In a perfect football world the Jets and Giants would be playoff teams each and every year and soon there would be an all New York Super Bowl that would knock the sports world on it's ass. The two years the Jets were in the AFC Championship game feel like such a long time ago. My man Lance, L-II has his take below:
The Jets have a problem that most prophesized would come. Although I was going to touch on this before the San Francisco debacle, now is an even better time to talk about “Gang Green” and their impending woes. As much as the New York Jets tried to deny and avoid any friction or quarterback controversy, they certainly landed themselves in a tough spot by failing to successfully implement the Sanchez/Tebow dual quarterback dynamic.
Many were stunned at the Tebow trade in the offseason, including Mark Sanchez (despite reports that he wasn’t shocked). In most minds, the question of how both quarterbacks would factor into the offense was imminent. Head coach Rex Ryan boasted a plan of a wildcat offense prior to the preseason, and to Jets fans’ dismay the plan has been transparent. ESPN analyst Skip Bayless feels as if Rex brought Tebow in just to be a circus monkey, and quite frankly I have to agree with him. The bottom line is that Tim Tebow has not been used how he should be used within the Jets offense, and a struggling Mark Sanchez does not make matters better.
To be clear, I completely understand Rex’s backing of Sanchez as the leader and sole quarterback of this Jets team. As an organization OF COURSE you want to be as united as you can and have roles definitive and set, but the Jets and Sanchez are making matters harder for themselves. The Jets as a team are generating frantic media and pressure surrounding Tim Tebow and the questioning of his role on this team as the season thickens. Those on the calmer, perhaps more optimistic side of things would say its too early for “Tebow time”, but the lackluster and mediocre play from Mark Sanchez suggests otherwise and actually prompts it.
Mark Sanchez now has a completion rate under 50% for the 3rd time in 4 games. The Jets are 2-2 on the season, and they can only boast wins against Miami and Buffalo, two teams who right now, aren’t playoff contenders. In addition, they previously struggled against a Pittsburgh team who has been far from impressive thus far as the Steelers lost to Oakland last week. With the Texans ahead, the Patriots twice on the schedule, Arizona, and pesky teams like Seattle and St. Louis down the road, the New York Jets and Mark Sanchez don’t have time to be fooling around on the offensive side of things; the defensive side will also be missing Darrelle Revis for the remainder of the season, so the younger players now have a chance to show what they’ve got.
As a teammate, you realize certain roles and strategies that will ultimately help your entire team become better, and honestly Rex’s back is against the wall with Tebow. He will have to play him in the regular quarterback slot on drives more often of otherwise he is doing Tim Tebow a disservice. He is misusing him because every time he brings him in, its pretty much known he’s going to run. His first pass was against the 49ers yesterday and he completed it for 9 yards. Rex and the Jets are not being as inconspicuous or wise as they could be. They should be mixing up plays and really keeping teams on their heels (especially with two able quarterbacks). Even the San Francisco 49ers knew how to show Rex up and embarrass him by using their own second string quarterback Colin Kaepernick who rushed for 50 yards on 5 carries, one of which was a TD. Again, Rex needs to USE Tebow and fast. Tebow can even run better than Shonn Greene, whose season stats are dismal.
In defense and a desperate belief, despite what critics and naysayers have to say about Tebow and his passing success, I strongly feel he is more than capable of doing just as good if not even better than Sanchez, and proved that by succeeding in Denver last season as the starting quarterback. Rex needs to play Tebow on full drives and see what he gets out of it. Hell, just use them together! You could do a flea flicker type of deal where Sanchez even hands it off to Tebow to THROW instead of run all the time. Something. Anything! Plainly, things just need to be done different because things aren’t efficient.
The Jets are going to have a rough season if they can’t get the offense going. This is a team that is struggling to score touchdowns, and is now ailing on both the offensive and defensive ends. Even though they are atop the AFC East, they are a 2-2 club that could be headed for trouble faster than they know it if they don’t switch things up in the near future. Tebow can help and is one of the answers. All in all, more effort from the defensive backs accompanied with wide receivers nailing their routes and catching the ball will strongly determine the rest of the New York Jets season.
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