Day One OTAs: Crazy Roster Strength, Sanchez Throws & Super Bowl Urgency
Yesterday was the first day of OTAs and there was lots of goodies to report from it. Here’s what we saw from across the intarwebs.
Sanchez is Throwing – While there was something of a standard “underpromise / overdeliver” on his recovery from his knee surgery, it’s good to see that Sanchez is back out with the team, throwing and participating, even if it is still in a limited 7-on-7 fashion. Getting as much time with Holmes, Tomlinson and McKnight now will only help this offense come the early part of the season.
Steel Against Steel – Cro had it right … talent-wise? “It’s ridiculous.” Cotchery, Edwards & Holmes lining up across from Revis, Cromartie and Wilson? Whoa. That’s a group of players that most teams would love to get their hands on, and who will be playing against each other in practice all summer long. This is going to be good for both groups of players and can only benefit the team over the season.
There’s an Urgency on This Team – I don’t remember seeing this sort of – as Simmons has recently coined – “urgency’” from a Jets team like I am seeing from this one. It’s a good team, they have the pieces, they have the coaching … can they put it together? Revis noted that they don’t want to be “paper champs.”
From what I gather, there’s a lot of talk in the locker room about winning a Super Bowl. While they know there’s steps to get there, that kind of talk can be a good thing. This team has veterans like LaDainian and Jason Taylor that are here for one thing …to win it all. While it’s risky, it’s clearly paying dividends on focusing guys on what’s important now that we’re a full year into Rex’s tenure, and they’ve seen proof that he can do what it takes.
38 Responses to Day One OTAs: Crazy Roster Strength, Sanchez Throws & Super Bowl Urgency
-
for 41 years i’ve waited, and waited, and waited. with the possible exception of 1999, this is by far the best team they have put together. may the football gods shine upon us. this franchise and it’s fans have suffered long enough. lets get it done. screw new england, miami, goober manning and that blowhard on WFAN.
-
cmonleon says:
Calling it right here we put together a dyanasty for the next 5 years and win a SB in our own stadium against the giants……….
YESSSSSSSSSSS -
I don’t know … my personal expectations are a bit short of the Super Bowl. I expect this team to contend for a playoff spot, but the core here was only 9-7 last year, losing horrible games to Buffalo, Miami (twice!) and Atlanta.
Even in the playoffs — did their opponents lose or did the Jets win? Both teams turned the ball over repeatedly and missed key field goals. I suppose that can be said for any game — does one win or the other lose? — I just didn’t see a dominant team out there. I saw a 9-7 team who played well down the stretch and certainly capitalized on its opportunities.
Even stacking the pieces they’ve added against what they’ve let go — yes, they appear to be a better team (kicking game aside), but I’m not sure they’ve made that jump to “elite” yet.
Of course, just being able to have this conversation is great and I’m loving every minute of it. I guess I’m just prone to being cautiously optimistic — a step forward as opposed to being a “same old Jets fan” waiting for my hear4t to be broken.
Ultimately, I think this will be a very good season, which I will enjoy. I’m just not sure if it will be a Super Bowl season. I hope so!
-
JetObsessed28 says:
Nafstejyn, We had our ‘successful season”, and a nice playoff run last season… That’s what put us in “Super Bowl hype” mode.. We’ve already had a couple of “forward progress” seasons.. Now, let’s get to where the Cards and Saints have gone!!
With the off-season, and last year’s run, i think now is the perfect time to talk and aim for the Super Bowl.. I have no problem with it..
-
JetObsessed,
Last year the team went 9-7 and went 2-4 within the division. That’s horrible, there’s plenty of forward progress to make. A Superbowl is the goal every year, that doesn’t change, but as a fan base we should be looking for a consistent team that is playing in January year after year.
