I still can't believe that on 4th and 6 we called such a bad play, and it got such amazing results. With the game on the line Schotty was calling some very questionable plays. On 4th down I would expect a simple slant to Holmes to gain 8 or 9 and regroup. Either the receiver was covered on the quick release, or Sanchez panicked.
Mark scrambled around and proceeded to hurl the ball 50 yards down the field on what we will politely call a 'prayer'. For some reason Denver's DB decided to mug #10, by first crashing into him, and then reaching out and grabbing his facemask and dragging him to the ground as the ball approached. Thank you sir, may I have another? We never get calls like that in those situations, but the officiating Gods were smiling upon us in the mile high city. =)
Mark had his first bad game of the season. I don't really count week one because Rex and Brian had our young QB on a very short leash. #6 threw 3 horrific passes to the opposing team, 2 of which were intercepted. Is it frustrating to watch the maturation of a young signal caller in the NFL? Yes. Is it an important part of building a championship team? Yes. Patience is the another key ingredient.
Overall Mark has done very well through the first 6 weeks. To be honest, he has far exceeded my expectations. That being said, you have to ask the question... what was he looking at when he made those very poor decisions? They weren't tipped passes or even balls that 'got away'. He was simply missing defenders, not even seeing them. The other disappointing thing about his performance was that he was facing mostly second and third stringers from the Broncos. Their defense, which is not very formidable when healthy, has been hit by the injury bug.
We should have simply run the ball on them... play, after play, after play. I think that because of their weakened secondary Schotty decided to take a chance at showing off his offense that has gone from a Honda to a Porche in the past 12 months. Unfortunately Jeff Gordan is not at the wheel here. The overly aggressive play calling by our O.C. almost cost us the game.
Kyle Orton and the Denver receiving corps. is underrated, and our defense did a decent job of holding them in check. Revis looked a bit rusty in the first half, but in the second half he started to look like his old self. If he can get back to form he and Cromartie can do some real damage in this league. And another big shout out to Dwight Lowery making the game winning play two weeks in a row. He recovered a fumble by hustling and always finding a way to be where the ball is. He was all but forgotten about in my book, and suddenly he is making some noise.
On that subject, I have been very impressed with our role players on defense, especially in the secondary. Lowery 26, Cole 34, Smith 33 and Coleman 30 have all been contributing on defense and special teams. Cole and Smith have been with our team since 2006 when Mangini took over as coach. They have grown as players under Rex and are really starting to show what they can do. It's nice to see a great defensive mind like Rex come to town and revitalize these individual players as well as the fans.
Rex is really starting to look like a great find. Other teams sniffed around Ryan when he was a coordinator. His brash attitude scared away other NFL execs', but Mike Tannenbaum was sent on a mission by Woody Johnson. I think our owner was even more disgusted by that fat gum chewing waste of a man Eric Mangini than the fans were.
Imagine building a team as talented as the 2008 Jets, with Favre as the QB and not even making the playoffs. And, as the season was falling apart, this loser looked uninvolved... on the sideline and in press conferences. I think Woody put Mr. T on notice. Tannenbaum handpicked Man-gi-nah and he fought for Favre. Woody signed the checks and sat home watching other teams fight in the playoffs. I think he told Mike to go out and find the exact opposite of Mangini. He needed to be a motivator and he also needed to be able to jump start our underachieving, overpaid defense. Mission Accomplished!!!
A good headcoach in this league needs to be able to do a few things. He needs to be an outstanding "X's and O's" guy. He may not call the plays, but certain decisions need to be made when the game is on the line, and Rex is one of the leagues foremost experts on defense. Guys like Herm Edwards and Mike Singletary can rally the troops, but are useless when it comes to game-planning and in game adjustments.
They are glorified cheerleaders. That being said, a good headcoach must also be able to get the players to play for him. He needs to work them up so that they would run through a wall for him. Rex also gets a gold star in this category. The brilliant game-planners of our generation have struggled as headcoaches when they have zero personality to go with it. We saw how Belichicks first run went in Cleveland before he had Tom terrific as his QB. Mike Martz and Norv Turner have also flopped as headcoaches for the same reason.
Another very important talent is the ability to recruit talent (as funny as that may sound). Players like LT, Leonhard, Scott and Price signed here exclusively because our coach. Mr. T and Woody are nice guys, but when Mangini was our coach the only way to sign free agents was to wave more money than the next team. Money is always a big part of the overall equation, no matter who your coach is, but Ryan persuaded guys like LT and Jason Taylor to sign very reasonable contracts. Even our hometown heros like Mangold and D'Brick re-upped because of the big man. He did the unthinkable by melting the ice around Revis and got him back in uniform.
Finally, in todays NFL an elite headcoach has to know how to spin things and work the media. Rex is a complete natural at this. He has stumbled a few times because he is just too honest. He uses the media brilliantly to set high goals for his team. He goes out and announces that he expects to compete for a championship, and his players don't want to leave him hanging. They are loyal to him because he is unwaveringly loyal to them. Thats true leadership.
Rex Ryan is starting to live up to the hype... and thats no small accomplishment considering the mountain of hype he brought with him. We are in the winning business, and for the NY Jets business is good!
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