Optimism

[Sperm Edwards]

On 1/3/2017 at 10:55 AM, DMan77 said:

There is a lot of anger, hopelessness, apathy, gloominess, defeatism, cynicism, and just a general sense of unhappiness around here lately, in pretty much every thread.

And you know what, that's rightfully so. Things are bad. This season was a disaster. It's hard to find any bright spots and we should be angry and we should feel defeated.

But that doesn't mean we can't find a little something to be optimistic about.

 

 

Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.

 

[section314]

3 hours ago, AFJF said:

What if putting your name on it will have you putting your name on the unemployment register?

Either put your name on it, or keep your mouth shut. Pretty simple.

[nycdan]

I'm all in on Noah Syndergaard this year.  That's going to have to last 12 months for me. 

[jdeacon]

On 2/9/2017 at 4:41 PM, DMan77 said:

"Anderson wasn't surprised by his early success"

http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-7/Anderson-Wasn’t-Surprised-by-His-Early-Success/0c3e374d-9873-4a08-8e72-0d13ffcef5b9

“Being successful in the NFL is not just about your physical attributes, it's more so about your brain and knowledge,” Anderson said. “The smarter you are as a football player along with your talent and physical traits takes you to a whole other level.”

I really think this kid has a great football mind and enough skill and talent to be a good player if he sticks with it... He really looked like he had a knack for getting open and making plays. Big offseason for him. 

I agree with you on Anderson, kid has star potential. Multiple passes Petty threw to him should have been picked but Anderson adjusted to the pass and fought for the ball high pointing it on multiple occasions. With another offseason and a wco to take advantage of his speed and ability to track the ball we could be on the verge of having a true breakout wr in our midst. 

[jamesr]

As I see it, when Macc came on board, he HAD to spend money, and did so with a short to medium term focus on putting a decent product on the field while starting to build via the younger guys. The IK punch / Fitz / 10-6 season was unexpected, and seemed to catch everyone off guard (remember, Geno was due to start up until that punch). That had a hangover effect into last year where essentially we went "playoffs or bust" ... and got "bust". Hence a lot of the negativity.

So we've had whatever we were going to get out of those older guys, and some of the stop gaps are now at / past their expiry date. Time to clear out the cupboards a bit, see what's left, and keep the ball rolling on the "competitive rebuild". In a way that 10-6 did as much harm as good as it made people think we were a better team than we were ... 3 years ago we were a 4-12 team, last year we were a 5-11 team, if you can ignore the outlier of 10-6 it shows a team that's trying to start over and build from the ground up. No reason to think this changes at all this year, I think the main thing is do you see next season as Year 1 or Year 3 of the rebuild? If you see it as Year 3, it'll be frustrating as the pace is so slow. But if you see it as Year 1 then there's certainly cause for optimism IMHO - the false belief of us being close to contending is not there, everyone accepts that there is a lot of work to do, but we're starting with a reasonably fresh slate rather than clinging on to vets for "one last shot". That alone is sometimes the hardest step for a franchise - the acceptance that you're not just a few players away and that the road ahead is a long one.

So if you can go into this year with a view that it's Year One of "Macc & Bowles 2.0" then it's easier to see the positives. Even looking at those two guys directly - Macc didn't go "all in" last year on the playoffs, he stuck to his goals and drafted guys who he saw had a longer term future (no team going playoffs or bust drafts a QB project in Rd 2). And yes, Bowles had a bad year last year, but again he likely had to manage a team that thought they were much closer to contending than they really were, which put additional strain on the locker room and it cracked under the pressure early on. Next year when we have younger guys and lower expectations, I doubt you'll see so much off field drama and they can all focus much more on playing football.

[DMan77]

18 hours ago, Patriot Killa said:

Lol you are a soldier..that's for sure. On a serious note, so far Mac has done well by letting the right guys go. a lot of people thought he wouldn't have the balls to release Mangold and Revis or even Brandon Marshall for that matter. now all he has to do is sign a few younger and cheaper options that can compete on a high level..your Minters, Jefferson's, Logan Ryan's and he should be set to go BPA in the draft. If he nails that then we are well on our way. I like Macc a lot opposed to what others may think of him. He's clearly competent as a GM despite a few mistakes along the way. It's a process we just have to trust. From the second we got Favre we have been putting Band-Aids on most of our issues especially the quarterback position and it worked for about two years, but set us back five or six years. I'm glad a general manager finally sees what we have to do, and that's hit the reset button and build back up. You seen teams like Seattle and Denver or hell even Atlanta have a few bad years for the greater good, it's our turn now.

Ya I think he is absolutely a competent GM... Like you said there are quite a few posters around here who don't think he knows what he's doing, but to me he seems solid so far. He's learning as we go here too, and I think he's been making mostly sound football decisons... He's probably not going into the hall of fame as the best GM ever... But he doesn't have to. He just needs to be smart, patient, diligent, and make solid choices. I very much think he's capable of that.

Very curious to see how things playout with the money they have now... Minter is very interesting... From what I've read he's a solid guy. I think you would give him a "B' if you had to grade him. He would be an improvement but of course it comes down to the cost. I think someone will likely overpay, but who knows. 

I'm excited for this offseason and even for next season. The Jets will most likely struggle mightily but we'll get to see the beginning of the next era. We'll see which guys stick, who proves themselves and what we have at certain positions. It is going to be a hell of a lot more interesting than this past season. 

 

[#27TheDominator]

I like Minter.  I liked him coming out.  I think if the Jets sign him, you guys are going to miss Harris. 

[DMan77]

36 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

I like Minter.  I liked him coming out.  I think if the Jets sign him, you guys are going to miss Harris. 

True, but Harris is 33... I just don't think he's a part of the next 2,3,4 years of this team... If they really like Minter then they can bring him in and have a fresh, young, LB group in place for a while.

[#27TheDominator]

6 minutes ago, DMan77 said:

True, but Harris is 33... I just don't think he's a part of the next 2,3,4 years of this team... If they really like Minter then they can bring him in and have a fresh, young, LB group in place for a while.

Better someone cheaper.  I did not think Julian Stanford was horrible.  ILB is not a place to spend.  

[DMan77]

6 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

Better someone cheaper.  I did not think Julian Stanford was horrible.  ILB is not a place to spend.  

Ya I'm really curious to see how the market plays this year... From the hype it sounds like a few teams are ready to overspend and throw the market all off... But who knows? Sometimes the market corrects itself and you can get some solid deals... We'll have to wait for the first few dominoes to drop and see what we're looking at.