Category Archives: Opinion/R in CT
This has been a fun off-season as Jets fan, with the team’s free agent spending spree and high draft slot, there’s been a lot to talk about over the past few months. But now, as the team gets ready to finish a quiet second week of OTAs, I think it’s a good time to think about some of the less-obvious issues facing the team with a little over two months remaining until training camp opens.
10. What about Bob? Despite being painted as a potential scapegoat at the end of last season, and allegedly flirting with Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, Bob Sutton is still in charge of the Jets defense, and all its shiny new toys (Jenkins, Pace, Gholston). I guess the good news is that the bye is Week 5, so it’s that much sooner Mangini can step in and shake things up like he’s done the past two seasons, getting the defense on track. Baby step to Week 4, baby step to Week 4 . . . .
Since it seemed as though many of you enjoyed the recent ranking of the Jets draft classes of the last decade, I thought I would open up some more debate and try to replicate the feat, this time rating the twelve head coaches in Jets history.
I did not rate Mike Holovak, who coached one game after Lou Holtz resigned in 1976, nor Ken Shipp, who only coached three games after Charley Winner left the team in 1975. I also left out Bill Belichick, two-time HC of the NYJ (remember, he was hired in February ’97 as a placeholder coach before Parcells got here, and then we all know how it went the second time).
Like with the draft class, I tried to come up with my own somewhat unscientific system. I emphasized winning percentage to balance 14-game seasons (which started in 1978) against 16-game seasons, and also as a method to compare coaches who coached for different lengths of time. I also weighed heavily toward playoff football (since that’s what it’s all is about), giving bonus points for making the playoffs, winning in the playoffs and also winning it all — a substantial (but deserved) bonus that only Weeb Ewbank got to bank. I also gave and subtracted points for significantly successful or disastrous seasons.
Prof. R in CT’s Nearly Patented Olde Tyme Coach Ranking System
(alpha version)
Winning percentage move decimal over one place.
Example: .525 winning percentage = 5.25 points
Make playoffs = 3 points
Playoff win = 3 points
Championship = 7 points
Each season with 10+ wins or 9+ wins (in 14-game schedule) = + 1 points
Each season with 10+ losses or 9+ losses (in 14-game schedule) = -1 points
Now remember, I evaluated each coach on their Jets tenure alone, not their overall coaching history. All right, let’s see how the field generals stack up . . .
Organized Team Activities — the kids call ‘em OTAs — begin in earnest today (with real live press access of stretching!!) with veterans and rookies organizing themselves side-by-side. As Bassett noted on Monday, with them come some important questions about the upcoming season. And yes, front and center will be The Great Quarterback Battle of 2008, and to a lesser extent, The Kind of Sort of Interesting Punter Rumpus, not to mention a few other major positional competitions including the linebacker rotation and who plays corner opposite Darrelle Revis.
As you all may realize by now, I like looking beyond the obvious — so here are:
The Top 10 “Other” OTA Storylines
10. Erik Ainge vs. Brett Ratliff. With Marques Tuiasosasoppasoaoa. .. uh Tui, gone, it’s time for . . . The Altercation to Be Number Three in The Rotation . . . The Bout To Lead the Scout (Team) . . . The Conlict to Carry The Clipboard . . . The Battle to Be The Back Up’s, uh, Back Up . . . . IT’S ON!
In the green corner, at six-foot-five, weighing 221 pounds, it’s the 6th-round rookie draft pick, the Pride of Portland, the Valkyrie of the Volunteers, the Tennessee Walker . . . Erik “Too Tall” Ainge. AINGE!
And in the white corner, at six-foot-four, weighing in at 224 pounds, it’s the 2nd-year free agent, The Champion of Chico, The Ute from Butte, the Brouhaha of Utah . . . Brett “The Hitman” Ratliff. RATLIFF!
Let’s get ready not to FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMBBBLLLLLLEEEEEE!
Why are the Jets held in such low regard, almost universally? I understand respect is earned, but shouldn’t that be true of disrespect, too?
For the past decade, they have been one of the more competitive teams in the NFL. They don’t run up the score on hapless opponents, their players aren’t “bad guys” or criminals. I mean, outside of Adrian Jones getting busted for DUI and Justin Miller’s recent incident — which he was cleared of — name the last Jets player to run afoul of the law? The team hasn’t had a current player busted for steroids or HGH (see New England or San Diego), nor have there been any loudmouth self-promoting jerks like T.O. or Chad Johnson on the roster since Keyshawn was shipped out of town eight years ago. And before him, you have to go back to Mark Gastineau for a player that other fans could universally agree on as someone they hated.
