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Forte not Catching on in Jets Aerial Attack


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Matt Forte JN

By Glenn Naughton

 

When Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey met with the New York media this off-season and discussed the acquisition of running back Matt Forte, he was asked how Forte would fit i to his offense.  Gailey gave the perfect answer, and one that was music to the ears of any and all Jets fans who were tuned in:  “That’s not the question.  The question is, how do we adjust the system to fit Matt Forte?”

As one of the league’s most prolific pass-catching running backs, there were plenty of reasons to expect Forte’s ability to catch the ball from anywhere in the formation to be a game-changing factor on offense, but that hasn’t been the case thus far.  Not even close, actually.

Matt Forte has just 20 receptions through 8 games.

Matt Forte has just 20 receptions through 8 games.

Prior to this season, Forte had never caught fewer than 44 passes in a single campaign, a mark he posted in both 2012 and 2014.  For the record, he played only 15 and 13 games respectively in those seasons.  Under Gailey however, the running back is on pace for just 40 receptions as he’s hauled in 20 catches over the season’s first 8 games.  The lack of production is a surprising development given Forte’s history and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick’s penchant for moving the chains with a heavy emphasis on short/intermediate routes.

With Gang Green sitting at 3-5, every game will be considered more important than the last.  If the Jets and Fitzpatrick are looking to get the offense rolling with a bit more consistency, it’s time Gailey and Fitzpatrick finally get around to what the coordinator said months ago, and run the offense in such a way that Forte can exceed.

With wide receiver Brandon Marshall being the Jets’ top target (in theory anyway), the emergence of Quincy Enunwa and the use of Bilal Powell in the passing game (25 receptions), it would be unrealistic to expect Forte to come anywhere close to his career high of 108 receptions, but there’s also no excuse for him to be on pace for a career-worst.  Especially in a time when the Jets offense has seen far more time being grounded than it has spent soaring.

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57 minutes ago, neckdemon said:

matt forte is slow AF now. dude is basically done as a nfl rb. this year will be his last. the jets are killing him wth more carries than he's ever had and he has hit the rb 30 year old wall 

As long as he continues to give me 20+ points a game, I'm ok with it. 

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1 hour ago, JetNation said:

Matt Forte has just 20 receptions through 8 games.

 

This disgusts me.

We've seen a lot of bad football as Jet fans. I cannot remember a case of an established player coming here and being used in a manner that completely contradicts all evidence of what he's best at at this stage of his career. I mean seriously, Forte spent his last 2 years in Chicago demonstrating a drastically diminished skillset as a pure RB. However, as a receiving back, he hasn't lost a step statistically. 

I mean he needed 25 carries to get 82 yards versus the ******* Browns. The Browns. 18 of those yards came on 1 run. Which means 24 carries for 64 yards. You can get that kind of production out of Knile Davis, who currently can't find a team at all. 

With us signing Forte, and bringing back Fitz, the natural assumption was that the Jets were looking for a 3rd premier receiver for Fitz to get the ball to when Decker and Marshall are double-covered, which was an issue last season. Last year, Fitz has really unreliable options after the top 2 WRs. Forte should have been a solution to that problem. Instead, the offense forces Forte to ram it up the gut, and Fitz to throw the ball into the dirt, LOL.

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Just now, CrazyCarl40 said:

It's almost as if Chan Gailey is completely misusing players in his offense like some here have said all along. Weird. 

It's bigger than Chan, because Bowles is doing the same thing on defense. Chan's got enough history established to suggest he knows how to scheme around what players do well. He did it last year putting Decker in the slot, because of his route-running, and with Fitz by spreading the offense out.... this year, it feels like guys like Revis and Forte are being forced to do things they aren't good at, because someone has stubbornly mandated it. Similar to Rex, our HC seems only capable of referring to 3-year old game film when determining how to use the veterans on his squad. 

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Let's completely gloss over the fact his QB stares down and forces throws to his 1st read almost exclusively. For a pass catching RB to make plays he needs a QB smart enough to make a read and check it down. Unless Forte is the primary read he's rarely getting a pass from Fitz.


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7 minutes ago, Snell41 said:

Let's completely gloss over the fact his QB stares down and forces throws to his 1st read almost exclusively. For a pass catching RB to make plays he needs a QB smart enough to make a read and check it down. Unless Forte is the primary read he's rarely getting a pass from Fitz.


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4 minutes ago, Kevin L said:

Forte needs a QB who actually goes through his progressions. 

Geno threw to Forte once in 8 attempts. So let's not act like this isn't a bigger schematic thing and it's just another reason to pile on the QB position. We all know the shortcomings of Fitz. The issue with Forte is more scheme and usage than QB.

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22 minutes ago, Integrity28 said:

It's bigger than Chan, because Bowles is doing the same thing on defense. Chan's got enough history established to suggest he knows how to scheme around what players do well. He did it last year putting Decker in the slot, because of his route-running, and with Fitz by spreading the offense out.... this year, it feels like guys like Revis and Forte are being forced to do things they aren't good at, because someone has stubbornly mandated it. Similar to Rex, our HC seems only capable of referring to 3-year old game film when determining how to use the veterans on his squad. 

