Steveg Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Damien Woody says 'early returns don't look good' for Jets Damien Woody spent the past three seasons with the Jets. Now retired and an NFL analyst for ESPN, the former right tackle isn't very optimistic about the 2011 Jets, now 2-2 after back-to-back road losses. "Do I think it will get turned around? I don’t know," Woody told a group of reporters today via conference call. "I really don’t know. It's early in the season; we’re only at the quarter point. But right now, the early returns don’t look good on how they are performing." Woody was asked to elaborate later: "Right now, I’m just going off what I see, and what I see is a team that can't run the football, they can't protect the passer; a quarterback that is struggling, he's completed 55 percent of his balls, he's committed a lot of turnovers. Now, can they turn it around? Look it’s the quarter point of the season, there's a lot of season left -- yeah, they could turn it around. But I'm just saying, what I've seen so far at this point, it’s going to be tough." Woody said what strikes him most is the offense's identity crisis. Rex Ryan told his team Monday it will be shifting back to ground and pound, but Woody, who was part of the offensive line as it excelled for the past three years, doesn't believe flipping that switch is so easy. "The thing I have a problem with is Rex says, 'We’re going to go back to ground and pound; we are going to run the ball,'" Woody said. "But that’s something you have to do from Day 1. You can't just flip the switch and just say, 'Oh, we are going to be a rushing team now.' That’s something you have to do from the beginning; that’s your identity, The run game is so hard, it’s almost impossible to just flip the switch and just be a run team, it really is." Woody also thinks the prospect of switching back to ground and pound successfully is dimmed by the new practice rules under the new collective bargaining agreement. Teams may hold just 14 padded practices through the course of the season and were also limited in training camp. "I think the new rules hurt the Jets really bad," Woody said. "In order to go back and try to be this ground-and-pound team, you have to practice that, you're going to have to practice that in pads ... It's hard to really establish that physicality (without pads). I think you see it on both sides. You see the slip in the run defense. I think the practice rule has really hurt the Jets as a whole." Woody said the Jets offensive line hasn't performed up to the high standard set the last few years, and he is confident the players would admit that themselves. He also said that the replacement at his position, Wayne Hunter, would naturally have some "growing pains." "This is Wayne's first year being 'The guy,'" Woody said. "My hope with the situation is that as the season progresses, he's going to get better. Right now he's run into some bumps in the road. It's hard in the National Football League, it's hard to be the guy and go out there and play at a high level every game. I'm sure (offensive line) coach (Bill) Callahan and Rex understand the challenges that lie ahead, are going to put the necessary work in." Woody picked the Patriots to win in Sunday's AFC East match-up, explaining he does not think the Jets can keep pace with New England's explosive offense. He thinks the Jets have many talented players in place but are not coming together as a collective team. "I think they are a talented group, but the thing is, when you are not executing as a whole, whether on offense or defense or special teams, it doesn’t matter the collection of talent you have," Woody said. "I always reference, (my five years) in New England. We didn’t have the greatest collection of talent but played great as a team, and that’s why we were so successful. Right now, these guys aren’t playing collectively great. They have some good parts, but collectively they're not playing really great as a team. There's no magic spell that’s going to get them fixed, the only people that can fix it are the people in Florham Park." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFJF Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Thanks for the outlook Damien, now get your a$$ on a treadmill and we'll see you in four weeks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgb Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 let the "STFU woody what do you know how dare you criticize this team???" threads begin by the homer contigent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSJets Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 let the "STFU woody what do you know how dare you criticize this team???" threads begin by the homer contigent You won't get that from me...at least he has been there and played recently. What he's saying has more value to me than someone who hasn't played in forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgb Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 You won't get that from me...at least he has been there and played recently. What he's saying has more value to me than someone who hasn't played in forever. what about the value of something said by those who have played never? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsFanInDenver Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Wayne Hunter growing pains include not blocking the invisible and atleast seeing the person who he is going to block. On one play the D-line player(forget who it was) just slips right by him while he kept looking up front and trying to block thin air! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JiFtheOracle Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Wayne Hunter growing pains include not blocking the invisible and atleast seeing the person who he is going to block. On one play the D-line player(forget who it was) just slips right by him while he kept looking up front and trying to block thin air! I dont know, his "I'm going to turn around and stick my a$$ on you" technique has been stellar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Mostro Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 You won't get that from me...at least he has been there and played recently. What he's saying has more value to me than someone who hasn't played in forever. "Forever" is just around the corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryK Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Our key lineman is hurt. That trickles throughout the whole team. It's really that simple. 1st downs will make your D better. Protection will make Sanchez suddenly good again. Stupid fat people on tv will blather on about 'teamwork' and 'synergy' and 'collective problems'. When Mangold is back, we'll be back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbatesman Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Protection will make Sanchez suddenly good again. "Again"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryK Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 "Again"? Woody was listing all the turnovers etc and I didn't see time in the pocket listed as a possible cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsFanFromQueens Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I disagree with Woody in terms of "not" being able to flip the switch. Once we get Nick Mangold back, I truly believe we'll start to see the Jets rush the football with much success. This isn't something that we"ve "just decided" to do... We've been rushing the football, ground and pound style, since 2009; where we set an all-time franchise record for most rushing yards during a single season. We also ranked top 5 in rushing last year. When you have Ferguson, Mangold and Moore on the offensive line...You're expected to dominate football games. Thus far through the season, we've been way too cute on the offensive side of the ball. With Mangold's return? It's time for the Jets to get back to playing an old school style of football, running the football, while allowing our defense to win us the games. That's how we've made it to the AFC Championship game during consecutive seasons. Sanchez is a very talented quarterback, but he's still extremely young. He'll come into his own, it's only a matter of time, but just because it's his 3rd year in the league, doesn't mean we have to rush his progression. Which as a coaching staff? They have, and as a fan? I'm glad to see our coaching staff learning from it's mistakes. Bryan Thomas or no Bryan Thomas... We have a great defense. It's time to let this defensive unit take over and dominate games. Ground and pound here we come. Lets go Mangold... Lets lead the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Mostro Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 "Again"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larz Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 what insight. that's not stuff you can read on a message board !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Mostro Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 what insight. that's not stuff you can read on a message board !!!! But it is more sagacious coming from a fat man with a ham in one hand and a brisket in the other. Oh, wait. We've got that here -- nevermind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgb Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 You won't get that from me...at least he has been there and played recently. What he's saying has more value to me than someone who hasn't played in forever. what about the value of something said by those who have played never? cat got your tongue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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