Brian Schottenheimer Interviewing in Baltimore?
The Baltimore Sun notes that as soon as today, Brian Schottenheimer could be interviewing for the head coaching vacancy.
Brian Schottenheimer, the New York Jets’ offensive coordinator the past two seasons, is expected to meet with the Ravens as early as today. Under Schottenheimer, the Jets’ offense finished 25th in 2006 and 26th this season.
I liked Brian Schottenheimer’s offense in 2006, and that hasn’t changed substantially in 2007. Sure the team wasn’t all that spectacular this past year, but I do think that the fact that the protection and run-blocking suffering was the cause.
I believe that the Jets hired Brian Daboll as the guy to potentially fill in whenever Schottenheimer does fly the coop. Maybe this year might be a little earlier than predicted, and if that’s the case the Jets might look elsewhere. Either way, it’s going to be a long offseason should the Jets need to replace all three of their coordinators.
11 Responses to Brian Schottenheimer Interviewing in Baltimore?
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Chase says:
I can’t imagine that B. Schott is a front runner. While I don’t think you can blame the offenses woes on him this season, I also don’t think he’s shown nearly enough to be a prime canidate for a head-coaching joe either.
Just my $0.02.
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Nikolas says:
Schott is not the reason for the bad offense. For the same reason that it was not Chad. What does it take for people to understand that the difference between the 2006 and 2007 seasons was the amputation of the OL by Tangini? Reality has been recorded , no blocking , 53 sacks, no Pete Kendall . It does not require a Ph.D to get it.
Is in it additional testament to this reality that Schott is getting interviews for a HC job? The whole league knows it….,well except a few Jet fans. -
Jay says:
Whatever you want to say about him the stats do not lie, with him the offense is in the bottom 1/3rd of the league, regardless of the offensive line. 2 years is long enough.
Sacks are also on the OC, he calls the plays and knows the weaknesses of our team. He gives up the gameplan to early, (see lack of run on majority of games this year) and tries to many gimmick plays. Time to go, Hackett was better! -
SackDance99 says:
The Jets were poor in redzone TD% in 2006 and, while I can’t find a database with the stats, had to have been worse in ’07. Moreover, while the Jets’ offense scored a below-average 32 TDs in ’06, ’07 was terrible with only 21 (only Buffalo was worse)(the Pats had 67, the Colts 51). Netting out the QB play (because I’m tired of debating the weakness of Chad), this stat shows that the Jets OL has to be significantly upgraded. Also, a tall WR or pass-catching TE would help. Further, I am not a fan of the H-Back. To me where the H-back lines up is a dead giveaway for where the run is going. I prefer a FB in the “I” formation because the fullback is usually a better blocker (fullbacks are used to being a lead blocker in the running game, while a TE is usually an OL blocker, which is a different skill), is a running threat (H-Backs are always to the side and usually never take handoffs), and a pass-catching threat (so are H-backs, but the LBs know that, while there is more of an element of surprise when a fullback goes out for a pass).
This also brings up the overall importance of a high-scoring offense. In ’06, only the Jets, who were ranked 17th in total TDs, made the playoffs of the bottom 17 teams. This season, only the Redskins and Titans, both squeaking in as the last Wild Card teams, from the bottom 20 teams made the playoffs.
I think that many people on this blog follow the mantra “defense wins ballgames.” Well, let’s not forget that offense is pretty important, too. I have to add that the bottom 20 teams are generally a “who’s who” of bad QB play, but I think that I’ve exhausted that topic.
So, given the poor play of the Jets’ offense, it’s hard to shed a tear about Schott’s departure. Whomever the Jets hire as the OC, an upgrade in the OL and WR/TE corps is necessary. With better weapons, and good QB play, I’m not sure that an average OC isn’t much more important than an above-average OC…the Jets had great success while Hackett was the OC, but his talent was much better. Everyone wanted ‘Dinger, but with poor talent, the Jets only scored 21 offensive TDs. If you want to consider a stat, which to me shows the enormous gap between the Jets and Pats, through ’05-’07, in 3 full seasons, the Jets scored 74 offensive TDs, this season alone, the Pats scored 67 offensive TDs.
