It Just Feels Different this time

[Jet2020]

Sanchez felt like Sanchize even after two years into his NFL career. 

Darnold, we felt like we hit a massive jackpot. It wasn’t even close. 

Wilson, not so much. Not yet. Gonna wait n see before unnecessarily hyping my expectations. So yeah it feels different because it doesn’t feel like we lucked into him. 

[BettyBoop]

4 hours ago, johnnysd said:

Yeah I know we all said the same thing 3 years ago with Darnold and before that with Sanchez, blah blah blah

But as a fan, even a glass half full plus a drop green eyed goggles Jets fan I have learned from those experiences and this one just seems completely different to me. In fact, I am going to be surprised if we do not contend for a playoff berth. Why?

1. Zach Wilson is a MUCH better prospect than Darnold. He has better tools, an amazing arm, more experience and a far greater work ethic than Sam

2. Zach is in a QB friendly offense. Sam suffered through Gase and Gailey wasn't exactly great. This offense made Mullens look good as a rookie and he isn't a third of the prospect Zach is

3. We actually have weapons on offense! Davis Mims Moore Crowder Cole is at minimum a Top 15 receiving corps in the NFL. if healthy. There are a lot of advanced stats that point to Davis being more of a unheralded #1 rather than a #2 and Moore and Mims also have #1 potential. And even Cole is arguably a decent #2 receiver and pretty strong #3. Michael Carter Johnson Coleman and Adams is a sneaky strong RB core. And I have high hopes for Yeboah. We also have a great defensive scheme that will allow players to play fast and we have a ton of speed. It also minimizes the effect of CB on defensive success.

4. We have a GM that believes in the OL, even though I do think he could have done even more

5. Our draft this year was amazing. Wilson AVT Moore and Carter because of how well they overhaul the offense are even better than their individual grades as they establish a core of our offense for at least 5 years

6. We have the first "CEO" type of head coach in Saleh and players seem to be really responding to him

7. We have a fairly easy schedule

So there it is. I have not been this unreservedly optimistic for a Jets team since 1999.

 

 

Unreservedly or unDeservedly?

 

[BettyBoop]

[Lith]

5 hours ago, peebag said:

Sorry.

Been fooled too many times by this franchise.

I'll wait and see.

This.  Has to look different on the field in the fall before I am ready to buy in.  I like what they are doing, I think they are heading in the right direction, but I need to see them win some games before I am all in.

[docdhc]

55 minutes ago, Jet2020 said:

Sanchez felt like Sanchize even after two years into his NFL career. 

Darnold, we felt like we hit a massive jackpot. It wasn’t even close. 

Wilson, not so much. Not yet. Gonna wait n see before unnecessarily hyping my expectations. So yeah it feels different because it doesn’t feel like we lucked into him. 

Wilson is no sure thing, that is for sure, based on percentage of high QB picks in the past that bust, and with the level of competition he’s faced.  Saleh seems like a much better bet. I haven’t been this excited about a coach since Parcels. I was hopeful but had reservations about every coach since. Herm seemed overmatched, Rex was clownish, Bowles had no fire, and Gates had a poor track record. Mangini  was smart but unlikeable. Saleh seems smart and likable with Herm’s ability to motivate and Rex’s history of success as a coordinator. He is what really makes this feel different. 

[Sonny Werblin]

4 hours ago, Anthony Jet said:

Where the Jets projected to be a top team that year? I really don’t remember 

Idk. They certainly didn’t start out like one, but they did play to win the games.

[TheNuuFaaolaExperience]

My excitement is more for Douglas and Saleh than Wilson, believe it or not. 

[Ecuadorian Jet]

6 hours ago, johnnysd said:

Yeah I know we all said the same thing 3 years ago with Darnold and before that with Sanchez, blah blah blah

But as a fan, even a glass half full plus a drop green eyed goggles Jets fan I have learned from those experiences and this one just seems completely different to me. In fact, I am going to be surprised if we do not contend for a playoff berth. Why?

