Jets Not Fractured Over Lack of Offense
By Alan Schechter
Aug 18, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow (15) takes the snap from offensive guard Matt Slauson (68) during the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Perlman/THE STAR-LEDGER via US PRESSWIRE
Three games in the books for 2012, and the Jets still haven’t scored a touchdown. People around the area are at varying degrees of pushing the panic button. It is still the preseason, but concern is obviously warranted.
But, you know how hasn’t appeared to have pushed the panic button? The New York Jets. It also looks like this team is not going to divide up over the lack of production as well. Let’s see what they had to say after the game. First, coach Ryan, on whether he is concerned about the offense:
No. We have work to do, but I think we made some improvements. I really think we’re going to get this thing turned. We have to. There were some encouraging things, and I think it started with the way Mark threw the football and the way we protected him. I thought those were some real positives. At times, I liked the way we ran the ball. You have to give the opponent credit. They were good enough to win the game.
Here’s Mark Sanchez, on why he is confident about how the offense will perform week 1:
Well, we just feel like there’s good stuff right around the corner, and we’re steadily improving and now we’ll need to make a big jump for this Buffalo game coming up, but we’ve got some time. Had a couple of injuries tonight, so hopefully these next few days, we’ll be able to get guys healthy and be at full strength for Buffalo.
It hasn’t even begun to affect the defense’s psyche either. Take a look at Bart Scott’s comments:
That’s just one of those things. This is the first time (Mark Sanchez) he has had his full onslaught of receivers. There was a little rust (and) timing issues. You saw guys were getting open and the ball came out of his hand a lot more affectively. If anything, last year we were pretty good in the red zone. I’m sure that once they get a little time to game plan for somebody and understand what kind of defense they’re playing, (they’ll be fine). I know other teams, it’s their third game of the season, they watch film on their opponent, they game plan, and they watch what they do. We don’t do any of that. We say, here are our principles, play the game. We watched as a group yesterday, one quarter of the Texans game against the Panthers. We had no idea what (defense) they were in or who was their guy. All we knew was that they were going to run to Ben Harstock’s side more than Greg Olsen’s, and some other spread-option stuff. Other than that, we had no idea what they ran. We knew DeAngelo Williams was a polished runner. When tighten it down and know they’re formations then we’ll game plan. We had all our plays up- all of our installs were up. We will shrink that down and offense will get a nice tight game plan and we’ll move affectively. (Right now) It’s all about going out and doing your rules, playing your rules, and seeing how you match up, blind.
In the past, especially in 2011, this type of situation would have broken the team apart. There would have been griping, and it would have come out into the public eye. The reports would have started to surface, it would have been blown into a bigger situation, and the beginning of the end would be upon us.
This team is united, and it’s a great sign. Hopefully it continues.