This time last year, New York Jets' fans were celebrating an unlikely 10-6 regular season with an upcoming date with the Patriots in the playoffs. The Jets had won five of their last six to put a cap on a season that was expected to yield maybe six wins at best. There was an air of great feeling that had me clammering all Spring and Summer for year two of the Eric Mangini era. I even took two trips to Hofstra to see Gang Green at training camp in anticipation of another big year.Unfortunately, the second year under Mangini was not the fairy tail last year was. It all started with the Pete Kendall situation, which put a negative spin on the season from the beginning. Add that to the cheers for Chad Pennington's injury in Week 1. Chad had a great '06 in leading the Jets to the playoffs. Those negative situations were an omen to what would become an ugly year.
As the year began, the biggest problem was the terrible defense. Yes, a hobbled Chad looked really bad at times, but the defense never came up big. The defense gave up a ton of yardage on the ground, and was unable to put any pressure on the quarterback, thus allowing quarterbacks to carve the Jets up. Darrelle Revis holding out really set his development back. He improved a great deal as the year went on, but his hold out may have cost the Jets a few close games. The defense blew 2nd half leads to the Giants, Bengals, and Redskins. The defense as a whole got better as the year went on, but it seems like every year the defense stinks early and by the the time they get good it is too late to make a push for nothing more than a wildcard bid.
The 1-8 start paved the way for Kellen Clemens to take over as the starting quarterback, and to see if he could possibly show some promise of becoming the quarterback of the future. Unfortunately, we did not see any real promise in his game other than a few glimmers of hope vs. Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Miami. His best game was at Miami, but who didn't torch Miami this year? The most disappointing game for me with Clemens was this last Sunday vs. Kansas City. I really wanted to see Schottenheimer open up the playbook for him, but we saw 3rd and 3 run after 3rd and 3 run. He showed absolutely nothing in that game, but should have been given more opportunities in a game that meant nothing! Clemens should be the starter next year as he should get more than a handful of games to prove himself, but believe me, I am quite nervous about it. Chad probably won't be around to backup next year, thus adding even more pressure on Clemens.
To add salt to the wounds, the win vs. the Chiefs dropped their draft spot from potentially 2nd to 6th. I wanted to win, but not that way. A 13-10 loss at least could have equaled Darren McFadden or Chris Long. The Jets could have REALLY used a gamebreaking player in McFadden. Just look at what Adrian Peterson did his rookie season this year. Unless McFadden is somehow still on the board, the Jets need to take the best defensive end avaliable with their first pick. Then they need focus in on drafting another wide-out to go with Cotchery and Coles and sure up the left side of their offensive line.
This was a very bitter season with high expectations. No way did I think the Jets would finish 4-12. I thought they might slip a couple wins from last year with the much tougher schedule, but I thought they would continue to build on last year. However, the truth is that the Jets are not really that bad a team. They lost a lot of close games that they could not hold on to or make a big play late. The defense needs to come out on fire next year, and allow Clemens to develop into the offense and make that facet of the game much better. The shrink wrap stayed on Mangini in year one, but was violently ripped off this year. However, he is still the man for the job, and if Herm Edwards could get five years here, Mangini deserves no less than six.
Can't wait til next year! J! E! T! S! JETS! JETS! JETS!
Pat Morgan
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