Greenberg: Geno and the Jets, Pluses and Minuses

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Greenberg: Geno and the Jets, Pluses and Minuses

 

 

Posted 26 minutes ago

 

 

  Jay Greenberg Latest "In My Opinion" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The agony and the ecstasy of the Jets in Week 1:

 

 

OFFENSE

 

 

Best Play: Actually, not designed. The 18-yard completion to Kellen Winslow on second-and-16 that set up the Jets’ touchdown was improvisation by both quarterback and receiver, good sign of early chemistry on a drastically changed offensive unit.

 

 

 

 

 

Best Reason to Believe the Jets Can’t Ruin Smith by Throwing Him to the Wolves Too Early: He had a fumble and an interception on successive possessions in the second quarter and didn’t wilt.

 

 

Next Best Reason to Believe No Matter How Many Rookie Mistakes Smith Makes, He Still Will Give the Jets a Chance to Win: He scrambled six times for 47 yards. Ray Lucas was the last Jets quarterback to give them this dimension.

 

 

Best Reason to Believe the Above Alone Still Will Get Them Nowhere in the Long Run: Smith was the Jets' leading rusher by 18 yards. They must run the ball a lot better than this.

 

 

Worst Rookie Mistake: Smith, operating from his 11, failed to protect the ball that Mason Foster knocked out of his hand, setting up the Bucs’ first touchdown. Smith’s interception was ugly but just a blatant overthrow, not a misread.

 

 

Bad First Day at the Office: Dee Milliner was beaten on a 17-yard touchdown catch by Mike Williams and was an innocent victim of blind football justice besides. He was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the play, but actually Dawan Landry threw the elbow.

 

 

Can’t Blame This on Tim Tebow: The Jets scripted direct snaps on two plays on their first series. After a 4-yard run by Bilal Powell and a Jeremy Kerley incompletion — that’s by Kerley, not to Kerley — they still had to punt.

 

 

John Idzik’s Best Work of the Offseason, Snap Judgment Dept.: Kellen Winslow Jr. caught seven of the eight passes thrown to him for 79 yards and a touchdown.

 

 

Most Apropos Sentiment by Rex Ryan: “We’ll Take It.” Not only did a premature snap because of a miscommunication result in a Jets safety and an out-of-bounds hit by the Bucs’ Lavonte David save Landry from infamy, but the Jets were about to go 3-and-out in the fourth quarter when Leonard Johnson was called for defensive holding. The Jets methodically drove from there to Nick Folk’s go-ahead field goal. And then there were the consecutive delay-of-game penalties on the Buccaneers' first possession.

 

 

Scariest Moment: Nick Mangold down, holding his arm.

 

 

Potential Season-Saving Moment: Mangold returning to the game.

 

 

Most Encouraging Sighting: Stephen Hill with six receptions.

 

 

DEFENSE

 

 

Play of the Game: Demario Davis flashed remarkable closing speed to run down Vincent Jackson after Landry’s missed tackle that set up Tampa Bay’s apparent game-winning field goal. If that had gone for a touchdown, no out-of-bounds hit was going to save the Jets.

 

 

 

 

 

Rookie of the Game: Not Geno Smith but Sheldon Richardson, who had seven tackles and a shared sack with Calvin Pace that stopped the Bucs on the first of their two possessions after Folk’s field goal with 5:05 to play put New York ahead.

 

 

Least Stalwart Moment: The next play after the Smith fumble, Doug Martin ran for a touchdown through a hole even bigger than the one in the logic that Ryan is a beaten man just because he doesn’t incessantly brag anymore.

 

 

Best Reason to Believe that Even with Seven New Starters, It Still Can Be Business as Usual for a Ryan Defense: Otherwise, the Jets held Martin to 65 yards, the sum total of the Bucs’ running game. They had only two first downs rushing.

 

 

Best Call: The blitz on second-and-14 from the Tampa Bay 16 that resulted in the Richardson-Pace shared sack of Josh Freeman. Unless it was the fake blitz on the next play, when the Jets only rushed four and forced Freeman to throw incomplete into coverage. Unless it was the blitz that resulted in Freeman’s gross overthrow on Landry’s interception.

 

 

Unsung Hero: David Harris, typically, with seven tackles and a hurry.

 

 

SPECIAL TEAMS

 

 

Best Play: If you missed Robert Malone’s 84-yard punt, it is still visible in the night sky every 90 minutes. It was a punt so good — the second longest in Jets history — that it trumped even Folk's 48-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to win the game.

