Jets Post-MortemSome thoughts on the 2011 Jets:
1. Mark Sanchez regressed into Chad Pennington without the accuracy. This is an indictment of the Jets coaching staff - including Rex Ryan.
Sanchez was too worried about making mistakes - yet made lots of them anyway. He rarely threw downfield, repeatedly checking down to running backs or throwing the ball away.
2. The losses of Braylon Edwards and Jerricho Cotchery were significant. Ironically neither Edwards nor Cotchery had any success with their new teams.
3. The Plaxico Burress experiment was, overall, a failure. Burress is now really a #3 WR. He's an okay possession receiver who is primarily valuable in the red zone. He's not a #2 because he cannot separate from defenders and when he does catch the ball, is usually tackled right away.
4. Santonio Holmes was utilized very poorly. Like many WRs, his frustrations about not getting the damn ball eventually exploded.
5. Wayne Hunter was terrible, as was the lack of depth on the offensive line which was a disaster when Nick Mangold missed a few games.
6. D’Brickashaw Ferguson was mediocre, regressing from 2009 and 2010.
7. The jury is still out on Shonn Greene. He does not appear to be the #1 RB that the Jets thought he was after the 2009 playoffs, but he still is part of the future.
8. It's time for LaDainian Tomlinson to retire. He might have some value as a 3rd string RB, but overall the Jets need to give their younger, speedier RBs more opportunities.
9. Dustin Keller is still inconsistent.
10. On defense, the poor tackling and inability to defend RBs and TEs was maddening.
11. At the start of the season, Rex Ryan said that the Jets are "stacked" at safety. In fact, the Jets are awful at the position.
12. It's time for Bart Scott and Calvin Pace to go.
13. Antonio Cromartie is still inconsistent.
14. Kyle Wilson appears to be the Jets latest bust at CB.
15. Aaron Maybin was a nice find, but was a non-factor late in the season.
16. Muhammad Wilkerson had a pretty good rookie season.
17. Nick Folk and TJ Conley are in the bottom tier at kicker and punter.
18. Ryan is way too much of a players coach. Someone needs to be the bad cop.
19. The Jets in recent years have been too top heavy, with around 10 high salary players taking up most of the cap room, resulting in too many starters who are just not talented enough. The Jets need to start keeping their draft picks and bringing in younger, cheap talent.
posted on 1/02/2012
