In Which I Trash Lazy Hot Seat Conjecture from Mike Florio
Corey mentioned and opined on Mike Florio trotting out another tired takedown piece on the Jets. In Florio’s article, he continues to say what he’s already been saying since last summer, that Tannenbum is going could be fired this year … just like he did last year. But this time he’s serial. (Super serial?)
Let’s let loose the blogger invective and fire it up for Mike Florio, FJM Style.
New York Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum likely isn’t sleeping all that well these days.
Is it the humidity? The humidity is keeping me up some too, that and my wife’s incessant covers stealing. Did he try adding a fan to his bedroom? Sometimes still air makes it hard for me to sleep. Maybe melatonin tablets. Or a typical Mike Florio retread article on the Jets about how the team’s GM is doomed yet again this year.
The long-term employee of the team, who has worked his way up the ladder into a position of ultimate authority – and thus accountability – now has nowhere to go.
Except out the door.
Not true, Tannenbaum could still yet be named Supreme Overlord of the Jets, that or maybe Caesar.
Last year, Tannenbaum behaved like a desperate man, spending millions of dollars on a variety of free agents, while ignoring the quarterback position.
Until Brett Favre became available.
There’s nothing quite as insipid as one sentence paragraphs by writers and so far we’re just four graphs in and he’s already used the tactic three times, with the shorter ‘to the point’ capper that inevitibly starts with some connector word like ‘but,’ ‘except,’ or ‘unless’ …
But just kill me now.
Yes, Tannenbaum was acting like a demented loon last season. Who is crazy enough to try and better their team with gobs of cap room to do so?! What an abject disaster it was to add a handful of former Pro Bowlers, three of whom re-shaped their units (Faneca, Woody & Big Jinx) and one whom added stability to the lead blocker role that had been a revolving door since Jerald Sowell left the team? And don’t forget to add in Calvin Pace who warped the team forward from Victor Hobson’s terrible play with FIVE forced fumbles and 80 tackles.
By gum! It’s clear that Tannenbaum has no idea what he’s doing!!!
My contention last spring was that it didn’t matter who won the QB battle, because the line and running game could support whoever took the snaps. To say that the team ‘ignored’ the QB position is irresponsible. They had a young QB who was thought to be on the upswing in Clemens, and a then-again healthy (though undeniably questionable) Pennington.
So, the team misevaluated Pennington and his health & leadership status, and swung the pendulum too far the other way to a guy who has been called “The Iron Man” during his career. Ultimately, they were looking for someone who might help the team and give them something they didn’t have in Pennington. Favre didn’t work out, but you can’t knock the Jets for taking a chance. I was afraid that the Favre acquisition would be the straw that broke the camel’s back, and that turned out to be true.
And if success is determined by whether the Jets made it to the playoffs, the various moves from a season ago fairly can be regarded as a massive failure.
Yes, let’s assign a value that makes your point valid and any other argument invalid. This is the logic that someone with a J.D. uses. I thought law school was supposed to make you critically think.
Two most useless people with law degrees, GO!
Star Jones & Mike Florio?
When I read things like the ones I read from Florio above, there’s little wonder in my mind he’s writing about football rather than working on complex tort litigation for a presitigious national firm. Intellectually, it’s easier to lap someone in the same pool when you have flippers and a kickboard and they’re a senior citizen … as opposed to going head to head with Michael Phelps.
Tannenbaum, however, didn’t shoulder the blame for the misadventures. Instead, coach Eric Mangini was fired, after only three years on the job.
You got that right, at least. He’s been the Teflon Don of the Jets, and has clawed his way over more than one person to get to his current place of prominence. Still it’s not without some merit. There was a rift that started at the draft. The rumor is that Mangini wanted Gholston, the scouting staff did not. Some say it was the beginning of the end for Woody.
The next time owner Woody Johnson decides change is needed, Tannenbaum likely won’t be quite so lucky.
In the wake of Mangini’s departure, Tannenbaum has continued to throw the ball deep. This year, he traded up 12 spots in the first round of the draft, via a deal with Mangini’s new team, to land quarterback Mark Sanchez.
I don’t exactly know how giving up a third round pick for Brett Freaking Favre constitutes an unfounded risk, but yes, I guess he did ‘throw the ball deep’ again this year … at the request of his new coach Rex Ryan, just like he did with Mangini a year ago with Gholston. Rex Ryan isn’t exactly filled with guile, so when he said he told Tannenbaum the team needed to get Sanchez, exactly who are we blaming for that move and how is that all squarely Tannenbaum’s fault/credit? He agreeing with and carrying out the request of his coach.
