An Actual Good Article from Manish Mehta?

[JoeKlecko]

Geno Smith prepared to take over NY Jets offense

Smith realizes that he must sharpen his footwork and improve basic principles such as his seven-step drops and play-action from under center, but it’s not overwhelming for him.

Comments (8)

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, July 31, 2013, 11:23 PM

 

Geno Smith, even as a rookie, has a real chance of beating out Mark Sanchez to be Gang Green's starting quarterback in Week 1.

 

 

CORTLAND — Geno Smith never quite mastered the pre-snap shaky arms, frenetic pirouettes or gratuitous finger pointing in college, but he has a lot more in common with Peyton Manning than you know.

Although West Virginia’s spread offense doesn’t directly correlate to the NFL, the system strengthened Smith’s spatial-reasoning skills and gave him the freedom to put his imprint on each play.

It’s why the rookie has a real chance of beating out Mark Sanchez to be the Jets’ starting quarterback in Week 1.

Smith didn’t have a playbook in two years in Dana Holgorsen’s system. No pamphlet. Not even a piece of paper.

He learned by watching video cut-ups of the next week’s opponents, taking copious notes to reinforce the visuals and practicing the 15 core concepts (seven pass plays, four screens and four run plays) of the offense.

 

Holgorsen and Smith’s quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital ran about 10 formations out of those core plays. The rest was up to Smith, who had the freedom to channel his inner Manning and improvise whenever he saw fit.

“He had free rein to check in and out of plays based on the look defenses gave him,” said Spavital, who is now the co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Texas A&M. “We put a lot of pressure on him.”

Spavital said that Smith checked out of as many as 80% of called plays in any given game, an astounding total in an era of control-freak coordinators. Smith called an audible on about 50% of the plays in his 656-yard, eight-touchdown performance against Baylor last September.

His ability to correctly decipher pre-snap looks and check to the right play call in college gives him an advantage over most rookie quarterbacks confined by the script.

Smith faced plenty of exotic defensive looks since most teams played third-down personnel against West Virginia’s no tight-end, spread formations.

 

Holgorsen’s style of teaching tested his quarterback’s ability to mentally visualize principles during the week.

At first, it was a shock to Smith’s system, but it improved his study habits and note-taking skills. It ultimately sped up his ability to make site adjustments on game days, which will serve him well with the Jets.

“If it wasn’t the right play, then I would check out of it,” Smith said. “If we called a run play to the left and we got (overloaded defenders) on the left, I’d either check a run to the right or throw a quick screen to the left or check into a pass play and get it blocked up on the left. So we had three options.”

Before long, Smith was proficient with the “freeze call,” a bluff at the line of scrimmage that baited defenses to tip their hands.

 

 

 

 

He had a very good feel of knowing the situation and a good understanding of what we were capable of doing,” Spavital said. “He had a good feel of how the offensive line was working that game. There were times when we couldn’t get a yard running the ball, so Geno would try to get the ball on the perimeter.”

 

 

Smith was heavily involved in the weekly game-plan installations starting on Saturday nights when he reviewed tape of the game he had just played with Spavital. Sometimes, they’d get a head start on the next opponent before leaving the football offices around midnight.

 

On Sundays, Smith watched video of opponents’ base blitzes and down-and-distance tendencies. On Mondays, Smith and Spavital bounced ideas off each other via text in between the quarterback’s classes before the final game-plan was formulated on Tuesday.

 

Smith downloaded the opponents’ defensive blitz and third-down tendencies on his iPad, which also included every offensive play that Holgorsen ran in his previous stops at Houston and Oklahoma State.

 

“I had every single play from the Patriots, who (had) elements of our system,” Smith said. “I had every single play that Sean Payton ran with Drew Brees. Aaron Rodgers plays, too. That thing is just filled with tape.”  Smith’s transition back to a more conventional learning process includes grasping Marty Mornhinweg’s playbook, which is as “thick as a dictionary,” the rookie admits.

