JetsLife

That is a good thing. A very good thing. He couldn't draft his way out of a paper bag. Hopefully Jets can wrangle a competent GM. If yes, great. If not, more of the same. But for the moment, it is a very good thing Maccagnan is no longer in charge.

And that's what we want. Woody saddled his brother with an awful front office and Bowles. He has now excised the boil that is Woody Johnson. Now we find out if our new owner has good judgment. I'm ecstatic he offed Maccagan. We all know he never drafted for sh*t. Better late than never. Unfort we are left with an imperfect oline.

Throw in the new GM able to magically upgrade at center & the right side of the o-line ... that would be nice. Unfortunately we would need an actual magician to get that done at this juncture of the offseason. I don't see anyone trading away their starting center for anything but a king's ransom right now.

Definitely could be. Conversely: I respect Anita Marks a lot. She's always struck me as a straight shooter. Not a BS artist who's in to innuendo like so many reporters out there. And if Gase & Macc have been telling the truth there were no serious problems between them, this makes sense. But definitely, the information she received could be BS. We'll likely never know the full story.

And according to ESPN's Anita Marks, Gase had nothing to do with the firing. See link I posted in another message.

Offensive line: pardon if already covered - but it seems clear Maccagnan & Co. believe the Jets are set at offensive line. Because as much 'post June 1/late August cuts' chatter we annually hear about upgrading the roster - that rarely happens. A trade on the other hand, that can happen any time but still relatively rare. So this be the Jets o-line and apparently they feel good about it. I sure as sh-t don't. But keeping fingers crossed. Gase: we'll know if he's for real pretty fast IMO. When you have a legit HC the team performs in a certain way - smart, disciplined, inventive, in short competently - from the first whistle of the regular season. Jets go 1-15 in 1996 under Kotite, first game in '97 at Seattle they wax the Seahawks 41-3 (which I attended in a vociferous manner, annoying a few Seattle fans once or twice, only to find out after the game my tix connection scored the tix from the Seattle owner at the time. Lol classic!). So we'll know within the first game or two if Gase learned from his Miami experience and is proficient. If not, expect overly patient Christopher Johnson to allow Gase to flounder for a few years while hopefully firing Maccagnan. But if Gase is competent, then the Jets will be in a good place with two critical building blocks: legit HC and young franchise QB.

BRILLIANT t shirt and post

We as long suffering die-hard Jets fans are conditioned to doubt. As are many sports fans period. And I dare say as NYC metropolitan area folks we’re also conditioned to be negative lol. But like Mama & Papa’s California Dreaming I awoke earlier with some Sunday Morning Dreaming: What if it freakin’ works? What if it all comes together? Am I jinxing it to wonder and hope? What if Woody Jr. and Maccagnan got it right hiring Gase? What if he turns out to be a legit head coach and molds not just Darnold but the entire squad in to winners? What if the offseason additions led by L Bell hit the ground running and fuel up our Jets? What if the o-line we all worry about so much isn’t as bad as we think? That it was in substantial part due to a Neanderthal offensive HC in Bowles and a pedestrian OC in Bates? Not to mention an oft struggling rookie QB, usually lacking skill weapons to work with due to injury and Bates’ misuse? What if the Jets juice up the pass rush via the draft and Gregg Williams coaching it up? What if we stay fairly healthy this season knock on wood? In short: what if hope not only springs eternal but is real for these ‘19 Jets - and it all comes together? Like Red says at the end of The Shawshank Redemption: “ … I hope I the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams, I hope” ...

This is an over-simplification but there is much merit to it: Teams like the Pats often generate pass rush because their opponents are down 14 points + in the second half and guess what - human nature has the opposing OC abandoning the run game. And giving the Pats defense the chance to essentially tee off with their pass rush and blitzing. You see it time and again including us Jets fans - how often have we been down a lot to the Pats in the second half and suddenly it feels like a prison break collapsing our QB pocket. Well, the Pats be teeing off. As they and other winning teams do. They get a fat lead and the opposing OC starts semi panicking and abandons the run. One dimensional football. Game over. The point has been made in here it's not just about sacks. Indeed: when your team's OC starts abandoning the run, all the opposing defense must do is disrupt the pocket and passing game. Which is more doable when an offense gets one dimensional in favor of the pass. What does this mean for the Jets? A couple things IMHO: continue upgrading the offense/offensive line, hopefully get those 10 point + second half leads so we can pin our ears back. And obviously, continue upgrading the pass rush. Also: I think the CJ Moseley addition, for example, actually has a lot to do with the pass rush. For the other obvious way to force teams in to one-dimensional passing is stop the run.

Sounds good until one remembers it's Mike "CFL/AFA extraordinaire Christian Hackenberg & Jamal Adams over Mahomes" Maccagnan making the picks. This said last year's draft looks like it could be good, so hopefully he's on the upswing.

I think it behooves the Jets to build a wall of an offensive line around Sam asap and for good. From there you don't necessarily need true No. 1 WRs or RBs, but rather a fleet of solid skill players across the board. Tho it does help having one elite skill player (Gronk, Gurley, Kamara). We have that in Bell. Anyway, building a great o-line should be non negotiable IMO. As for defense: I see what you're saying, but I think building a strong pass rush is of similar importance to that side of the football. Bottom line: in today's game where the rules cater to offense, the only way to compete is to be able to light up the scoreboard. So your logic corresponds with that.

Lol I was going to remark the same thing about being from the Bangkok Post. But it came up during a Leveon Bell or Jets Google news search and I found it an interesting read. As an aside Thailand can be very American/British in many ways, lots of expats there. The me first, distraction part: I heard on NFL Network he was late and/or missed practice enough through the years to the point it was a distraction. Plus his prior off-field issues (DUI, marijuana, etc). Which when you're Le'veon Bell becomes a distraction vs. some scrub. But you're right about he was never the locker room cancer type AB was.

I don't agree with everything in this article below. But it reminds me of what I replied to a Steelers fan friend who said "enjoy Bell" after we signed him: we'll see which Bell we're getting - the hungry, good teammate Bell or the me-first, distraction Bell? Fortunately it seems when he's healthy and happy with his contract, he does nothing but produce on the field. That should last for this season, and hopefully next. Beyond that who knows. https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/1645912/will-bad-boys-get-their-act-together-

IF Gase and Williams can match wits with the best of the best. The best teams have great talent but even more they have the best coaching.