Overall the past ten years, the team that’s on the field has been a hardworking, blue collar bunch of boy scouts who have rarely quit, even in the face of losing seasons. Yet it seems as though “the Jets” are a punchline to some joke I just don’t get. National sportswriters are always quick to relegate them to the dregs of the NFL — even in 2006, when they went 10-6, it was “a fluke,” the team “overachieved,” they got to the top because of “a soft schedule.” Anything other than, “Hey, maybe, for one year, they were actually one of the better teams in the NFL.”
Okay, no one likes a whiner, right? They want a winner. I get it — really. Win a Super Bowl and the respect will come. But if you’ve rooted for this team for any amount of time, you know that it somehow goes deeper than that . . . and even if we win . . . even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days . . . even if God in Heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of the field . . . even if every man woman and child held hands together and prayed for us to win . . . it just wouldn’t matter . . . because all the really good looking girls would still go out with the guys from New England because they’re . . . just not us.
Sigh.
All right, my tongue is obviously planted in my cheek here, but let’s have a little fun and examine –
The Top 10 Reasons Why It Seems The Jets Get No Respect
10. “Same old Jets” – If you haven’t noticed, there are very few people in the world capable of independent original thought. Just look at Hollywood — Iron Man, Indiana Jones 4, Speed Racer, Alvin and The Chipmunks [*shudder*] — if they can’t copy it from a comic book or an old TV show, or squeeze out a sequel of from an existing franchise, then it’s not getting to the Big Screen. (Although I did really enjoy Iron Man.) Never mind that in the last decade the Jets have been 82-78 (an over .500 record = winning franchise) with five playoff appearances — it’s same ol’ refrain and rerun when it comes to the Jets, even though a team like Carolina (who has been 77-83 with two playoff appearances in the same decade) gets a free pass. It’s been 13 years since Rich Kotite, 14 since The Fake Spike, 25 since the Mud Bowl, but yet it all still lingers like a fart in a shiny iron suit . . .
Well, this past weekend was memorable for a number of reasons, the biggest being it was the first time I’ve ever been in New York City for the NFL Draft. Now granted, I didn’t actually get into Radio City Music Hall (next year!), but I was out and about roaming the town with the TJB crew. Among other activities, I watched Bassett do his thing for SNY, visited with some of the green-and-white faithful at RCMH, attended the official Jets draft party at Dave & Buster’s, and tried to get Bent to ride the mechanical bull at Johnny Utah’s (which he was too sober to do, dangit!). It was a great day and a lot of fun all around — and it was nice meeting those of you out there!
But like anything in life, I tried to glean more from it than the simple experience. I had my wife’s pink camera (don’t ask!) and my notepad, so here’s –
The Top 10 Things I Learned at This Year’s NFL Draft
10. Draftniks are [*insert adverb of choice*] crazy! As I mentioned above, we spent some time checking out the line waiting to get into the draft — that guy in the Mangold jersey (sorry, didn’t get his name) at the front said he had been there all night long, and he wasn’t the only one! Think about it: These rabid fans stood in line for close to 15 hours just so they could sit in the balcony at Radio City to hear then cheer (or jeer) the names of players their favorite team picked — it wasn’t an actual game, only six players were there (sequestered in the green room) and there was no actual guarantee of seeing anything more exciting than a middle-aged man walking up to a microphone and talking. That’s either true pure passion for a team or sheer madness. Or a little of both! (By the way, I guarantee that if the NFL moves the draft out of NYC — and away from Jets fans — it will be a lot less fun to watch, for everyone involved.)
As many of you know, under Bent’s guidance, we annually have a little contest here at TJB where everyone is invited to guess who the Jets will actually draft. Not surprisingly, I have failed miserably in this task. But not this year! This year: I. WILL. WIN!
Trying to emulate the front office of the Jets so I can get inside their heads, I have stayed up late nights, crunching numbers, watching hours of game film and eating nothing apple pie and ice cream. I have scoured every possible venue for player ideas, turned over every stone and looked in unconventional places for who the Jets might just take. I have done due diligence, diligently done dues, done dig dug, dug with Dirk Diggler, diggled uh …. uh …hahhahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
It’s DRAFT MADNESS!!
Man, Saturday can’t come fast enough . . .
The Top 10 New York Jets Draft Pick Projections
10. Mick Foley – A local Long Island boy, Foley has the size — 6’2, 297 pounds — to be an offensive lineman; his wrestling skills would make me think guard as he’s comfortable mixing it up in the middle of the scrum. With his multiple wrestling personalities (Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love, etc.), however, he’s proven to be versatile, a Jets core value. Having wrestled while on fire, with tacks stuck in him or after falling off the top of a 16-foot steel cage through the Spanish announce table, he’s also obviously a gamer. And how great would it be to see him slap the mandible claw on Richard Seymour? Have a nice day!