 

 

The quarterback’s favorite word is “repetition” when asked how he simplifies seemingly complex principles.

“I don’t think it could get complicated enough for him to not comprehend it,” West Virginia offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “He’ll do as much studying and film study for him to learn it.”  Smith spent the five weeks after minicamp testing himself with written quizzes that Jets quarterbacks coach David Lee administered this offseason to prepare himself for the competition.  “I was able to Xerox a couple of those off and take them home and continued to do the quizzes over and over,” Smith said. “Grade myself. What I got wrong, what I got right. Then do it again. Keep grading myself until I get 100%.”

Rex Ryan admitted that the rookie needs to make quicker decisions in the pocket. Smith realizes that he also must sharpen his footwork and improve basic principles such as his seven-step drops and play-action from under center, but it’s not overwhelming for him.

 

“It’s just about studying it,” Smith said. “The first couple times I did it, I went out on the practice field and retained it pretty well, but it wasn’t as good as I am now. It won’t be as good as I am next year or the year after that.”

He’s more ready than you think.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/mehta-smith-prepared-jet-offense-article-1.1414368

[JoeKlecko]

Here's a second.  OMG!  What's going on?

 

Rex Ryan counting on young NY Jets leaders

Ryan will turn to veteran leaders Nick Mangold, Antonio Cromartie, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and David Harris to set the course, but it’ll be critical to infuse younger voices.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

 

Wednesday, July 31, 2013, 12:21 AM

 

Second-year linebacker DeMario Davis emerges as one of the new breed of leaders.

 

CORTLAND — Rex Ryan may not need divine intervention to reverse the Jets’ recent misfortune, but he’ll certainly have to lean on emerging young leaders to help guide a franchise that underwent a radical makeover this offseason.

 

The Jets replaced 11 starters, including respected veterans Darrelle Revis, Brandon Moore, Mike DeVito and Sione Po’uha, and half of the coaching staff.  “We might not have the best quarterback, we might not have the best receiver,” Ryan said, “The best this, the best that, but each game we head out there, if we have the best team, we’ll win. We’re going to have to go above and beyond. It’s going to take that brotherhood. That’s what we got to cultivate here.”

 

Ryan will turn to veteran leaders Nick Mangold, Antonio Cromartie, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and David Harris to set the course, but it’ll be critical to infuse younger voices.  “You’re going to have young guys that you need to step up,” Mangold said. “You can’t run a dictatorship.”

 

Second-year linebacker DeMario Davis emerged as one of the new breed of leaders as an unheralded rookie. Third-year running back Bilal Powell is probably the most influential offensive player nobody knows about. Second-year defensive end/outside linebacker Quinton Coples used Ryan’s offseason reprimand as fuel to take a leadership role.

 

“Leadership is happening in a magnificent way,” Davis said. “It had to be there at one time when the Jets were going to the AFC Championship. For whatever reason, it kind of fell off. There was a little bit of a lack of leadership last year. But now you have guys that are taking ownership of the team.”

Davis, Powell and Coples are at the forefront, three distinctly different personalities with a common goal to build a new tradition.

 

Second-year defensive end/outside linebacker Quinton Coples uses Rex Ryan’s offseason reprimand as fuel to take a leadership role.

Davis may have played in only 315 defensive snaps last season, but his limited role didn’t preclude him from speaking up as a rookie. He addressed the team one day in training camp last year and again before its Monday night game against the Texans in Week 5. The Jets were coming off an embarrassing 34-0 loss to the 49ers at home a week earlier. Although Davis was used sparingly up to that point, he didn’t hesitate to speak up.

 

“A leader doesn’t wait,” Davis said. “I’ve always looked at myself as a leader. If you don’t have leadership, you have no direction . . . or you have a thousand people going in different directions. It’s up to the leaders to pull everybody in that same direction.”

 

Ryan, who likened Davis’ leadership traits to those of future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, wasn’t surprised by the linebacker’s decision to address the team.

