KINGDIRK Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 After the end of the 2004 season, then-Green Bay Packers president Bob Harlan had a tough decision to make. Head coach (and general manager) Mike Sherman was coming off a season in which the Green and Gold battled back from a slew of injuries and a 1-4 start to win the NFC North title for the third consecutive year. As impressive as this accomplishment was, Harlan realized he had to take the general manager title away from Sherman because his workaholic ways were negatively impacting his performance. Harlan knew that although an organization will ask its employees to give as much of themselves as possible, it also has to know when their workload is becoming too much for them to handle. This was the case with Sherman, and when Harlan tried to get him to cut back on some of the nonessential items (he would even show up at scouting events held at the most remote locations imaginable), Sherman wouldn't. So Harlan had to make the difficult choice to cut Sherman's workload. The New York Jets may be creating their own lesson in overburdening a willing employee. This is certainly the case in how they've put together the offensive personnel helping Mark Sanchez this season. This reality might be lost in the Jets' euphoria following their 27-24 comeback win against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, but the fact remains that there are numerous metric and scouting reasons to believe the personnel changes made by New York this offseason were so detrimental that they will almost certainly stunt Sanchez's professional growth in the short term. The most telling place to start could be with that game's hero, Plaxico Burress. For all of the kudos Burress is receiving for his key 26-yard touchdown reception that brought the Jets back into the game late, it should be noted that his catch occurred against Bryan McCann, a 5-foot-10, fifth-string cornerback who was playing in only his 10th NFL game. To beat that level of competition is not a mark of excellence. It was a nice moment for Burress, but let's not delude ourselves that it was some coming-out milestone and an indicator of future returns. Just consider Burress' historical metrics. In his last full season (2007 with the New York Giants), Burress gained only 7.9 yards per attempt (YPA) on vertical passes (defined as those aerials thrown 11 or more yards downfield, or exactly the types of routes that Burress is supposed to excel at). To put that YPA total into perspective, consider that it ranked 63rd out of 69 qualifying wide receivers that season. In other words, Burress wasn't a dominant downfield threat four years ago, even though his frame seems to imply as much, so why would anyone think he could be one today now that he is 34 years old and has gone through everything that happened to him since then? What boggles the mind even further about this is that the Jets had one of the best vertical receivers in the league last year and let him go via free agency. Braylon Edwards' 12.7 vertical YPA in 2010 ranked 10th among wideouts with at least 40 vertical targets. It has been noted that Edwards wouldn't have signed with the Jets for a lesser contract than Santonio Holmes received, but part of that signing failure has to fall on the team. When it comes down to it, in the world of free-agent recruiting, it's up to the people in charge to find a way to get it done, and New York simply didn't get it done in this case. Edwards is a divisive figure among fans, but he's a better player than Burress -- there's no way around it. Losing the big-play impact of one of the top vertical wide receivers in pro football and replacing him with an aging version is bad enough, but what compounds it is the fact that other than Holmes, the Jets really don't have any explosive players on this offense. Derrick Mason does a good job on short passes (6.9 YPA last year, tied for 22nd), but against the Cowboys he looked every bit like a 37-year-old player who was only one season removed from a short-lived retirement. He gained only 19 yards on six targets and had almost zero burst after the catch. Dustin Keller is solid enough on vertical throws (12.0 YPA last year, 15th among tight ends) but his 36 targets at that route depth shows he simply can't be a consistent downfield threat for this offense. Elsewhere, rookie Jeremy Kerley seems to be an emerging target in the passing game, but that says more about what the Jets have lost, and perhaps the absence of Brad Smith, than it assures us Kerley is a star on the rise. The problem could be just as bad in the backfield. New York wants Shonn Greene to take over as a true bell cow running back, but he fared quite poorly last year in the good blocking yards per attempt (GBYPA) metric. This statistic gauges how well a running back does when he receives a good blocking situation (which is loosely defined as when the blockers do not allow the defense to do anything to disrupt the running play). Greene posted a 5.6 mark in this category, a total that was tied for the seventh-lowest in the league among running backs with 100 or more carries. That number wasn't even the best on the Jets, as wily old vet LaDainian Tomlinson was able to rack up a 5.8 GBYPA mark in 2010. All of these shortcomings didn't prevent New York from putting together a comeback win against the Cowboys, but they were a significant part of why Sanchez posted the fourth-lowest Total QBR score (17.6) in Week 1. Quarterbacks like Philip Rivers and Peyton Manning have proved that it's possible for a quarterback to raise the level of play of those around him, but that trait isn't one that develops overnight. It can take many seasons. To ask Sanchez to do that in what amounts to only his fourth year as a starting quarterback at the collegiate/pro level could end up being a case study in the perils of asking someone to do too much too soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larz Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 not one mention of the hunter or the o-line ? what a joke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTM Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Smash was right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustInFudge Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Any article that sites Brad Smith as a loss at the WR position has absolutely no credibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustInFudge Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Smash was right! Too bad I think he left today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KINGDIRK Posted September 15, 2011 Author Share Posted September 15, 2011 We should have figured out a way to keep Edwards. We all knew this and the fact that the metrics show it even more is a bit disturbing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroadwayJ667 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 I'm bored with this. The Jets won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbatesman Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 We should have figured out a way to keep Edwards. We all knew this and the fact that the metrics show it even more is a bit disturbing. KC Joyner squats over his laptop and extrudes some steaming pile of fallacious reasoning and suddenly the Braylon Brigade is all about metrics. I love this place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lego My Lageman Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 What obscure state is thats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetscanes331 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 It really pisses me off how ESPN is going to try and push this True QBR rating down our throats. It's a useless measure of QB efficiency and I can't figure out why they're trying to force it on us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HessStation Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 LOL at this line here, I had to read it twice to make sure I read it correctly. I was thinking of something witty to say about it but I'm speechless. i don't know maybe they shouldn't count the touchdown. "For all of the kudos Burress is receiving for his key 26-yard touchdown reception that brought the Jets back into the game late, it should be noted that his catch occurred against Bryan McCann, a 5-foot-10, fifth-string cornerback who was playing in only his 10th NFL game. To beat that level of competition is not a mark of excellence. It was a nice moment for Burress, but let's not delude ourselves that it was some coming-out milestone and an indicator of future returns." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RutgersJetFan Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 KC Joyner squats over his laptop and extrudes some steaming pile of fallacious reasoning and suddenly the Braylon Brigade is all about metrics. I love this place. He's no Armando Salguero, that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#27TheDominator Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 It's official. My eyes glaze over as soon as I see the word "metric". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYJets90 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 What's with ESPN and the new looney stats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klecko73isGod Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 What's with ESPN and the new looney stats? They are desperately trying to appeal to the nerd market. Big market, the nerds... huge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Crusher Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 LOL at this line here, I had to read it twice to make sure I read it correctly. I was thinking of something witty to say about it but I'm speechless. i don't know maybe they shouldn't count the touchdown. "For all of the kudos Burress is receiving for his key 26-yard touchdown reception that brought the Jets back into the game late, it should be noted that his catch occurred against Bryan McCann, a 5-foot-10, fifth-string cornerback who was playing in only his 10th NFL game. To beat that level of competition is not a mark of excellence. It was a nice moment for Burress, but let's not delude ourselves that it was some coming-out milestone and an indicator of future returns." Ha ha. Bryan McCann had a touchdown pass caught on him by a guy who watched the 4th of July fireworks from a jail cell. Take that bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Crusher Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 They are desperately trying to appeal to the nerd market. Big market, the nerds... huge. They need more graphs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klecko73isGod Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 They need more graphs. That's like their porn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointman Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Nice. An article saying our offense isn't good. Shocking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREENBEAN Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 This article is completely ridiculous. I am a glass half empty kinda guy, but this article is what's called reaching. If you look hard enough you will find what you're looking for. The truth is that plax had an impact against the players that were lined up against him. He also had a crushing block on the santonio holms catch and run that put the CB on the sideline for a while. plax is going to have to get used to playing the game again and that will take time but to say that he is done and use sundays game as the reason why is laughable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Crusher Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 That's like their porn. Not sure you and I should go their. Anyhow.... did see those barbecued honey chicken wings with bacon infused Blue Cheese sauce on the Food Network last night. HOT.................... My wrist is killing me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slats Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 So the 10th best metric WR signed this year for less than Chansi Stuckey... What were the Jets and the rest of the league thinking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetsfan80 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 So the 10th best metric WR signed this year for less than Chansi Stuckey... What were the Jets and the rest of the league thinking? What were his advanced metrics on downfield blocking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 This article is so silly for so many reasons I wouldn't know where to begin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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