Jets’ Offense Gets Marching Orders: Fast and Faster

[Jetfan13]

By BEN SHPIGEL

Published: August 2, 2012

CORTLAND, N.Y. — A coordinator bellows. A buzzer sounds. A quarterback hurdles a cameraman en route to an adjacent field. He is running — not gliding or jogging or trotting, but running — because that is what is demanded of him, and of everyone.

The buzzwords at Jets training camp are not Super and Bowl, as in years past, but pace and tempo. Everything is urgent, all come-ons and hurry-ups and let’s-gos, roared by players and coaches but loudest from one man in particular, his voice always heard above the din.

That voice belongs to Tony Sparano, the new offensive coordinator. No one is exempt from criticism — not linemen, not running backs and not quarterbacks, like Tim Tebow, who was rebuked Wednesday for lobbing a screen pass, not zinging it.

Sparano has no tolerance for inefficiency, players say — especially inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, where penalties are as deadly as a gunshot. He prowls the field with short, purposeful strides, darting from position group to position group to bark instructions and dispense the occasional tidbit of praise.

In some areas, Sparano’s influence is obvious, like the Wildcat-tinged package of goal-line calls for Tebow that had Coach Rex Ryan, for the first time he could remember, exhorting the defense to disregard a quarterback’s red no-contact jersey. On one play, Tebow tossed a play-action touchdown to Josh Baker. On another, Tebow received the snap in the shotgun formation, faked a handoff to a man in motion, Joe McKnight, and plunged into the end zone, obeying Sparano’s orders to “run through the smoke.” As in: there is a lot of air if you can run through the smoke.

In other areas, Sparano’s influence is more subtle. In past training camps, the play clock has been set at 25 seconds when the offensive huddle breaks. Per Sparano’s orders, it is now 20 seconds. Soon, it will be at 18 seconds. Then 16.

“When we go to that,” the defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said, “we’ll really be flying.”

By now, the speed of practice, guard Brandon Moore said, has been “imprinted on our DNA,” and has been ever since the first team drill of the first day of organized team activities, when linebacker Calvin Pace noticed of the offense, “man, they’re moving fast.”

On their first day of practice, last Friday, the Jets ran 83 plays that they could grade, or about 20 more than they averaged per game last season. (“We must have gone into overtime,” said the defensive line coach Karl Dunbar.) In their 15-minute 9-on-7 period Wednesday, the Jets doubled their scripted output — 24 plays instead of 12 — and finished with a minute to spare.

“It keeps us in shape,” said Mark Sanchez, who was speaking only for himself.

Many of his receivers have struggled to sustain the pace that Sparano and Ryan expect, falling victim to hamstring and groin injuries caused by what Ryan indicated was a lack of conditioning. Of the 12 receivers in camp, a largely young and inexperienced group, only five practiced Thursday.

They rehabilitate on the fringes of the field, far from where Muhammad Wilkerson, a dynamo all camp, upended Shonn Greene in the backfield; where all the offensive players — as in, all of them — chased Antonio Allen after his interception; and where two brief skirmishes erupted, including one between two of the three heaviest players on the team: the 333-pound Austin Howard, a backup offensive tackle, and the 350-pound Damon Harrison, a defensive lineman called “the wrecking ball” by Ryan.

It was, to be fair, a loose approximation of a scrap — much like the so-called quarterback competition. The intensity with which Tebow’s every sneeze has been chronicled has been a subject of teasing from teammates, including Sanchez, who compared it to “a cult following” and wondered if “the Grateful Dead are playing here or something.”

Perhaps wistfully, Sanchez said there are other teams in the N.F.L. besides the Jets and the Broncos, whose signing of Peyton Manning displaced Tebow. But none seem to fascinate President Obama, who became the most prominent person to share his opinion on the Jets’ quarterback situation. In a call-in appearance on WBNS-FM in Columbus, Ohio, the president said, “There’s going to be a lot of tension,” and, “If I was a Jets fan, I’d be pretty nervous.”

Had the president watched practice Thursday, he might reconsider. “Obviously, this was his best day of camp,” Ryan said of Tebow. Or maybe not. Sanchez performed well, throwing the ball with conviction. But when Tebow dropped back to pass, an annoying sound — like a smoke alarm with dying batteries — pierced the humid air. It signified that Tebow had held onto the ball too long.

