Link: A Tune-Up For the Passing Game
Vinnie Iyer writes about seven Super Bowl hopefuls and what areas they’ve worked hard to get fixed since last offseason.
4. New York Jets: Passing game. Neither Santonio Holmes nor Braylon Edwards were Jets this time last year, and during his Year 3 tight end Dustin Keller will be counted on more as an intermediate threat. LaDainian Tomlinson also will bring his great savvy in backfield receiving situations. It will be interesting to see how these pass-catching threats play off the league’s most dominant running game, and how much of a second-year leap Mark Sanchez takes with an improved supporting cast.
While we don’t see Rex diverging much from his Ground & Pound approach, he still needs for his passing game to be more effective than it was for much of last season, if only to help the run.
The team has a good mix of: new talent at the receiving spot, offseason studying by the QB, potential at better pass protection. These things will only help the running game, but based on the moves the team made, it’s clear that how they ran the ball last year might not be a long-term sustainable plan for them.
15 Responses to Link: A Tune-Up For the Passing Game
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iJets says:
The Jets seem hungry through print and training camp.
My hope is that Revis and the rest of the team proves this article wrong this year.
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My comment referred to…
Football Outsiders Scouts the Jets
NY Times: The Fifth Down -
oscarfactor says:
Just praying that the injury bug doesn’t hit us hard this year. Looks like we are primed for a BIG season. If Sanchez continues to stay upright and progress, it could be special.
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juunit says:
They really need to throw more often on downs that aren’t 3rd down. That was the HUGE problem I had last season. With a rookie QB, they’d only let him throw on 3rd and longs. That’s asking for an awful lot, it’s also a recipe for failure. They can still be a mainly running team if they want, but they can’t just call the same running play every down anymore. They need to be more liberal with the play calling. I would always know what was about to happen with the Jets on offense, so you can be sure that the opposing team’s defense knew too. The Brad Smith reverses that he never threw on except that one play during the playoffs etc etc. I love Rex, but Schottenheimer as A LOT to prove.
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JetOrange says:
The Jets need to keep Sanchez healthy for a 19 game season. Run the ball. It will be interesting to see if the Jets have depth at running back , Chuancy Washington and Joe McKnight will be toting the rock in the preseason, if they succeed, the Jets will not worry too much about the health of LT or Greene and run another 600 times this season
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ramble914 says:
I see Rex moving to a more balanced attack now that he knows he has a real QB that can move the team down the field. The ‘Ground & pound will still be a staple of our offense, but know we can air it out if we have to.
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Bent says: Juunit – you make that complaint, but then there was plenty of people complaining that they threw too much on first and second down too.
Ultimately, they didn’t have much choice because Jones generally had a low average on running downs and so they had to pass on first or second, otherwise they’d have ended up in a ton of third and long situations where they had to pass.
There was no discrenable difference between the Jets and other teams in terms of their tendancies on a particular down, although they did increase the amount of play action passes significantly from 2008.
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zeppy81 says:
whatswith the jet haters the jets are damened if they do and damened if they don’t,
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Jeff says:
Health and stability of the offensive and defensive lines is my numero 1 concern. W/o the big men playing up-front at high level together our season is down the drain. Remember how at one poin in the season Sanchez was pretty much hancuffed and not allowed to throw and we still won games with our ground and pound game.
I see the passing game as potent piece that if it fires on all cylinders will be unstoppable. But as long as we have our bread and butter and of course bacon! (KSK Rex) we should be good
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Were there really people saying they threw too much on first and second down? I mean, just look at Sanchez’s first game where he completed all those 3rd down passes. He shouldn’t have even had that many 3rd down opportunities, but he did, and he excelled. The problem with the Jets, is they’d still run it up the middle with Jones even on third and long after they’d called the same play on both first and second down. They just ran too many times, and without enough variety. Plus Jones just wasn’t very good. What I’d like to see, is some audibles on the field to a straight passing play. The defense is going to be set up to stop the run, they’ll also be prepared for the play action. But if the Jets just straight up pass, it will confuse the defense because it won’t be something they really prepared for. I’d just like to see more variety. Half the game is keeping the defense guessing.
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SackDance99 says:
The Jets were really handcuffed in obvious passing downs after Leon got injured. I thought too much pressure was put on Sanchez to throw downfield on obvious passing downs. If you compare Sanchez to his young QB peers, no other QB had fewer passes to his RBs and TEs. Most folks say that LT is replacing Jones, but in obvious passing downs, he’s taking Washington’s place and LT, who is a very good blocker, will help whether he goes out for a pass or stays in to block. It’s tough to predict what the Jets offense will look like, but if Jericho comes into the slot, Keller plays TE and LT is a single set back, the Jets offense will have many more weapons to beat a defense, even in obvious passing downs. Edwards and Holmes can both create separation…potentially the most potent receiving corps since the days of Toon, Walker and Shuler.
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Bent says:
Juunit – yes, it was a common complaint, especially during the losing streak where Sanchez had some tough games (Saints, Bills etc).
There were people that complained they passed too much and people who complained they didn’t pass enough, but – as you allude to – you have to do both (run and pass) effectively to be successful. Hopefully they are now better equipped to do this.
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BubbyBrister/shovelpass says:
Can it be?
‘Ground and Pound’ will morph into ‘Air and Scare’ during obvious passing downs?
Oh baby! I can’t wait for the season to start !
This feels like the longest off-season EVER!
I really cant wait for the season to begin! I dont know how opposing defenses are going to stop us with all these weapons? If the offensive line is as good as last year, we are going to go far again this year.