With the draft only a week and change away, I thought it might be fun to look back over the last ten years and how the Jets have fared. And rather than watch that abysmal YouTube clip of Jets draft day blunders (sorry, I won’t link to that painful reminder), I decided to come up with a simple quantitative ranking system to help evaluate the drafts.
Now I openly admit up front that this is hardly scientific — I’m sure seanmac and his pals at Football Outsiders would cringe if they were to look over the “numbers” I’ve crunched. My general idea was to come up with a numeric system where I could rate each draft class with a draft score, then be able to rank the draft the classes accordingly. I gave points for a player if he became a starter, and for every year he started. Ditto for a player who became a backup. I also gave a bonus for players that were second-day picks that became starters and for those who are “better” players (i.e. made All Pro or went to a Pro Bowl).
“Prof. R in CT’s Patented Olde-Tyme Simple Draftee Ranking System”
- Draftee becomes a regular starter: 5 points; +1 point every for every year remains a Jets starter; +.5 point for every year a starter for another team.
- Draftee stays in the league more than a season, either as a backup or special teamer: 2 points; +.5 point for each year as a Jet; +.25 for another team.
- Later round draftee (after 3rd round) becomes a starter: +1 point.
- All Pro or Pro Bowl: +1 point.
After I got the score for each draftee, I figured out what the potential score could have been — for example, the maximum potential score for Dorian Boose, a 1998 second-round pick, was 16 points: 5 for being a starter, 10 more if he had started for 10 years (10 x 1) and 1 more if he had made a Pro Bowl. Boose actually got 3.75: 2 points for being a backup, 1.5 for 3 years with the Jets (3 x .5) and an .25 for 1 year with Washington.
I then figured out, based on draft class size, the maximum potential score for each class. I then simply added up the actual individual player scores, divided them into the potential scores and viola – a draft class percentage score.
Got all that? (It all made sense when I started, I swear!) Okay, here’s how the last 10 Jets drafts grade out …
First a quick Top 10 comment — I’d like to thank everyone who shared their Jet favorites two weeks back. You all brought up some great players, and I can tell you a lot of those guys were on my initial lists — players like Coles, Shuler and yes, even Nuu Faaola! I even had Don Maynard on my list, but I never really saw him play and he’s never been around the team to the extent Namath has, so I don’t have a real affinity for him. Still though, loved all the great feedback and hope it might extend to today’s post –
JET KILLERS!
Okay, let me say right up front, I don’t doubt I’m forgetting a few on this list (which is focused more on the era I’ve seen, late 70s forward), and that you all may feel certain guys should be higher or lower. Please feel free to contribute here! And when I think of Jet killers, I think of guys that at one point or another, either drove a cold, hard stake through the heart of the team, or always seemed to have great day against the green-and-white.
One other note — I purposely did not include actual Jets on this list (like Doug Brien in Pittsburgh or Keith Byars in Denver or Vinny from Elmont vs. Baltimore). Maybe another list for another day, especially since even after the draft, we have three months to training camp!
All right, on to The Top 10 Jet Killers!
10. AJ Duhe – Talk about one performance permanently wrecking a franchise! Duhe’s three interceptions of Richard Todd in the 1982 AFC championship game on Jan. 23, 1983, aka The Mud Bowl, singlehandedly knocked the Jets from a Super Bowl berth, and some might argue, the team from its course — Walt Michaels was out, Joe Walton (and his clean bathrooms) were in and although they had some success (‘85 and ‘86), it would take a while for the team to get back on track and to a conference championship game.
I can’t exactly tell you the genesis of this post — just that I was trying to think about something other than Top 10s and the upcoming draft for a few minutes. And with how the offensive line’s performance had such a great effect on the team last season, I thought it might be fun to see how this upcoming year’s newly retooled unit might stack up against Jets O-lines of the past. An evolution of the line, as it were.
Obviously, the size of the players has changed over the past 40 years — I just wondered really how much. I understand that more training and better nutrition has something to do with it, but there have been some impressive gains at some questionable times. I also tried to look at each line’s performance versus contemporaries.
Anyway, here’s a basic look at the Jets starting offensive lines over the past 40 years, in 10-year intervals. (* = All Pro that season)
*LT Winston Hill – 6’4, 270 lbs.
