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Mehta: Idzik's Terrible Start May be end for Rex


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NY Jets GM John Idzik's terrible start may be end for Rex Ryan The early returns on Idzik’s personnel evaluation skills are not good. His honeymoon officially ended 3 minutes, 49 seconds in the preseason opener when Mark Sanchez added to his ever-growing Pick-6 collection. The Jets were supposed to bring in a veteran quarterback this offseason to hold the fort before Geno Smith was ready to take over. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, August 10, 2013, 9:36 PM

 

 
 
 
 

 

jets-rookies-football.jpg Bill Kostroun/AP  

John Idzik (l.) and Rex Ryan seemed to be enjoying minicamp back in the spring but most of new GM’s moves have backfired, leaving Jets coach short on talented players.

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DETROIT — John Idzik stood in the losing locker room on Friday night as the man he hung out to dry spoke in somber tones about a team destined for irrelevance this season.

 

Rex Ryan showed no visible signs of anger after the Jets’ 26-17 preseason-opening loss to the Lions as he reviewed all the “self-inflicted things” such as turnovers and penalties that killed his team.

“Obviously,” Ryan said, “We’ve got to do a heck of a lot of improving.”

 

Ryan has decided to absorb the blame and criticism sure to come his way even though his general manager has done nothing to help his cause.

 

Idzik was immediately embraced by a fan base disillusioned by the previous regime that repeatedly doled out bad contracts. Although Idzik’s resume was very similar to his predecessor, he was packaged as a “football guy” whose personnel evaluation would set him apart from Mike Tannenbaum.

 

It was a narrative steeped in fiction.

 

The early returns on Idzik’s personnel evaluation skills are not good.

 

His honeymoon officially ended 3 minutes, 49 seconds into the preseason opener when Mark Sanchez added to his ever-growing Pick-6 collection. The Jets were supposed to bring in a veteran quarterback this offseason to hold the fort before Geno Smith, who suffered a mild ankle sprain in the preseason opener, was ready to take over

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Idzik had a handful of serviceable options, but he went on the cheap and took an unnecessary gamble on David Garrard.

 

RELATED: GENO INJURES ANKLE IN JETS PRESEASON LOSS TO LIONS

 

He could have signed Matt Hasselbeck — who would have been an ideal mentor for Smith — Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Cassel, Tarvaris Jackson or Brady Quinn this offseason. He could have given up a 2014 fifth-round pick and 2015 conditional pick for Matt Flynn like the Raiders did.

 

Although none of those quarterbacks is a franchise changer, it would have been a welcomed change from Sanchez, who’s already drawn the ire of a frustrated fan base.

 

Instead, he went with a 35-year-old quarterback who hadn’t played a game in two seasons.

 

Garrard, not surprisingly, didn’t even make it to training camp due to his troublesome knees, leaving Ryan with the unenviable task of giving the same murky answers surrounding the mistake-prone Sanchez.

aptopix-jets-lions-football.jpg Duane Burleson/AP Kellen Winslow (r.), plagued by knee issues in recent years, has been John Idzik’s best off-season acquisition.

Although Ryan’s admission after the first preseason game that he was so engrossed with the defense that he didn’t get a chance to watch Sanchez or Smith play grabbed headlines, the real issue is that his GM didn’t fortify the position with another veteran.

 

Idzik’s missteps don’t end there.

 

His decision to sign running back Mike Goodson to a three-year, $6.9 million deal at the beginning of free agency has been an epic flop.

 

Goodson, dealing with legal issues stemming from an offseason arrest on drugs and weapons charges, has been the Jets’ own personal Waldo, nowhere to be found through the first two weeks of training camp. Idzik won’t say where Goodson is or when/if he’ll ever come back.

 

It was an embarrassing transaction for the first-time GM.

 

RELATED: MEHTA: SANCHEZ SETS TONE WITH BRUTAL PICK-6

 

Idzik’s draft-day trade for Chris Ivory, who was expected to be the No. 1 running back, hasn’t worked out yet, either, leaving Ryan and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg with a depleted backfield.

 

Ivory, who has a history of injuries, has missed the first two weeks of practice and the first preseason game due to hamstring tightness.

 

John Griffin’s fractured leg in the preseason opener leaves the Jets with one dependable running back, Bilal Powell. Career underachiever Joe McKnight is as reliable as your local meteorologist.