-
brian311 says:
i believe the only ones who can hold us back this season are shanchez and shotty. mainly shotty for asking sanchez to do too much or getting too cute with gameplans. he had a brilliant post season but people are quick to forget some of the nightmare games plans we had (1st buffalo game, Jax game, etc). i fully expect sanchez to take a step up – he does not have to be peyton manning but something like 58-60% completions and more TDs than Ints would be ideal. if he does that, the sky is the limit.
for the first time since i can remember, we have a TON of playmakers on offense. our skill players will have a mismatch against just about everyone they line up against. the thought of holmes, edwards, J-Co, Keller, LT/McKnight on the field at the same time is mind-boggling. but i hope that does not cause us to throw the ball 40 times a game. there is going to be a lot of pressure to get holmes and edwards balls as they are in contract years. with our D (which truly has the chance to be dominant), we should be able to accept winning boring games. i hope we will do just that
-
Bent says: Well, they were 5 plays away from being 14-2…or 16-3 if you include the playoffs.
Last two times we started talking Superbowl, the season was derailed early by an injury to the starting QB and unravelled from there. Let’s hope the football gods won’t be so cruel again.
The mistake the Jets made in those years was to rely on moves paying off, whereas each of the changes they seem to have made this year appears to have been made with an adequate backup plan already in place.
-
Yeah, I will agree that this year my confidence is probably higher than any year I can remember. If the ball bounces our way this year, the team could very well be in the position we all hope for.
-
What R in CT and Brendan said.
This team may have been 5 plays away from 14-2 or 16-3, but they were also very close to missing the playoffs entirely. While I hated blowhards like fat francesca et al assuming that the Jets definitely would have lost if the colts didn’t rest their starters, there’s no denying that they might have. That was not a regular situation where a team makes a bad play or misses a FG. They were playing backups and kicked their a$$es. They might have done that to the starters, too, but a week after that falcons debacle, I wasn’t confident. They had a great run in the playoffs against teams that they matched up well against, then got destroyed by a team that they matched up poorly (i.e. everything had to go absolutely perfect to have a chance) against.
If they can take all this positive energy, confidence & roster additions and channel it the right way then sure, they have a shot at the SB, but any improvement in record and consistency is ok by me as we continue to grow into a long term threat and not simply a one-year wonder. Anyone who thinks this season is not a success simply because we don’t make the SB is smoking ricky williams dreadlocks.
-
This could be a great year but in all honesty, I think my confidence might have been higher in ’99. At least up until about a 1/2 hour into the season!
-
Interesting….Chargers have dropped Merriman’s asking price yet again……now it’s a 2011 2nd rounder.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AsOBIoEHCdEGtPb.HUkWSWZDubYF?slug=tsn-tradetalkchargerslow
-
BKWRXWgn says:
Super Bowl talk aside let’s focus on how the Jets do against the Ravens. Even before that let’s see how the team looks during pre-season. We can talk about the Super Bowl after 6 or so games into the season. I’m a dedicated fan but Super Bowl talk in May is getting a little redundant.
-
Bent says:
Yeah, I’m not saying that they were almost a 14-2 team, but the only reason they almost missed the playoffs was because of all those close losses. As long as they can execute better in the clutch and perhaps get a bit of luck in those close games, I think they’ve proven that they were a worthy playoff team.
Also, the Jets running game ran all over the Colts STARTERS in that game, so while it’s true that Manning took a quarter and a half off and that a few of the Colts regular starters were unavailable due to injuries (which affected them in other games too), the assumption by the likes of Mike F. that the Jets dominated against a bunch of third stringers is not even close to accurate.
I can’t argue that they might have lost if the Colts kept their starters in, but every single defensive starter played into the fourth quarter, by which point the Jets were well in control, so it bugs me that they don’t get enough credit for this. Not aiming this at you NYCPE, but the general media/other team’s fan perception.
-
Bent says:
If there was a Jetsblog in 1999, imagine how crazy they’d have been going over a lack of depth on the defensive line back then:
Lyle/Ferguson/Logan/Pleasant with Ogbogu, Hamilton and Wiltz coming off the bench.
-
who has the time to compare this team with 1999? it would be interesting to see how they stack up. curtis martin is a no brainer,qb, wr pretty close. but the defense now is on a different level, in my opinion. brendan? bent?