 

 

Next Best Play: Malone put one out of bounds on the 5, setting up the Bucs’ snap-to-nobody that resulted in a safety.

 

 

Worst Play: Malone outkicked his coverage with a line drive that Eric Page returned 28 yards.

 

 

Best Reflection of a Job Well Done in Coverage: Except for Smith’s fumble, the Bucs started in Jets territory only one other time — on that Page runback.

[faba]

This if Davis does not track Jackson down we definitely lose this game

 

Play of the Game: Demario Davis flashed remarkable closing speed to run down Vincent Jackson after Landry’s missed tackle that set up Tampa Bay’s apparent game-winning field goal. If that had gone for a touchdown, no out-of-bounds hit was going to save the Jets.

[BroadwayJoe12]

Are ESPN employees contractually obligated to mention Tebow whenever they talk about the Jets? Greenie might be one of the most obnoxious and petulant Jets' fans on the air, he's insufferable. 

[kay_gee]

David Harris looked better than expected, too. good point that got a little lost.

[Integrity28]

Are ESPN employees contractually obligated to mention Tebow whenever they talk about the Jets? Greenie might be one of the most obnoxious and petulant Jets' fans on the air, he's insufferable. 

 

The article is by Jay Greenberg, not Mike Greenberg.

[Sperm Edwards]

I don't know how much, at the time, Davis saved the game (other than knowing what we know now about an impossible-to-predict 15-yard late hit penalty).  

 

If Jackson runs down to the 1 and kneels, then yes Davis saved the day.  If Jackson runs into the EZ, then we have enough time to get a TD of our own.  

 

The LEAST likely way of winning would be taking over on our own 20 with :38 left and no timeouts and having to drive into FG range and get out of bounds.  

 

Going on an 80-yard TD drive with 1:45 and all 3 of our timeouts left is, on paper, a better chance.  

 

As it turned out, with Davis catching Jackson it took that ridiculous 15 yard late hit penalty on the 2nd-last play of the game to win it -- hardly something one can gameplan for and probably has less than a 1% likelihood of occurring. 

[Bleedin Green]

This if Davis does not track Jackson down we definitely lose this game

 

Play of the Game: Demario Davis flashed remarkable closing speed to run down Vincent Jackson after Landry’s missed tackle that set up Tampa Bay’s apparent game-winning field goal. If that had gone for a touchdown, no out-of-bounds hit was going to save the Jets.

 

While that's probably true, it's not really a lock.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking anything away from the play Davis made, because it was incredible and deserves ton of credit, but I think the fact that the Jets were doomed if TB scores a TD there is a bit of an overstatement.  In that case the Jets get the ball back with far more time (pretty sure Davis got the tackle somewhere around the 1:40 mark, so take a few more seconds off from there) and all three of their timeouts.  It would have been tough no doubt, but certainly not impossible.

[Bleedin Green]

I don't know how much, at the time, Davis saved the game (other than knowing what we know now about an impossible-to-predict 15-yard late hit penalty).  

 

If Jackson runs down to the 1 and kneels, then yes Davis saved the day.  If Jackson runs into the EZ, then we have enough time to get a TD of our own.  

 

The LEAST likely way of winning would be taking over on our own 20 with :38 left and no timeouts and having to drive into FG range and get out of bounds.  

 

Going on an 80-yard TD drive with 1:45 and all 3 of our timeouts left is, on paper, a better chance.  

 

As it turned out, with Davis catching Jackson it took that ridiculous 15 yard late hit penalty on the 2nd-last play of the game to win it -- hardly something one can gameplan for and probably has less than a 1% likelihood of occurring. 

 

Um... yeah.  What he said.

[bitonti]

that was a hell of a punt by Malone. Even with the touchback it's a 60 yard field position swap. I saw him during warm ups popping up 60 yarders with tons of hang time.

[bitonti]

David Harris looked better than expected, too. good point that got a little lost.

 

David Harris was butchered by Jets fans all offseason, he looked great yesterday. 

[Matt39]

Where did this Snacks guy come from and how did he go undrafted. He's a beast.

[roscoeword]

fl green wrote: "even bigger than the one in the logic that Ryan is a beaten man just because he doesn’t incessantly brag anymore."

 

Great line - so subtedly put, but so right on the money. I myself was finding myself brainwashed by this media spin.

[Ryno the Jet]

Are ESPN employees contractually obligated to mention Tebow whenever they talk about the Jets? Greenie might be one of the most obnoxious and petulant Jets' fans on the air, he's insufferable. 

 

Wrong Greenberg dude...this guy (JAY Greenberg) works for the Jets.

