Audible: The Road Ahead
Having now seen two games from the Jets, what are your expectations? Have your hopes risen, fallen or are you in line with your expectations just a few weeks ago?
So far, the Jets have beaten a weak team, and given a good team some fits but too little too late. Within the AFC East, some of us (me) might have misjudged the hype around the Dolphins, and underestimated the Bills’ defense (though their offense is abysmal with Losman).
13 Responses to Audible: The Road Ahead
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Dennis says:
I haven’t changed my expectations. I think 7-8 wins.
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sjfalcon2001 says:
They did better than I thought they would. I honestly thought the game was over at Halftime. They simply could not get it together in the first half. The second half showed me a lot about this team though. Not only did they keep the Pats on their heels for pretty much the whole second half, they made adjustments as they went along to compensate for both Offensive and Defensive struggles, including switching the NT, which made a huge difference. I also like the way the Jets are running the offense. All the player movement did seem to hold off the blitz until the Pats had a 2 touchdown lead and the “hurry up” offense and check with me plays that Pennington ran kept the Pats on their heels in the second half. Pennington looked good and Cotchery is ready to step it up. Nugent appeared to shake off his nerves too.
What I am worried about is the offensive line. The young left side of the line made a lot of mistakes and Pennington had to run far too much. Thank God he is not Drew Bledsoe or we would have given up 10 or 11 sacks yesterday. I also want to make Barlow the starter and drop Blaylock to third string. Blaylock hesitated at the line on every rush and often stopped when he reached the pile at the line. He didn’t try to bounce around to the outside or try to find a hole. He simply ran straight forward and expected a hole to be there for him. That simply is not going to happen with this O-Line.
The positives though outweigh the negatives for me and even though we lost, I think we have a better idea of who the Jets are and those high estimates seem to be possible now.
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Bent says: Hopefully the young left side of the line thing is just a temporary concern. Kendall, Teague and Wade Smith (recently signed as Hilton was released for those who missed it) are all candidates to improve the experience over on that side when they are healthy and/or up to speed with the playbook.
Or, because of the versatility, Clement could move inside and Teague could go to RT, or even Jones, who was slightly better than Katnik yesterday, could be used at RT or as a G again. We have options anyway.
Katnik is this year’s Jonathan Goodwin. Good for a quarter or two and reliable enough, but not a long term option. Not yet, anyway.
Some of Chad’s pocket escapology was incredible. Not pretty, but he does have a knack for wriggling free sometimes.
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Teufel says:
6 wins. Unless they steal the game next week. Which will be tough. Dick Jauron teams play defense and special teams as good as any in the league. Only advantage is playing this early in the year, the winds off the lake and the chill won’t be quite as severe. Chad has really struggled throwing up there.
As for yesterday, I had good seats. Couple points:
The Pats really focused on Justin Miller. Running Stop routes at him all day. He seemed stiff in the hips and/or tentative. Something to watch.
We will struggle running all year. There are no answers within. Smith Teague Clement are all below average NFL linemen. If they are the answer, whats the question?My only real problem with the calls on offense was the 3rd and 18(?) play at the end of the 1st half from midfield. THROWING should have been out of the question. NE had 1 TO left. Maybe 70 seconds left. Run it. Force the timeout (if NE would have even taken one) and kick it. That was poor game management, by CHad (for not just going down, instead running OB) and Schott/Mangini for not being content playing awful in the 1st half, being down 10, and getting the ball to start the 2nd half. Punt there, clock runs out, get the ball at the 20-35 off the kick-off. It is a loss of a minute of gametime and 20 yards or so of field position.
I was shocked they tried a pass.
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Ilan says:
Barlow is a decent running back. Remember, the Patriots were putting up 100 yard games at times last year with Heath Evans running the football. The important issue for this team is a healthy Kendall and Teague. However, what should be noted is the need for premier run blockers at guard for this Jets team. No team is consistently successful in the run without a road-grader type on the line to move out big talented DTs and Ends. Our line is simply too small at every position except C and RT with Clement (who happens to be a liability in protection).
I was impressed with the fight shown by the Jets in the second-half and the adjustments installed by the coaching staff to help slow the Pats potent run. However, in the future the staff needs to make adjustments to keep the Jets in the game in the firts-half. Late in the game, like last week, one series turned the tide of the game. If that could have been avoided through better play and coaching early, the jets may have had the opportunity to really make a game of it.
Next week against Buffalo is a big game with Indy in week 4. If the Jets can pull out a win next week, they have the opportunity to surprise the next 4 weeks assuming both Kendall and Teague are able to return and help the young linemen.
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andrew says:
i agree with sjfalcon..i was thinking the samething about Barlow..let him be the full time back so he can get in a rhythm..and loosen up. Blaylock shouldnt be running inbetween the tackles as much as he does…hes a speed guy that should run around the ends more.
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yeselson says:
Well, it was obviously a mixed bag. I’ll say that it looks so far like Coles may be healthier than last year, and have more in the tank than I certainly thought he had. If so, that’s a very big deal. Cotchery being a real player makes the WR’s pretty good as a unit. And Chad really is looking kind of like the ’02 Chad–he can’t throw it that far, but he’s throwing to his spots.
