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New Editorital By Tyson Rauch


Maxman

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I admit it. I am a sucker. And this sucker personality comes out more in me when it comes to my sports teams than anything else. Who does not want to get up in a wave of optimism and hope? Even when that wave is broken, and the wash is all that remains, you have the exhileration of the ride that ensued.

With that said, I never got caught up with this encarnation of a Jets football team. That does not mean I don't believe in its general direction and potential.

But, thsi team does not have the tag of "winner" on it. The first axiom of professional football that it breaks is that you must consistently run the ball and consistently stop the run. At the very least you must do one of these things well.

Look back at any other Jet pretender team, and they at least filled one aspect of that bill.

Maybe I am more cynical in old age. Maybe the flotsam of Jet message boards have turned me into a differnt fan. I can't tell you.

I just never had a belief that this team was a tru contender this year. I still have agood feel of its direction. Just not this year.

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Good job Tyson - you nailed it. This is a work in process. Any post season activity would have been on sheer heart and guts alone. Doesn't look like there's enough talent yet to bind that all together.

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8-8 or 7-9 would be better than what I had predicted.

This year is and still is all about laying a foundation. Mangini has done a good job of that with Ferguson and Mangold on the O-Line. I'm not totally sold on Washington. I think he would be better as a Dave Megget type scat back.

The Jets still need a dominant running back, a Wesley Walker type of reciever, and some more pysicalilty on the OL.

Defense. To be honest with you I don't know what to do. The 3-4 is not working but it could a work in progress. Herm's first two years the Jets started the season dreadful against the Run but were able to make adjustments and play it better. Can it happen here ?

I like the LB's and the secondary but the D-Line really looks like it can use 2 or 3 new guys.

As far as Pennington is concerned.

There comes a point where you have to put Clemens in there just to see if he can be the QB of the future. In 1984 Joe Walton made the switch from Ryan and to O'Brien midway through the season and the Jets I think won 1 of the 7 games that O'Brien started. That experience that O'Brien got though in 84 paid off in 85 and 86.

That experience is very important. I cannot think of alot of QB's who just came in as a rookie and didn't struggle. (Marino is the only I can think of who didn't struggle as a rookie QB).

Give Pennington the Pats and the Bears. If they lose both (which they probably will) then Mangini will be faced with an interesting decision with Pennington and Clemens.

My guess is that he will stick with Pennington for the rest of the season. The Jets will probably end up 7-9 and they will have an open competition for the QB position in 2007

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There comes a point where you have to put Clemens in there just to see if he can be the QB of the future. In 1984 Joe Walton made the switch from Ryan and to O'Brien midway through the season and the Jets I think won 1 of the 7 games that O'Brien started. That experience that O'Brien got though in 84 paid off in 85 and 86.

That experience is very important. I cannot think of alot of QB's who just came in as a rookie and didn't struggle. (Marino is the only I can think of who didn't struggle as a rookie QB).

Bingo, give this man a gold star.

PennyBoy is a fixed commodity; you know exactly what you get with him (probably not what Mangini wants).

Clemens needs to be given a chance to see if he is the real deal or not.

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I agree about Clemens. Chad is definitely a known quantity at this point. Is he the biggest problem they have roster wise? No. Could he do really well on an above average team? YES.

The problem is this isn't an above average team so they are going to need a different type of QB to get them to the next level.

Losing that game to the Browns really hurts their playoff chances. Long term wise it might have been a HUGE break though if they get to see what they have in Clemens as a result.

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If we fall out of any realistic playoff hope the goal has to be to give Clemens the starts at QB to see what he can do and get experience.

yeah faba, if by some chance pats & bears eek out a win against us & we become 4-6, it'll be real interesting to see what eric does. right now its pretty much impossible to get a read on his short or long term intentions.

starting chad makes sense for the mantra " we'll start who we feel gives us the best chance to win" will the mantra change? I hope so

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I agree that way too many people were looking at the Jets as a playoff team. I figured us for 6-10 at best, but even I was enticed by our soft schedule. Even one of the "tough" teams we have left is pretty soft-the Vikings are also a product of a weak schedule.

I agree that we should try to see what we have with Clemens. I don't think it's really possible to do that fully. As a rookie with a complicated O, I think they'll have to cut back the playbook and maybe even the number reads on the plays they keep. This may hurt the progression and ability to see what we have with other players. Also, even if he starts and struggles big time, it doesn't mean that he won't be a good qb down the road. A half a rookie season will not be enough to judge him. He still should see some time. I don't think Brad Smith should see ANY significant time at QB until he is ready to play wr full time. Let/make the guy learn the position he's going to end up playing.

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It's amazing how so many people who preached patience during the off season and would have signed up for 4-4 at the bye week are now ready to jump off a bridge after a road loss.

We all knew the multiple problems coming in so lets allow the staff and FO more than 8 games to fix them.

The guys calling for Chad's job need to remember their mantra that Mangini would play the best player at every position along with Clemens pre-season performance. He's either not ready or just not as good as Pennington yet.

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I admit it. I am a sucker. And this sucker personality comes out more in me when it comes to my sports teams than anything else. Who does not want to get up in a wave of optimism and hope? Even when that wave is broken, and the wash is all that remains, you have the exhileration of the ride that ensued.

With that said, I never got caught up with this encarnation of a Jets football team. That does not mean I don't believe in its general direction and potential.

But, thsi team does not have the tag of "winner" on it. The first axiom of professional football that it breaks is that you must consistently run the ball and consistently stop the run. At the very least you must do one of these things well.

Look back at any other Jet pretender team, and they at least filled one aspect of that bill.

Maybe I am more cynical in old age. Maybe the flotsam of Jet message boards have turned me into a differnt fan. I can't tell you.

I just never had a belief that this team was a tru contender this year. I still have agood feel of its direction. Just not this year.

You articulated feelings that alot of us Jets fans feel, but couldn't express.

I guess from my point of view (and I'm sure alot of fans can say the same thing), when I saw the Jets winning games, and competing in games they lost, WITHOUT a run defense or a run offense, I figured once those things untracked, we'd be competitive. The running game did get a little momentum, but the run defense never did, and alas, as far as this season is concerned, never will.

I think alot of Jets players are hedging their bets they are gonna be someplace else next season, and they are dogging it because there is no future in it for them, here.

On the other hand, Bitonti's perspective was evident as well, in Cleveland. As Chad goes, so go the Jets. And he had an ATROCIOUS game. I think it's alot things, and all of them bad. It's too much to overcome.

My fear is this- next year isn't going to be any different, because the Jets will still be saddlebagged with contracts they can't shake.

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The one thing that could be very interesting is how the team reacts if they do happen to go 4-6.

Yep that will be the key to any 2nd half improvement. Going from 4-3 to 4-6 will make for Mangini's first big test of having the players continue to buy into his program.

The team can still win 8-9 games but morale will be the key if NE and Chicago play out as losses.

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