Jets working out WRs tomorrow!!!!!!!

[JoeKlecko]

you should have edited your earlier response to include this gem.  my $0.02

 

I didn't because he had already read and responded to it.  I knew it would be pointless to add it to my original response.

[whodeawhodat]

I didn't because he had already read and responded to it.  I knew it would be pointless to add it to my original response.

 

I agree on the pointless part

[Greenseed4]

Did the Jets even come remotely close to blocking one of the Pats' punts with 11 men?  No.  The Pats came much closer and in fact almost blocked one of Malone's punts in the 2nd half. IMO that decision made the Jets CS (Kotwicka and Rex) look like a bunch of clueless tools and made the team even more of a laughingstock.  If I'm Idzik and my mind wasn't made up regarding Rex earlier, it sure is now.  Rex would be gone at the end of the season.

 

Actually, we had a guy come free on the first attempt, but he was tackled (illegal, non-call).  Here's a nice read for ya:

 

 

FLORHAM PARK, N.J.—Three times Thursday night during their 13-10 loss to the Patriots, the Jets did something that likely had most NFL traditionalists tsk-tsking and tut-tutting.

With the Patriots set to punt the football, the Jets lined up without a returner. This strategy is sometimes seen at the college and high-school levels, where special-teams mistakes are more prevalent, but in the NFL it’s akin to having a quarterback try to throw the ball with his feet. By not positioning anyone to return the punts, head coach Rex Ryan and special-teams coach Ben Kotwica sacrificed any opportunity to improve the Jets’ field position—a grave error, according to conventional wisdom.

But the Jets, who are 1-1 entering Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, are perceived to be outmanned against the Patriots and the league’s other top teams. If they want to avoid the kinds of mistakes that can damage their slight chances of reaching the playoffs, they might consider building on that one-game gimmick and going without a punt-returner all season.

Ryan insisted that not using a returner on those three Patriot punts made sense. The Jets, instead, committed extra players to try to block three of Ryan Allen’s 11 punts on the day and change the course of a close game.

Three key factors contributed to this strategy. First, Jeremy Kerley, the Jets’ No. 1 returner, missed the game because of a concussion. Second, the rainy weather made it more likely that the Patriots would botch their snap-and-punt sequence. And third, New England was without running back Shane Vereen, who missed the game with a broken wrist. Vereen usually lines up on the outside of the Patriots’ punt formation, where he can block an opposing player, zoom downfield in pursuit of the returner, or act as a decoy for a potential fake.

“We were trying to take advantage of one of those newer guys in the system and hoping that he would miscount the guys up front and allow one of us to go free and make a big play,” said Jets rookie wide receiver Ryan Spadola, who plays on special teams. “That was the game plan.”

The plan didn’t work, in so far as the Jets didn’t block any of Allen’s punts. But it was successful in one regard: The Jets didn’t commit a turnover or penalty that would have allowed the Patriots to maintain possession and keep quarterback Tom Brady and his offense on the field. Filling in for Kerley, Kyle Wilson fielded four punts without incident, returning two for seven total yards and fair-catching two others. The Patriots downed five, and Allen punted twice into the end zone for touchbacks.

Had the Jets not sent Wilson out to return any of Allen’s punts, would the results have been much different?

Kevin Kelley, the head coach of Pulaski Academy High School in Little Rock, Ark., said no. Why ask him? Kelley has garnered national renown for putting his unconventional beliefs about special-teams into practice: His teams don’t punt on fourth down, and they don’t attempt to either return or block their opponents’ punts.

“We just line up and play defense,” said Kelley, who’s been profiled in Sports Illustrated and on HBO’s “Real Sports.”

In Kelley’s view, there’s more to be lost than gained by trying to return or block a punt. The opponent is surrendering, giving the ball back to you. Why do anything to mess that up? Why risk running into the punter, roughing the punter, jumping offside, committing a holding or clipping infraction, muffing (i.e. failing to catch) the punt or fumbling the punt after you’ve caught it?

Kelley said he has crunched the numbers and, on average, a team—high school, college, professional, no matter—is better off letting its opponent punt the ball away and down it wherever it happens to stop rolling.

His record supports his argument. During Kelley’s 10 years as head coach, Pulaski, which plays in the third-largest of Arkansas’s six enrollment classifications, has reached the state quarterfinals 10 times, the semifinals eight times and the final five times—and has won three state championships. Five years ago he had his teams stop fielding and trying to block punts (the Jets presumably will not try to stop blocking them), “and 100% of the time, we’ve gotten the ball back.”

An upshot of this approach, Kelley said, is that he can devote practice time he would otherwise spend on punt-returning to the aspects Pulaski most needs to hone. That notion is particularly relevant to the Jets. Kerley, who said Monday that he’ll be ready to play Sunday against the Bills, is the team’s slot receiver; he led the Jets last season in receptions (56) and yards (827). His primary value is in that role, and though he’s averaged 10.9 yards per punt return in his three-year career, he set an NFL record last season with 36 fair catches, and he’s fumbled seven times (as a receiver and returner). His production isn’t necessarily worth the gamble that something might go wrong.

