Erik Boland live chat

[flgreen]

10:55

Moderator: Hi all. We'll get going in about 15 minutes.

11:00

Good morning everyone. we'll be ready in a few. fire away [no pun intended, plaxico] on last sunday's game, this sunday's game, fourth-and-1, the broncos flopping like thespians (?), the jets snafu with their season ticket holders, or whatever else is on your mind. when the moderator gives me the word, we'll get started

11:01

[Comment From dmb88886]

Hey Erik, start off the chat with a J-E-T-S chant please!

11:01

[Comment From dmb88886]

Hey Erik, was the lack of blitzing the last few games because of the fact that the Titans and Broncos have the two best pass blocking Olines? When are we going to start sending the house?

11:03

dmb, haha, how about i go with a d-m-b chant instead?

anyway, good question on the o lines of the last two teams because eric mangini mentioned that yesterday in his day-after press conference. that plays a role no question but here's the reality: the jets secondary isn't good and the only way to get them off the hook is with qb pressure. they're going to have to start taking more chances with the blitz because this secondary problem isn't going away

11:03

[Comment From NYJfan4life]

How disgusted are the players at this loss?

11:04

[Comment From NYJfan4life]

The conditions were ripe for a letdown, do you agree? Letdown against Raiders, weak performance vs. Chiefs, strong coming out party at Bills, big statement vs. Rams, huge win at Pats, GREAT all around game at Titans 2.0, letdown vs. Broncos in poor conditions, your thoughts??

11:06

nyjfan4life, the players were pretty disgusted. as david bowens said yesterday, they thought that kind of performance "was behind us." meaning a total collapse across the board. last time players felt that way was after oakland and they then won five straight. so that's something.

as for the letdown thing, i agree. there was no way you were going to get another top-notch effort to come seven days after what you got in tennessee. only the giants seem to be able to put those kinds of games together. after taking a step back, everyone needs to recognize the jets are still 8-4, in first place and with a soft schedule coming up. of course, the pats and dolphins have soft scheds too

11:06

[Comment From AhmadChristmasCaroll]

Fake Injuries! Denver was ridiculous on every hurry up offense. Should the league implement (a) a player is out for the entire series if they are down due to injury, or ( more than 1 injury a series then the team uses a timeout?

11:08

ahmadchristmascarroll! great name. but bad coverage against randy moss on that go-route a couple thursdays ago.

as for the injury thing, dre bly all but admitted yesterday the broncos faked a bit on those. as i mentioned on the blog yesterday, it's such a gray area because how do you determine, at the moment a player is down, if he's really hurt? what's the test? and it really isn't fair to penalize a guy for a whole series if he legitimately had the wind knocked from him or cramped up, but was ready to come back two plays later or whatever. it's a tough situation

11:08

[Comment From Scott P]

It appears Favre the last few games is having alot of difficulty throwing down field.When he does, he dont come close to hitting its mark. Do you think he is hurt, not on the same page as his receivers or just wear and tear?

11:10

scott p, well i don't see him as being hurt. when we're out at practice, his throwing isn't curtailed at all and that would be the first sign of trouble if that was the case. hurt qbs dial it back in practice and favre hasn't. the "same page" thing we banned on the blog and in reality, the season's 75 percent over so i don't think it's an issue. the guy's 39. he can't wing it like he used to, but the coles TD against the titans showed he still has a gun in certain moments.

11:10

[Comment From Greenbaumenom]

Erik, this one hurt. How much did that awful call by the referee put a damper on the team? After that point they looked not so great.

11:12

greenbaumemenom, well that was like the second play of the game and the jets did get jones' 59 yard td on their next series to tie it at 7. it hurt because it was a gift TD but let's face it, on that day, the broncos offense wasn't going to be stopped. not by the jets. that said, it was an inexplicably bad call.

11:12

[Comment From are-tee]

Hi Erik - it wouldn't be Tuesday morning without another one of your chats. With the Jets in first place, playing in one of the biggest TV markets in the country, and with Favre at QB, wouldn't you think that NBC would be doing everything possible to flex them into Sunday night at least once? I think the only possibility left now is the finale against Miami.