 

http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-5/Greenberg-Geno-and-the-Jets-Pluses-and-Minuses/bd8b46e0-e315-47f4-be2b-f8ac79b315ee

[Bleedin Green]

David Harris was butchered by Jets fans all offseason, he looked great yesterday. 

 

Looked like the Harris of old out there.  Just goes to show you what a quality DL can do for the LBs.  Not to say he doesn't deserve credit for how much better he looked, as that's not my point at all, but there's definitely more opportunities when you don't have OL consistently peeling off the DL and taking you on at the second level.

[JiFtheOracle]

I don't know how much, at the time, Davis saved the game (other than knowing what we know now about an impossible-to-predict 15-yard late hit penalty).  

 

If Jackson runs down to the 1 and kneels, then yes Davis saved the day.  If Jackson runs into the EZ, then we have enough time to get a TD of our own.  

 

The LEAST likely way of winning would be taking over on our own 20 with :38 left and no timeouts and having to drive into FG range and get out of bounds.  

 

Going on an 80-yard TD drive with 1:45 and all 3 of our timeouts left is, on paper, a better chance.  

 

As it turned out, with Davis catching Jackson it took that ridiculous 15 yard late hit penalty on the 2nd-last play of the game to win it -- hardly something one can gameplan for and probably has less than a 1% likelihood of occurring. 

 

All very true...but with all these hypothetical, they still needed to make a 40 yard FG to win, so the Jets could have still won outright with a miss.

[Sperm Edwards]

All very true...but with all these hypothetical, they still needed to make a 40 yard FG to win, so the Jets could have still won outright with a miss.

 

Was a lot closer to 50 yards than 40.  And that's with getting a free 15 yards without taking so much as a single second off the clock.

 

It was a great play, and thanks to the ridiculous turn of events - and only due to that ridiculous turn of events - Davis chasing him down likely meant a win instead of a loss.  Just saying that, considering the game situation, we probably stood a better chance of winning by letting Jackson score a TD.

[BroadwayJoe12]

The article is by Jay Greenberg, not Mike Greenberg.

 

Ehh so f*ck me. But I still can't stand Greenie and I'm gonna blame him for this anyways.  

[Big Blocker]

I appreciate the different scenarios that might have applied if Davis had not made that tackle, but the fact remains that it was a great play.  An LB chasing down a wideout? 

 

Talk about improving team speed at the formerly slow as molasses linebacker corps.  And I was starting to wonder about the Davis pick...

[BroadwayJoe12]

I appreciate the different scenarios that might have applied if Davis had not made that tackle, but the fact remains that it was a great play.  An LB chasing down a wideout? 

 

Talk about improving team speed at the formerly slow as molasses linebacker corps.  And I was starting to wonder about the Davis pick...

 

I saw Rex's presser this morning and he keeps talking about how Davis is jumping off the screen, I would imagine we're going to start seeing that more too in the coming weeks. 

[AVM]

Was a lot closer to 50 yards than 40.  And that's with getting a free 15 yards without taking so much as a single second off the clock.

 

It was a great play, and thanks to the ridiculous turn of events - and only due to that ridiculous turn of events - Davis chasing him down likely meant a win instead of a loss.  Just saying that, considering the game situation, we probably stood a better chance of winning by letting Jackson score a TD.

 

I believe JiF meant Tampa had to make their FG of about 40 yards.

[Sperm Edwards]

I believe JiF meant Tampa had to make their FG of about 40 yards.

 

I don't really read is posts carefully. He's such a goddamn moron, which is why we all hate him so.

[aec4]

one point is missed.    That was a great play BUT if Jackson scores, there is 1:45 left and the Jets have all 3 time outs.  I know they only scored one TD all game, but it would have been an entirely different drive.

 

Play of the Game: Demario Davis flashed remarkable closing speed to run down Vincent Jackson after Landry’s missed tackle that set up Tampa Bay’s apparent game-winning field goal. If that had gone for a touchdown, no out-of-bounds hit was going to save the Jets.

[JiFtheOracle]

I believe JiF meant Tampa had to make their FG of about 40 yards.

 

Thank you for clarifying. 

 

I don't really read is posts carefully. He's such a goddamn moron, which is why we all hate him so.

 

Thank you for being honest.

 

JetNation truly cares about their posters. 

[The Crusher]

David Harris looked better than expected, too. good point that got a little lost.

 

 

Linebackers look like beast when they got big bad mofo's in front of him and he does. Expect more of it. 

