http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/specials/preview/2007/scouting.report/jets.html Anything goes in the land of the Mangenius -- but what's really needed is a Houdini to pull off more of that '06 magic WHAT'S NEW? It's Year 2 in Manginiland, and on the surface all that stands in the way of improvement over last year's wild-card season is a ridiculously difficult AFC playoff race. The Jets drafted two perfect players for their defense -- Darrelle Revis, a tough cover corner, and David Harris, a linebacker physical enough to play inside and athletic enough to play outside in Eric Mangini's malleable 3-4 scheme. To address their rushing problem, the Jets dealt for Bears running back Thomas Jones (2,545 yards over the last two seasons), who promptly hurt his calf muscle in training camp and may be hobbled entering the season. Wideouts Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles have developed into quality weapons with big-game experience for quarterback Chad Pennington. "Last year was a good year for our confidence," says strong safety Kerry Rhodes, who emerged as a big-time player when Mangini gave him more freedom to roam and make plays. "I know we're better this year." WHERE THEY'RE HEADED How hard is it to read this team? Consider these crazy 2006 numbers. ? The Jets lost to 8-8 Jacksonville by 41 and beat 8-8 Green Bay by 28. ? They twice led Indianapolis by four in the fourth quarter of a 31-28 loss and never led Cleveland in the second half of a 20-13 loss. ? They beat Buffalo by eight on the road and lost to Buffalo by 18 at home. ? Oakland's quarterbacks averaged more yards per completion than New York's. The Jets didn't have a back among the league's top 32 rushers. Only eight teams in the league were worse at stopping the run. ? They were 25th in offense, 20th in defense, 18th in points scored. Stats lie? They told a whopper in 2006. The Jets won 10 games and made the playoffs. A team will be inconsistent when it lacks a serious rushing game, when a weak-winged quarterback has two deep threats and no major intermediate weapons, when a 4-3 tackle (Dewayne Robertson) is played at the nose and when two rookies start on the offensive line. Amazingly, Mangini and his smart staff piloted the Jets to wins in five of their last six to make the playoffs. The coach deserved his springtime cameo on The Sopranos , when restaurateur Artie Bucco puffed out his chest and proudly told Tony that "Mangenius" was in the house. There's no guarantee he'll be doing any cameos this season. To go 10-6 or better will take more of Mangini's ample imagination with some of his fringe players. "The NFL is like the stock market," he said in mid-August after a scorching practice. "Past [performance] doesn't guarantee future success. That applies to our team. We're not letting last year's wins affect our expectations this year. History means nothing in football." Mangini imported much from his nine years working under Bill Belichick, and he's hammering home the wisdom gleaned. "I showed the team the [2001] Lennox Lewis-Hasim Rahman fight, when Rahman was a 20-1 underdog and Lewis just walked off the set of Oceans 11 and weighed 253 and hadn't taken the fight very seriously, and Rahman knocked him out," Mangini says. "The announcer said, 'There's no such thing as a lucky punch.' I witnessed how you go from 5-11 one year to three Super Bowls in the next four years. It wasn't luck. It was diligent, consistent hard work." Another lesson is, Don't be tied to one way of doing things. Last year the Jets drafted Missouri quarterback Brad Smith in the fourth round, worked him mostly at wide receiver during training camp and used him during the season on 17% of their offensive plays and at four different positions -- receiver (147 plays), running back (22), quarterback (12) and tight end (three). This year he's mastered the playbook at wideout and quarterback, and the Jets can employ him to run anything from either position in the regular offense. Got a last-round pick in your fantasy league? Choose Smith. He might throw a touchdown pass and catch one -- in the same week. "He creates major containment problems for the defense," Mangini says. "I've always been intrigued by things like the option offense. Maybe you have a running back or receiver who used to play quarterback. Why not use him at that spot if he can do the job and make it tough on a defense?" Like Belichick, who once had Doug Flutie drop-kick an extra point, Mangini isn't afraid to try anything. Which means that even if this Jets season isn't as successful as last year's, it'll be fun to watch. -- Peter King
Oakland's QB's might have had more yrds per completion, but what was their completion percentage 52%?? That's a useless statistic. Peter King continues to write about the Jets with some sort of prejudice.
Peter King is one of my least favorite writers, but this article is dead on for the most part. Yea, we were 10-6 last year. Yes, our offense and Defense both really sucked at times. We almost beat the SB champs. We lost to the Browns. The Jets were a very inconsistent team last year. We seemed to play up, or down, to our level of competition from week to week. I hope Jones is healthy and fixes the running game, but with our average (at best) O-line. Who knows? We added a lot of bodies on the D, but did we fix any of the problems against the run? Again, who knows? We have some big questions about our roster that our going to be answered in the coming months. You can make good cases both for and against another run at the playoffs. Last year I had the Jets pegged as a 5 to 6 win team and was very happily surprised. This year? I see us as an 8 - 8 type of team. Lets all hope I'm off by 5 wins again :grin:
Great post. King nailed it (for once) in this article. Our offense's success depends on what happens to our O-Line. Brick needs to get his head out of his ass and start playing like the guy he was supposed to be when we picked him at #4, and the Jacob Bender project needs to work itself out. If those two things happen, then our offense will be in great shape. On defense I really want to see David Harris on the field often. The guy is a gamer.
Thanks for the compliment. I try not to be a sunshiner or darksider. Just your everyday pragmatic asshole. :grin: I agree about Harris. I see him getting lots of time in the rotation at ILB this year. The O line keeps me up nervous at nights, and I'm not the guy with 300 pound monsters trying to rip my head off at QB.
King has written nothing but good shit about us this year after about 10 years of bashing us non-stop.... It's still weird to me.