He held onto it just fine, though, on the bootleg he executed to perfection. Standing at about the 10-yard line, Sanchez raised his arms, signaling touchdown, and he held the pose longer than Tebow’s throwing motion. When Tebow ran over, Sanchez slapped his hand and tapped him on the helmet. Then Tebow returned to the line of scrimmage. He was running.

[sh4dy15]

Love this! This is when Sanchez is at his best, hurrying up and not over-thinking. I like what I hear so far in how Sparano is running this offense. They seem to be using Tebow in the way he should be used too. Maybe they can actually pull this off and make it work but I don't think we'll know until 4+ games into season.

Now if only the receivers could keep up in practice...

[Ranick10]

I love the tempo. I think that's something that can really pay off when the regular season starts.

[JiFtheOracle]

I think Sparano is going to be a great fit here...I really do. Jaws was reporting yesterday that the offense is really aggressive, lots of first down throws, lots of play action and down field throws. Some surprise play actions on 3rd and short going for it all instead of moving the chains (god its going to be refreshing to see receivers actually running past the 1st down marker on 3rd).

Tempo, pace and speed. All the things of the offense lacked. I'm pretty optimistic about this offense.

[sh4dy15]

I think Sparano is going to be a great fit here...I really do. Jaws was reporting yesterday that the offense is really aggressive, lots of first down throws, lots of play action and down field throws. Some surprise play actions on 3rd and short going for it all instead of moving the chains (god its going to be refreshing to see receivers actually running past the 1st down marker on 3rd).

Tempo, pace and speed. All the things of the offense lacked. I'm pretty optimistic about this offense.

So am I! And I couldn't agree more about the 3rd downs....no more watching Schotty call a play that calls for a 5 yard route on 3rd and 8.

[whodeawhodat]

I have thought on more than one occasion since we have had sanchez as our QB that we needed to speed it up for him. Go out there and play, not let him try to be perfect. You can see him overthink out there. Instead of hoping that he can think faster, just force him to make quick decisions and let his football IQ and instincts take over. I think we will be alright.

[LionelRichie]

Tempo is great.....as long as they are moving the ball. If not, it's just a faster 3 and out and more time on the field for the D.

[Bleedin Green]

What might be best of all that you guys are overlooking, given this increased tempo, it seems like we won't need to see Sanchez screaming at the sideline for a playcall with only 10 seconds on the play clock, finally see them get up to the line, then watch the FB run in circles for a while before Sanchez has to burn a timeout because there's no time to get the play off.

[Ranick10]

What might be best of all that you guys are overlooking, given this increased tempo, it seems like we won't need to see Sanchez screaming at the sideline for a playcall with only 10 seconds on the play clock, finally see them get up to the line, then watch the FB run in circles for a while before Sanchez has to burn a timeout because there's no time to get the play off.

Sanchez always performed better when he doesn't think. The increased tempo will help with that.

[sh4dy15]

What might be best of all that you guys are overlooking, given this increased tempo, it seems like we won't need to see Sanchez screaming at the sideline for a playcall with only 10 seconds on the play clock, finally see them get up to the line, then watch the FB run in circles for a while before Sanchez has to burn a timeout because there's no time to get the play off.

Haha Ugh! So frustrating. I know its easy to blame the OC but damn he sucked. So many times you would see Sanchez looking over there yelling at Schotty for a play.

I forget what game it was but I know we actually started a game with a delay of game penalty once.

[THE ILK]

Red light, Green light, 123?

[Integrity28]

I think Sparano is going to be a great fit here...I really do. Jaws was reporting yesterday that the offense is really aggressive, lots of first down throws, lots of play action and down field throws. Some surprise play actions on 3rd and short going for it all instead of moving the chains (god its going to be refreshing to see receivers actually running past the 1st down marker on 3rd).

Tempo, pace and speed. All the things of the offense lacked. I'm pretty optimistic about this offense.

Me too. My optimism started from day one with this guy... these articles are just confirmation of the assumptions I made about why he got hired.

[#27TheDominator]

Tempo is great.....as long as they are moving the ball. If not, it's just a faster 3 and out and more time on the field for the D.

+1

This is a defensive team that wants to "ground and pound" and eat clock. I like the idea that they will be able to run a fast tempo and catch defenses off guard, but I still expect them to take their time with the clock. I know the problems were all Schotty's fault, but I seem to remember Pennington lining up early and running QB draws before the D was prepared or having a quick snap count that caused us to benefit from defenses being offsides or having too many men on the field.