11:14

are-tee, yes these tuesdays might inspire a book. 'tuesdays with ebola" or something like that.

well, remember this about the flex schedule. it exists not to pick the "best" game week to week, only to avoid outright stinkers. vikings/bears last week wasn't as high profile as jets/broncos, for example, but it was for first place. there was no reason to flex out of it.

11:14

[Comment From Jay]

Was the play of Gholston at the end a move of desperation or is he starting to learn the system.

11:17

Jay, it was interesting to hear mangini kind of rip into gholston a bit yesterday. he played a decent amount against the titans then about the same amount, maybe a little more, against the broncos. he had one tackle against the broncos in all that time, prompting mangini yesterday to say a bit coldly, "he needs a lot of improvement." as i've said before, i don't think we can declare him a bust, but this year you're not going to see huge strides. it hasn't "clicked" yet

11:17

[Comment From Nep Oznat]

I am putting most of the balme for this one on the coaches. Shottenheimer just doesn't have a good touch on play calling. To go with that Brad Smith/Cotchery play under those conditions and his play calling on 3rd & 4th and 1 prove that he is helpless.

11:18

nep oznat, well his play calling was pretty darn good against the pats and titans so a bad game sunday doesn't make him helpless i don't think. chalk up sunday where everyone, top to bottom, was pretty awful

11:18

[Comment From bCarey]

kris jenkins lethargy...reason to worry?

11:19

bcarey, c'mon now! this guy was in the discussion for defensive player of the year (and certainly Jets MVP) going into Sunday. calling him lethargic after his first bad game of the season isn't fair

11:19

[Comment From Dan]

When is Harris coming back?

11:20

dan, the prognosis after the groin surgery was 2-3 weeks and it's been longer than that. he participated in a decent amount of drills last week at practice. i'd say this week or against buffalo at the latest

11:20

[Comment From IRA]

Erik, So they had a bad game. It happens. They will bounce back.How about Keller? He is up to 40 catches already.So Mike Maryz is the OC of the Niners. This game will not be easy. Martz is a passing whiz. At this stage of the year i feel the Jets must change up their pass coverage schemes. How do you feel about that?

11:23

IRA, martz is already designing an attack that calls for 75 passes i'm guessing. looking at the jets coverage schemes, i think it's a personnel issue, meaning beyond revis and rhodes, there's not much back there. the only way to bail out the secondary is to get pressure on the qb. those are the schemes at this point i think that need to be worked on. as for keller, he's a stud. and yes, i remember you saying 50 receptions back during training camp for him!

11:23

[Comment From Crazy Eddie]

Will we be seeing more Barrett and Eric Smith at Safety after Elams dreadful day?

11:23

[Comment From eric]

Hi Erik, I really thought the Jets had put these types of games behind them. The secondary is putrid lately. Who are the major culprits as you see it? BTW, I though Elam had played very well until Sunday, when he was awful.

11:25

crazy eddie and eric, elam had by far his worst game since taking over for eric smith. as for smith, we haven't seen him at practice, other than working on the exercise bike last week. i think harris is closer to returning. the major culprits in the secondary? anyone not named revis and rhodes. not to get too far ahead in terms of the april draft, but secondary help should be very high on the draft board

11:25

[Comment From notjustQBs]

We don't have any tackling in cold rain. If we had stopped the run on the first hit on the back, this would have been a different result.

11:26

notjustqbs, glad you got through! mangini said yesterday that their failure to stop the run was the most glaring problem sunday. to a degree i agree but here's the thing about that: the jets have shown for the most part they can stop the run this season; they haven't yet shown they can stop the pass. i think if they had stopped the run sunday, cutler would have thrown for 450 yards

11:27

[Comment From AhmadChristmasCaroll]

Miami has a very easy 3 upcoming games. NE has at least 1 tough game, against Arizona. Who do you see as the bigger threat?

11:27

[Comment From NYJfan4life]

What game are you most worried about in the next 4 weeks? Miami?

