Jets must ask what needs fixing Road test against Bills will challenge team that has struggled By Michael Salfino / SNY.tv Trent Edwards may have the upper hand in his matchup with Brett Favre on Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP) print this pageemail this page The Jets are somehow 4-3 and get a chance to finally step up in weight class versus the 5-2 Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y. That's the same Bills team that regularly has its way with the Jets even when struggling. Buffalo has won three straight and five of seven. And this is a Jets team that was life-and-death last week at home against a terrible Kansas City team playing its third-string quarterback, Tyler Thigpen, who looked like vintage Len Dawson against the Jets' beleaguered defense. Now Boomer Esiason and many others in the media, with the tacit approval of Eric Mangini, are laying the team's woes at the feet of Brett Favre. That is absurd. It's fair to say that Mangini is not altering this storyline because he spent yesterday explaining to reporters how he's working with Favre to not be such a gambler. Hey, Eric, maybe Favre wouldn't have to gamble so much if your offense, and especially your passing game, wasn't so completely and pathetically predictable. Before we throw Favre under the bus, let's present the case against Mangini, legacy hire Brian Schottenheimer and whoever else has their finger in this putrefying offense pie. Exhibit A is Chad Pennington. Sorry, Chad, for blaming you and your weakened wing for the Jets utter lack of any playmaking in the passing game since Mangini and Schottenheimer came on board. I assumed they saw you in practice and came up with that dunk-and-dink offense out of necessity. Who could imagine this is the way they think you should try to score in today's game? There was evidence that Pennington could throw the ball downfield in 2006. And this year, he's proven that it's not him, it's them (Schottenheimer and Mangini) by going down to Miami (who are their receivers, exactly?) and ranking second in the NFL in yard per pass attempt (YPA). Favre is 20th, meanwhile. And those picks? Pennington tosses them on 1.4% of attempts (fourth-best) while Favre is a league-worst 4.98%. Last year in New York, Pennington was 20th in YPA and 19th in interception percentage. If it's not the fault of the underlying offense, there sure are a lot of remarkable coincidences here. I don't believe in remarkable coincidences and neither should the Jets' brain trust (for lack of a better term). I'm going to say it one more time, with feeling: Fire Brian Schottenheimer. If Mangini won't do it, broom him, too. Time is running out on this season. If the Jets weren't lucky enough to catch the Dolphins in transition in Week 1 (notice how Miami has gotten better and the Jets have not), New York would be 3-4 in what we all can agree is the easy part of its schedule. But Esiason gets on the radio and talks to the Daily News this week and says that it's Mangini who is being victimized by Favre and that if Favre were any other quarterback, he'd have been benched by now. How completely absurd. Pennington is playing as well as any other quarterback in the league right now removed from this system. Last year, he stunk in it. Favre was close to vintage last year and is one of the top five or ten quarterbacks in league history and this year he's struggling mightily (sans the Cardinals game). Case closed. Mangini needs to look in the mirror, too, with this defense that's not fooling anyone. Yes, they're getting to the quarterback. But the team is 20th in interception percentage. And that's playing a slate of passers that's included Matt Cassel, Ryan Fitzpatrick, JaMarcus Russell and Thigpen. If you can't force these novices into mistakes, what good are you? The Jets actually moved up a little last week to 25th overall in my Stat Power Rankings, which factors in only the four stats that most correlate to winning: net YPA, net red-zone possessions, net third-down percentage and net interception rate. In contrast, the Bills are 12th. Yes, they are overrated by the punditry. The numbers don't back up their claim to being a serious contender. What Miami did to them last week was no great surprise. The formula I use that to create a point spread has worked out perfectly the last two weeks. Of course, we ignored it when it said the Raiders were going to win by two-to-three points in Oakland. Last week, it predicted a five-point Jets win (they won by four). This week, it says Bills by eight. The Vegas line is 5 1/2 to six depending on where you look. This difference comes down to Favre vs. Trent Edwards. But I have to discount this Favre factor until I see evidence beyond the occasional play that the design of the Jets offense is up to professional standards. A start would be getting Leon Washington some more touches. I'm tired of yelling about this, but it is malpractice that he can't even consistently find 10 or 15 touches. We have years of evidence that he can be a Brian Westbrook-type and Westbrook is only the best back in the NFL. The evidence that he can't be? There isn't any; it's all speculation relating to his size (and he's the same exact size as Westbrook). I really thought that Mangini, a Wesleyan graduate for cryin' out loud, was going to be smarter than this. Prediction time: Buffalo's defense is supposed to be the strength of the team, but it stands out nowhere in our key stats and is 25th in interception rate. Offensively, it's the same deal except for YPA, where the Bills are fifth overall. But they don't pass enough -- just 12th in passing yards. The running game? It's not very good: 25th in yards per rush. They're also 19th in third-down percentage. Since third down is predominantly a passing down, that tells us that their YPA is the function of big plays, especially to the great Lee Evans, a Jets killer. Evans is the closest thing I've seen to Wesley Walker and Walker is one of the most underrated receivers in league history. The Jets offense and defense right now stink. Evans explodes in Mangini's face once or twice. Bills 24, Jets 16.