[JiFtheOracle]

+1

This is a defensive team that wants to "ground and pound" and eat clock. I like the idea that they will be able to run a fast tempo and catch defenses off guard, but I still expect them to take their time with the clock. I know the problems were all Schotty's fault, but I seem to remember Pennington lining up early and running QB draws before the D was prepared or having a quick snap count that caused us to benefit from defenses being offsides or having too many men on the field.

I recall Sanchez doing similar things will little success...

[GREENBEAN]

Tempo is great.....as long as they are moving the ball. If not, it's just a faster 3 and out and more time on the field for the D.

Bummer. You're just tired from the new addition to your family.

[GREENBEAN]

+1

This is a defensive team that wants to "ground and pound" and eat clock. I like the idea that they will be able to run a fast tempo and catch defenses off guard, but I still expect them to take their time with the clock. I know the problems were all Schotty's fault, but I seem to remember Pennington lining up early and running QB draws before the D was prepared or having a quick snap count that caused us to benefit from defenses being offsides or having too many men on the field.

Honestly I don't see a problem with running at the D in a fast paced manner. If it's passing, fine, but I could see a benefit of hitting a huffing and puffing D with 4-5 yard runs all day too. That type of thing tires a D out and gets them on their heels. At this time it seems like a good mix of what I want to hear which is an aggressive mentality, eating clock with long drives and trying to score. Imagine that? Actually trying to outscore the other team and get them playing a one dimensional passing catch up game might be nice for a change. Especially if we're planning on getting to the QB more this season.

[#27TheDominator]

Honestly I don't see a problem with running at the D in a fast paced manner. If it's passing, fine, but I could see a benefit of hitting a huffing and puffing D with 4-5 yard runs all day too. That type of thing tires a D out and gets them on their heels. At this time it seems like a good mix of what I want to hear which is an aggressive mentality, eating clock with long drives and trying to score. Imagine that? Actually trying to outscore the other team and get them playing a one dimensional passing catch up game might be nice for a change. Especially if we're planning on getting to the QB more this season.

That's fine, but you outscore the other team by scoring more points than they do. It's not a contest to score as many points as possible. This team is not constructed to win a shoot-out.

[#27TheDominator]

I recall Sanchez doing similar things will little success...

How does an offense unsuccessfully get encroachment or defensive 12 men on the field penalties?

[SayNoToDMC]

I still have no idea if he knows how to call a game but this is a nice culture change from Schotty and it's not like he knew how what he was doing either

[RutgersJetFan]

Actually pretty encouraging. One thing I can say about Sanchez is that he's always seemed to do much better when the offense was moving faster with less motion and he didn't have time to over-think things. In the times where he would get in to a groove it was usually when they picked up the pace. That always seemed to be something that Schott never really caught on to or adjusted for.

[GREENBEAN]

That's fine, but you outscore the other team by scoring more points than they do. It's not a contest to score as many points as possible. This team is not constructed to win a shoot-out.

Who's talking about a shoot out? Controlling the ball aggressively and ending up scoring is a great situation for the Defense to be in. I don't think our opinions are that far off, but I don't see how keeping the opposing D on thir heels by being as agressive and fast paced as posssible could be a bad thing.

[RutgersJetFan]

Who's talking about a shoot out? Controlling the ball aggressively and ending up scoring is a great situation for the Defense to be in. I don't think our opinions are that far off, but I don't see how keeping the opposing D on thir heels by being as agressive and fast paced as posssible could be a bad thing.

It's a risk vs reward thing. The problem is Sanchez-led offenses turn the ball over. A lot. Meaning if Sparano and Sanchez can't cut those down, we're turning the ball over faster. One thing I can say about the ground and pound years is that our conventional stats matched up well with our efficiency numbers. Last year? Not so much. Our efficiency numbers actually jumped from '10, but we were giving up something like 3 or 4 more points a game.

[Bugg]

It has to be better because it couldn't be worse. Pretty clear Schitty's play calls took for ever, along with loads of pointless motion that fooled nobody. And in the 2 minute seemed like the entire offense was waiting for the play call.

[LionelRichie]

It has to be better because it couldn't be worse. Pretty clear Schitty's play calls took for ever, along with loads of pointless motion that fooled nobody. And in the 2 minute seemed like the entire offense was waiting for the play call.

I'm pretty sure the Jets came out no huddle vs. NE last year ran 3 quick plays and punted, ran 3 quick plays and punted.