11:27

[Comment From NYJfan4life]

I said 11-5 at the start of the season, with a #3 seed. If this prediction holds true (I know you also predicted 11-5) what game are you most "worried" about as the next loss? I'm thinking Miami??

11:30

ahmad and nyjfan, i think the jets need to win out because of those easy scheds that the pats and dolphins have. although the dolphins i'm not as fearful off because they've struggled against bad teams in recent weeks - the rams and raiders as examples. for the jets, i'm not as concerned about the home games. take your pick of the 49ers or seahawks as problems, only because the jets played their two worst games - up until sunday - on the Coast, at san diego and oakland

11:30

[Comment From Nep Oznat]

Besides the coaching I also fear that Favre is not a cold weather QB as last years' cold weather games showed. This is now a huge question mark for games vs. Bills, Miami and playoffs (if any. Are tou concerned as well?

11:31

nep oznat, i have to disagree. favre wasn't good against the giants but the week before, in a snowstorm against the seahawks in the divisional round, he was tremendous. i dont think the giants game or sunday in the rain suddenly make him a question mark in the elements.

11:31

[Comment From JetsFanDan]

Erik, do you think our players are feeling the heat to win these last 4 games? Let's face it, we lose one of them and NE or Miami could very well take the division crown. This team controls their own destiny, so we can't afford another meltdown. The stakes are just too high.

11:34

jetsfandan, chris baker used the word "urgency" yesterday and also mentioned the team still being able to control its destiny with the last four games. the players know what's at stake and who - namely the patriots - is at their heals.

11:34

[Comment From Dajetz]

Other than some of the coaching decisions (like the use of our challenges) some of the major causes for concern I had were the poor tackiling I saw, and the lack of blitzing. It seems pretty simple to me, when your linebackers are as bad in coverage as ours are, you might as well send them blitzing as to not give the QB all day to pass. Do you think the coaching staff can fix this?

11:35

dajetz, well they better! the jets are definitely starting to miss harris - even though he wasn't having a great year when he got hurt - and as i said before, the only way the secondary problems get fixed in my estimation is applying more pressure to the QB. i would think the coaches recognize that

11:36

[Comment From bCarey]

i heard vernon gholston's name during the broadcast and he appeared to have a qb hurry on the play. what is his deal? will he play a bigger role in 09 or will he never adjust to the scheme? should we chalk up week 13 to a letdown and prepare ourselves for a strong road showing? if we force SF to throw all game by shutting down gore there is no way they beat us. jenkins better rebound from his "lethargic" showing and clog the line.

11:38

bcarey, wow, you're being tough on jenkins my friend!

this is a lost year for gholston and the upcoming offseason will be key for him. he better play a bigger role, as you say, in 09 because if 09 is like 08, then there will be some major criticism for that pick. i think you have to chalk up sunday to a "letdown" and hope that is sparks the type of good play that the last "letdown" sparked. that, of course, was the oakland loss and the jets responded by winning five straight

11:38

[Comment From eric]

I was so impressed with Jay Cutler. I know that the Jets were very interested in drafting him 3 years ago. A major mistake NOT to take him - don't you think?

11:40

eric, not to be flippant but it's always easy to "hindsight" these drafts. besides, that's what sports writers are for!

cutler last week on conference call talked about meeting with the jets before that year's draft but he said he never got the feeling the jets would take him. but remember, last year everyone was saying the jets should have taken Matt L. a few years back, but not so much anymore!

11:41

[Comment From notjustQBs]

I got the impression the Broncos found their feet and balance in this rainy / windy / cold environment and did what they could.

11:41

[Comment From notjustQBs]

The Jets tried to act like they had their footing and balance when they came on the field, but they just gave the Broncos something they could react to. All day, the Jets were physically overcommitting and losing their footing and balance. The Broncs seems to let them do that then just change direction and move on.

11:41

(but cutler was impressive, you're right)

11:44

notjustqbs, i'm not sure i understand your question/statement there. generally speaking, though, the broncos played the game as if the conditions weren't there. as mike shanahan said after the game "i've seen it much worse in this stadium."

