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In Part III of our series, “Things need to change,” we look at some problems in the football operation that are holding the Jets back . . .
Keep it real, people.
Don’t tell people what they want to hear – tell them the truth.
When it comes to football decisions, people need to be brutally honest – brutally.
Don’t tell the owner what you think will make him happy, tell him what he needs to know.
There is too much passive aggressive behavior at One Jets Drive.
Whoever came up with the idea to extend Mark Sanchez last off-season needed to be stopped in his tracks– whether it was Mike Tannenbaum, Rex Ryan, Woody Johnson, Ira Akselrad.
Sanchez was coming off a bad season in 2011 – you never, ever, give a player, especially at the most important position in the sport, new money, and think that is going to lift his game. It doesn’t work like that.
That was one of the worst moves in Jets HISTORY.
And then, they seemed to follow the money – keeping him in the lineup last season, way past the point of usefulness, perhaps chasing the contract, that include $20.5 million guaranteed cash.
Then the decision to put him back in the line-up, after Greg McElroy led to them to victory in the Arizona game, was right up there with the Sanchez contract, as one of the worst decisions in Jets history.
Don’t make football decisions for financial reasons – that almost never works. Don’t make line-up decisions to justify high draft picks – that also rarely works.
Ryan putting Sanchez, who turns the ball over way too much, back into the starting lineup, was a dereliction of duty, and the coach lost a lot of fans over that one.
That was mind-boggling.
Everything should be about what gives your team the best chance to win on Sunday!
Stop the internal politics!
And now, the Jets pick a quarterback in the second round of the 2013 draft, a lot of teams wouldn’t touch because they didn’t like his game or attitude.
Hey folks, if you don’t want to hear it, stop reading.
Once gain – here is part of Nolan Nawrocki’s scouting report (he has impeccable sources) –
“Not a student of the game. Nonchalant field presence – doesn’t command respect from teammates and cannot inspire. Mild practice demeanor – no urgency. Not committed or focused – marginal work ethic.
“Interviewed poorly at the Combine and didn’t show an understanding of concepts on the white board. Opted not to compete at the Senior Bowl and has approached off-season training as if he has already arrived and it shows in his body with minimal muscle definition or strength. Needed to be coddled in college – cannot handle hard coaching.
“Smith is a gimmick, over-hyped product of the system lacking the football savvy, work habits and focus to cement a starting job and could drain energy from a QB room. Will be overdrafted and struggle to produce against NFL defensive complexities.”
The Jets and Smith are acting like none of this is true. That is a big mistake.
Knowing Nawrocki, I think most of it is true, and we saw a picture post-card of his attitude issues last week, when he picked Jay-Z’s agency, Roc Nation, to be his new agents, after reportedly firing his old agents, because he slipped in the draft, which is a lousy reason, and showed a character flaw.
Smith let the cat out of the bag when asked why he chose Jay Z’s agency – “When you talk about being in New York, you know, from the standpoint of what they can do in the city, the connections that they have, I think it’s a good move.”
Oh my goodness – a second round quarterback, who has a ton of work to do to become a viable NFL QB, is focused on marketing in New York?
Bill Parcells or Bill Belichick might have cut him on the spot.
The Jets need to sit this guy down – maybe Idzik can do it, and say, “you need to focus on football, become a good player, and the marketing stuff will happen down the road.”
I don’t know if all of you realize how messed up this is? Marketing? How about improving your pocket presence, decision-making (he holds the ball too long) getting stronger (his a thin, linear build) and so on. Those things need to be the only focus. I don’t know if everyone realizes how much work this guy has to do on the field.
Perhaps this could turn out to be a okay pick, but the Jets better stay all over this kid about his attitude. Somebody needs to be the adult in the room and stay on his butt, and stop killing the messengers – listen to them. WHERE THERE IS SMOKE, THERE IS FIRE. There are a lot of teams that wouldn’t touch this guy.
And there were people raving about him in rookie mini-camp. Spare me – rookie mini-camp means nothing – there is no tackling, and you can’t touch the quarterback – it’s flag football.
Perhaps Idzik can change some of this polyanna thinking, often not steeped in reality, that is holding back the football operation.
But he didn’t get off to a good start signing Mike Goodson (character issues) and David Garrard (bone-on-bone in one of his knees).
The Goodson move points to another problem the Jets have – this mindset that, “We have a great player support system with Dave Szott and our team shrink, so we can help players who have problems.”
Enough of this Dr. Phil stuff – bring in players that have their acts together.
And to sign a veteran QB, with bone-on-bone in one knee, and think you can get him healthy, is another case of not dealing with reality. Yes, the Jets have a state of the art trainer’s room, but do they have a machine that makes cartilage in there?
The Jets were in living in Never Never Land on both of these moves.
Also, stop the political bull . . ., like Greg McElroy reportedly not being in the QB competition. That is childish. Rex clearly hates the kid because he spoke the truth about the disgusting locker room from two years ago. McElroy shouldn’t have said it being a seventh rounder wrapping up his first year, but he did, and Rex needs to stop holding a grudge. Rex has been forgiven plenty by the owner for bad decisions in his life, so stop being petty with McElroy. Get over it.
I’m not putting McElroy in Canton, but for him to reportedly not be in the competition, against Smith, who is as raw as molasses and needs an attitude adjustment, and Sanchez coming off 52 turnovers the last two years, is insulting to our intelligence.
It’s time for everyone to deal with reality – be blunt with each other – don’t have agendas – play the best players – stop the games.
May 26, 2013
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Facebook capture above, of Geno Smtih and Jay-Z, courtesy of theganggreen.com.