Tempo is great but it always comes down to execution. This isn't the Spurrier Gators where you are going to fool a whole lot of people with trickeration. It all comes down to executing the plays that are called. If they do it in 30 seconds or 18 seconds I really couldn't care less as long as they can move the freaking football.

The real takeaway from this is that Sparano is a hard-ass who demands effort. Of course so was Mangini....

[stoicsentry]

Worried about quicker 3 and outs.

[GREENBEAN]

It's a risk vs reward thing. The problem is Sanchez-led offenses turn the ball over. A lot. Meaning if Sparano and Sanchez can't cut those down, we're turning the ball over faster. One thing I can say about the ground and pound years is that our conventional stats matched up well with our efficiency numbers. Last year? Not so much. Our efficiency numbers actually jumped from '10, but we were giving up something like 3 or 4 more points a game.

Fair enough, but we can still be a run first team while being fast paced. Actually that design may lend itself better to the "chunk" plays they have been talking about too. Running the ball essentially nets shorter gains than the passing game obviously so running the plays quicker and calling runs more than pass plays can still have the up tempo while still eating clock. Not quite as much as if they wait till the last second to snap every time of course, but you can't have everything. I would opt for tiring out the D and pounding them in the chops while losing a little of how much they eat of the clock rather than concentrating on how much time we consume at the risk of letting the D catch their wind and settle. Does that make any sense?

[RutgersJetFan]

Fair enough, but we can still be a run first team while being fast paced. Actually that design may lend itself better to the "chunk" plays they have been talking about too. Running the ball essentially nets shorter gains than the passing game obviously so running the plays quicker and calling runs more than pass plays can still have the up tempo while still eating clock. Not quite as much as if they wait till the last second to snap every time of course, but you can't have everything. I would opt for tiring out the D and pounding them in the chops while losing a little of how much they eat of the clock rather than concentrating on how much time we consume at the risk of letting the D catch their wind and settle. Does that make any sense?

In theory, yes, but practically probably not. You don't see many offenses keeping it mostly on the ground moving at high paces. It's generally either one or the other. Switching backs in and out takes time and you can't put that heavy of a burden on your line physically. More importantly, everything with the offense this year is going to be centered around not turning the ball over. There are going to be weeks where the defense has an off day, (i.e. the Oakland or Philly games from last year). Games like that, pounding the opposing defense and keeping the game on the ground becomes a non-option. You have to at least try to play to Sanchez's strengths and put him in a position to succeed from them.

[T0mShane]

I think the Holmes-Sparano-Rex dynamic is going to be a great watch all year. I was interested to see how Holmes was going to react to Rex finally making a semi-negative comment about him ("if I wanted to hire him as a OC, I would've..."). I believe that comment coincided with Santonio coming up with the mysterious soft-tissue problems that have kept him out of practice ever since. Bears watching, IMO.

[RutgersJetFan]

I think the Holmes-Sparano-Rex dynamic is going to be a great watch all year. I was interested to see how Holmes was going to react to Rex finally making a semi-negative comment about him ("if I wanted to hire him as a OC, I would've..."). I believe that comment coincided with Santonio coming up with the mysterious soft-tissue problems that have kept him out of practice ever since. Bears watching, IMO.

EXACTLY. And then Mayweather got released from prison early last night on the hush ON THE SAME DAY that Cromartie said his thing with Schillens was a "non-issue." Coincidence? COINCIDENCE??? Only if you're blind.

[T0mShane]

EXACTLY. And then Mayweather got released from prison early last night on the hush ON THE SAME DAY that Cromartie said his thing with Schillens was a "non-issue." Coincidence? COINCIDENCE??? Only if you're blind.

You're a detective now. You're not allowed to believe in coincidences.

[RutgersJetFan]

You're a detective now. You're not allowed to believe in coincidences.

AND IT WAS RUSSIAN PARATROOPER DAY.

[SenorGato]

So the new buzz word this year is: Tempo.

As in:

With Sparano's steely glare and hearty bellows, the newly designed routes on offense will be playcalled so as to allow for a quick tempo offense.

[Vicious89x]

So the new buzz word this year is: Tempo.

As in:

With Sparano's steely glare and hearty bellows, the newly designed routes on offense will be playcalled so as to allow for a quick tempo offense.

Body language.

[SenorGato]

Body language.

It's amazing the amount of things that have to be perfectly coordinated to have a good football team of football players.

[Vicious89x]

It's amazing the amount of things that have to be perfectly coordinated to have a good football team of football players.

Character