But serious potential problems remain.
But you’re still using that cliche stylistic technique.
Groan.
Tannenbaum allowed veteran receiver Laveranues Coles to give up $6 million in guaranteed money in exchange for a free-and-clear release, and Coles ended up with a better deal in Cincinnati. Meanwhile, the Jets haven’t replaced Coles’ skill and production.
27th, 39th and 32nd. Those are the numbers of Coles DYAR Rank at Football Outsiders over the last three seasons. 34th, 13th and 16th. Those are the numbers of Cotchery of his DYAR Rank at Football Outsiders over the last three seasons. Cotchery was already the better receiver of the two for two of the last three seasons on a catch-by-catch basis. The Jets wanted the cap room, didn’t want to re-do deals for vets that didn’t justify the money and felt like they wanted to move on from the Coles era.
Also note how Florio uses “pretzel-logic” to the fact that the Jets didn’t pay Coles, a guy who was as effective on his team as Domenik Hixon and Isaac Bruce were for their respective teams in 2008. So … which is it? Should the team overpay for veterans or not?
Although I don’t know his particular team that he roots for, but I’d have to imagine that it’s the Bengals, purely based on the number of times he’s written that Coles will be better than Housh was in Cinci. He can’t seem to get off the subject. Housh has played worlds better than Coles over the course of the past three seasons, so we’ll see how Coles does with the Bengals. I’m sure he’ll produce, but to think he’ll be better than T.J. seems laughable.
Lastly, the team wanted to make sure it was clear (they told me expressly, emphasizing that he was a free agent, not a cut) that Coles walked out the door. In return (rather than cutting him), they will likely get a pretty good compensatory pick out of it next year, but let’s not let facts get in the way of our argument, right?
Last year’s first-round draft pick, a much-hyped workout warrior named Vernon Gholston, had a grossly substandard rookie season – and word recently has surfaced that Gholston didn’t look so good in offseason underwear practices.
Most recently, one of last year’s high-priced free agents who performed well in 2008 potentially performed well in 2008 due to the ingestion of performance-enhancing substances. Defensive end/linebacker Calvin Pace consequently will miss the first four games of the coming season, putting even more pressure on Gholston to fulfill his potential.
So, the team outspent their means, but Pace played well and earned his value … right? So does that mean he was overpaid? It must be nice to have it both ways.
And, these reports, don’t come from Florio who hasn’t watched a practice, but are thirdhand, via Adam Schefter via unnamed sources, as best I can tell. I’ll rely on reports from beat writers who were there for the duration rather than Schefter (whom I infinitely admire) and his unnnamed sources here.
Then there’s the looming question of whether Sanchez will beat out the guy who was deemed to be sufficiently unfit to hold the job, fueling last year’s pursuit of Brett Favre. Last month, coach Rex Ryan called the battle between Sanchez and Kellen Clemens a “dogfight” (not the best choice of words, even if the Jets plan to sign Mike Vick).
Sometimes Florio but can’t help to set himself up to make poor jokes, it’s like asking Peter King to not waste 200 words on why there was no coffee at 6:17AM in the lobby of the Marriott Laguna Cliffs on a weekend.
“I have to do what’s best for our football team,” Ryan said at the time. “If that means we play a rookie, so be it. If we play Kellen Clemens, so be it. The guy is going to have to earn that job.”
Let’s assume Ryan is being truthful, and he isn’t merely hoping to ensure that Sanchez’s sudden money and fame doesn’t go to his head. What if Clemens legitimately wins the job? It would be disastrous for Tannenbaum.
It’s been well documented that Sanchez has spent most of his offseason in Jersey, bonding with his new teammates and other NFL rookies at minicamps, the NFL symposium, and much more. Sanchez has been focused on studying and settling in Jersey and attending some events in the New York area. It’s not like the guy is going Tony Montana on us … at least not so far.
AJ Smith still has his job in San Diego after the Flutie/Brees/Rivers era, so I don’t see how Clemens winning the job doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road for Tannenbaum. The team wants to put their best foot forward and set Sanchez up to succeed long-term, Palmer and Rivers sat out as rookies, why would things be so different for the Jets? Even if Sanchez does play and doesn’t send the team to the playoffs (Florio’s self-created and administered level of success).