The running is a problem, not because it isn’t good, but because it isn’t even average. People shouldn’t get too excited about the Pats running game yesterday and that’s my point: they averaged a mediocre 3.9 yards per carry, which is under the typical overall league average, which is about 4.0 or 4.1. They weren’t great–they’d rip one off for 8, but then the Jets would jam the next one for one or no gain. But they were ok–enough so that they had 2 and 6, and 3rd and 3′s. And that’s all you have to be–it’s a passing league, look at the stats around the league yesterday, look at the teams who scored a lot of points–those teams were the one’s whose qb’s had big games. New Orleans, with their superstar draft choice, couldn’t run a lick yesterdaq, but Drew Brees passes for 350 and they scored over 30.
So you don’t have to a good running team–but you do have to be average, so you don’t face 2 and 9 or third and 8 every series. The Jets right now are not average–they’re awful, averaging in the high 2′s per carry. The line looks confused, and, frankly, terrible–they can’t coordinate when a runner goes outside the tackles, bumping into each other like a high school team, and they can’t get any push on the DL between the tackles. D’brick looks pretty terrible both in the running and passing game (I focused hard on him yesterday, and Richard Seymour was just killing him most of the game–the guy is an All-pro, but I think D’brick needs Kendall pretty badly). So they’ve got to straighten out the OL enough to getting the running average up to around 4.0–Barlow is ok, so if the line blocks, he’ll do ok–that’s what we’re talking about here, ok. The line was pretty bad on pass protection, too. Clemens, as expected can’t handle the edge, and see above for much of the rest–it’s kind of mess right now. Be nice to Kendall back, and D’brick better grow up fast.
I didn’t see the pass rush that others saw–smart call on the safety blitz, but, besides that, it looked like Brady had all day to pass. And the last drive was, except for the blocked fg, which came too late, very disappointing, but, I guess, that’s what you can expect. The Jets just couldn’t make the big stop either against the run or Brady’s short pass routes–just couldn’t shut them down, even with the Penguin’s ultra-knowledge of their system–I have a feeling, which I had in the summer, too, that there isn’t quite enough team speed in the linebackers, and they’re going to give up a lot passes that other 3-4 sets would break up or stop for short gains.
And, by the way, yes, the worse call of the day was the fourth and inches–but a) why do you even go for it–if they had punted, rather than panicked, the pats probably don’t score. and b) It was, to repeat, fourth and INCHES–that’s when Chad tells Mangold, “Nick, I need a foot–I’m coming right over your back. Can you get that for me?” Inches, not fourth and a half yard, not fourth and 2, fourth and inches–that’s either quarterback sneak, or its a punt. As it turned out, that short field turned out to be the 7point difference in the game.
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Steve says:
I think the short passing game could take the place of the run, to some extent, at least until the O-line and the racks can get something going. Pennington has been awesome so far. All credit to him and to the receivers. The pass protection has been solid too.
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David says:
Dwayne Robertson should be taken out and Shot. He gets owned on about 90% of run plays. He cannot hold his own at the nose. Rashad Moore was somewhat better, but we need a big body upfront.
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RK says:
In due time people… Give the team a break. Of course there are flaws, stop talking about them like they are Super Bowl contenders and you are disappointed at their play.
The D line definitely needs help to stop the run and a pass rush. Getting pressure is not as imporatant as the run stop though because the Dbacks are doing well albeit they have to do it alone. Realistically this isn’t just going to happen and will probably be a draft pick or a free agent signing. Likewise for the runblocking and a running back. But if that is all we need, if all we are saying is there are 4, 5 or 6 players that this team needs to be a playoff team, then I say that is excellent. Knowing that the team is in capable hands of good football minded people is enough for me. What good would having Reggie Bush been, or Leinart for that matter? Leinart who? And how about keeping Ramsey, because he has certain value as a QB in the league and trading Bollinger while he had perceived value; that is just shrewd management. I’m still excited for this team; excited to watch them this year and excited to see them improve next year. I am confident that they will. Unlike the Redskins who throw money at their problems the Jets are building a team not buying one.
Oh and where are all those articles about Mangini losing his players because he works them too hard? I guess winning and playing in close games against top tier teams makes the crappy journalists bury their heads in the dirt where they belong.
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Harlan Lachman says:
Bent, three lashes with a wet noodle. I wrote earlier that the Fish were overrated and why (look at who they beat and when when they beat them during their surge last year and look at Culpepper’s pre-injury performance sans Moss). You need to read the comments in your own Blog ;-)
As for our team, this week’s game is the big one. If we can beat the Bills, even in their place, it means we can and do win the winnable games. Given our schedule, that should mean a .500 season with us giving someone a scare in December. We likely don’t squeak in as a wildcard but we may ruin another team’s chances or at least force them to play their best.
OTOH, if we lose, if we prove that we are not talented or trained well enough to beat a beatable team, we will have to get lucky to get 8 wins and some of the less generous predictions will become much more likely.
harlan
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Bent says:
Bassett wrote this post, not me…but I’ll take one for the team.
I made the same points re: Miami (although their schedule is even easier than ours, so they’ll still probably finish above us).
well..i was dissapointed in the first half..but the second half gave me promise….i think pennington is doing a good job..but we HAVE to start running the ball!!! for the love of god…did anyone notice that on 1st and 10 pennington ran a QB sneak?? because they knew they wuld get 2 or 3 yards..which is 2 or 3 yards better than they were getting with the halfbacks…i dont know if it was our O-line not getting any push upfront of just the pats d is just that good. anyway..bring on Buffalo