crew has made the playoffs. During that time,
Johnny Manziel has gone from unknown to
Heisman hero to party animal to first-round draft
pick (where the Jets passed on him, despite this
writer's plea) and then back to party animal again.
Yet the Jets keep missing the playoffs. Can they
reverse the trend this season?
Although this writer wasn't too thrilled with last
season's "Geno Smith draft," second-year GM
John Idzik has, admittedly, made some significant
strides in upgrading the overall talent of the
roster, while holding onto some precious cap
space. As I see it, there are three keys to the Jets
season this year:
1. The development of Dee Milliner
The Jets parted ways with Antonio Cromartie,
who looked like he had lost a step, this past
offseason in the hopes that second-year corner
Dee Milliner was ready to be the team's top corner
in 2014. Early last season, Milliner looked like a
bust before rebounding to win the NFL's
defensive rookie of the month award for
December. During that month the corner from
Alabama collected 27 tackles, picked off 3 passes,
and had 13 passes defended. He was even named
the AFC's defensive player of the week after
picking off a pair of passes in the finale against
Miami.
If Milliner becomes an elite corner, the Jets
already good pass rush (namely Muhammad
Wilkerson) becomes even tougher to deal with.
In addition, if Rex Ryan is thinking of starting
third-round pick Dexter McDougle at the other
corner at some point this season, he'll need to
make sure the other side of the field is well
covered. Let's hope it is.
2. The offensive impact of Chris Johnson and Eric
Decker.
After joining an offense in dire need of
playmakers, Decker and Johnson immediately
become options 1A and 1B for offensive
coordinator Marty Mornhinweg.
But both come with major question marks.
First off, it's been five years since Johnson ran for
2,006 yards—the sixth-best single-season total of
all time. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry during
that incredible season. Last season that average
plummeted to just 3.9 per carry and Johnson
even made headlines at the start of camp just by
being able to fully practice after offseason surgery
to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.
Secondly, how is Decker going to fare in going
from catching balls from the greatest quarterback
of all-time, Peyton Manning, to Jets Geno Smith—
the worst-rated quarterback of 2013? To say he's
going take a step back from the 87 catches, 1,288
receiving yards, and 12 TDs is probably a good
bet. At the same time, he won't have to worry
about the Jets not making him the focal point of
their passing game, unlike in Denver where the
Broncos were loaded.
3. How Rex Ryan manages the quarterback
situation
The quarterback situation—only the most
important position on the field—has been quite a
problem in the Rex Ryan era and to say that this
writer was extremely disappointed that the Jets
actually had an opportunity and yet passed on the
Heisman Trophy winner/party animal Johnny
Manziel in the 2014 draft is an understatement.
Given that the Jets had already signed Michael
Vick as the backup and already taken Geno in the
second round last year, and had plenty of other
holes to fill, it wasn't that surprising to see, and
maybe it'll prove to be the correct call. Still, a
good quarterback can mask a lot of other
problems.
In all fairness to Geno, you can't succeed if you're
not even given the opportunity, and if all
quarterbacks were judged on their rookie seasons
alone even Peyton Manning, and his league-worst
28 picks in 1998, would have had trouble
justifying being a starter his sophomore year.
If the quarterback situation is going to work this
season though, Ryan is going to have to approach
it differently than he did the Mark Sanchez
situation, when he held onto Sanchez as the
struggling starter for far too long—like four years.
With Vick as the talented yet injury-prone backup
that seems an unlikely scenario, but we're not
sure with the defensive-minded Ryan.
Vick has more talent than any backup during
Ryan's previous five seasons and should Geno
Smith still be the Geno Smith of 2013 next season,
Ryan will need to act fast.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.