In to the Lion's Den

Coming off an embarassing 9-0 home shutout at the hands of the Packers, the Jets are looking to bounce back strong against the Lions this week. However; this matchup has all the makings of a trap game, coming off a disappointing loss against a historically mediocre opponent. Let's get one thing straight, these Lions are nothing like the 2008 Lions, under second-year quarterback Matthew Stafford.

They rank 6th in the league in points per game (26.1)and 7th in passing yards per game, despite being without Stafford for several weeks. The matchup to watch this week is one of "strength on strength," the Jets best player, All-Pro cornerback, Darrelle Revis will be matched up against the 6"5, stud wide receiver, Calvin Johnson who has been dubbed "Megatron" by his teammates. A number of analysts expect Johnson's size to give Revis issues however; Revis' track record against tall recievers is impeccable, having shut-down the likes of Vincent Jackson (6"5), Andre Johnson (6"3), Terrell Owens (6"3), and Randy Moss (6"4).

Having said that, the Lions still have other weapons at their disposal including explosive rookie running back, Jahvid Best and former first round pick, tight end, Brandon Pettigrew. The Lions have played close games against virtually every team they have played, including a dramatic win against the Redskins last week. The Jets certaintly showed a fair amount of rust, at least on the offensive side of the ball, coming off the bye-week and are looking to secure wins each of the next two weeks against two very beatable teams before their schedule gets tougher beginning, with a match-up at home against the Texans. Despite the Lions offensive success, their defense has struggled to contain opponents this year, yielding 23.6 points per game and 130.4 yards per game on the ground.

The Jets should look to get back to their "bread and butter," running the ball right at the Lions' shoddy run defense, look for Shonn Greene to see an increase in touches this week. The Lions inability to stop the run will allow Mark Sanchez to execute the play-action with greater effectiveness, leaving him with opportunities to take some shots down-field. The weather will also not be an issue as the Lions play indoors at Ford Field allowing for a fast track and no Meadowlands-esque winds to disrupt the passing or kicking game. The Jets match-up extremely well on paper against the Lions and should be able to come away with the win with relative ease however; the beauty of this league is that there is no such thing as a "lock." I am not in the business of prognostication, having said that don't be surprised if the "Cardiac Cats" have Jets fans pulse's pounding this Sunday.

Assessing the Competition

At 5-2 the Jets are considered among the league's elite teams however; they are still looking up at the perennial "thorn in their side," the New England Patriots. The Patriots are currently sitting atop the AFC East at with a league-best 6-1 record, coming off a big home win against the Vikings. The Patriots' success has Jets fans up in arms in disbelief, this was supposed to be the year that the Jets would over-take the Pats as the class of the AFC East. Yet, despite trading away their starting running back, Laurence Maroney and their number one receiving threat, Randy Moss early in the season, the team continues to win games and surpass the Jets. With a rag-tag group of misfits including BenJarvus Green-Ellis, re-tread Deion Branch, and Jets cast-off Danny Woodhead flanking Tom Brady on the offensive side of the ball the Patriots have reeled off five straight wins, the last three coming against 2009 playoff teams:Ravens, Chargers, and Vikings. Despite how much Jets fans don't want to hear it, there is one man responsible for the Patriots' surprising success, he is known by many names among Jets Nation, many of them unfit to print regardless of what you call him: Beli-cheat, "the Hoodie," etc, this is one of Bill Belichick's best coaching jobs. The man continues to have sustained success despite a blatant lack of talent at every position, save the quarterback. The schedule softens this week as Belichick goes back to Clevland to take on former protege, Eric Mangini and his tough-luck Browns.

We will find out whether the 2010 Patriots are for real or just a well-crafted house of cards when they take on the Steelers and Colts back-to-back. Unfortunately for Jets head coach, Rex Ryan his tow goals of hosting a playoff game and leading the league in wins may coinicde if the Patriots continue to run through the AFC. Despite their struggles against the Packers at home, the Jets schedule opens up a bit with two extremely winnable road games against the Lions and Browns respectively. The Jets have the upper-hand on the Patriots, with a 3-0 division record and a 1-0 head-to-head record, so everyone should be circling Monday, December 6th as the Jets go into New England to take on the Pats for divisional supremacy and possibly the right to host a playoff game.