11:44

[Comment From dmb88886]

Is Bryan Thomas quitting for the secon year in a row? Someone needs to tell him that he's been invisible lately. Boland, you're the man for that job.

11:45

dmb, no i definitely don't see thomas "slacking off" as he said he did last year. and it's not just him. the jets overall are slumping getting to the QB. ellis has gone four games without a sack and calvin pace has been quiet as well. thomas is fitting as not producing as late

11:45

[Comment From IRA]

Erik, I think if the Cowboys beat the Steelers this week the Steelers will end up 11-5. I still feel the Jets can go 12-4. What do you think?

11:46

IRA, i agree to a degree. there's not one of these last four games that in reality you would say the Jets shouldn't win. i picked 11-5 before the season but at this point i'd have to say you would be disappointed if you didn't go 12-4, based on how the schedule shapes up

11:46

[Comment From Dajetz]

How do you feel about the dissapearing act of the WRs last game. They had no Champ Baily and they were still not able to get open. I am getting a little worried about them, Coles looked like he wanted no part of the game. Is this a position we should seriously look at in the offseason or can they turn it around?

11:46

[Comment From upstatejetsfan08]

Hi Erik, Any worry about Coles? I thought he was hurt Sunday, he seemed to play little(or was not noticed) till late in the game? Also, I forgot to ask last week, any chance Mangini will parachute into practice anytime soon?

11:49

dajetz and upstatejetsfan08, Coles the week before killed the titans and the broncos determined they weren't going to let him do that to him. they did everything but put three guys on him. coles was in there but had just two catches for two yards. not a good YAC day to say the least. but seriously speaking, it was just one game. like i said, he was a major player just seven days before. dajetz, i think the jets will look at receiver in the draft, but they have other pressing needs first, mainly secondary help and LB depth.

(no mangini parachuting, upstate. i think that would be best to be avoided)

11:49

[Comment From BigM]

Is BT and Pace lack of production from maybe being sent out to coverage too often? I would think that just tires them out even more. It seems as if Mangini thinks sending our LB's to cover more than rushing the QB will fix our pass d somehow. Do you think he will stop and actually try to get them to the qb now. I think if they just send pace bt and even gholston on a blitz...itd be pretty successful.

11:51

BigM, bingo! I agree. it's tough to rush the QB when you're dropping into coverage. that needs to change. not to be a broken record here, but the jets secondary problems only get solved with a good pass rush. they have to figure out how to get to the QB or this season will spiral downward quickly

11:51

[Comment From Dan]

has mangini been asked why he punted down 17 in the 4th quarter on 4th and 4 with less than 9 minutes to go? seems like he quit at that point. thanks.

11:52

dan, truthfully, no one asked that. we were busy second-guessing on so many other things that slipped through! it's a fair point you raise, though i would quibble with the word "quit"

11:52

[Comment From Frank]

Eric, don't know if the question has been asked, but do you think the Jets remaining opponets will use the Denver offensive game plan as a blueprint for attacking our vuleneralbilities against the pass?

11:54

frank, their upcoming opponents would be crazy not to! as i said earlier, i'd be shocked if 49ers offfensive coordinator mike martz didn't dial up a game plan that called for 75 passes

11:54

[Comment From Greenbaumenom]

If the draft was today, which position would you take? I say CB,DE, or LB.

11:54

greenbaumenom, I go CB first followed by LB. all depending on draft position of course

11:54

Moderator: Hi all. We have time for one more question. Thanks for your participation today.

11:54

[Comment From NYJfan4life]

was Mangini showing emotion on the sidelines? I mean more emotion than his usual hands on hips/eye roll?

11:56

nyjfan4life, yes there seemed to be more emotion on the sideline and certainly afterward with the press he was speaking through clenched teeth. he was not that angry after the oakland loss, at least in public. he was genuinely PO'd about this one.

all right everyone, thanks as always for joining in. i'll be back on the blog and we'll try again for next tuesday morning. have a great week

[abyzmul]

Probably the only beat writer I care to read...

[joewilly]

boland is sharp for sure. good read. thanks for posting