“He felt in his heart that it was appropriate,” Ryan said. “I’ll tell you what: Guys listened.”  Davis knows that on-field production will bolster his credibility, but his character earned him instant respect among his peers.  “A big part of it is not just doing what you do on the field, but guys being able to trust that you’ll take care of your business off the field,” said Davis, a devout Christian, who is married. “Guys know my character. They would be shocked if I got into some trouble off the field. . . . That creates a respect for you.”

 

Although Davis is only 24, teammates routinely seek him out for counsel.  “There’s a lot of off-the-field things that you can come to him with,” said safety Josh Bush. “If you have problems that you need guidance on, you can talk to DeMario about that. That’s going to help you in life. If your life is right, then you’ll play better on the field.”

 

Third-year running back Bilal Powell (r.) might be the most influential offensive player nobody knows about.

Powell’s voice rarely rises above a whisper, but veterans have taken notice of the young running back’s preparation and work ethic.

“When guys watch him on the field, they respect the way he plays the game,” said assistant head coach Anthony Lynn, who’s in charge of running backs. “When we’re in the meeting rooms, you hear guys talk about the way he steps up and picks up the blitzing linebacker or the way he finishes runs or how he rarely makes a mistake. Guys expect that from him now. Bilal is helping set the standard in the offensive meeting room.”

 

The uncertainty surrounding Mike Goodson, who is mired in legal and personal issues, furthers Powell’s value.  “I’m not looking for a slap on the back,” Powell said. “I take my job seriously and go hard every day. I’m not really the guy to step in the middle of the huddle and go, ‘Whoo-rah!’ and push the other guys around. The way I prepare and the way I go about my business, I think that’s the way I’m a leader.”  “You could say one thing and do another,” he added. “But when you do it, you get everybody else around you seeing what you’re doing. That’s when everybody starts to believe.”

 

Coples may be a “class clown,” as defensive line coach Karl Dunbar points out, but he learned a valuable lesson this offseason that has helped him realize the importance of leading by example. Ryan publicly chided Coples for slacking off in the weight room, which hit home.  “It’s part of my job that I make sure I get people going and hold everyone accountable,” Coples said of being a leader. “And hold myself accountable as well.”

Ryan hopes that the blend of veteran and young leadership will keep his team together when it experiences turbulence. There’s no minimum age requirement or limit to the number of players who can set the path.

 

“People generally know what’s right,” Davis said. “Leaders do what’s right. If you do what’s right, people will follow.”

 

[Stonehands]

_{Those were two great articles from this week, for sure.}

[Maxman]

Manish is a bit biased in my opinion.  He seems to want Geno to win the job.  He seemed to be fascinated with Tebow last year.

[T0mShane]

I'd just like to point out that this positive Manish Mehta article has been up for 16 hours and has drawn three responses.

[dbatesman]

I'd just like to point out that this positive Manish Mehta article has been up for 16 hours and has drawn three responses.

EVIL.

[jetsjetsjetss]

good article= when he says something good about jets

 

bad article = when he trashes jets

[Bleedin Green]

I read the thread title and thought to myself, "seems unlikely".  But I'll be damned, would you look at that.

[Bleedin Green]

I'd just like to point out that this positive Manish Mehta article has been up for 16 hours and has drawn three responses.

 

Well if there's nothing to argue about, what's the fun in that?

[JoeKlecko]

I'd just like to point out that this positive Manish Mehta article has been up for 16 hours and has drawn three responses.

 

Exactly!!!  I think both articles are positive, informative, interesting, and even somewhat insightful, and yet  no responses.  Maybe once people saw that they were Manish articles they didn't even bother to read them.

[Smashmouth]

In the second Article Rex mentions 4 leaders that need to step up. We have to be one of the only teams in the NFL where the QB is not even mentioned in that conversation, leadership. I think this is what Mehta was pushing with out even having to write his name and rightfully so.