Aside from the Patriots, the Jets should not be so quick to write off the Dolphins, who have played close games against a host of quality opponents and are nipping on the Jets heels in the division, only one game out in the loss column. If there's anything the Dolphins have proved during the first half of the season is that they can go toe-to-toe with any team in the league on any given Sunday. They could very well be 6-1 right now, if a few plays go their way against the Steelers and Jets. Tony Sparano's unit definitely has the talent to hang with anyone, with the dynamic two-headed running attack of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams and Chad Henne coming into his own as he continues to develop a rapport with Brandon Marshall. The Fins defense has less big name talent but is just as capable, sitting just outside the top 10 in both rushing and passing defense. The past two years under head coach Tony Sparano have been night and day in terms of the team's performance in the stretch run. In 2008, the Dolphins won their final five games and nine of their last ten to finish 11-5 and win the AFC East. On the other hand in 2009, Miami stumbled down the stretch, finishing 7-9 and missing out on the playoffs. Whether the Dolphins will be faders or surge in crunch time is uncertain however; after week 10 the schedule does open up a little bit with games against the Raiders, Browns, Bills and Lions.

As for Ryan's Jets, hopefully their performance against the Packers was just a momentary hiccup as their scchedule only gets tougher after week 10 and will need to continue to show the resiliency they displayed during their five game winning streak. The best prescription for gang green's success is wins, wins, ande more wins, if they take care of their own business everything else will fall into place. As to who will emerge victrious in this three-horse race in the AFC East has yet to be seen however; on thing is for certain, it will make for some entertaining football as the calendars turn towards December.

The Offense Packed it in Against Green Bay

For the first time since 2006 the Jets were shut out at home, despite a dominant performance by the finally healthy defense, the Jets offense proved to be inept unable to muster a single point. The offense's recent troubles is perplexing to say the least most people thought that the team could only get better with the addition of Santonio Holmes into the mix however; it is obvious that over the last couple of weeks the offense has regressed.

Naturally, most of the blame was placed sqaurely upon the shoulders of second year quarterback, Mark Sanchez. Granted he did leave alot of plays out on the field however; the play calling was rather unimaginative and predictable even to those sitting in the stands. As erratic has Sanchez has been recently, the offense's struggles have been exacerbated by the play-calling of the increasingly enigmatic Brian Schottenheimer. Schottenheimer is tough to figure out, one week he calls a brilliant game and the next he decides to run against a stacked box. Dom Capers should also be credited for calling a great defensive game however; there are no excuses for being shut out at home. Aside from Schottenheimer's vanilla play-calling the receiever's were not doing Sanchez any favors with five drops and two interceptions that were ripped out of the hands of Dustin Keller and Jericho Cotchery respectively.

Sanchez has been criticized for his propensity to check-down to the running back this season however; his frequent check downs show that he is maturing as a quarterback, going through his reads and not trying to force the ball down-field. In addition, since the arrival of Holmes arguably two of the Jets biggest weapons, Dustin Keller and Shonn Greene have seemingly become "forgotten men." It appears as though Schottenheimer is trying to keep everyone satisfied by spreading the ball around however; it should not be his job to stroke egos, his job is to call plays and win games and he needs to get back to doing that instead of worrying about whether his diva receivers are satisfied. With four viable receiving options, Sanchez, in theory, should be able to take advantage of single-coverage however; we have yet to see any real vertical passing game since week four against the Bills.

Teams are figuring the Jets out because Schottenheimer has become increasingly predictable in his play-calling, even Packers safety, Nick Collins noted: "The Jets offense was an easy read." If opponents are telling you, your offense is predictable something has to change, with all the offensive weapons the Jets have there is no reason they should be shut out. We're looking at you Mr. Schottenheimer.

Since I've Been Gone...

Coming back from my self-imposed year and a half hiatus here's what has happened:

1) The Sanchize- the team obviously did not heed my advice and traded up to draft USC Quarterback Mark Sanchez who showed flashes of greatness in a fairly rough rookie season while leading the Jets to within a game of the Super Bowl.

2) The Playoff Run- The 2009 season provided a roller coaster ride after a 3-0 start the Jets began to sputter and needed a few "gift games" from the Colts and Bengals at the end of the season to finish 9-7 and capture the AFC Wild Card and the 5th Seed. The Jets went on to become road warriors, dismantling the Bengals in the Wild Card round and followed it up with a dramatic win against the Chargers in San Diego and then went on to face Peyton Manning and the Colts in the AFC Championship game. The Jets played an impressive first half, prompting fans to begin making travel plans to Miami. However; in the end injuries to Thomas Jones and several defensive stalwarts proved to be too much as Manning single-handedly torched the Jets secondary en route to being crowned AFC Champions.

