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[slats]

Don’t Forget Braylon

by JOHN CHARVAT on OCTOBER 10, 2010[EDIT]

in FEATURED EDITORIALS

Last year, the Jets’ offense was something that the defense and special teams needed to overcome if the Jets were going to get a win. The running game was tops in the league, but only the Browns were worse in the passing game. There was a lot of blame getting passed around between the rookie QB and Brian Schottenheimer. Fans could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel at the end of the season when, while not making a ton of big plays, Sanchez seemed to be getting out of the habit of making bad ones.

This year the story of the Jets is the offense. And it’s a positive story! After a season opener that had Same Old Jets written all over it, the QB and coordinator got together and stream-lined the playbook. They took out a lot of the pre-snap motion. In the opener, you heard Sanchez barking, “Kill! Kill!” quite a bit, and haven’t heard it since – because in the opener there were two plays called every down, and he was “killing” one, now there’s only one play called. Schottenheimer had to trust Sanchez to make the right throw within the play call, and Sanchez has rewarded that trust by being the 4th highest rated passer in the NFL so far this season with a rating of 105.3. Crazy, right?

But Sanchez hasn’t been the only story. Dustin Keller is fulfilling his potential as a complete TE. He leads the Jets with 19 catches and 3 TD’s. LaDainian Tomlinson has been reborn in a Jet uniform as their leading rusher -averaging an astounding 6.1 yards per carry- and also catching 12 passes for another 82 yards. The big story this week seems to be the return of Santonio Holmes, the former Super Bowl MVP.

Lost in the shuffle is Braylon Edwards – except when he’s getting pulled over for a DWI. All this this former #3 overall pick has done on the Jets is lead them with an eye-popping 18.9 yards per catch -good for 5th best in the NFL right now- and tying Dustin Keller with 3 TD’s. One of those TD’s was his first reception after sitting out the first quarter of the Miami game, a 67 yard catch and run that took back the lead the Jets never again relinquished. Braylon’s averaging 7.8 yards after the catch, a huge number in the Jets’ offense. He’s a threat to score with the ball in his hands from anywhere on the field.

At the time of the DWI, the media was up in arms. There was talk of suspending him for the game. Some of the more bloviated pontificators (see: Myers, Gary; Francesa, Mike) were suggesting the Jets should cut him. Quietly though, Edwards is making a case for the Jets to keep him. Rex Ryan was quoted as saying that Braylon lost himself a few million with his DWI, and it’s possible that could eventually become a home town discount. Coming into the season, the thought was that the Jets would only keep one of Edwards or Holmes. The DWI hurts Edwards’ chances, but his next league suspension for an illegal substance will be four games, while Holmes’ next such suspension will be for a full season. These are things the Jets will have to take into account when the time comes. That and their performance on the field, of course.

Also lost in the mix -literally- has been Jerricho Cotchery. He has 11 catches for a paulty 90 yards, and he’s had a couple uncharacteristic drops as well. It’s not like his opportunities are going to go up with Holmes getting on the field for the first time tomorrow night, either. If his game doesn’t get turned around, the Jets could very well be looking at how they can keep both Edwards and Holmes at the end of the year.

[Bleedin Green]

Good stuff, although one thing I did catch is Keller actually has 5 TDs this season, which is just ridiculous. That's good for second in the league behind only Antonio Gates.

[Bruce Banner]

That Kill, Kill thing was the worst audible system I ever heard. Its in the category of self cracking codes. Watching that Ravens game was painful, the Ravens linebackers would crowd the line and Sanchez would shout Kill, Kill and then they would go back to their original positions thus making the play being run the wrong one for the defense they were facing.

I'm surprised more hasn't been made of this. Making the audible system so obvious was painfully stupid.

[Vudu]

That Kill, Kill thing was the worst audible system I ever heard. Its in the category of self cracking codes. Watching that Ravens game was painful, the Ravens linebackers would crowd the line and Sanchez would shout Kill, Kill and then they would go back to their original positions thus making the play being run the wrong one for the defense they were facing.

I'm surprised more hasn't been made of this. Making the audible system so obvious was painfully stupid.

They should say Jihad instead!

[slats]

Good stuff, although one thing I did catch is Keller actually has 5 TDs this season, which is just ridiculous. That's good for second in the league behind only Antonio Gates.

Good catch!

I pretty much expected Keller to lead the team in catches this year, but I didn't expect him to lead the team in receiving yards and TD's, too. He's having an awesome season so far.

edit: edited

[Bleedin Green]

Good catch!

I pretty much expected Keller to lead the team in catches this year, but I didn't expect him to lead the team in receiving yards and TD's, too. He's having an awesome season so far.

edit: edited

Yeah, the guy has been simply phenomenal this season. And none of those early season blues we saw out of him the past two years. Outside of week 1 where the whole offense was a disaster, he's been great right out of the gate.

[RutgersJetFan]

Also lost in the mix -literally- has been Jerricho Cotchery. He has 11 catches for a paulty 90 yards, and he’s had a couple uncharacteristic drops as well.

This is why I'm happiest about Holmes coming on. Cotch has looked pretty bad this year. He's looked like a guy that's lost a step which is weird because it's not like he's long in the tooth. I'm starting to wonder if it's a mental thing. He was an awesome #2 for a period of time and performed well as our #1 last season (he was in the top 5 for DVOA for the the first few weeks of last season), then Keller comes on and they go out and get two guys with twice his talent who've done half as much for the franchise.

[Sperm Edwards]

In the opener, you heard Sanchez barking, “Kill! Kill!” quite a bit, and haven’t heard it since – because in the opener there were two plays called every down, and he was “killing” one, now there’s only one play called. Schottenheimer had to trust Sanchez to make the right throw within the play call, and Sanchez has rewarded that trust by being the 4th highest rated passer in the NFL so far this season with a rating of 105.3. Crazy, right?

What's missing from this is Schottenheimer had Sanchez pick a play based on the way the defense looked AND then "make the right throw within the play call" which is clearly too much for a kid with his experience. More over, if Sanchez is making the call, and calls it wrong, that means he's expecting something to be there that isn't. On passing plays he has to think about 3-5 patterns being run which is plenty as one comes out of the huddle. To process those patterns for TWO plays, and to choose one at the line and get in the "mindframe" of that play in <1 second, just requires more experience than Sanchez has.

Glad he finally realized we have enough talent that all the extraneous motion isn't necessary (assuming it ever was) now that we don't have Chad Pennington throwing to Justin McCareins and Chris Baker with Kevan Barlow in the backfield and Adrien Clarke and Anthony Clement on the OL.

If there are any defenses out there that can match our personnel on offense, position by position, they are few and far between enough to stop all that garbage.