1. Zach Wilson is a MUCH better prospect than Darnold. He has better tools, an amazing arm, more experience and a far greater work ethic than Sam

2. Zach is in a QB friendly offense. Sam suffered through Gase and Gailey wasn't exactly great. This offense made Mullens look good as a rookie and he isn't a third of the prospect Zach is

3. We actually have weapons on offense! Davis Mims Moore Crowder Cole is at minimum a Top 15 receiving corps in the NFL. if healthy. There are a lot of advanced stats that point to Davis being more of a unheralded #1 rather than a #2 and Moore and Mims also have #1 potential. And even Cole is arguably a decent #2 receiver and pretty strong #3. Michael Carter Johnson Coleman and Adams is a sneaky strong RB core. And I have high hopes for Yeboah. We also have a great defensive scheme that will allow players to play fast and we have a ton of speed. It also minimizes the effect of CB on defensive success.

4. We have a GM that believes in the OL, even though I do think he could have done even more

5. Our draft this year was amazing. Wilson AVT Moore and Carter because of how well they overhaul the offense are even better than their individual grades as they establish a core of our offense for at least 5 years

6. We have the first "CEO" type of head coach in Saleh and players seem to be really responding to him

7. We have a fairly easy schedule

So there it is. I have not been this unreservedly optimistic for a Jets team since 1999.

 

 

Well intentioned post but naively optimistic.

Zach Wilson is a prospect, and like many other prospects , has a higher percentage of busting than of succeeding. On the other hand, how does a 2-14 team has an easy schedule? I am a fan just like you, but I honestly see us winning 6 games being super optimistic.

What the Jets do have differently from other years is the alignment of GM and HC.

I hope just like you that we win as many games as possible.

 

 

 

 

[clayton163v]

6 hours ago, johnnysd said:

Yeah I know we all said the same thing 3 years ago with Darnold and before that with Sanchez, blah blah blah

But as a fan, even a glass half full plus a drop green eyed goggles Jets fan I have learned from those experiences and this one just seems completely different to me. In fact, I am going to be surprised if we do not contend for a playoff berth. Why?

1. Zach Wilson is a MUCH better prospect than Darnold. He has better tools, an amazing arm, more experience and a far greater work ethic than Sam

2. Zach is in a QB friendly offense. Sam suffered through Gase and Gailey wasn't exactly great. This offense made Mullens look good as a rookie and he isn't a third of the prospect Zach is

3. We actually have weapons on offense! Davis Mims Moore Crowder Cole is at minimum a Top 15 receiving corps in the NFL. if healthy. There are a lot of advanced stats that point to Davis being more of a unheralded #1 rather than a #2 and Moore and Mims also have #1 potential. And even Cole is arguably a decent #2 receiver and pretty strong #3. Michael Carter Johnson Coleman and Adams is a sneaky strong RB core. And I have high hopes for Yeboah. We also have a great defensive scheme that will allow players to play fast and we have a ton of speed. It also minimizes the effect of CB on defensive success.

4. We have a GM that believes in the OL, even though I do think he could have done even more

5. Our draft this year was amazing. Wilson AVT Moore and Carter because of how well they overhaul the offense are even better than their individual grades as they establish a core of our offense for at least 5 years

6. We have the first "CEO" type of head coach in Saleh and players seem to be really responding to him

7. We have a fairly easy schedule

So there it is. I have not been this unreservedly optimistic for a Jets team since 1999.

 

 

 

 

[Larz]

.

 

 

[FidelioJet]

It's the first time we've had a GM do it the right way. 

It feels different only because it's being done properly....

[Joe W. Namath]

17 minutes ago, FidelioJet said:

It's the first time we've had a GM do it the right way. 

It feels different only because it's being done properly....

Bingo!

[MichaelScott]

I completely agree with you. My problem is that how many times has this team tricked us into saying this before.  I really do feel like the team might really be on the right track, but the truth is that I've felt that many times in the past only to be very, VERY wrong. 

So while I am trying very hard to keep my hope in check, there are a couple things (much like your post) that stick out to me as being different from the past. 

The Gase hire was immediately heavily criticized from the moment it was announced. Regardless if the majority of us tried our hardest to hope for the best, the hiring of Gase was extremely unpopular both in the media and among the diehard fans. It seemed like the majority knew that hire was a huge mistake. Compare that to Saleh, where I've read pretty much nothing but praises in the media and the hire seems, overall, pretty popular with the fans. Does this mean he was the right hire? No. But you can see an immediate difference compared to when Gase was hired. 

