Herm Must Go
It won't happen now, but Herm Edwards should be fired as Jets head coach. The weekly time management problems are inexcusable. Edwards is probably going to fire offensive coordinator Paul Hackett, but the ultimate responsibility and blame belongs to Edwards.
I didn't expect the Jets to win tonight and think the defense deserves to be commended for its performance. They were on the field way too much and had little left at the end.
The loss to Pittsburgh is not, in itself, why I'm convinced Edwards will never lead the Jets to a Super Bowl. It's his predictability, his inability to say anything other than cliches, and his game plan of keeping the game close rather than taking control of the game.
Edwards keeps talking about how the Jets "battled" against Pittsburgh, "stayed in the game all the way" and "almost won." The great coaches, like Parcells and Belichick, would not settle for two long field goal attempts. After intercepting a pass and taking over at the Steelers 36, and quickly moving the ball to the 25 yard line, why couldn't the Jets throw once on their final series of the fourth quarter against a reeling Steelers team? The answer is that Edwards was frightened of giving the ball back to Pittsburgh with 30 seconds left. He was even willing to lose two yards on 3rd down because there might otherwise be one or two seconds left.
Instead of putting the opponent away, Edwards suffices with staying in the game. In his postgame press conference, Edwards was truly befuddled at reporters who questioned his strategy. As a result of that strategy, despite the Steelers playing a poor game doing everything possible to lose, the Jets' season is over.
With a very difficult schedule next season and the impending loss of a number of players, the Jets might not come this close for many years. Yet when all is said and done, the message conveyed by Edwards is that this season was a huge success. Chad Pennington, who did nothing today, spoke positively about the Jets' performance this season. Curtis Martin, in contrast, said that he was extremely angry about the loss, that at this point in his career he knows how important tonight's game was and how awful the loss is.
posted on 1/15/2005