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Bent says: When you have few red zone weapons and a weak line, sometimes a low percentage play like a fade to the corner, is the best hope you have.
I hear on the grapevine that OL coach Tony “quit whacking off in my toolshed” Wise is exploring other options and that the Jets may bring in Hudson Houck as a “running game co-ordinator”, leaving BS to concentrate on his supposed strength. Good plan.
I agree Schott has little chance at this Ravens gig, unless he can blow them away at his interview, but I don’t think his reputation is as bad as some of you seem to think.
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It is rare for me to agree with Sackdance but I do agree that the team’s offensive needs boil down to three players.One Tall and Speedy wide receiver and two OL.
But I think that a lot of people talk about the defense because our needs there are more. I would say we need 5 players.
One NT, one DE, Two Linebackers, One Corner.Overall we need 8 players in order to put on the field a solid and playoff bound team. Let’s hope that the FO addresses through FA and the Draft most of them.
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I’d say on defense it’s more perceived needs because the defense significantly out-played the offense this season. IMO, the defense just needs 2 players, an ILB and a DE/OLB pass rusher along with a better defensive coordinator. I’m fine with Ellis and Coleman at DE and Robertson/Pouha/Mosely at NT/DT, but I won’t disagree with anyone that says for the Jets to have an elite defense, the NT/DT position needs an upgrade. I just think that everyone downgrades the fact that the offense was so terrible that only an elite defense could have improved the Jets’ record. With an average defense and offense, I have confidence that the Jets would be a playoff team and if either side is average, with the other being elite, then the Jets will be one of the better teams in the NFL. Unfortunately, I think the Jets are far from fielding an average offense because of the weak OL and question mark at QB. And, until the Jets field a competent offense, it will be difficult to judge the quality of the defense.
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seanmac says:
Actually, the defense didn’t outplay the offense at all. It only felt that way because they were better late in the year, while the offense was worse, but on the season, they ended up performing at almost identical levels (the offensive DVOA was -10.8%, the defense was at 10.9%). In the first eight weeks, the offense played anywhere from slightly below average to above average football in five of the eight games, while the defense was anywhere from really bad to historically terrible in all eight. In the second half of the season, the offense had three big games- Washington, Pittsburgh and Miami, and one other game that they were average in (KC), while being absolutely awful in the other four. The defense, meanwhile, played three games where they were very good and another two where they were okay, and even when they were bad, they were nowhere near as bad as they were early on.
I don’t know what that means for personnel purposes- I would agree that the defense has fewer glaring holes to fix- but in terms of actual performance over the course of the season, both units ended up being exactly the same.
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seanmac, the key being “over the course of the season” the DVOA was the same (and I don’t have access to the FO database, but I’m guessing that over the final 8 games the defense significantly improved to pull up those numbers). What was the Jets defensive DVOA rank for the second half of the season? Isn’t how the defense is now, especially with Harris in for Vilma, more important for evaluation purposes? Moreover, the defensive DVOA actually improved over last season from 26 to 25, but the offensive DVOA declined from 14 to 25. That’s pretty significant considering how long the defense was on the field all season. And, for more context, the defensive DVOA pass rank this season was 20, rushing was 30. Going behind those numbers a bit, the Jets only gave up 8 rushing plays all season over 20 yards (and none over 40), good for (I think) 3rd or 4th best in the NFL, but the Jets had over 500 rushing attempts against their defense and were (I think, 2nd or 3rd worst). Hmmmmm. Why was that? Perhaps the offense’s woes led to other teams salting the games away by continually pounding the football? I stand by my statement that the defense was significantly better than the offense and, I believe, the stats reflect this fact.
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More stats:
Total Defense: 18
Total Offense: 26
Points Allowed: 19
Points Scored: 25
Passing D: 9
Passing O: 25
Rushing D: 29
Rushing O: 19Except for the rushing defense, which improved significantly over the season, the defense clearly out-performed the offense.
Please get him out of here, so overated, so predictable, terrible red zone strategy. Bye Bye!