[nycdan]

"Best Play: If you missed Robert Malone’s 84-yard punt, it is still visible in the night sky every 90 minutes." 

 

I like this. 

[T0mShane]

I don't really read is posts carefully. He's such a goddamn moron, which is why we all hate him so.

POTMFW

[Sperm Edwards]

one point is missed.    That was a great play BUT if Jackson scores, there is 1:45 left and the Jets have all 3 time outs.  I know they only scored one TD all game, but it would have been an entirely different drive.

 

Post #6 in this thread.

[Villain The Foe]

This if Davis does not track Jackson down we definitely lose this game

 

Play of the Game: Demario Davis flashed remarkable closing speed to run down Vincent Jackson after Landry’s missed tackle that set up Tampa Bay’s apparent game-winning field goal. If that had gone for a touchdown, no out-of-bounds hit was going to save the Jets.

Did you see the endzone view of that Davis play during Rex Ryans media conference today? Its on the Jets website. Davis chased Vincent Jackson down from the opposite side of the defense from the line of scrimmage. Demario Davis hands down had the play of the game. If that was Bart Scott the Jets would be sitting at 0-1 right now. This guy has freak speed for a MLB. 

[kay_gee]

Linebackers look like beast when they got big bad mofo's in front of him and he does. Expect more of it. 

 

If Mo Wilkerson, Damon Harrison, or Sheldon Richardson were ever running at me, I'd just lie down and die.

[Lupz27]

I don't know how much, at the time, Davis saved the game (other than knowing what we know now about an impossible-to-predict 15-yard late hit penalty).  

 

If Jackson runs down to the 1 and kneels, then yes Davis saved the day.  If Jackson runs into the EZ, then we have enough time to get a TD of our own.  

 

The LEAST likely way of winning would be taking over on our own 20 with :38 left and no timeouts and having to drive into FG range and get out of bounds.  

 

Going on an 80-yard TD drive with 1:45 and all 3 of our timeouts left is, on paper, a better chance.  

 

As it turned out, with Davis catching Jackson it took that ridiculous 15 yard late hit penalty on the 2nd-last play of the game to win it -- hardly something one can gameplan for and probably has less than a 1% likelihood of occurring. 

 

Not knowing the outcome of the choices like I do now, the bolded one is the choice I would choose, and it is not even close, I was actually pissed when Davis ran Jackson down, I thought there was zero chance we could win, and thought we would have a glimmer of hope at the very least if he took it to the house knowing we had all 3 time outs left.  

 

Also since we had all 3 time outs left the dumbest thing Jackson could have done was stop at the 1 yard line for a knee, the Jets could have put up a goal line stand called all 3 time outs, and got the ball back with 1:30 only needing a FG in that situation you HAVE to take the guaranteed 6 points since the opponent can stop the clock 3 times.

[Lupz27]

I saw Rex's presser this morning and he keeps talking about how Davis is jumping off the screen, I would imagine we're going to start seeing that more too in the coming weeks. 

 

Yea, and because Rex can't keep his praise for his players inside the locker room in private I am sure the opponents will take some notice to, taking away from the possibility of him sneaking up on some opponents early on.  A little petty on my part, but I have always disliked Rex being that guy that lives by the mantra "I am going to tell you what is coming, and still beat you"  I love the fact he thinks this way, but to actually give away what your gonna do is not the smartest thing, like when all he did was tell everyone our game plan on D was for Revis to take away the #1 wide out all game, and this was back in 2009 before 90% of the NFL public even knew who Darrelle Revis was.

 

Keep the praise private in front of the team, and keep your strategies out of the media please, again some knit picking by me, but I really love Rex as a HC, and wish he would just stop some of these little dumb things so he can continue to be the Jets HC for years to come.

[Lupz27]

Did you see the endzone view of that Davis play during Rex Ryans media conference today? Its on the Jets website. Davis chased Vincent Jackson down from the opposite side of the defense from the line of scrimmage. Demario Davis hands down had the play of the game. If that was Bart Scott the Jets would be sitting at 0-1 right now. This guy has freak speed for a MLB. 

 

Love the speed, and leadership from Davis, guy knows his role, and can make plays like this something this Jets defense hasn't had at the LB position since Vilma was moved.

 

On the other hand thou (nothing to do with Davis the player, or the actual play) if you ran the 2 scenarios 100 times each, I would venture to wager a lot of $$$$ that the Jets would score a TD with 3 time outs left, and 1:30 on the clock more times then they would go from their own 20 with no time outs left with :38 seconds remaing needing a game winning FG.

[SenorGato]

That tackle by Davis was awesome.