 

Idzik threw a couple Hail Marys with Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards. Winslow, plagued by knee issues in recent years, has been Idzik’s best offseason acquisition.

 

However, the general manager did a poor job not finding a quality wide receiver to mitigate the loss of Santonio Holmes, whose timetable for a return from a severe foot injury is unknown.

 

Idzik’s stubbornness will preclude him from admitting these mistakes, but it all spells trouble for Ryan, who is left to defend a team that even Bill Belichick couldn’t win with.

 

Ryan’s future beyond this season remains in doubt. He’ll keep his job if the Jets show improvement from their six-win disaster a year ago. But how realistic is that?

 

His new boss didn’t exactly stack the roster to help him out.

Twitter.com/MMehtaNYDN

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/mehta-idzik-terrible-start-ryan-article-1.1423517#ixzz2bfBH1PBo

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Mehta is trolling here again. He knows full well that Idzik's goal isn't to bail Rex Ryan out in 2013, it's to get the team ready to compete by 2015-2016. Mehta also willfully forgets that Idzik had zero dollars to spend on the Hasselbacks and Flynns of the world because the previous regime (including Rex) doled out huge thank-you deals to losers like Holmes and Sanchez. Yes, you can hit Idzik for Goodson and Garrard, but neither guy was going to be an integral piece moving forward anyway.

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This is a joke right? An Onion article?....Mehta is bad, the worst of the worst media clowns in New York but even he didn't actually publish an article calling for a GM's head after the first preseason game did he?

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He makes some great points. Idzik is getting an F so far for his pick ups. Pittsburgh and New England find weapons cheap, why can't Idzik?

Brady Quinn is Sanchez-level bad. Hasselback got $4 mil. Flynn got 2 years/$11.5 mil. Idzik wasn't going to throw more money at the position. It's just a bad, bad job by Manish here.

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Brady Quinn is Sanchez-level bad. Hasselback got $4 mil. Flynn got 2 years/$11.5 mil. Idzik wasn't going to throw more money at the position. It's just a bad, bad job by Manish here.

 

 

If Bradway picked up Mike Goodson, and was relying on Kellen Winslow to be our TE, you would be killing him. 

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If Bradway picked up Mike Goodson, and was relying on Kellen Winslow to be our TE, you would be killing him.

That's fair, but only because Tannenbaum had lost the benefit of the doubt and Idzik still has it. Idzik has shredded the roster and patched it up with stopgaps like Winslow, Braylon, and Willie Colon. Goodson and Ivory were brought in to be a part of a running back rotation and it's too early to kill Idzik on either yet; Goodson should be back after rehab and Ivory is dinged up. Garrard just pulled the string on this team by choosing not to play anymore. I don't know if it's fair to kill Idzik for that, either. Bottom line is that Idzik's philosophical approach was to let the ship sink this year, clear the decks, and start fresh next year with Geno, Milliner, Richardson, Winters, Wilkerson, Mangold, and Brick as his core. If Smith can develop, that's a nice group to start a rebuild around. Tannenbaum is the guy who would go trade for Flynn and Percy Harvin and pay Revis in an effort to make a six-win roster into an eight-win roster, even at the cost of burning the payroll through 2016.

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That's fair, but only because Tannenbaum had lost the benefit of the doubt and Idzik still has it. Idzik has shredded the roster and patched it up with stopgaps like Winslow, Braylon, and Willie Colon. Goodson and Ivory were brought in to be a part of a running back rotation and it's too early to kill Idzik on either yet; Goodson should be back after rehab and Ivory is dinged up. Garrard just pulled the string on this team by choosing not to play anymore. I don't know if it's fair to kill Idzik for that, either. Bottom line is that Idzik's philosophical approach was to let the ship sink this year, clear the decks, and start fresh next year with Geno, Milliner, Richardson, Winters, Wilkerson, Mangold, and Brick as his core. If Smith can develop, that's a nice group to start a rebuild around. Tannenbaum is the guy who would go trade for Flynn and Percy Harvin and pay Revis in an effort to make a six-win roster into an eight-win roster, even at the cost of burning the payroll through 2016.

 

The money thing is an issue, I understand. But Pittsburgh doesn't spend money, and still finds playmakers. And the Jets did have some money after Revis was gone. All offensive lineman late in the draft? All I'm saying is there are some valid points in this article. Idzik isn't anymore of a personel guy then Tannenbaum was and its showing so far, thats all I'm saying.

