Recap Of Marty Mornhinweg’s Conference Call With New York Jets Season Ticket Holders

Jul 28, 2013; Cortland, NY, USA; New York Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg speaks with the media prior to training camp at SUNY Cortland. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been roughly a month since the last time we have heard from the Jets’ offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. Today, on a conference call for season ticket holders, we heard from him again. Here are the highlights:

Marty Mornhinweg reiterated the same thing he said on April 29th about the quarterbacks. Here is what he said regarding the situation and it summarizes everything extremely well:

“There is competition,” Mornhinweg said, via NJ.com. “Now, it may not quite be like the competition we had last year where everything was 50-50. We’re trying to continue the progression with Geno, and then have Mike ready to go. It’s just that simple, and Mike knows the exact expectations and roles that he has, and Geno knows the exact expectations.” NFL.com “Marty Mornhinweg: Jets’ QB race isn’t quite ’50-50′” 5/29/14 by Mike Coppinger

Here is what he said April 29th:

“We’re going to structure it in a certain way,” Mornhinweg said, via Brian Costello of theNew York Post. “One thing I want to make sure of is nothing impedes the young quarterback’s progression. I’m talking about Geno. He progressed beautifully, . . . I’m talking the last quarter of the season.”

“We’ve got a plan,” Mornhinweg said. “Geno is in the middle of a progression. He’s a fine, young quarterback. You know I think highly about him. We brought Michael Vick in for a purpose. He’s going to compete, he’s going to push, he’s going to make Geno the very best. If he’s called upon to play and when he’s called upon to play, I expect Mike Vick to play at a real high level.” ProFootballTalk.com “Marty Mornhinweg: Geno Smith opens as starter” 4/29/14 by Darin Gantt.

So as you can see Mornhinweg has been consistent in his characterization of the competition and both participants know their roles and responsibilities and that is all that matters, not what the media thinks.

Mornhinweg also spoke about Willie Colon‘s knee procedure and he characterized it as “nothing serious” and that he should “definitely” be back before training camp. That’s certainly good news as Colon is already rehabbing his torn bicep and needs all the reps he can get in training camp so he can get in sync with new right tackle Breno Giacomini. Oday Aboushi was praised with Mornhinweg saying that he’s done “outstanding” inside. This transition was already in motion before Colon’s knee tweak according to the offensive coordinator. William Campbell was also praised but it was noted that he is coming off a minor procedure with his arm and should be back soon. Overall, on the offensive line, Mornhinweg said:

“We feel real good about our offensive line. That was one thing last year that we could hang our hat on just a little bit. We’re excited about the young guys. We’ve got an opportunity to become one of the better offensive lines in the league.” NJ.com “Jets’ Marty Mornhinweg expects Willie Colon ‘back very quickly’, and ‘certainly’ for training camp” 5/29/14 by Darryl Slater

Mornhinweg said the offense feels “light-years ahead of where we were last year”. He went into detail explaining last year’s offense versus what might be to come this season:

“I learned early last year (that) our defense is so good that I leaned on that part of the squad, offensively, more than I ever have,” Mornhinweg said. “I found myself relying on the defense at critical moments last year. Certainly, the defense came through that way.”

“With the people that we’ve added, certainly we can be a little bit more aggressive, especially in critical moments,” Mornhinweg said. “There were some good reasons why we played that (more passive) style a little bit last year.” NJ.com “Marty Mornhinweg says Jets’ offense feels ‘light-years ahead of where we were last year'” 5/29/14 by Darryl Slater

The offensive coordinator said it is the team’s goal to cut the sacks (47) and giveaways (29) in half, basing that expectation on the fact that Geno Smith is expected to grow and develop and the new pieces brought are expected to allow for quicker decisions to be made to throw to more open receivers. Personally, I think that the sack total is reasonable but I think getting giveaways down to 20 would be a huge win but 15 is a real stretch.

It’s only May, there hasn’t been many practices, no contact and the installation of the offense is in the early stages so take most of this stuff with a grain of salt but it is nice to hear the plan and the areas they wish to attack.