Schotty Out, Sparano In

Post Courtesy of Brian Fanelli 

This offseason for the Jets has only just begun, but is already full of turmoil. As an avid fan of the Jets, it has done nothing but cause me headaches and has caused me to question what the hell is going on in the locker room. At the beginning of the season, there were high hopes for the franchise coming off back to back AFC Championship Game appearances, and boasting some new weapons on offense. Although there were some players on the roster with huge egos and problems in the past (Holmes, Burress) I thought that if there was a coach in the league fit to bring the team together… it was Rex Ryan. A players coach, Rex has never been afraid to speak his mind and defend the players that take the field for him. That’s part of the reason why I love having him run the show. Not only is he a brilliant defensive mastermind, but coming to the biggest sporting market in the country has done little to break him down. After the Mangini era, a coach that was quiet and reserved coming from the school of Belichik, it was refreshing to have someone who would not back down. But after the way this season went, you begin to wonder if it was too much too fast, and there no doubt needs to be a change in the organization.

I digress, I know you asked for my thoughts on Schotty, and I’ll get there. Not only does Rex defend his players, but he sticks his neck out for his coaching staff as well. When people were calling for Schottenheimer to get axed, he continually said Brian was his guy and that he had confidence in him. Schotty has been the OC for the Jets for six years, and for the first five I liked what he was doing. But it seemed that people were always frustrated in what he did, especially during Ryan’s tenure. What I failed to understand was how could you dislike someone who was in charge of the best running attack in the entire NFL? Mark Sanchez during his rookie year had a very simple task while under center, which was to not screw up. Coming straight out of college after just one year as a starter, it generally takes a while for a rookie QB to adjust to the speed of the game in the NFL. Schotty did his best to disguise the weakness to the offense, and generated the best ground game in the NFL. Partnered with a dominant defense, the Jets were built to control the clock and be successful in cold weather playoff games.

This year, however, it became increasingly difficult to defend Schotty and his tactics. Mark, now in his third full year as a starter, has (fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to look at it) earned the right to have the offense opened up for him. And I get that. But as the old saying goes, don’t fix what ain’t broken. You cannot have Sanchez throw the ball 60 times, with a completion % around 55 and expect to be successful week after week. Yes, the Jets were forced/dared to throw on occasion, whether it was because they were playing from behind or because other teams would load the box, but that formula with this team did not work well this year. The under-utilization of some of the wide outs, mainly Burress, drove me crazy at times. He was used effectively in the red zone, but other than that he was a decoy out there. I do not know if this is because of the play calling by Schottenheimer, or because it was a combination of him not getting open and/or having Sanchez get him the ball, but there should have been more plays called for him and Holmes in my opinion, as they are dynamic receivers fully capable of making the offense go. This was not always the case, as many times they would be thrown to and have it fall incomplete because of a poor throw by Sanchez. Either way you look at it, the offense struggled and there is no excuse for that when there is that much talent on the field.

There are ways I think you can defend Schotty, however, as the offense wasn’t all bad. Surprisingly enough, the Jets were the most efficient team in the red zone all year in the NFL, scoring a TD on almost 70% of their trips down there. They fixed an area of concern, which was their inability to put up 7 points instead of settling for 3 with the wildly inconsistent Nick Folk. As for the run game, there were some factors, I believe, that caused a major dip in productivity. Mangold was forced to miss some games with an injury, and the O-line struggled mightily without him. There’s also Wayne Hunter, who is an abomination at right tackle and clearly not fit to be in an NFL uniform, who caused play after play to break down and/or be penalized for stupidity. With exception to Mangold and Ferguson, it seemed that the O-line continually got beat up front and forced Sanchez to rush through his progressions and led to a lousy run game for the Jets standards. These are not Schotty’s fault, as he cannot control the health of a player or a player’s inability to play at a high level. He can only work with the pieces presented to him.  

Overall, however, the offense was ineffective for a team with high hopes, and I believed there was a need for change. As I was typing this, the Jets have officially made Sparano OC. Honestly, I have no idea what to think about this. Although the Dolphins play within the same division as the Jets, I don’t know enough about him to make any assumptions yet as to whether he will be successful or not. Towards the end of the year, the Fins were playing good football and Sparano was able to make Bush a 1,000 yard rusher and have Moore play efficient at QB for the most part, so there seem to be some bright spots. There are also rumors about Haley joining the Jets as assistant HC, which would be interesting. He seems, in my opinion, as a coach that puts players in their place, with a no nonsense attitude and preaches discipline. Maybe this is exactly what the Jets need, as players all over the locker room seem to lack discipline and are talking behind one another’s back frequently now. This, for the most part, is the opposite of Rex, who is a players’ coach and is looser with the players. Again, I do not know a lot about Haley, but having him and Sparano run the offense will probably either be great, or blow up in their face. I’ve rambled a lot, I hope this helps somewhat. If you have any questions please ask, as I enjoy sharing my opinions and thoughts on the Jets.

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