The guy he disregarded a year ago (but at least didn’t cut so that he could lead a division rival to the playoffs) will have outperformed the man whom Tannenbaum made a big splash to fill the void created after Favre “retired.”
Except there’s this ozone over Antartica sized hole in Florio’s argument. Ever consider that Clemens wasn’t ready last year and maybe now he will be? Clemens didn’t play as much as he needed to in his senior year of college to prep him for the show, and he’s needed the time to digest the playbook. If you had paid attention to the training camp reports, Clemens was an interception machine last summer. It didn’t go well for him. Pennington outplayed him by a longshot, Favre seemed a better option at the time … and so the team was faced with the situation they were with Favre in the offseason.
And that brings us to Favre. Adding Sanchez made it easy (at the time) to release Favre from the reserve-retired list. But if Favre goes to Minnesota and has a season much more successful than his year with the Jets and if Sanchez’s game-day headgear is a baseball hat and not a helmet, Tannenbaum’s entire handling of the quarterback position will be undermined.
So we’re banking our entire article on the facts that 1) Favre will have a better year in Minnesota then he did in New York and 2) Sanchez will ride the pine? Maybe one doesn’t learn statistics in jurisprudence school, but that’s 4-1 odds.
Significantly.
Are you serial, Mike Florio? How about super serial?
Through it all, Tannenbaum is a very smart guy. And he’s smart enough to realize that he enters the 2009 season under more pressure than ever to perform – and that the dots leading to Tannenbaum being terminated come January aren’t all that difficult to connect.
… at 4-1 odds.
Filed under: Main Page, Opinion/Bassett
Florio is an idiot
Brian:
Great dissertation, appropriate for a Doctorate or at least a Masters. but.. I have one question……..
What do you think will happen if after everything is said and done Clemens beats Franchez and he sits for maybe ONE-TWO years ?
Good thoughts Brian. Im not in love with Tannenbaum, but there just seem to be some who really dislike him in the press. I dont know if its because they run a tight ship and leaks are hard to come by or something else, but there seems to be a bit of a bias out there against him. Florio is just way over the top with his stories, IMO.
Fonzie—its a win-win for Tanenbaum(assuming KC plays well and its not Sanchez plaig lousy) because he drafted Clemens.
Well I guess I can add another beat writer to my hate list, any how I think Mike is the best at his job, he has one of the best drafters in the league, here’s a a list of whom he drafted
Mangold
Leon
Revis
Harris
Lowery
Eric Smith( who is very good value for a 5th rounder)
Stuckey ( also good value)
There are some faults to this guy, such as ttakin Fergusen who is solid, but he could have taken someone else and trade up for McNeil in the second, but Brick my prove to be a star and ofcourse Gholston, we all know his case, but I’m sure that’s gonna change soon.
I’m pretty positive we are going to add Franchez and Greene to that list of great draft picks Mike has made and the guy is very aggressive in Free Agency where can u get an aggressive GM and a great Drafter in one.
Well, Clemens only has one year left on his deal, so you’d imagine that the Jets would have the upper hand as he heads into an RFA year. The Jets still can pick their path with Clemens, all depending on how things go for Sanchez this season.
No real knowledge on the subject, but unless he stinks up camp and preseason, I fully expect Sanchez will start this season.
Mike is the best in the business. He has done everything right and all he can to make the jets a great team now. Nothing should be blamed on him and if he is fired if the jets go 8-8 this season we might as well go back to square one and have nothing.
Bassett, sir, I do believe this is what we call ETHER in my neck of the woods. Great job catching the inconsistencies there. Normally, I like Florio’s work, but his argument is built entirely around sensationalizing offseason tidbits that aren’t sensational at all.
But I am a fan of the single sentence following a paragraph.
It’s just so dramatic. I hear an ominous drum in my head when I hit the enter button twice.
The tactic that Florio, like many political media, employs to paint the efforts of those he doesn’t like is dubbing every move as a “desperate” attempt/scheme. Beware journalists who ascribe motives.
He writes about the Jets as if Tanny, unlike the other GMs, has less of a right to better his team.
One more thing: while I’m still disappointed with how last season ended and suffer from Favre Fatigue, it’s a little rich for people to say the Favre experiment was a miserable failure or overreach.
We were beating-up the Titans and Pats in away games late in season and finished with a winning record. Sure, I blame much of the poor finish on Brett, but also Jenks’ health and Mangini/Sutton.