-
Well, comparing QBs….are we talking before the season and counting Vinny, or are we talking after Week 1? When it was a parade of **** out there of Ray Lucas, Rick Mirer and even Tom Tupa!
-
Bent – totally agree that the Jets don’t get enough credit for beating the colts, just meant that sometimes we (jets fans) make it seem like it was a sure thing no matter who played.
Agree as well that we were damn close in so many games last year and that we are a viable playoff team. But SB talk now? Would like to see the team take the ‘one day at a time, keep getting better approach’. Long way to go till the SB.
-
johnsec.125 – Not so sure that qb is pretty close between Sanchez now and Vinny pre-injury in 1999. Vinny had an amazing year in ’98. Sanchez came on pretty strong but still has a ways to go.
-
true, but when you consider the way sanchez played down the stretch, and the way vinnie played in denver, and their ages, it makes it closer in my eyes.
-
Bent says:
johnsec.125 – I’m not doing that as an article, lest it gets blamed for Sanchez going down hurt.
However, there are some interesting parallels:
They lost 4 starters (Burger, O’Dwyer, Henderson and Byars) and replaced them with Kerry Jenkins, Randy Thomas, Steve Atwater and Richie Anderson. Note that this meant putting unproven youngsters onto the offensive line, although both fared reasonably well.
Otis Smith and Vinny T also missed pretty much the whole season.
The biggest similarity is probably in the head coach. Let’s hope Ryan is here for much longer than Parcells was.
-
Marvel says:
Who are these football gods everyone is talking about ? Lol .. But yea I’m all for a division title & a deep playoff run .. (I really wanna sweep the division, I can’t stand the Brady/Henne praise)
But yes a SB win is the goal .. -
sanchez does have a lot of pressure on him. i think the mistakes we saw so often last year will be far fewer this season. hope, hope.
-
Bent says:
NYCPE – Agreed.
1999 had a great linebacking corps, but so does the current team. As already mentioned, they had kind of a no-name defensive line, whereas the Jets have two probowlers and some promising youngsters. The DB unit was good, with Glenn and Green the best players, but they didn’t have a Revis.
Offensively, the Jets have accumulated a pretty decent collection of skill players to put up against the Martin/Chrebet/Keyshawn group. The offensive line had some real talent in Mawae and Jumbo was still pretty reliable. Even Fabini was good back then. Since the current unit boasts Mangold and D’Brick, who are excellent and Moore and Woody who are solid, that’s again at least a wash, even with the uncertainty over the LG position, especially since the 1999 unit had two unproven commodities starting.
Sanchez will do well to perform better than Vinny in 1998, but he doesn’t have to do much to do better than he did in 1999.
-
NJets says:
In all honesty, the two things that make me really optimistic about this season are Kris Jenkins and Santonio Holmes.
We have proven that we can have the top rated defense in the league without Jenkins, Cro, and Wilson. Adding Cro and Wilson, just about eliminates half of the field that was already left over from what Revis covered. So adding Jenkins to this defense essentially says Dominance to me.
Santonio on the other hand just fits exactly into what was missing from this team, an elite passing offense. Our run game will always be a reflection of our O-line (which I still think can be dominant without Faneca). But when you have Cotchery (just THE man in my eyes) as your third best option, you finally have the elite passing offense necessary to hang around with the Colts, Saints, and Pats.
Are we going to the Super Bowl? Who knows. Do we have the team that on paper looks like it can take us? FINALLY, YES!
Its the first time ever that, on paper, we belong. Its never looked like that to me before. So that has to be progress.
-
nyj2010 says:
To hear that there is a sense of urgency to win the super bowl and not be a “paper champion” in the locker room is the most reassuring thing i have heard about our chemistry. while i never felt that chemistry would be such a big deal with the core of the team still intact and the younger guys, revis, mangold, sanchez, ready to step into those roles, hearing that there is a teamwide focus on a team goal just reassures my belief that our chemistry will be fine, and if our chemistry is fine our team is going to be pretty awesome this year. cant wait till sept!
-
Harlan Lachman says:
Kewpie to Brian for pointing out the impact that Shotty and Sanchez will have to our 2010 success (or lack thereof).
