As you stated, yardage is a very poor indicator of how well a defense plays. To me, points allowed, defensive red zone percentage, 3rd down percentage and take-aways are far more important than total yardage.
You make some valid points, but you're off on a few things. No one knows the cap situation right now except Tanny. With that said we're already 10+ million under the cap, and the only bad contracts that are guaranteed are Holmes and Scott, unless I'm missing someone else. There is no one smarter in the business than Tanny and the cap, so I have faith he can get us out of it, if we really are in cap hell. How is our win now mode closing? Our entire core group of players are locked up long term (Brick, Mangold, Harris, Revis, Cromartie, Sanchez, Conner, Wilson). It takes about 3+ years to come to the realization of how you drafted. Over the last 3 years we've drafted, our starting nickel back (Wilson), starting FB (Conner), starting end (Wilkerson), best kick returner in the NFL (McKnight), starting RB (Greene), starting QB (Sanchez), starting G (Slauson), etc. I could go on. I don't view ANY of those players as worse than average. Are they elite? Absolutely not, but they are good players, especially considering where we drafted them. On the contrast, who have the Pats drafted successfully since 2005, taking away your kicker and 2 tight ends? Considering the Jets are already $10 mil under the cap (if not more) how can you possibly make the argument we can only pay minimum FA/draft picks (this doesn't even count cutting players to make room for the cap)? The defense went from 1st to 3rd to 5th. Yes, they did get worse, but I would sign up for that any day of the week. Even with the average talent we have back there aside from Harris, Revis, and Cro, we still fielded a top 5 defense.
Really? I bet I've been watching football since before you were born. Playoff football is different from the regular season because every team is good, and no team can afford to lose. However, you have to get into the playoffs first, and any coach whose team is fighting for a playoff berth who doesn't use his best options/tricks/players to win games down the stretch with the season on the line is a fool and a sham and deserves to lose. IMO, Ryan used more zone to mask problems with match ups and/or personnel. That's usually why a team that likes to play man switches to zone.
I agree with this and could not say it better. OL and safety biggest priorities. Right moves and we are back in the mix!
To that, I once again say, the Jets must draft Mark Barron. Mark Barron is such a special players and such a perfect fit for this team that I would say failure to draft him might be as dumb as not drafting Ed Reed when he was in the draft.. You can instanly make this defense elite by adding Barron, who imo is very much a cant-miss prospect in this draft class..
What does you watching football in your bell bottoms have to do with how closely you follow the Jets? Thanks for the explanation of how playoff football works and how you have to get in the playoffs first. I really appreciate you sharing your immense knowledge and wisdom that could only come from someone who has watched as much football as yourself. That's fine, but it doesn't explain the the reason we didn't see it in the regular season last year. Of course it would have been easier to hold cards when we were winning more. Obviously there's a lot of risk of holding things when you aren't in the playoffs yet. I didn't think that needed to be said - it was kind of implied when I said it backfired.
Points allowed is one of the worst indicators ever. When you have a QB who is near the league lead in turnovers and pick 6s and an overall bad offense who cant move the ball half the time, how in the hell is that the defenses fault when they arent even on the field for some of the scores and others where they get the ball with the team already in scoring position? Yardage is MUCH more telling but if you have a team with a great offense like the Pats, you can afford to give up a bunch of yards and points and take more risks on creating turnovers.
I agree with several of these points. I don't always disagree with you, Brad. ROLB is definitely where the Jets need to upgrade the front seven, and the right player there would elevate the whole front seven. The one tiny dispute I have is that adding Cro was definitely an upgrade. Other than that, most moves have been meh.
If he is such a cant miss, why is he projected to be a stretch if we get him? I hear some scouts projecting him in the 20s in mock drafts.
I think ultimately a lot of the "issues" on defense can be fixed by adding a passrusher who can reak havoc in opposing backfields. It's much easier said then done but that is the biggest need on defense. Safety should be upgraded as well but IMO no matter how good your secondary is when a QB has all day to throw he is going to beat you. I hope your right with the new offensive approach, honestly I'm not all confident with our group of RB's. Each do a few things good but none would standout as being great. Maybe it is all on RT but even before that problem I wasn't as high on Greene as most. is he servicable? Absolutely but I don't know if he's as big of a stud as we want to believe he is. One area I do think he has improved tremendously is his ball carrying. I don't really worry too much about him coughing the ball up the way I did a few years ago.
Fix the OL and the safeties. After that, the Jets are adequate pretty much all over. A little thin on depth, but serviceable. I'd expect the QB position and return teams to perform significantly better next season. I think the Jet's will be competitive again.
I got the same impression abut the D and D schemes I especially felt that after we lost to the Pats ` 2x in four weeks w/the same essential schemes in both games And I still think, despite the score, we handed the second game to the Pats (as we did the Raiders, Broncos & Giants)
I've been as critical as anyone for Rex's mouth, but he never did this. This is the problem, though. You say something 50 times, people won't question when someone accuses you of saying it a 51st.
I disagree. LG and TE are hardly "set." Rob Turner will not be playing RT. He's never played OT. He's a OG/C. HB could use upgrading, so it's not really "set" either. With regard to the D, 9 of 11 positions may be "set" in stone but it's because the Jets' hands are tied due to their cap situation and Tanny's stupidly guaranteeing both Scott's and Pace's contracts, not because they've got 9 studs ready and raring to go. I think you're overestimating the talent of the team as a whole.
It probably has to do with several factors: 1. Safety is just not a sexy pick, and very few safeties go high in the draft. And the ones that have have kind of under-whelmed. Safety is very much like TE in that respect. 2. He played on a loaded defense. He did not stand out as much as he could have at a place like Tenn. He was sorrounded by other 1st round picks like Dre Kirkpatrick, Hightower, Upshaw, etc.. In other words, he seems to be under-valued because he did not stand out amongst other 1st round picks. 3. He has a few holes in his game - not the greatest in coverage. However, there was another safety who was taken as the 16th pick from a similar situation who has worked out just fine. And I think the 2 have a lot of similarities. The guy is great, not good, but great, at run support. He is not bad at coverage. And he has the size and is physical enough to deal with big TE'S. If you asked me to pick cant-miss prospects in this draft, I would put him right behind Luck and Kalil.
Look, a lof of positions can be upgraded. That goes for every team. But, we can start next year with Slauson as the LG. You dont need to fuck around with that position and potentially make it worse. Keller is probably back next year, which makes the position set. Can you use a back-up TE? Yes. But you can start 2012 with Keller and and a rookie TE and be fine. HB is the same. Can they upgrade? Sure. Can they also go with Greene and McKnigh? Yes. As for not having 9 studs, you dont need 53 studs to win. If that is the criteria, the Pats might be the worst team in the NFL, because they only have 4 studs. But they have a million good players who do their job. And again, with the team you apparantly think is garbage, they were 8-8 and could very well have been 12-4.
I see Cromartie as a mixed blessing, but that's primarily because I don't think you really need one star CB, let alone a second who is on the edge of that. I see Cromartie's weaknesses against the run for what they are and I don't give him full credit for his strength in the passing game. I guess he's an upgrade over David Barrett to be sure.
this guy has no idea what our cap scenario is going to be. first of all we are going to carry about 8-11mil into the next year. i dont feel like typing all the different scenarios we can do but nyjetscap.com has an article on it.
