Here Come The Warm Jets: 2008 Season Recap

At the start of the year, if you told me the Jets would go 9-7 and just barely miss the playoffs, I might have said "I'll take it." Especially after a frustrating and dispiriting 4-12 season the previous year.

But as it turns out, there's different kinds of 9-7.

A Houston-Texans-esque 9-7 (they were actually 8-8, bear with me) where the team lost a few close games, and won convincingly most of the last half of the year? That would have been fine. Not great, but you can build on that, as Herm might say.

This 9-7 was worse. Way worse. When you go 8-3, and you just beat the best team in the league while they were still undefeated, in their stadium, convincingly, you can't be at all happy with finishing 9-7. You can take that with you, Eric Mangini. The Oakland, San Francisco, and Seattle losses were unforgivable. Good coaches don't let their teams lose those games, even on the road. Period.

Now the coach is gone. The QB who never should have been there in the first place is probably (hopefully) gone.

What are we left with?


The Good

The RBs

Thomas Jones had a career year this year. 1,312 yards, 4.5 average, 15 total TDs, only 1 fumble lost. He'll turn 31 this offseason, but he didn't get tons of carries early in his career (he only started getting over 200 carries a year in 2004) so it's possible he's got one more decent year left in him. He won't be quite as good as he was this year, most likely, but even if he gets fewer carries but still stays solid and doesn't fumble, he's a positive.

Leon Washington showed he can be a real weapon. He is the team's only true playmaker, a guy who can possibly score every time he touches the ball. He is just about guaranteed to see the ball more next year.

Having these two as the pair of RBs going into next year is perfectly fine by me. Presumably, the new coach reduces the carries for Jones, increases them for Washington, and we get a nice combination in the running game. A bonus if they can get another solid year out of 37-year-old FB Tony Richardson, an underrated offseason pickup, and one of the best blocking FBs of the last 10 years.

The Offensive Line

A major weakness in 2007, this turned into a strength in 2008. Give credit to the GM - the Woody and Faneca signings worked out. Favre didn't get sacked too often, and the running game was solid all year (they should have used it more, but that's another story.)

D'Brickashaw Ferguson improved in his third year, and looks like a top-level NFL left tackle. Nick Mangold got his first Pro Bowl, and he'll probably get more. Brandon Moore is a solid guard, a bit unheralded, but if you don't know his name, that means he's doing okay, because you typically only know about the lineman when they f up all the time.

Faneca and Woody are both a little on the old side, 32 and 31 respectively, but not too old to prevent them from having another good year next year. The depth on the line isn't great, but, then, what team really has great OL depth? Pick up a couple of guys in the fifth or sixth round, whatever.

Useful Defensive Players

The defense had an up and down year - mostly great in the games leading up to Tennessee, horrible after that. There are some players, though, that were useful this year and will be useful next year regardless of the coach.

Kris Jenkins, when healthy, was a beast. He wasn't that healthy in, say, every game after Tennessee.

Darrelle Revis is a top-level CB, and deserved his Pro Bowl trip. Kerry Rhodes is a premier safety, and needs to be used more effectively by the next coaching staff.

David Harris and Calvin Pace are talented LBs. Not great in coverage, but can rush the passer, and can stop the run effectively.

Dwight Lowery showed promise as a rookie CB. I think he'll be a much more solid starter next year, based on the flashes of brilliance he showed this year.

Like I said, the coach next year does have some pieces to work with on defense.


The Bad

The WRs

It's probably too harsh to call Coles and Cotchery "bad" but they weren't exactly "good" either. Especially down the stretch. They had trouble getting open, and aren't fast enough to be game breaking players. Brad Smith is a gimmick player, at best. Chansi Stuckey showed promise, but is a third receiver, at best.

The team could use a big, fast receiver. Coles and Cotchery would be better as #2 and #3, or at least as #1b and #2.

The TEs

Dustin Keller showed potential, but faded badly down the stretch. Though he looks like he might be the first TE taken by the Jets in the first round not to be a complete bust, so stop looking at him like that, Kyle Brady, Johnny Mitchell, and Anthony Becht.

