What will the Jets do?

The coaching staff has ten days to find out what is lacking with the team. There are big problems on both offense and defense. Also it seems like the team is lacking heart. When a team like the Jets faces an inferior opponent,like the Broncos, they should  jump on them early and bury them. Say what you will about Tebow, but he is a leader and he never gives up. I'm not sure that would describe anyone on the Jets. So what would I do during this layover?

Defense


Rex Ryan is known as one of the best defensive minds in the game today. He comes up with masterful gameplans to shut down opposing offense's. Beginning last year he ceded his playcalling duties to coordinator Mike Pettine. While I think Pettine is a tremendous coordinator, I think he makes bad call's when the defense needs a big stop. Take this past game for example. The Broncos have a 3rd and 4, and if the Jets can hold them, then they kick a field goal to tie the game. Pettine calls for zero coverage which pretty much means every blitzes except Cromartie,Revis,and Eric Smith. So what happens? Tebow takes the snap runs to the outside past Smith and into the endzone. Everyone knew Tebow was going to run the ball, that's what he does. Why wouldn't you have guys in a zone instead of relying on your worst defender to make the play? I think Ryan needs to sit down with Pettine and Thurman and reevaluate when and why they are making certain play calls.

As far as the players, Bart Scott and David Harris are great run stopping inside linebackers, but they are slower than molasses in the winter. They cannot cover anyone in passing situations, when a running back gets outside the numbers there is no way they are catching him. There is really nothing the team can do about this in season, but in the offseason they should decide if they should draft or sign a faster ILB. As far as the secondary, the Jets need a safety in the worse way. I stated in an earlier post that they should cut Eric Smith, I admit that may have been an impulse reaction. At the very least they should bench him and let Pool fill his spot or let Emmanuel Cook play. I think the CB's are the strongest unit on the whole team, so they are fine. A major problem with the secondary is communication. If you noticed during the Patriots game, they didn't know where to line up. It looked like Revis and Leonherd were directing traffic. This has been a problem since Ryan took over. I don't know if they need to take more time to coach these guys on where they should be in certain situations. If I was an opposing offensive coordinator I would plan on running no huddle they whole game, because that really confuses this Jets D.

In the next post I'll give my opinion on how to fix the offense.