Brian:
Perfect, absolutely perfect. But , and a BIG but, what if Clemens does beats out Franchez, what does the mean to the team overall?
fonzie,
I’d guess it would mean Sanchez sucked in camp and the pre-season.
But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
Brian,
I really enjoyed your post and think your writing is exceptional. I am a HUGE Jet fan ans can say that Mike T and the Jets have done everyting to make us a factor and address both sides of the ball. Think about this. Everyone compares the Jets to the Mets in that both organizations have been to conservative and Cheep in the past. But not that is not the case we have been making moves like the Yankees and have an aggressive commitment to winning. I think it will pay off soon. The Jets are trying to fill as many holes as possible and it seems that Mr. T alwas gets what he wants or at least very cloase. GO JETS!!!
Brian,
Think about this: Mr. J has done allot to improve the Jets as a brand name and he probably could have avoided all actions. 1.) Opened new facility best in NFL
2.) Started Flight Crew for fans
3.) Opened Jets Store in NYC
4.) Spent “tons” of money to improve team and much more…
He is a very smart business man and that is seen on the success of J&J. He is an excellent owner and wants the Jets to win.
What do you think? Go Jets!
Looking at the Jets CBs in 2009
http://turnonthejets.com/2009/07/06/jets-positional-analysis-cornerbacks/
I always thought the job of a GM was to get talented players that the coach requests, if the players play well and the team doesn’t win, then that is the coaches fault, correct. Well if that is the case then the events that transpired over the past 7 months are correct. Mangini didn’t win with the talented team he had, Tannenbaum got the talented players so he should keep his job.
Dude when have the Jets had a GM that can pull off shrewd well balanced trades like the Revis, Harris, Sanchez, Sheppard, Favre, and Jenkins deals.
Tannenbaum has never overpaid, and that’s the real way a GM can hurt a team, overpaying, financially and through the draft.
So what if he gives up draft picks, if you make the ones you have count, then you are doing very well
Please do watch the Jests CB’s… as they get burned time after time by Moss, Owens, Galloway, Welker, Ginn and on and on…
JBD: I completly agree with your post excellent!
Fred: I think you need to stop being so negative and consider that Revis has been excellnt in covering those guys you mentioned. He is almost a “shut down CB” just ask Tye Law who has 3 SB rings.
Jets CBs will be fine especially if you have an efficient pass rush and we will..
The only knock anyone can have on Tannenbaum is letting go of Pennington for Favre and that is subjective. Also, it wasnt his call, because Woody handed down that order.
His draft resume is excellent. Any person who thinks we shouldnt have drafted Dbrick is smoking crack. WHAT ELSE COULD WE DO WITH THE 4th overall and a DECIMATED oline? there wasnt much choice there. His contract is not too crazy, so it was a good overall pick + contract. Hes top-10 in the league, thats cool with me, hopefully he gets better though.
Go get him, Bassett. Florio’s head is only getting bigger with the NBC thing. He’ll F something up and be fired by years end.
Simply put, Mr T is not on any hot seat. The owner has great faith in him, and he should. Woody knew that the collapse was on the HC. After the Jets beat the Titans, it was clear we had a very talented team. We did not collapse for lack of talent.
I really am just so tired of the criticisms based on last season. With the exception of Favre’s (and consequently, the team’s) demise down the stretch, almost every move Mr. T made last year worked out. Woody? Faneca? Richardson? Pace? Did any of those turn in to disasters? The only you might be able to gripe about is/was Franks, but given what they paid, you still can’t call it a disaster.
Even Favre…I don’t want to start a whole new holy war here, but I firmly believe that if he didn’t hurt his arm, the Jets make the playoffs. They may have still struggled down the stretch and probably wouldn’t have gone anywhere once they got there, but I think they would have made the playoffs.
And even though they didn’t, to your point Bassett, they gave up what turned out to be a 3rd round pick for a HOF QB who was coming off a Pro Bowl season. To replace an oft-injured, noodle-armed QB and a guy who threw about 800 picks in the first two weeks of camp last year. I would argue that NOT going after Favre would have been reason to run Tannenbaum out of town, not the other way around.
I think Florio’s opinion about LC is probably the most off-base. What I’ve seen on the field is a WR clearly on the decline and not worth near market value for a veteran WR. We as fans hate uncertainty, and LC’s leaving has made the strength of the WR corps questionable. But, as Brian points out, it won’t be all that hard to replace LC’s game-day value. Cotchery and Stuckey might not strike fear in defensive coordinators, but I don’t think that tandem is any worse than what we’ve seen on the field since 2007. If you want to criticize Tanny, it would be for not IMPROVING the WR corps, but there are dozens of WRs that can replace LC’s production and Stuckey is one of them (and we don’t know what Clowney, B. Smith, Urrutia, Whittaker, etc. can do).