That’s the argument Kevin Kelley would make, anyway.

Write to Mike Sielski at mike.sielski@wsj.com

 

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-330225/

[JoeKlecko]

Actually, we had a guy come free on the first attempt, but he was tackled (illegal, non-call).  Here's a nice read for ya:

 

 

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-330225/

 

Interesting, but wacky imo.

[Greenseed4]

Interesting, but wacky imo.

 

I think it's brilliant.  

 

Vareen (the protector) was out; they had a new guy blocking in there, and it was wet.  They thought the new-look/added pressure could confuse the Pats into making a mistake, so they went with it.  On the day, it only cost them 3.5 yards.

 

I applaud the fact that our coaches were trying everything to come up with an advantage.  The gameplan was good; the execution fell short.  

[JoeKlecko]

I think it's brilliant.  

 

Vareen (the protector) was out; they had a new guy blocking in there, and it was wet.  They thought the new-look/added pressure could confuse the Pats into making a mistake, so they went with it.  On the day, it only cost them 3.5 yards.

 

I applaud the fact that our coaches were trying everything to come up with an advantage.  The gameplan was good; the execution fell short.  

 

You can't definitely say that it only cost them 3.5 yards.  More than likely it would have been something like that, but you don't know.  Perhaps the Jets would have been able to set up an effective wall or hole for Wilson  and maybe the closest defender may have slipped on the wet turf and Wilson broken off a long return.

 

Rex Ryan's ideas of what will surprise or add pressure rarely work any more.  The Pats are extremely well-coached.  Aside from dropping passes, they just don't make those kinds of mental errors with any kind of regularity.  The percentages of it working were extremely low.  IMO the gameplan was idiotic, like Rex.

[Greenseed4]

You can't definitely say that it only cost them 3.5 yards.  More than likely it would have been something like that, but you don't know.  Perhaps the Jets would have been able to set up an effective wall or hole for Wilson  and maybe the closest defender may have slipped on the wet turf and Wilson broken off a long return.

 

Have you seen Kyle Wilson return punts?  

 

(hint: his longest return of the year has been 4 yards) 

 

 

 

 

Rex Ryan's ideas of what will surprise or add pressure rarely work any more.  The Pats are extremely well-coached.  Aside from dropping passes, they just don't make those kinds of mental errors with any kind of regularity.  The percentages of it working were extremely low.  IMO the gameplan was idiotic, like Rex.

 

Rex is fine.  I can't speak to the "percentages of it working" since I've never seen it before, but like the article brings up, the opposing team is surrendering the ball.  No matter what, the Jets get the ball back by having no returner.  

 

A muffed punt, is far more likely (in the rain, left-footed kicker, #2 PR guy) then having a guy who has totaled 7 return yards on the year break it for a long run. If you took a poll:  "ALL OUT punt block (inside the 10)" vs. "Wilson fair catching in the rain" 

I think you might be surprised at what most fans believe the better game plan is. 

[#27TheDominator]

If Rex Ryan's gameplan was idiotic, what was Bill Belichick's?  Genius?

[JoeKlecko]

Have you seen Kyle Wilson return punts?  

 

(hint: his longest return of the year has been 4 yards) 

 

 

 

Rex is fine.  I can't speak to the "percentages of it working" since I've never seen it before, but like the article brings up, the opposing team is surrendering the ball.  No matter what, the Jets get the ball back by having no returner.  

 

A muffed punt, is far more likely (in the rain, left-footed kicker, #2 PR guy) then having a guy who has totaled 7 return yards on the year break it for a long run. If you took a poll:  "ALL OUT punt block (inside the 10)" vs. "Wilson fair catching in the rain" 

I think you might be surprised at what most fans believe the better game plan is. 

 

Yes, and as I said, more than likely the result would have been the same, but by removing the opportunity, you remove the possibility that he could make a good return.  Stranger things have happened.  Occasionally he even makes good plays as a DB (although not very often).

 

As for being surprised by what fans think is a good idea, I've been posting on Jets boards for waaay too many years to be surprised by the things some Jets fans think is a good idea.  I'm sure there are probably Jets fans who still think that Tanny was a great GM, Herm was a great HC, we don't need a QB, who think Budweiser is the king of beers, and who believe in the Easter Bunny.

[flgreen]

I forgot to say in my earlier response that I don't complain about the reading comprehension of everyone on this site, but only a handful who don't bother to carefully read what someone writes, then has the nerve to respond.  It's insulting to anyone's intelligence and should be to yours as well, as laughable.  It's not my problem if someone chooses to skim or not completely read a post because they think it's too long.  In that case, they'd be better off not responding.  Like everyone, I may not be completely clear at times, but in general I work hard to insure that I am.  If you'll notice, I edit a lot of my posts to make sure that they are.  Clear communication is part of my profession as a leader, teacher, and coach.  I am also a writer and have had a number of articles published in national magazines, so I work to be clear and precise.

 

DWC is that you?

 

you don't do rap do you?

[bmd71]

Just heard Browns WR's Josh Gordon and Greg Little on the trade block.