Douglas: Again, like the Saleh hiring, he seems to be met with a lot more approval and less doubt than previous hires. Unlike Saleh, Douglas has had some time now in his position and I have to say, I'm much happier with the moves he has made thus far compared to any GM at this point in their tenure in the past decade. With Idzick and Mac, I feel like the majority of their moves, from the player's they resigned (or didn't), to free agency and to the draft were largely unpopular from the moment they were made. Many of us found a way to hope for the best and try to give them some benefit of the doubt, but year after year, most of their moves were so glaringly bad. Time has only proven them to be HORRIBLE. From Leo Williams with Wilk and Sheldon already on the roster to Jamal Adams over a QB because we had Hackenberg on the roster. Remember the year Idzik used something like all 12 draft picks in a year that produced several stud WRs, and in those 12 picks managed to select mid round WRs that were quickly out of the league? On that note, I think the majority of those 12 picks are out of the league! 

Now, in comparison, the biggest thing that stands out to me about Douglas that is possibly the biggest contrast to the other GMs - I was following the draft thread in real time and I cannot EVER remember a draft where so many people on this board were pounding the table "Please draft ______" AND WE ACTUALLY DRAFTED THAT PLAYER! Now, I know it's easy to discount that as a good thing and make the argument that it might not be a good thing that the FO makes moves that coincide with the whims of such an insane fan base lol. But I could very well make the argument that a consensus of the majority of posters on this board would have done SIGNIFICANTLY better with this team than the GMs of the past 10 years!!

Finally, if we go above Douglas to our inept ownership - FINALLY, for the first time in a long time ownership has done away with the asine structure they had of HC/GM being equal and both reporting to the owner, and both being hired separately. Most on this board have been screaming about this for years. They finally moved on from Gase and finally implemented the correct hierarchy. The GM should hire the head coach, who should then report to the GM. 

I feel like the first 2 years of Douglas tenure - Well, actually I consider it 1.5 years since this idiotic ownership allowed Mac to spend 100mil in cap space and draft that year BEFORE firing him - In my mind, that 1.5 years was essentially just digging out from the absolute disaster of the last GM. Now Douglas has been able to hire his own coach, who reports to him, and the fate of the two of them will be tied together for the next 4 years. Obviously heavily dependent on what Zach Wilson ends up being. 

SO, while I'm scared to feel like "They might finally have it right", I do feel like there are several aspects of this team right now that are clearly different from past years. I also feel like, for the first time in a long time, any optimism I have isn't completely based on just "hoping for the best" I actually feel good about where this team is headed. ?

Ugh, "hope" - Probably the most dangerous and emotionally painful thing for a Jets fan but somehow no matter how many times this team rips my heart out, I somehow inevitably find a reason to cling to more of it. Here's to hoping this time might be different ?

[Welp]

Let’s be real this is the Jets. How this is going to play out this year is Darnold will light it up in Carolina and Wilson will struggle and half the board will be on suicide watch.

[jeremy2020]

44 minutes ago, Welp said:

Let’s be real this is the Jets. How this is going to play out this year is Darnold will light it up in Carolina and Wilson will struggle and half the board will be on suicide watch.

half the board is on suicide watch 100% of the time regardless of circumstances. 

[MichaelScott]

1 hour ago, Welp said:

Let’s be real this is the Jets. How this is going to play out this year is Darnold will light it up in Carolina and Wilson will struggle and half the board will be on suicide watch.

 

1 hour ago, jeremy2020 said:

half the board is on suicide watch 100% of the time regardless of circumstances. 

☝this! Lol 

And look, over the whole season, Sam is likely to look better than he has as a Jet. We can hope that Wilson will look like the real deal from his first snap like Burrow or Herbert. But chances are, over the course of the season, he's going to have the typical ups and downs of a rookie QB. Personally, I wish we would sit him behind someone for at least part of the season. Im upset we still haven't brought in a Vet QB to work with the kid and start the season. There is no justification for Wilson to show up to camp in a QB room full of QBs that haven't taken an NFL snap! I've gotta think JD has his eye on someone to get cut or trade for. They can't start camp with just the QBs they have now. 

