By: burf

burf — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 13:14:29 +0000

I wasn't looking for much last night… basically, how the team responded to Mangini… were they organized, or running around clueless… did Mangini look in-control… things like that.
Things were organized… they played like a team.
Mangini was very into the game… showed he's going to coach aggressively in-game. IE: went for a 4th & 1 at the Bucs 40… challenged a Bucs fumble, which was called down by contact; which was ruled a fumble, but they said it was unclear who had the ball, even though it was clear the Jets recovered.
All was very vanilla, as expected.
We played decently in the first half. Blaylock looks like he goes down too easily. Houston started out ok… looks better than Blaylock.
Cotchery looked good… keep yer eyes on Newhouse at WR; he made a nice reception, and ran down the sidelines, with a couple of guys on his back.
Chad looked like Chad… he bounced back up on his few hits. He threw one pass away off the wrong-leg, across his body, which showed to me he has some zip.
Clemens looks like a QB. Very calm & in-control.
He ran a nice 2-minute drill at the end of the first-half.
Probably could have run the ball in for a TD, but hesitated
(rookie indecision).
That two-minute drill actually looked like one. There was urgency, and good awareness of the clock, unlike what we've become used to.
The D was decent in the first half, but the 2nd-half was swiss-cheese.
The key for me, is how Mangini responds.
To me, it's possible we don't have the players on the line, for the 3-4. It'll be interesting to see how Mangini/Sutton adapt.
All-in-all as a first step, having no expectations, I wasn't disappointed. We'll see how they build on this, but they looked organized, and showed flashes.

By: Bob Jensen

Bob Jensen — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 03:09:00 +0000

Can't run the ball… Can't stop the run = Can't win
OL, poor run blocking (or are the RB's equally to blame), OK on pass protection unless there was a blitz which the Bucs infrequently used, then all hell broke loose. Tampa pulled its D-line starters out after the first series but the Jets O-line played the entire first half (save Kendall) and couldn't block the second team Buc D-line any better than the Bucs first team D-Line.
QB's will be sitting ducks for blitz happy teams. Run defense was same old story and the Bucs didn't even play Cadillac Williams.
One series the Bucs ran the ball 11 out 12 plays, shades of the Raider game in 2003.
Gradowski looks like a good 6th round pickup in the draft for the Bucs, there goes the Bollinger to Bucs for a draft pick dream.
No pass rush on Gradowski may have made him look better than he appears.
Where was the pass rush?…. In Atlanta. Abraham played a few series, had a sack, forced fumble that led to a Falcon TD.
Vilma was a dissapointment, the fears that he won't be as good in a 3-4 defense appear to be valid.
The positives, Pennington and Clemens did all right and Cotchery made some nice catches.. Where was McCareins?
Nugent had a kickoff for a TB (OK the returner let it bounce into the end zone).
Special teams are the strength of the squad, is it enough to eeke out a few wins though?
Nothing in this performance suggests Gary Horton was wrong in saying the Jets will score the fewest points in the NFL this season.

Comments on: Official Game Thread: Jets at Bucs

By: burf

By: Bob Jensen