I know we have all read the article. But I just like it printed here, for all to see. For all of the posters who blindly defended Herm, and think Martin still has it. The Herm mentality is over with. Loyalty and experience does not outweigh performance and effectiveness under the Mangini scheme, and Martin will not be getting balls when averaging 2 yard a rush. 32. New York Jets Curtis Martin is 33, and the inevitable decline phase of his career hit him like a ton of bricks in 2005. Running backs just don't rebound from the kind of season Martin had last year. It's time for the young Jets to step up, but there's not much there. Derrick Blaylock failed to accomplish much of anything in his first year with the team, and rookie Cedric Houston was mediocre. Veteran fullback Jerald Sowell is gone, replaced with B.J. Askew, who has very little experience aside from special teams. It will be easier going for the backs behind first-round offensive linemen D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold, but by midseason the Jets may find themselves wishing they had found a way to get Reggie Bush. The Official Football Outsiders Favorite Rookie, fullback Nick Hartigan, has a better chance of making the roster with New York than just about any other team in the league. I hope that Cedric Houston can find his groove. Herms dedication to our loyal HOF has screwed our organization this year. We haven't even tried to develop anyone, until Martin went down-but the team had basically given up by then, and Herm had his sights on KC before the season was even over. I am so looking forward to the Mangini era, and do not expect us to be ranked 32 in any catagory after this year. http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5776936
we we're plagued by bad coaching and drafts and now we've turned a new page. Now that I'm confident in our Oline I see no reason for us to be this low. We have plenty of guys in the backfield who can make a difference this year so the days of martin carrying the load is long gone but that doesn't mean we can't be good in the run game.
And lets be honest, running back is one of those positions where you don't need marquee skills at yet still be successful in as long as the rushing lane is there. There will be no reason for us to have the worst rushing game in the league, but all the writers can see is how martin is on the decline because he's getting older....another brilliant observation by clueless sports writers.
I dont like to say it, but this is probably right, at least for right now. I certainly hope it will change quickly after this year, but as of right now, what do we have to hang our hats on at RB? Martin is a gtd HOF, awesome runner, great guy, standup individual, but he is old, coming off injuries, and we just dont know what he is going to bring to the table. The rest of the RBs, well who knows, no top draft picks for the position, our highest selection in the last few years is starting in Oakland, and the rest is unknown. Do I think we could have a solid backfield, using Martin/Houston, Blaylock/Washington, definately, but could we be sitting here in week 10 saying how we need to use our 1st rounder on a RB or what RBs are available via FA, unfortunatley possible as well. I like our guys, but what will they do on the big stage? Nobody can answer that yet, so in a conservative estimate, we are pretty low. I have not gone through every other team to analyze their situations either and am sure there are other teams in similar situations as us, but whether we are 32 or 26, whats really the difference? It is going to be a very interesting year for our O, QB and RB especially.
I have to say...that they are taking more into account than just Martin. Our line sucked last year, and we have two rookies this year who are going to make some mistakes. But there are elite running backs who create holes, regardless of the line in front of them. Martin never created holes or was a power runner. His talent was making the first guy miss, but unfortunately there are two more opponents right there to take him down when he does...
this ranking doesnt really surprise me, martin has been written off although the media gives penny at least a ray of hope. houston showed he could consistently pound the ball for 3-5 yard pops and makes good contact to push the play even farther. (can he do it 16 games?) blaylock has been forgotten about, and I myself have written him off. mostly because we drafted leon washington who to me is blaylock with far more upside. i also think losing sowell should be the biggest point to our ranking, after losing Richie Anderson, Sowell showed he can be a valuable reciever and hes a hell of a run blocker. theyre labeling askew as a RB/FB tweener with only special teams experience, fine ill give them that one cuz its the truth for now. although I think he was phenomonal in college and could show us something we wont expect.
I have to agree that we will probably have the worst rushing attack,but i feel the fox sports article was a bit inconsistent.Our 33 year old running back coming off an injury is done but New England's 32 year old running back coming off an injury is going to bounce back?Our fullback situation is grim because we let Sowell go,even though they say he had an "awful season in 2005"(Something i completely disagree with). They completely failed to mention that the reason Blaylock didn't make an impact was because he was injured.They leave out the fact that Houston put up good efforts against the raiders and fins(and really took it to Zach Thomas) and there is no mention of Washington who has the tools to be a good third down back
Are you talking of Tony, Dino, NY Junc, MD, Jets in 2004, Buttleman, Koz, Tbird & others of that ilk who produced only MISINFORMATION after MISINFORMATION?
Its absurd to dismiss Blaylock out of hand. He was injured last year, for Pete's sake! Hes entitled to his opinion about Houston, but I'm think he has potential. And CMart? I'm not about to count him out running behind a revamped line.
I have a slightly different take on this. Our o-line sucked last year and our QBS and running backs took the hits for it. If we had went after reggie bush as the article states our o-line would still have sucked and he would be the target just like Martin. By trying to build the o-line we are trying to fix the root problem first. there will be growing pains of-course, but we can live through that. Next we go after a Stud RB in the draft next year after the line has had some time to grow together and they should have a chance to shine. Also, note that we have an extra 2nd rounder next year to use to move up in the draft.
we have a ton of guys but each one has gigantic question marks whether it be does he still have it? has he ever done it in this league?....with the two rookies on the O-line i dont think its unfair to have big time reservations about the jet running game
I see drob got banned for his comments to champ. Although his post may have been over the top and I know champ takes a beating now and then...HEY CHAMP.....relax with the naming of names about misinformation...its getting old..and its just not right to continually point out people. Its just wrong buddy.
I think you've hit it on the head - any rating in the bottom 5 or 10 is pretty much the same thing. Wasn't there a power rating that had the Jets 25th posted last week? It's basically the same thing. Since the article was about running backs, not the running game in general, the hopefully improved performance of the O line is not relevant. Based on history, Martin will not come back to anything close to elite status, since the history of NFL backs with the mileage he has on him doing that after serious injury is sparse, to say the least. All of the other backs are at best question marks. That sounds to me worthy of a pretty poor rating.
not really fair to rule out Blaylock when we lost him to injury last season too. He didn't work out because he wasn't a change of pace back for Martin. Fresh legs, yes... but a similar style to Martin made him less effective.
why did our rushing attack suck last year and martin got injured? a) we had no passing attack so teams could easily just put 8 in the box without a second thought b) herm and heimerdinger never trusted brooks to throw the ball and ran martin every down c) blaylock broke his foot last year d) all of the above
