New York Jets Week 9: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Nov 2, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Percy Harvin (16) is tackled by Kansas City Chiefs inside linebacker James-Michael Johnson (52) in the second half at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City won the game 24-10. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

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The Jets lost another game this week, falling to 1-8 after a 24-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. They have now lost eight straight games since beating the Raiders in Week 1 and have progressively gotten worse as the year has gone along. How did this week’s loss happen? Here is the good, the bad and the ugly:

The Good

1) One step closer to the number 1 pick – Now that the season is completely flushed down the toilet it is time to look forward to the offseason and draft position. If you are going to be bad, you might as well be the worst and have the number one pick. If the Jets end up with the number one pick they have a number of options to consider that help the team immediately. First, they can take Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon, who is a very accurate, poised, athletic quarterback and hope that he is a franchise quarterback. Second, they can trade back and get multiple picks in return or even a veteran quarterback and picks.

They can use those picks to draft a combination of a pass rushing outside linebacker, a shutdown corner, a tackle and/or a guard. Coming out of the draft with a franchise quarterback would be the biggest win of all but if you don’t believe there is one in this draft you can still be successful by coming out of the draft with a corner and a pass rusher in round one, a plug and play guard and a good tackle prospect among the picks that will improve the team greatly as well. If you don’t believe that any of the quarterback prospects are worth it then a trade or free agent signing of a veteran quarterback who can manage a game without turning the ball over is essential.

2) Next year’s 4th round pick is already a success – Percy Harvin has been a welcome addition to the Jets and has been every bit the playmaker he was advertised as so far. Harvin had 129 yards receiving on Sunday (his 1st 100 yard receiving day since 2012) to go along with 88 return yards (including a 65 yard return that led to a field goal just before halftime) and 8 rushing yards. Harvin now has a combined total of over 400 all-purpose yards in his 1st two games as a Jet and that’s playing with terrible quarterbacks who shouldn’t be in the NFL. Whether or not they redo his contract after his season to lower his cap number in exchange for a more cap-friendly deal, it is clear that Harvin will be here next year and be a key part of the offense.

3) Ryan Quigley punted well – Ryan Quigley continued his resurgent year by averaging 49.3 yards per punt on his three punts. This year, despite the more than occasional shank, Quigley has averaged 47.4 yards per punt before today as well as 43.5 net yards per punt, both numbers are significantly above his career average of 46.2 gross and 41.5 net yards per punt. Yes it is sad that Ryan Quigley’s slightly above average performance makes “The Good” section but during an eight game losing streak you take what you can get.

Nov 2, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe (82) catches a pass and is tackled by New York Jets cornerback Antonio Allen (39) during the first half at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Bad

1) Antonio Allen’s lost season – Coming off of a promising 2nd season Rex Ryan said to me during the Jets House event during Super Bowl weekend that Antonio Allen would be the Jets answer to his brother Rob’s weapon at safety Kenny Vaccaro. Ryan wasn’t quite being honest because the team drafted Calvin Pryor in the 1st round of the 2014 draft but the Jets definitely had high hopes for Allen. Allen had done a good job covering tight ends (especially Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham) as well as blitzing and he was looking to grow his role into a starter. Then injuries ravaged the cornerback position and, despite no experience at the position, Allen was moved to corner because of his athletic ability.

The problem is he doesn’t have the football IQ to overcome his lack of experience and has been beaten repeatedly this year. He moved back to safety for a few games but his confidence is shot and he continued to get destroyed in coverage. Sunday was no different and Allen was abused so badly he was pulled from the game at halftime and called out by Rex Ryan in the post game press conference. With Marcus Williams and Josh Thomas the starting corners I am reminded of a quote by my Sports Management professor at St. John’s University, Tony Missere, who said “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken poo.”

2) Despite some nice stats and no turnovers Mike Vick showed he isn’t the answer at quarterback and neither is Matt Simms – Vick finished 21/28 for 196 yards with one touchdown and 0 interceptions. He fumbled once but recovered it and had no turnovers. That’s great and all but he only had one successful scoring drive and was 4-12 on 3rd down and 2-5 on 4th down. Vick just could not make the plays necessary to complete drives despite having more than enough talent at the skill positions to get it done. Eric Decker had nine catches for 63 yards and a touchdown, which brings his total to 40 catches on the season despite being injured for most of the 1st half of the season. Percy Harvin had 11 catches for 129 yards and was running free all over the field and Chris Johnson turned back the clock for the day with 11 carries for 69 yards. Those players combined with Jeremy Kerley and Chris Ivory, who were wrapped up by a good Chiefs defense today but have plenty of talent, are enough to run a successful offense.