Chris Baker is average, and Bubba Franks is somewhat less than that.

Keller and Baker aren't a bad two-TE combo, but we have to hope that Keller's trajectory is upward, and I'm not 100% confident about that.

Some Other Guys on Defense

Sean Ellis had some sacks, but was inconsistent. Kenyon Coleman never did anything to remind me why I should care about him. Abram Elam had some great plays and some horrid plays. Same with Eric Barton and Bryan Thomas.

Any of those guys could potentially be a positive contributor next year. Or they could go and not be missed.


The Ugly

The QBs

Brett Favre had a few games where he was excellent. None of that will make me forget how awful he was in every game after the Tennessee game. He was terrible against the 49ers, the Seahawks, and the Dolphins. Not 'having a bad day' but plain terrible. And he threw far too many picks that were run back for TDs by the other team. The team bailed him out of those a few times, like in the Kansas City game, for example.

The Dolphins game was the worst. All three picks he threw were 100% his fault (despite what Peter King said in his column. Lick a Starbucks frappuccino off of my nuts, Peter King.)

I've been saying for 5 years that Favre is washed up, and needs to retire. I'm saying it again right now. Retire. For the love of God, please. Just go away.

Of course, the other QBs on the roster are terrible. I wanted to believe in Kellen Clemens, but every time I've seen him play, I've never seen a single thing that makes me think he'll ever be an excellent starting QB in the NFL. He holds on to the ball too long, and he has a knack for throwing INTs (he's only thrown 256 passes in his career, and 11 INTs. Not a good ratio.)

Brett Ratliff is the other QB. Apparently the team likes him. Don't worry, I don't know who he is, either. But I'm sure he's the next Tom Brady, waiting to happen, right? Right?

The Coverage Ability Of the LBs

This was the most glaring weakness of the team all year, besides the QBs propensity to throw the ball to the wrong team. The LBs couldn't cover anyone in space. Slot receivers and TEs killed the team all year long. The run defense anchored by an out-of-his-mind Kris Jenkins masked it some the first part of the year. Once Jenkins wore down, this was exposed badly.

Vernon Gholston

Before last year's draft, if you had to vote one guy as "most likely to get drafted too high and be a complete and utter bust" it would have been Gholston. Of course the Jets took him.

He could barely get on the field all year. When he did get on the field, he was awful. All a team had to do was run a misdirection play towards him, and he would bite on the fakes and overpursue every time. And I can only remember one play the whole year where he was even near the QB. It was embarassing to watch.

The Coaching

Mangini was not good all year. He didn't get fired because Favre threw too many picks (though that didn't help, either.) He didn't get fired because of the Dolphins game. He got fired because the 4-12 year spooked him. He was way too conservative all year long. It almost cost them some games, like week 1 against the Dolphins, and did cost them plenty of others, like Oakland and Seattle.

He had a tendency to overthink things. He wanted to do the Bill-Belichick-style "different game plan for every opponent" thing, but it didn't work. For one example, he decided to throw too often in the KC game, when they were the worst rush defense in the league. It's like Kris said, sometimes football is really fucking simple. When you play the worst rush defense in the league, and you have a good running game, run the fucking ball until they stop you.

The other big sin was not going for it on fourth down often enough. He called punts inside opponent's territory far too often. He took FG tries when they should have been going for TDs. If a coach is playing the "smart" call, the "safe" call, the "field position" call, then the team isn't going to be successful in the long run. Victory goes to the bold.

The collapse at the end of the year certainly wasn't all his fault, as I've said. But he did have a lot to do with it, too.


Here we are, then, at the end of another season. Searching for a new coach. Again. Probably searching for a new QB. Again. Needing a big-time playmaker on offense. Again. Needing a stud difference maker on defense. Again.

Frustrating Jets fans everywhere. Again.


That'll be it for "Here Come The Warm Jets" for this season. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'll check back in after a new coach is hired, and around the draft. Now, get ready for NBA posts galore!