are some of the Jets potential options and what I think are realistic assessments of each. Kelen Clemens - He's not the answer. He was losing the battle with Pennington last year, he stunk when he did play, and the Jets would never have made that terrible trade for Favre had they thought they had a franchise QB in him. The excuse that he played with a terrible offensive line is just that, an excuse. He didn't look good even when he wasn't under pressure. He does not look calm in the pocket, he's not an accurate thrower, especially on the deep ball, and he makes terrible decision, particularly under duress. Add in he doesn't even have optimal size for an NFL QB and this is not the type of player you want leading the Jets. Brett Ratliff - He has the size and the arm to make it happen. He's got good movement in the pocket, and he looked great least preseason. Yes, it was against second and third string players, but Clemens played against some of those same guys and did nothing of note. Plus, watch the dang games he played. It doesn't matter who you're playing against, if you hit a guy in stride 50 yards downfield you've thrown a great pass. And Brett did that on several occasions. Can he do it in a real game under pressure? I have no idea. But he should be given a shot. He does not seem to rattle easily like Clemens, and has some pocket presence. Only time will tell if he can be the Jets answer at QB. Erik Ainge - He's got good size, a good arm, and has a good pedigree. He seems to be a bit fragile, which is a concern, and he's not polished enough to be the current answer. Honestly, I haven't seen nearly enough of him to comment on his chances of ever being a solid starter in the NFL. Matt Sanchez - I do believe there's a reasonable shot that Sanchez falls to the Jets at 17, especially if the Lions don't go QB at 1. There are no true obvious stud QBs in this year's draft so the Lions passing on a QB wouldn't be totally out of the question, and who knows what the 49ers do. Sanchez has the size and arm to be an NFL QB. He moves great in the pocket and throws well on the run. He does tend to make some bad decisions and whether he can read pro defenses is anyone's guess. However, there's a part of me that says this guy is going to be a pretty dang good pro. Judging him on past USC QBs doesn't make a lot of sense. Is he Carson Palmer or Matt Leinart? Let the Jets coaches figure that out. Josh Freeman - I doubt the Jets take him at 17. However, if he's there at the end of round one or the beginning or round two I can see them trading up for him. He's got great size and athleticism. However, he's had an up and down college career and has not always been the most accurate thrower. If the Jets like what they see in him making a move at some point in the draft may make sense. Garcia, Young, Losman, Leftwich, Warner, Cutler, etc. - Forget another old vet. The Jets need to develop their own young QB. If they don't have one, then draft one. But please, do not bring in any more over-the-hill stopgaps. As for Cutler, he's going nowhere. The Broncos only thought about the possibility of moving him because they explored the idea of getting Cassel. The only way a team gets Cutler is if they give up another QB and some picks, and the Jets don't have these pieces. Bottom line is you've got to trust Ryan. He hasn't made a bad move yet and seems to know what he likes. If he feels the Jets truly have a great QB on their current roster the Jets will sit tight. If he doesn't like any of the current options the Jets will look to the draft. If they don't like anyone there they can make a move for a more established QB to hold the fort, but that would be only after exhausting the first two options.
The thread should be titled LTJF's analysis or opinion of the Jets QB options. Just because you say it doesn't make it the truth. As for your opinion on Clemens, I thought he looked bad too, but I don't think it's fair to write him off. The shit o-line is a VALID excuse. No QB could have succeeded behind that train wreck, especially a guy getting his first experience in the league. You would look nervous when not pressured too if you were used to getting wrecked by a 270 d-lineman shortly after the snap.
Hopefully Ratliff is the guy that wins this job. I really want to see this team develop a young QB. But I wouldnt rule out a veteran like a Leftwich as a backup. The problem with that though is that they could end up winning the job. That I agree probably isnt the best thing for this franchise.
Why do the anti-Clemens posters frequently repeat as if it were Gospel that Chad had beaten Clemens out last year? There was never any announcement to that effect, or even any solid word from a reliable source.
Starting threads about the QB situation should be banned until something is done in regard to it. Everyone has stated their opinion, including me, already and nobody is going to connivence anybody anything at this point. So lets just wait and see what happens, then discuss it.
2008 preseason ratliff 32/47 68.1% 499 yds 4 td / 1 int 122.6 rating 2007 preseason clemens 30/41 73.2 % 364 yds 4 tds / 2 int 112.2 rating dont tell me clemens did "nothing of note" against 2nd/3rd stringers. everyone forgets that only one year back clemens had a very similar preseason to ratliffs in 08. im not making my pick for starter in 09, but im just saying both qbs have had their moments, even if they were in preseason or in one regular season game against the ravens 2 years ago. i believe both of these guys should get their chance behind this o-line and believe that both of them will.