Many of us have been saying it all along. It's the system & The OC. I love though when it comes to Favre the Excuses come out... "It's a new system" "He's still learning" Or the best one... "It's Favre being Favre" in regard to the INT's. Lets see, our O-Line was HORRENDOUS last year and got Chad killed then almost got Clemens killed but yet... it was Chad's fault. Well ya know what, It wasn't. Actually, The Board woulda crashed if that was Chad's pick 6 last week and he almost lost to the Chiefs. Chad was getting blamed even when he won but Favre? naaah he's Favre, he gets a pass. Especially since he throws the ball oh so hard. That was the reason right? Chad couldn't Zing it so he was useless. I've said it often. Chad has thrown it downfield but they refused to. Not his fault. Yeah yeah, Chad's gone blah blah. Move on. Well that's the typical response especially when the truth hurts. and the Truth is, with the acquisitions we were primed and ready but the powers that be felt Favre was a must have. Either to sell PSL's or believe that we could only win with Favre. You gotta take 2 steps forward and 1 back only thing is when are we gonna start moving forward? Better be soon because Chad Crow Chowder is on the menu.
This article is 100% on point. I could not have written it better myself. I said last year that Shotty sucked and used Penny wrong. Now it is the same story with Farve. Shotty is horrible and Mangini is starting to show he is not much better. I have been a big Mangini supporter from the beginning but like I said about Herm, the buck stops with the HC. And for the thousandth time, get Leon the ball in space with screens and dump offs. He is the most lethal player in the freaking league in space, you dopes!
It took me long enough, but now I see it clearly; Chad is still the same Chad, efficient, smart and mistake-free. It's the OC that was fucking up big time. I'm so sick and fed up with BS1. I want him canned ASAP.
Anyone that thinks Favre is the cause of this is a retard. All you people making a case for Chad over Favre need your head examined. In 30 years people will remember Favre in the fondest of memories and Chad Pennington will be subject for NFL Trivial Pursuit. THere's a reason for both of those statements.....because one is a HOF QB....PROVEN QB....and the other is mediocrity that manged to get the highest passer rating in NFL history because he throws underneath regularly. Blah blah blah. THat's all I hear from you guys. Schotty sucks and Mangini is starting to make a sucking sound himself. Sutton is about aggressive as a poodle. Yeah we all know, but at the same time to even put Favre and Chad in the same sentence is nothing short of absurd. Why don't all you chad homos go start a Jeff Garcia fan club or something. The rest of us want to watch exciting football.
Get a clue. It's not about Chad vs Favre. It's about why QBs in Jets Offensive scheme is actually offending the fans, not the opposing defenders. Chad and Favre happen to be the Jets QB of this season and the past.
If you call exciting football throwning the ball into double and triple coverage and holding your breath, than yeah, sure.
Yeah and all the chad-lovers keep crying for his return, and quite frankly, if that's a clue...I'll sell everything I have that resembles a clue.
Brett Favre stinks But I blame Mangini and Co for allowing him to throw the ball so much.Esp against KC.This week i hope Leon and TJ are a big part of the offense.There is no reason why Favre should have thrown some of the passes that he did last week.That said Mangini and co are so stupid they will allow him to throw a ton again and he will probably come up with another 3 or 4 INT game.I hope this is the only year this old man plays for the Jets.We cannot afford one more year of his INTS.