Last I read, Bowles had little to do with the offense at all. 

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1 minute ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

 

Geno threw to Forte once in 8 attempts. So let's not act like this isn't a bigger schematic thing and it's just another reason to pile on the QB position. We all know the shortcomings of Fitz. The issue with Forte is more scheme and usage than QB.

I agree that they're using him wrong. But at the same time, we all know Fitz locks onto guys, usually Marshall. Unless it's a designed play to Forte, our QB's don't go through their reads to even find Forte.

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1 hour ago, Snell41 said:

Let's completely gloss over the fact his QB stares down and forces throws to his 1st read almost exclusively. For a pass catching RB to make plays he needs a QB smart enough to make a read and check it down. Unless Forte is the primary read he's rarely getting a pass from Fitz.


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I don't think anyone is glossing over that. However, when the touches that the RB is getting are 25 rushes and 4 targets in the passing game, you really can't argue that the RB is running routes and the QB is just not throwing to him because "progressions". 

He's being pounded up the gut. He's never been good at that in his career, but he's been really bad at it the past 2 years. It's all we're asking him to do. That's bad coaching.

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1 hour ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

Last I read, Bowles had little to do with the offense at all. 

Last I read, he was saying he'd be getting more involved. Also, one doesn't have to have much "involvement" to have influence. Rex didn't have "involvement" in the offense either, but he damn-sure influenced who we had on the roster on offense, and how they got used. Frankly, it's the job of the HC. If Bowles stubbornly thinks old Revis is on the field, when everyone and their brother knows he's not. Or that Sheldon playing LBer is working, when it's clearly not. Then I don't think it's a stretch to think Bowles may be part of what is influencing the Jets to keep ramming Forte up the gut like he's Mike ******* Alstott. 

Stubbornness is quickly becoming the defining attribute for this coaching staff. It doesn't matter if it doesn't work, just keep doing it, because I'm too stubborn to admit we need to try something different. Last regime was stupidity.

There's a thin line between the two. In a lot of ways, nothing has changed. Good record every other year, perpetually rebuilding, always watching our best players get old before we can get competitive enough to take advantage of them, and a coach and/or GM learning on the job.

 

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Surely Fitz has a lot to do with this issue. His one read effort or just lock on to BM has hurt Forte. Using him as the primary 'gut' (T to T) RB also takes a lot out of him.

The other issue is the emergence of the younger corps of WR's. Robby Anderson and Charonne Peake are growing right in front of our eyes. Let's not overlook that. The job of the QB and the CS is to develop players who will be here for a few more years. Forte won't.

i think it more important for our young WR's to develop than to pad Forte's stats as a pass catcher. 

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20 minutes ago, Jetdawgg said:

Surely Fitz has a lot to do with this issue. His one read effort or just lock on to BM has hurt Forte. Using him as the primary 'gut' (T to T) RB also takes a lot out of him.

The other issue is the emergence of the younger corps of WR's. Robby Anderson and Charonne Peake are growing right in front of our eyes. Let's not overlook that. The job of the QB and the CS is to develop players who will be here for a few more years. Forte won't.

i think it more important for our young WR's to develop than to pad Forte's stats as a pass catcher. 

bring in Forte and resigning Fritz looks more like win now than planning for the future

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Geno threw to Forte once in 8 attempts. So let's not act like this isn't a bigger schematic thing and it's just another reason to pile on the QB position. We all know the shortcomings of Fitz. The issue with Forte is more scheme and usage than QB.

So he went from having the worst stare down QB to maybe the second worst for one half of football.

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9 hours ago, Snell41 said:

Let's completely gloss over the fact his QB stares down and forces throws to his 1st read almost exclusively. For a pass catching RB to make plays he needs a QB smart enough to make a read and check it down. Unless Forte is the primary read he's rarely getting a pass from Fitz.


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You mean I had to go this far in the thread for this excellent but obvious post was written!!!

We act like the worst QB play in the NFL has nothing to do with the play calling of the OC the productivity of a pass catching RB!!

 

Come on guys!!!

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3 hours ago, Snell41 said:

So he went from having the worst stare down QB to maybe the second worst for one half of football.

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Should he have more than 1 target in 8 throws?

If he had 1 out of 8 throws for the whole season, nobody would be complaining. Anyway, the notion that the has "failed" as a pass catcher when, really, nobody has caught fire seems absurd. You can't run Forte twice into the line on first and second down and then throw to him on third down? Can you?

Of all the things to complain about...Forte not being a more prolific pass catcher seems at the bottom of the list.

The Jets are caught in a bind: you can't have a pass-first offense with Ryan Fitzpatrick or Geno Smith as the QB. So, to emphasize that the defense has to play run-first, they employ a running game, which, really, just wears out Forte and keeps Powell uninjured. But, hey, I'd way rather have Robbie Anderson, Enunwa, Peake, and Powell getting Forte's targets. Wouldn't you?

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10 hours ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

 

Geno threw to Forte once in 8 attempts. So let's not act like this isn't a bigger schematic thing and it's just another reason to pile on the QB position. We all know the shortcomings of Fitz. The issue with Forte is more scheme and usage than QB.

Gene can also throw the ball further than five yards.

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