Unfortunately the Jets don’t have a competent, accurate quarterback to run this offense and won’t until next year at the earliest. These problems with finishing drives will continue to repeat for the rest of the year. You can blame play calling or coaching but you’d be wrong because in the end the Jets just don’t have the quarterback to execute what they need. That quarterback played for the Chiefs on Sunday. Alex Smith knows his role is to get the ball out fast, put it in the right spot for the receiver to run after the catch and not turn the ball over. If the Jets just switched quarterbacks with the Chiefs the Jets would probably be closer to 4-5 or better than 1-8. It is just that simple.

3) The defensive line played listlessly and without passion – The supposed strength of the Jets is their defensive line. That line is supposed to stop the run cold, especially in short yardage situations, and put pressure on the quarterback without the need for exotic blitzes. The Jets have blitzed too much in my opinion this season considering their weakness in the secondary and Sunday they decided to let the defensive line lead the way and create havoc and they failed. Not only did they fail, they failed without the fire and passion they are known for and that’s unacceptable.

JJ Watt of the Texans makes plays. He has three interceptions for touchdowns this season and when he isn’t creating pressure he is knocking down passes instead. Muhammad Wilkerson hasn’t been making those plays this season. He just hasn’t been as effective and you start to wonder if Wilkerson and Richardson are the players that Demario Davis are talking about who just do their work, don’t watch extra film, practice extra or do the things to become great but instead rest on their laurels. There allegedly was an incident on the sideline Sunday where Richardson tossed Gatorade in the face of Calvin Pryor on the sideline and they both had to be separated by defensive line coach Karl Dunbar and it is starting to become apparent that this young defensive line needs to grow up.

Sep 7, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets general manager John Idzik reacts during the game against the Oakland Raiders at MetLife Stadium. The Jets defeated the Raiders 19-14. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Ugly

1) Everything – It’s an eight game losing streak. Everyone has done their part to help in the futility. The coaching staff, the players, and the front office have all contributed to varying degrees this season. The bottom line is that the team just isn’t talented enough at quarterback or cornerback to compete on a week to week basis. Some of that is John Idzik’s fault for not going out and landing a big time free agent corner and apparently missing on Geno Smith as a draft pick. There is more to it, however. Rex Ryan doesn’t coach young quarterbacks well and reeled Smith in so much after turnovers that it got in Smith’s head and stunted his development. Smith stopped trying to make winning plays and started to try and not make losing plays at some point.

Smith needed to be stronger mentally and adjust to his role but this same thing happened with Mark Sanchez over his time here and the next few weeks will be telling as Sanchez gets a chance to start in Philadelphia. Will he resurrect his career outside of New York and prove the Jets stunted his development or will he show that he just was a bad quarterback that Rex Ryan got the most out of before he imploded? Will the Jets reinsert Geno Smith after the bye and finally take the reins off of him and let him run an offense with Eric Decker and Percy Harvin on the outside with Jeremy Kerley in the slot and Chris Ivory running the football with Jace Amaro at tight end? That is an amount of talent that Smith never had here.

I don’t think any team would have been able to survive their top four corners going down to injury. Milliner, McDougle, Patterson and Walls are all out with Milliner and McDougle having season-ending injuries, Patterson having injuries then going insane and Walls developing injuries. No team could survive a rash of injuries hitting an already weak, thin area.

2) Fans and media calling for John Idzik’s job – It’s actually sad that some fans have taken to raising funds for a billboard to tell Woody Johnson to fire General Manager John Idzik. Firing John Idzik after only two years while not letting him choose his own coach and forcing him to trade Darrelle Revis would be one of the stupidest things the Jets have ever done. Idzik cleaned the Jets out of cap hell, traded mid round picks for Chris Ivory and Percy Harvin, set them up with enough financial maneuverability to be able to re-sign Muhammad Wilkerson, Damon Harrison, Jeremy Kerley and enough future space for Sheldon Richardson.

He turned the skill position players from Shonn Greene, Stephen Hill, Clyde Gates, Jeremy Kerley and Jeff Cumberland to Chris Ivory, Eric Decker, Percy Harvin, Jeremy Kerley and Jace Amaro. You can’t judge his draft classes after a year and a half, no team does that. Idzik deserves his chance with his own coaching staff and a full 3rd year to see development from his drafted players and another year of free agent signings. He will be back and it is the right decision and it isn’t even disputable. Don’t let frustration get in the way of rational thinking.

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