Thats the good and bad of Favre. Still, it's hilarious that people will make excuses for him doing that stuff. Like it's fine to turn the ball over in todays NFL because "thats how he is." As if he's never been economical before, and this should all go on the guy coaching him.
Who would be the ideal candidate to replace him? Wouldn't that require the entire offense to learn a new playbook? I am fairly sure that's NOT what we have to do, if we want to "win now".
Your point is good, so it'll be ignored or turned into "well, if Schotty doesn't have everyone on the same page by now then he's failed and should be fired."
You're effectively making excuses for Mangini and Schottenheimer, who are now failing with their third attempt at a QB, this time a first ballot Hall of Famer who still has it. Favre has thrown a lot of terrible passes, and that is on him. But a LARGE part of the reason he has thrown a lot of bad passes is because the offensive playcalling has consistently put Favre in a position to make those dopey passes. The Jets don't allow him to succeed easily, the way a good coaching staff would.
So, the fact that he is also 39, joined the team a month before the season started after 16+ years with one organization, he joined after he kind of retired, and so on have nothing to do with his troubles? And how the fuck are they failing with Favre if we're 4-3 with 9 games left to play? And WTF? 3rd QB they've failed with? Failed with what exactly? They started with a 30 year old QB lucky to be throwing a ball, let alone throwing a ball at an NFL caliber level. They went to the playoffs with that guy. Then in year two they gave a second round pick 8 starts behind a bad team. He didn't perform great, but fail? Clemens is like 5 months past his 25th birthday. He's a failure? Tony Romo didn't even start a game until he was 27. Wow...this doesn't sound like an excuse.
JJ, It's not a call that Favre is the cause of this. Au Contraire. We are saying that Much of it, which includes Favre & Chad isn't thier fault. Just saying they're being "held back" in order to play the system. and for the record, Chad ( in Chad fashion) never sold his coaches out, played hurt and was the consummate professional. Can it be turned around? absolutely. But as many have believed, it's not the players fault right now. lol... at least you're willing to eat some. I know many would rather go down in a blaze with thier ego shielding them from the heat... btw, Pepto pills are available.... :up:
4-3 is failing when you've spent $140M or so to upgrade players and have been playing teams that are something like 5-30 combined record.
Ya know what pisses me off the most? After Herm left, Mangini came in with his disciplinarian regime (or so it seemed) and it was like a breathe of fresh air from the "Hubbida Beebida" bullshit Herm would lay out there every week. Now it just seems like that fresh air turned into my own breath blowing back in my face....which isn't pretty, btw. What happened to all the harsh practices and bringing in "inspirational figures" to fire the guys up? This past week he threw Favre under the bus, and meanwhile Schitty and Schmutton get a free fucking pass to experiment with turning the obvious upside down. I think Mangini needs to go. I think Sutton needs to go. I think Schotty needs to go. I think Johnson needs to sell the team. So, no matter what, here we are back at square one. I'm convinced this team will never win a superbowl at this point. Our only hope is a fantasy: This team and all of their 007 bullshit were trying to keep all of their gold out of site until they play the winning teams. Yeah I know that's hillarious, but when you're a fan of the shittiest team in the NFL year after year it forces ya to fantasize. Where the F is my bong?!?!?!
DUDE, why so angry? Your team is playing a meaningful game. We didn't play a meaningful game all last year. Now you get to watch the Jets go into Buffalo for a HUGE game. Get excited. Get your beer out. I havn't had this feeling since the playoffs in 2006. What if the Favre and the Jets O comes out and dominates the Bills D in Buffalo and we win and are 5-3. What will you say then? LETS GO JETS! And what the heck does this mean "we were primed and ready". HOW? Even before the Favre acquisition go look at pre-season previews, no one had the Jets doing anything. How can you even prove something like that. Your whole argument is based on a "what if". How do you know that Chad Pennington stays and we are 1-6 right now. WHO KNOWS. WHO CARES. We tried Pennington, it didn't work. Let's move on. You have the best argument because it is impossible to disprove or prove. "If" is everything. At the end of the day Pennington got us no where and was here for a long long long time under DIFFERENT coaches, etc. We've seen that movie already. But it is great to fall back on "if" because you can't be wrong (but you can't be right either).