3) A Tumultuous Off-Season- Coming off their improbable playoff run the Jets entered the off-season handcuffed by the collective bargaining agreement's "Final Four rule" that stipulated a team in the NFL's final four could only sign a free agent when one of their's was picked up by another team prohibiting the Jets from going after the likes of Julius Peppers or Karlos Dansby. However; Mike Tannenbaum did what he always does and made an immediate splash by trading for former pro-bowl cornerback, Antonio Cromartie to go opposite Darrelle Revis, then he went out and signed future hall of famer, LaDainian Tomlinson and in turn jettisoned Thomas Jones coming off the best year of his career and entering the final year of his four year contract. Tannenbaum was not done there, he let reliable kicker and vocal team leader, Jay Feely go in order to sign 36 year old, former defensive player of the year, Jason Taylor and then signed Nick Folk to replace Feely, who had fallen out of favor with the Cowboys. Arguably Tannenbaum's biggest steal of the off-season was his acquisition of former Super Bowl MVP and NFL Elite wide receiver, Santonio Holmes for a fourth-round draft pick. However; Tannenbaum began to execute a series of controversial moves including several draft day moves including: trading fan-favorite Leon Washington who was arguably the team's best offensive player before enduring a brutal leg injury in Oakland in 2009. Perhaps the most controversial move was releasing All-Pro Guard Alan Faneca who served as the anchor for the left of the side of the best offensive line in football despite the fact that 5 million of his 7 million dollar contract was guaranteed. In the draft the Jets selected Boise State cornerback, Kyle Wilson in the first round, raw offensive lineman, Vlad Ducasse out of UMASS in the 2nd round, embattled USC Running Back, Joe McKnight in the 4th round and the traded up to grab Kentucky fullback, John Conner dubbed the Terminator for his shared namesake with the movie character and his ferocious running style. In the spring the Jets agreed to be feautred in the HBO series "Hard Knocks" during training camp at SUNY-Cortland. Entering training camp, the hype machine was in full force and the Jets became the trendy Super Bowl pick.

4) Stumble then Rumble- With all the hype surrounding the team going into their season-opener against the Ravens on Monday Night Football. The defense played fairly well however, the offense was anemic with extremely vanilla play-calling and were only able to muster 9 points in a disappointing 10-9 loss. They then went on to reel off 5 straight wins, starting with an impressive home win against the Patriots going and ending with a nail-biting last minute win against the Broncos on the road, going into the bye week with a 5-1 record and control of the AFC East. And now here we are....

2009 Draft Preview

"With the 17th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the New York Jets select..." The answer to that question is still up in the air, there has been much speculation as to what
the Jets will do with the 17th overall pick in this year' draft. There have been rumblings that the Jets might try to trade it along with a later round pick in order to acquire the much maligned Cardinals wide receiver, Anquan Boldin. However, many believe that is too steep an asking price for Boldin and think that the Jets would be better suited filling the hole at wide receiver through the draft. At pick number 17, many, if not all of the top tier receivers such as Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin will be gone. Leaving the Jets to pick among the likes of North Carolina's Hakim Nicks, Darius Heyward Bey out of Maryland, or perhaps the speedy Percy Harvin coming off a national championship with the Florida Gators. Then there are others who believe that the Jets should address their aging defensive line and select LSU's Tyson Jackson, a 6"4, 296 pound defensive end, who many experts have dubbed the best 3-4 defensive end in the draft. Another player who could potentially be available is the tenacious defensive tackle, B.J. Raji out of Boston College. The 6"2, 337 pound Raji, struck fear into opposing defenses while at Boston College but many feel that he is too small to play the two-gap nose tackle in the 3-4. Originally, Raji was projected to be a top 15 pick but due to a few "character violations," he could slip to the Jets at 17. It was also rumored that the Jets would look to take a quarterback but at pick 17, there are no guarantees that they would even be able to acquire a franchise quarterback like a Matt Stafford or Mark Sanchez. Many analysts are enamored with Mark Sanchez, however I am not convinced, he does not have the strongest of arms and did not really do enough in college to be labeled as a franchise quarterback. However, it looks as though Head Coach, Rex Ryan believes that the team can win with the quarterbacks they currently have on the roster, so I would say that the chances of the team drafting a quarterback are slim. The logical choice would seem to be Tyson Jackson, he is a perfect fit for Ryan's defensive system and provides a better alternative to the ineffective Kenyon Coleman at defensive end. Alas, no one can ever be quite certain as to what the Jets will do in the draft and I guess we are going to have sit back and watch with our fingers crossed and hope that this years draft will be one to remember and not one to forget.