I'm pissed Houston hired McCown on their coaching staff, I've been yelling for the Jets to bring him in to work without whatever rookie we had all offseason.  But that's a whole other issue for the different thread lol

I know the diehard Sam haters "know" that he is going to hit the field as a Panther and be the worst QB in the league. Personally, I don't think that's going to be the case at all. I think Sam is going to be much better with a (apparently) competent coach and the weapons he has in Carolina. In fact, I fully expect Sam to have his best season as a pro. I don't think that he will nessesarily ever be a top 10 QB in the league, but I think the people expecting him to fall flat on his face are going to be very disappointed. And here's the thing- THATS OKAY!

At the end of the day, Sam is going into his 4th year as a pro. Zach is a rookie who played one full year of college ball against bottom tier competition. Sam should look better than Zach this year - Especially week 1 - AND THATS OKAY!

That doesn't mean that Joe D made the wrong move. He had the opportunity to reset the salary clock with the 2nd best QB prospect this year, without the need to trade up because of how epically horrible we were last year. Obviously with the hope being we aren't going to have the 2nd overall pick in the near future, it was the right move to make. 

Realistically, this entire first season isn't going to tell us definitively if JD made a huge mistake or not and week one against Sam MOST DEFINITELY isn't going to tell us anything either. 

This board being on suicide watch isn't really indicative of reality lol. Like @jeremy2020 said, that's just status quo around here.

Honestly, I think I'm going to be more pissed if Trevor matches the hype and Wilson busts out. We just had to win those f*cking meaningless games?  I really thought after we lost the LV game on that ridiculous hail mary that we were destined for the 1st pick ??

[bitonti]

That optimistic feeling is what jetblue airlines is all about! 

 

[jamesr]

17 hours ago, Warfish said:

We (to some degree or another) say it every year, frankly. 

"This time it feels different" is literally a meme.

How it feels honestly doesn't matter.  How they do on the field is what matters.

Memes, you say? Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Piggy the Ripe?    

[jamesr]

One thing that I like about our current situation is that HC, OC and QB are all in sync time wise. It's year one for everyone - not the usual mess of firing the OC after 1 year and then HC gets fired a year later, OC goes too, and after 3 years we've had no continuity whatsoever.

However it goes early on, we have to stick by the guys we have hired / drafted and let them grow and develop together. The endless cycle of hirings and firings has to stop.

It'll be interesting to see how Herbert does with the Chargers this year ... phenomenal rookie year, now a new coaching staff / system to start over with in Year 2 (alongside far higher expectations).

 

[jgb]

10 hours ago, FidelioJet said:

It's the first time we've had a GM do it the right way. 

It feels different only because it's being done properly....

This is how I feel. Doesn’t guarantee success (hinges on whether Wilson is a hit) but it’s nice to have some confidence in the process. I’ll take it (for now).

[BCJet]

For the first time since he signed the check to purchase the Jets, the Johnson family has taken a step back and is no longer involved in football operations - and miraculously look at what happens when you find a true football guy to run the organization.

I get that we still need to see the product on the field get better, but I completely agree with the original poster, that the foundation for success is actually here.

Comparing JD/Saleh to combos like John Idzik/Rex, Mac/Gase, etc is such an upgrade that its impossible to even fathom. John Idzik wasnt even involved in personnel in Seattle, he was essentially a football operations person given the keys to an entire franchise, thats how bad things got here.

We finally have the Johnson's out of the picture, a GM and HC who are aligned in their contracts and vision and a decent young core of players that can be augmented with a ton of cap space and 4 top 64 picks next year.  

Id say it definitely feels different.

[CTJetsFan]

18 hours ago, Jet_Engine1 said:

God bless Yoga Pants

Only when worn by someone who should be wearing them.

Someone I know saw a t-shirt that read "Your pants say yoga but your a@@ says McDonald's"

[JetPotato]

It does feel different this time. As different as all the other times it felt different that time.

[greenwichjetfan]

It definitely feels different. This time as opposed to any other time, we have competence in the FO, and it looks like they'll have a complimentary relationship with their coaching staff. That alone is bigly progress that I've not seen before in my 23 years of fandom. 

Unfortunately, it also feels the same as Sanchez and Darnold in that I wasn't a fan of either when they were drafted. Darnold won me over by the end of his rookie year. Hoping Zach does the same.

As stated above though, the big difference is that Zach will never have to deal with Macc or Gase or a lack of QB coach or sh*tty game plans or etc etc etc; so if he does play well enough to win me over by the end of year 1, the hope is that he will continue to impress into next year and the year after.