Well let’s not forget that the Jets went one year without a solid line so going one year without 2 starters as WR isn’t nearly as bad in comparison (although I do think this receiver crew will respond and Keller is like a WR in TE clothing).
It only took one year to completely overhaul that colander of an O-Line too so he is most definitely responsible for that.
His seat is not hot. Maybe after this year I’d consider it hot seat.
Florio is clueless and a sensationalist. If every “journalist” – and I use that term very loosely with this Florio character – relied on hearsay and 3rd hand sources and then I’d be able to say “Mike Florio is on the hot seat because he is terrible writer and my cat and other unnamed sources told me so.”
The article about Tannenbaum is right on. Tannenbaum is a bean counter not a talent evaluator. Give the man credit for Leon Washington and that is it. Mangold was the highest rated center in years and most NFL teams never draft a center in the first round. There were other outstanding talent at pick 21. Should I remind Jet fans of all the picks that haven’t worked out or how about the FA signings. Most on this message board don’t even have a clue about who Mr. T signed as free agents. I would rather not embarrass all of the lousy FA signings and the bottom line with Faneca was the money and he is on the decline. Ferguson is average and has not made the impact that was expected for the 4th player taken in the draft. How many players are we going to allow to walk away without compensation such as Coles, Pennington and Favre. How many picks can you give away and expect to build a winning football program. Shonn Greene and Sanchez are laughable picks. Greene can’t block or pass catch and is one dimensional and is not elusive and we give away 3 draft picks for a muscle bound RB. Sanchez is a complete mystery to me. This guy is lucky if he stands at 6′ 1″ and he has a weak arm. Weak arm QB’s don’t make it at the Meadowlands. Stiff winds are prevalent all year long and I don’t care what kind of footwork this guy has for if I want to see someone dance like Fred Astaire I wouldn’t bother going to the games. I have been a Jet season ticket holder for over 40 years and have witnessed terrible football over the years and the only glimmer of hope that we have had in the last 25 years was Leon Hess hiring Bill Parcells. Woody has proven that his ego is too big to let a proven GM or HC get in the way of his ego and this team is ready for a crash landing in 2009 and 2010. Failure will be the only motivating factor at the end of the 2010 season for Woody to hire a proven GM and HC as the first year of the PSL ripoff will be in play and fans will be n a lynch mob mentality. Let me take that back as most of the diehard loyal Jet season ticket fans have been priced out of the market and therefore the new breed of fans will only be angry because they thought that their PSL’s would appreciate and couldn’t give a rats arss about the team. The problem with most Jet fans is that they can not be honest with themselves and recognize the serious deficiencies that this Jets team has and it begins with the three stooges that run this embarrassing franchise named Woody, Tannenbaum and Ryan. Amazingly none of these so called Jet fan experts can remember all of the FA signings and draft picks that haven’t panned out or the number of draft picks that the team had to give away to draft a handful of players. The DL is old and slow. The LB’s are average and Scott can not hold Ray Lewis jock strap. Lets see how Scot plays without Lewis and Suggs. Harris is a injury prone overrated tackling machine who has few tackles behind the line of scrimmage and can not cover a slot WR or TE to save his life. Bryan Thomas should have never been signed to such a lucrative contract as he was nowhere to be found last year. Gholston is a bust. Revis and Washington are the 2 best players on the team and if you want to throw in Mangold fine. Jenkins surely was at his best until he had a herniated disk and was nowhere to be found at the end of last year. This type of injury to a NT is the kiss of death and without a suitable backup the Jets are dead in the water as I predict that Jenkins will be out at some point of the season and who knows could be lost for the entire year. Offensively this team is one dimensional and does not have a proven QB, WR or TE to throw the ball. Keller can’t block and Cotchery is a decent #3 not a #2 WR. Sure the Jets had success running the ball last year but they also had Favre who presented fear to any opposing defense simply because he was a proven QB with a strong arm. This year there is no proven QB and a rookie HC at the helm. IMHO this team will be lucky to win 4 games and all this hype is just getting me sick as this years team is weaker than last years. The only saving grace for the Jets in 2009 will be that Tannenbaum will get the axe and hopefully Woody will have finally learned his lesson.