Both have the chance to be stars (with Shotty getting a HC job if he actually gets it right).
The only thing Brian left out is the one that Bent alluded to (hopefully not jinxing things): key injuries.
While our schedule is hell and I could easily see a very disappointing around 500 season, I have high aspriations for the first time in years.
Harlan
-
SackDance99 says:
The biggest advantage the 1999 team had was in the kicking game. Tupa might be the best Jets punter of all time and John Hall was, mostly, solid. The 2010 defense, however, is much stronger and, potentially, dominant. While the LBs are a wash, the DL and DBs are much better, especially since Wilson should be as able in the slot as Mickens was. The 1999 offense was better because of Vinny over Sanchez, but I think the 2010 has more explosive skill position players and has the potential to be better. With Vinny, C-Mart, Keyshawn and Wayne, the offense was a well-oiled machine. This team’s offense still has to come together, but the pieces are there.
-
Harvlis says:
The anticipation for this team is off the charts. As N Jets was saying, we had the best D in the league, last season. If you add Jenkins, Cromartie, Wilson, and Taylor — whoa. I would still feel better, if they signed M Douglas, for D-Line depth. He makes alot of plays in the backfield and is stout at the line of scrimmage. Regardless, Rex and Mike are the best defensive coaches we have had, since the SB. After seeing what they accomplished in their first season — I have total faith in them.
On offense, I agree with Brian, it will come down to Schotty and Sanchez.. I hope that Clemens goes away and Ainge is groomed to be the back-up. After watching him last pre-season, I think he could fill in admirably, if anything happened to the Sanchize, and that is probably our biggest worry. We are fairly deep, in every other position.
I think we will have to start the season, by playing playoff football. Baltimore will probably win their division. They are a good team that has improved greatly in the off-season. I want this game badly. Confidence is important. If we can play with confidence, until we pick up Santonio Holmes in game five, we are going to be tough to deal with.
Regardless, this is going to be a wild season.
-
seanmac31 says:
Jonsec- Should you be interested, here are the FO breakdowns:
Total DVOA: 98: 28.7% 09: 16.3%
Off DVOA: 98: 13.8% 09: -9.7%
Def DVOA: 98: -15.8% 09: -23.4%
ST 98: 0.9% 09: 2.6%Net differentials in yards allowed per drive and points allowed per drive are also stats I like a lot.
98: +7.80 yards per drive +0.84 points per drive
09: +4.81 yards per drive +.63 points per driveNothing too surprising, really–the ’98 team was a beast, a 12-4 team that played an incredibly difficult schedule.
-
Eddie DiGio says:
Anyone who remembers…
Who played the ROLB in 98?
Was it Roman Phifer or Mo Lewis?
I was talking to a friend of mine about the linebackers…
I thought it was Mo Lewis-LOLB, Phifer ROLB, Pepper Johnson-TED, and Marvin Jones-Mike
Kind of stupid but it will settle a bet
-
Bent says:
Phifer signed in 1999. The Jets were basically a 4-3 team in 1998 and Marvin Jones missed the whole season. It was Cox, Lewis and Pepper Johnson.
-
THanks Bent…even though I lost 10 bucks
-
seanmac, i’d like to do a comparison after this season. that team was a beast, but i’ll never forgive parcells for bolting when the times got tough. and bellishmuck? he was worse.
-
matt says:
the best part about this year is not that we are def gonna win a superbowl but when was the last time we went into a year knowing a superbowl was possible? i love that this team is already feeling pressure
-
James in TN says:
Special teams and schotty are going to be our weak links. If we can get a kicker and punter to be consistent we will have a great chance at a SB. Schotty will still suck as always and maybe Rex kicks his a$$ off his staff and replaces him with Callahan as the OC. It would be nice to see this happen before camp.
I think the bar is being set way too high for this team. Personally, I will find it a successful season even if they don’t win the Super Bowl. Consistent forward progress is what I’m hoping/looking for. Double-digit wins, a division title and a nice playoff run would be a success IMO. This constant Super Bowl hype is tough to live up to for any team.