LG Bob Talamini – 6’1, 255
*C John Schmitt – 6’4, 250
*RG Dave Herman – 6’1, 256
RT Sam Walton – 6’5, 270
Average Height: 6’3
Average Weight: 260.2 lbs.
Notes: This line led the team to an 11-3 record and the Jets lone championship, the storied win over the Colts in Super Bowl III. The team scored 419 points in 14 games, good enough for 2nd in the AFL (29.9 points per game), and was ranked 8th in rushing (1,608 yards and 22 TDS) and 3rd in passing, allowing Joe Namath to pass for 3,147 yards and 15 TDs. Sacks totals weren’t kept, but obviously this line with three All Pros was among the elite in the NFL.
Okay, I had to take a quick detour from our normal pure Jets-related coverage to have a little fun in this groundbreaking week here at TJB. I promise to be back on the green-and-white path next week.
As many of you have heard, Bassett has taken our beloved little blog here (currently the #81-ranked most influential sports blog according to Wikio — thanks to metsblog.com for the tip) to the next level, joining forces with the official TV home of the Jets, SportsNet New York (or SNY to those of you who hate to spell.) It’s a great achievement for Bassett (and Bent), and testament to their hard work and devotion to this site. I, for one, welcome our new media overlords … er, I mean, partners.
But just because a few more people may have heard of SNY (possibly), doesn’t mean that they should be the dominant partner in this endeavor. We should get to call a few shots. As a matter of fact, here are
The Top 10 Changes We’d Like To See As a Result of TJB’s New Partnership With SNY
10. “TJB Nation,” a weekly show dedicated to what’s happening on the blog, hosted by D. Rose and Bent (via satellite), with site news and stories, highlights and lowlights, as well as a little segment called “Flight Crew Hot Tub Extravaganza.”
9. “Loud Posts,” a weekly post featuring lively debate between two avid posters, like sackdance99 vs. seanmac, Nikolas vs. sec108, etc. And of course, the ultimate grudge match: Bent vs. RAJ. (more…)
Taking a break from all the draft talk . . .
I’m sure you all know the old Seinfeld joke by now about how being a fan isn’t cheering for the players (since they come and go) but really rooting for the uniform (or the laundry). Problem is, when your laundry has been stained with many seasons of mediocrity and is lacking the cleaning power of a championship, you do start rooting for the individual players. Having been a fan since the late ’70s, I have rooted for lots of bad laundry — but also a lot of really good individuals.
My favorites — let me share them with you.
Disclaimer: I (R in CT) am not saying that by any means these are the greatest or best Jets of all-time (although some of them are), I am simply stating that here are ten guys who suited up for Gang Green who I enjoyed watching play every Sunday, no matter how good or bad the team was. Please feel free to share your faves, too!
My Top 10 All-Time Favorite Jets
10. Keyshawn Johnson – Okay, I know off the field, he did pretty much everything he could to make me hate him (like a great wrestling “heel”) but to be honest, all I cared was what he did on the field — and what I saw was a guy who would do anything to win games. Remember the playoff game against Jacksonville? Nine catches for 121 yards and a TD, 28 yards rushing and a touchdown, a recovered a fumble, and an interception. That’s wanting to win. And after getting beat down for years of losing in the early ’90s, I didn’t mind (at first) a guy who wanted to win and was a little outspoken — except, of course, when he trashed Chrebet, and proved to be a lousy teammate. But for a short time, he made it all a bit more damn fun — and the Jets got two first-round picks when when they traded him. WOOOOOO!
As you all are no doubt aware, this past Monday was the start of the Jets’ organized team activities (OTAs). Now like you, I’ve always assumed that meant lots of weightlifting, exercising, film-watching and play-running, but I’ve discovered there’s more. Not surprisingly, there are lots of team-building activities; what’s unusual is the kind of activities that the Jets are employing to bring Gang Green closer together. . . .
Okay, let’s just say that Eric Mangini likes to think outside the box. (Or I do — sometimes I get us confused). Nevertheless, here are –
The Top 10 Jets’ Off-Season Organized Team Activites
10. The Teddy Atlas Wii Boxing Tournament – In an effort to further meld hand-eye coordination and sparring skills into effective NFL play-making skills, this video game activity allowed players to compete directly against each other without incurring any injury (unless they didn’t fasten the wrist straps on their controllers — I accidentally clocked myself with a nunchuk last week while getting my butt handed to me by my 7-year-old son, K in CT). Allegedly, the finals pitted Mike “Bone Crusher” Nugent against Marvelous Marques Murrell, which ended in a controversial split decision when one of the judges deducted points from Nugent for never actually having thrown a real punch in his life.
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