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The money thing is an issue, I understand. But Pittsburgh doesn't spend money, and still finds playmakers. And the Jets did have some money after Revis was gone. All offensive lineman late in the draft? All I'm saying is there are some valid points in this article. Idzik isn't anymore of a personel guy then Tannenbaum was and its showing so far, thats all I'm saying.

Milliner, Richardson, and Brian Winters are all old-school players who live to play football and who each can be very good players at those positions. Geno Smith is a wild card, but if he develops, they might have their QB for a decade. I agree that I would have liked to see TEs and WRs brought in during the draft, but I think the fact that none were brought in points to the idea that Idzik views this as a two/three year fix. He could have run out and tried to find better options at those positions, but he wasn't going to burn a nickel in future money to eke out an extra win this year. All in all, I don't disagree with Mehta's premise--that Idzik f*cked Rex--I just disagree with Mehta's conclusion that f*cking Rex wasn't 1. Intentional and 2. The right move.

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Brady Quinn is Sanchez-level bad. Hasselback got $4 mil. Flynn got 2 years/$11.5 mil. Idzik wasn't going to throw more money at the position. It's just a bad, bad job by Manish here.

Exactly.

 

Idzik did a bad job in banking on Garrard's knees, but none of the QBs Manish mentions fit the stop-gap role that Idzik needs until Geno is ready.  That's elementary and surprised Manish overlooked that.

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Milliner, Richardson, and Brian Winters are all old-school players who live to play football and who each can be very good players at those positions. Geno Smith is a wild card, but if he develops, they might have their QB for a decade. I agree that I would have liked to see TEs and WRs brought in during the draft, but I think the fact that none were brought in points to the idea that Idzik views this as a two/three year fix. He could have run out and tried to find better options at those positions, but he wasn't going to burn a nickel in future money to eke out an extra win this year. All in all, I don't disagree with Mehta's premise--that Idzik f*cked Rex--I just disagree with Mehta's conclusion that f*cking Rex wasn't 1. Intentional and 2. The right move.

 

Anyone with a Pro Football magazine could have made those picks. I don't think he tried to f*ck Rex either. Its just that I have my doubts about Idzik's ability. Like the article said Goodson was historically bad in terms of free agent signings that received a signing bonus. 

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Teams that have good QBs can do that.

 

I can't think of any team that has god-awful QB play that finds cheap weapons.

 

Pittsburgh found weapons with Tommy Maddux at QB. Ben isn't Peyton Manning, he is a good QB - but cmon dude. 

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All in all, I don't disagree with Mehta's premise--that Idzik f*cked Rex--I just disagree with Mehta's conclusion that f*cking Rex wasn't 1. Intentional and 2. The right move.

Manish also ignores the possibility that that was Idzik's intention

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Pittsburgh found weapons with Tommy Maddux at QB. Ben isn't Peyton Manning, he is a good QB - but cmon dude. 

Steelers also went 6-10 with Tommy Maddox which led to them drafting Ben.

 

And you don't have to be Peyton to have an affect on roster.  Simple good QB play affects everything. 

As to your overall point about Idzik's ability, there should be questions about it. So there's no argument there. 

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Brady Quinn is Sanchez-level bad. Hasselback got $4 mil. Flynn got 2 years/$11.5 mil. Idzik wasn't going to throw more money at the position. It's just a bad, bad job by Manish here.

Jason Campbell signed for two years, $3.75M. Tarvaris Jackson signed a one year, $840k deal. These guys may not be ideal, either, but they're cheap and made it all the way to training camp.

RB is a position that should be filled thru the draft, but Idzik instead traded a fourth and spent over $12M on two RBs who haven't practiced yet. These guys weren't supposed to be stop-gaps, they were supposed to be the 1-2 punch for the next few years.

His draft looks decent on paper, but that was largely put together buy some front office people who have since been let go.

Tanny sucked, but so far I'm only luke warm on the new guy.

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This would be the equivalent of killing Sandy Alderson for bringing in Shaun Marcum and Rick Ankiel

 

 

Dude! Our season would be some much better if we had a real OF instead of Cowgill Ankiel & the other lumps of sh!t!  And if we had another decent pitcher we'd be in the wildcard dude!  f#ck Sandy!

 

 

:-D

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Jason Campbell signed for two years, $3.75M. Tarvaris Jackson signed a one year, $840k deal. These guys may not be ideal, either, but they're cheap and made it all the way to training camp.