No Cutler, No Problem

Well, it is official Jet fans, Jay Cutler will not be dawning the green and white after all, he is headed to Chicago where I am sure he will have loads of fun playing behind a porous offensive line while throwing to who? Devin Hester? Although the Jets did not get the prototypical franchise quarterback they had been so desperately searching for, things are not as bleak as they seem. What alot of Jet fans fail to realize is that there are three very viable options at quarterback presently on the roster, one more so than the rest, Kellen Clemens. However, the Jets have proven that they have little faith in the former University of Oregon standout, trying to find every possible alternative in order to keep him from becoming the starter. Clemens has only eight career NFL starts, all of which came in a 2007 season where he was set up to fail, playing behind an ineffective offensive line unable to run block or pass protect and yet he managed to eek out three wins, one of which came against the 10-6 Pittsburgh Steelers. In that 2007 campaign Clemens showed flashes of greatness but had trouble maintaining his consistency, but its hard to be consistent while constantly trying to evade the pass rush. Let's face it, Clemens is by no means a Jay Cutler caliber quarterback however, he does have what it takes to win games for this team and potentially take the Jets back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. He is now in the final year of his four year contract and this is the Jets last chance to find out if they really have something in Clemens or if they should just cut their losses and move forward. Just give him a shot, what is the worst that could happen? All the Jets need is someone who can manage the game and not turn the ball over, one thing you can be assured of is Clemens will not throw 22 interceptions like another former Jet quarterback. He may not be the Pro Bowl caliber quarterback the Jets were looking for but yet again, maybe he is, and at the rate things are going we may never know.

The Wide Receiver Cannundrum

February 25, 2009, the Jets decided to part ways with eight-year, veteran wide receiver Laveranues Coles and the obvious question that Jet fans raised was, quite simply: Why? The man consistently put up solid numbers when the ball was thrown his way and was one of the premier posession receivers in the league. Yes, his production slumped slightly since 2006, where he put up over 1,000 receiving yards and caught six touchdown passes, but he was still a consistent target and threat that opposing defenses had to account for. The one, two punch of Coles and Cotchery was a very formidable receiving tandem, so why break it up when you don't have what one would call depth at the wide receiver position. The obvious assumption Jet fans made was that the team would find Coles' replacement in free agency or by way of trade in the form of either: Marvin Harrison, Torry Holt, Anquan Boldin, or Braylon Edwards. However, the Jets have yet to make a move for a wide receiver, which leads one to believe that the team will address the issue by means of the draft, all indications are that the Jets will use the 17th overall pick on a wide receiver, potentially someone along the lines of Percy Harvin out of Florida or Hakeem Nicks, the talented play-maker out of the University of North Carolina. Currently, the Jets are lacking a receiver with real big play ability, aside from Cotchery the other slots are question marks. Right now, going into the 2009 season the wide receiving corps looks like this: Jericho Cotchery in the number one slot and a combination of Brad Smtih, Chansi Stuckey, David Clowney, and possibly Marcus Henry, who was a second day pick in last year's draft. The lack of talent at wide receiver could prove to be a real detriment to the offense, considering that the team is still devoid of a quarterback, which will in turn cause opposing defenses to completely disregard the Jets passing game, or lack there of and stack the box and show alot of 8 man fronts in order to stop the two headed rushing threat of Thomas Jones and Leon Washington. If things don't change in a hurry, this year's offense will make last year's week 13-17 offense look like the 2007 Patriots. Personally, I don't see why the team did not make a move for Torry Holt, he has proved he still can play and will come at a reduced price because of his age, he would provide that "homerun" threat the Jets are searching for. One receiver the Jets should have on their radar is Ramses Barden, a 6"6, 228 pound Senior out of Cal Polytech, he would be a great late round pick and has the potential to mature into a Plaxico Burress type player, (minus the shooting himself in the leg part). No one is quite sure what the Jets will do to address the wide receiver vacancy but one thing is certain, they better do something soon or we could be looking at a miserable 2009 season.