I don't know if you notice this, but all the points you've listed against Clemens are all in direct relation to having a faulty OL. Give him a BETTER line and see if he'll still stink it up. If he does, then you'd be correct. But to say that our line now will cause the same results as in '07, (his record shows he won 3 out of the 8 games he played) well I would just have to say that is downright crazy. I have to believe that, when you aren't under pressure, and can calmly hang out in the pocket, you'd be surprised much better your accuracy improves on the long balls. If you also aren't under duress, you'd be amazed at how many less mistakes he's bound to make and throw more accurately at his receivers. Also, if I recall correctly, wasn't the competition between Clemens and Chad towards the end of Traning Camp dead even? The Favre trade made some sense at that particular point because no one will argue at the time that Brett Favre was considered better than Clemens. Things looked good when we hit 8-3. After that...not so much. Give Clemens his chance and stop writing him off.
2008 Preseason Kellen Clemens 21/38 55.3% 195 yards 0 TDs/0 Ints 69.5 QB Rating Yeah, he's the answer.
http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/its-early-but-pennington-leads-clemens/ Unsubstantiated my ass... I was expecting a lot more from Clemens after having spent several games of live action and then going behind a rebuilt line. The truth is there wasn't enough time for him thanks to the Favre debacle; maybe in the end Clemens would have found his comfort zone, but early on he was getting his ass beat down by the legendary noodle-arm himself. I think he should get another shot this year to show his stuff, but even still, I'm not going to have a lot of faith in it happening. Maybe he's a late bloomer - it happens, but I won't hold my breath.
So you're taking the goldfish approach I see. Fair enough. If you watched the games, you had to have noticed a ridiculous number of those incompletions were drops, which killed his drives and any chance for a TD. He also had our backup center trip him up a few times. Plus it's preseason and stats mean shit.
You people are ridiculous. Stop trying to prove that Clemens or Ratliff is the answer. Saying Clemens isn't the answer because of how he played in 07 is insane. Saying Ratliff is the answer because he had a 122.6 QBRating against CFL players is the same. Let them fight it out and it'll be clear by the end of preseason which one is better. This same argument goes on every day here. I personally hope we draft a QB with the 17th pick. I hope it's Freeman.
I seem to remember reading that Clemens was closing ground quickly after a rough start to TC. Then Fahvra got signed and the rest is history.
That's what I heard also; that he started out shaky but improved as camp went on, to the point where Pennington was no longer the clear favorite.
Anyone watching what was going on knows that Pennington was winning the battle. In fact, if Clemens had been playing well and clearly beating out Pennington, the Jets never trade for Favre. The fact that Clemens sucked it up once more is the reason they felt they had to make the Favre move. The only reason you heard positives about Clemens is because the staff refused to admit they made a mistake in drafting him in the first place. No one outside the Jets staff saw any of the so called positives.
Great post until the bolded part. I hope they avoid a QB, especially Freeman, at 17. The OP is absolutely right about everything but Clemens. I'll give him credit for that. However, I really don't think we've seen the honest shot Clemens needs. If he gets outplayed in TC, I'm all for giving Ratliff a shot. However, I think that will still say more about Ratliff than about Clemens. It'll show me that we have a legitimate QB of the future.
Actually, if Clemens is beating out Pennington, it makes just as much sense to trade for Favre. After his 07 season, it would be disastrous to ask Jets fans to pony up the PSL cash to watch the KC show. If Kellen showed any promise, it also makes sense to let him continue to grow under a veteran QB like Favre, finish building up the holes on the team, and give him a great chance for success. Remember, we built this offensive line in the 08 offseason. We didn't know just how well it would coalesce. Why put Clemens back there in an uncertain situation when you can kill two birds with one stone and trade for a Hall of Famer?
I admit, it would have helped to have them both have played out the entire training camp. Maybe Clemens would have showed more in the end, and outplayed him. I do remember he got better, but I also remember Ratliffe having been suggested to have out performed him as well. Clemens was going to still end up the defacto #2 on the depth chart just out of experience with the system so it is hard to know how it would have ended up. I would have put my faith in Pennington, but I am biased that way.
Pennington had the second highest completion rating in the league behind that same OL. Only Brady was ahead of him any only by one tenth of a percent. He also had a reasonably ok overall QB rating of 86.1 which was fifteenth in the league so no matter how you want to sugar coat his failure, Clemens sucked period. He was last in the league in both pct and qb rating.