RB is a position that should be filled thru the draft, but Idzik instead traded a fourth and spent over $12M on two RBs who haven't practiced yet. These guys weren't supposed to be stop-gaps, they were supposed to be the 1-2 punch for the next few years.

His draft looks decent on paper, but that was largely put together buy some front office people who have since been let go.

Tanny sucked, but so far I'm only luke warm on the new guy.

Ivory and Goodson combine to make $4 mil per for three years. If they combine for 1000 yards, that's a bargain. I'm not in love with either player, and I wouldn't have invested in them, but together they're a minimal investment.

Campbell is the guy I wanted the last three years, but given the purpose of what Idzik was looking for (one year stopgap), Garrard would have been the perfect guy for that duty. I think Idzik wanted to get to Ground Zero with this roster, and he'll have gotten there by next February by dumping Sanchez, Holmes, and Cromartie. I think every move he's made so far points to not caring if the team wins more than three games this year. He's a businessman, and businessman aren't averse to scorching the earth.

The negative I see with Idzik so far is that he completely ignores a player's injury history when picking them up. Ivory's chart is a mess, Goodson has had his issues, Garrard (obviously), and even Milliner has troubling medicals. Hopefully, this offseason has taught him to take that aspect into account moving forward.

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This is a much bigger story for Mehta than yesterday's news of "Tannenbaum ****ed Rex" so of course this is the one that he went with. Anyone with at least a shred of common sense without having the pressure to find juicy articles to write, a shred of objectivity can see that it is not Idzik's job to save Rex. He does not need an excuse to fire his ass after this season- if he is so inclined. It was not Idzik's job to make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t this year. To expect Idzik to somehow pull a nine (or even eight) win season, one that would "save Rex"out of this cap situation and with this quarterback and offensive roster in general, screams bias to me. The Rex angle aside, there is no way you can justify expecting to make the playoffs with this team the way Idzik inherited it, which it seems to me, is what Mehta is really implying by his not wanting to win (save Rex) slant.

 

Fast forward to next season when we have 40m (or whatever it is) in cap room and suddenly it's not "Idzik ****ed Rex" it's "Holy sh*t, the Jets are set up to succeed now" Rex will not factor in the equation at all. 

 

So, we have two future contingencies that make this article both mean-spirited and irrelevant; this season has not been played yet and next season is a whole new ballgame and the one in which you can start the Idzik Watch.

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This is a throw away season, is he really bashing the stop gag players he brought in.

 

 

bingo.  he signed guys who were cut to get the comp picks.  thats why I am so down thisa year.  this is going to be a rough one. but any one with a brain saw it coming and knows the plan

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Anyone with a Pro Football magazine could have made those picks. I don't think he tried to f*ck Rex either. Its just that I have my doubts about Idzik's ability. Like the article said Goodson was historically bad in terms of free agent signings that received a signing bonus.

I think it took HUGE balls to pick Milliner after dumping Revis, and drafting Richardson (leaving Eifert and the WRs on the board) also took some conviction. Not trading up in a panic move to get Geno also showed great restraint. All in all, his draft strategy took some guts and were hardly chalk picks. Now, it'll be great if the players are any good.

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Ok lets look at Idzik situation coming in with no legimiate QB competition- he was in cap hell no fault his own- he manipulated his roster the best he could IMO with the resources he had. He has some misses so far -lets see how it plays out free agents and the draft choices.

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I think it took HUGE balls to pick Milliner after dumping Revis, and drafting Richardson (leaving Eifert and the WRs on the board) also took some conviction. Not trading up in a panic move to get Geno also showed great restraint. All in all, his draft strategy took some guts and were hardly chalk picks. Now, it'll be great if the players are any good.

 

Milliner should have gone top 5. He was good value. You could make the argument that he could have went with Austin - but Austin was already off the board. I still think that is the guy they wanted and he totally got Bradway'd in the draft, although he did still wind up with a good player. I can agree with the Geno thing. I wanted him to trade up for the guy and I do still think Geno will be a good QB in time. As laughable as it is, simply throwing a decent screen pass makes him better then Sanchez. Its just a matter of how quickly he can develop fully. Again though, you and I and a pro football weekly magazine could have made those three picks. Its the late round Antonio Brown that we needed. Or the late round RB. Atleast get ONE of these guys.

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