[The Green Titan]

Rich Cimini of Newsday wrote this top 10 things for the Jets to worry about. It's a glass half empty look at a team/coach that has been given the benefit of the doubt so far. Here's the list, and after reading, vote in the POLL which of the 10 issues concerns you the most.

1. No proven quarterback. Kellen Clemens has a 3-5 career record as a starter, and only one of the starts (a close loss in Baltimore in '07) could be considered a meaningful game. Rookie Mark Sanchez started only 16 games in college, albeit at a high level of competition. The point is, the Jets don't know what they're going to get from the quarterback position, and that's a scary proposition in the NFL. You've read a lot about Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, both very successful as rookie QBs, but those were rare, perfect-storm situations. Flacco and Ryan started 26 and 32 games, respectively, in college - a huge help.

2. No No. 1 wide receiver. They have a very good No. 2 receiver (Jerricho Cotchery) and a handful of candidates for the No. 3 and No. 4 jobs, but the lack of a true 1 will have a major impact on the offense. With no one to stretch the field and/or draw extra coverage, the Jets will see more blitzes and more eight-man fronts, designed to choke the running game. It's hard to score points when your offense is operating on a 20-yard field, but that could be the case. I wouldn't be shocked if the Jets make another inquiry into Anquan Boldin before the start of training camp. And they will continue to monitor the Plaxico Burress situation.

3. Is there a blocking tight end in the house? The Jets are delusional if they think Bubba Franks is the answer. He hasn't played a full season since 2006, he's an old 31 and he didn't exactly light up the place last summer in training camp. He was dropping everything. But the front office botched the Chris Baker situation, and now it's paying the price. No matter what they say, Dustin Keller can't block. Nice receiver, can't block. It's hard to believe that a team with smashmouth intentions would fail to address such an important position.

4. A rookie coach. Rex Ryan has an impressive resume, a winning personality and good football genes, but he's never been a head coach in his life. There are bound to be some mistakes along the way, especially with game management. He's also had no experience on the offensive side of the ball, so it'll be interesting to see how he coordinates all three phases - offense, defense, special teams - into weekly game plans. Defensive-minded head coaches tend to be conservative on offense, and that's okay, but will that jibe with Brian Schottenheimer's vision for the offense?

5. Lack of depth - in a lot of places. The Jets are thin at tight end, offensive line, defensive line, inside linebacker and safety. Of course, that's what happens when you trade away draft picks. They've picked only 13 players in the last three drafts, and that catches up to a team in terms of the bottom third of the roster. They'd better hope they stay healhy, especially on both lines.

6. A shortage of edge speed. Truth be told, the Jets haven't had a speed rusher since John Abraham. Calvin Pace is a solid, three-down linebacker, but he's not going to draw two blockers. Neither will Bryan Thomas, who has had two straight subpar years. Vernon Gholston was supposed to have edge speed, but he plays about 2/10ths of a second slower than his 40 time. It looks like Ryan will have to manufacture sacks with clever schemes.

7. A short of long speed on offense. Other than Leon Washington, they don't have any home-run threats. WR David Clowney is a burner, probably the fastest guy on the team, but he doesn't have any pelts.

8. Unhappy campers. Washington has joined Thomas Jones on the "disgruntled running back" list. Recent history suggests the organization will eventually cave in. They gave Pete Kendall a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, trading him to the Redskins even though there was no adequate replacement, and they placated Baker by basically granting him free agency before he was due to become free. They pretty much did the same for Laveranues Coles. Washington is underpaid and, I suspect, will land a new deal before training camp. The Jones situation could be trickier. Will Mike Tannenbaum take a hardline approach? Will Jones try to shoot his way out of town? This one could turn ugly.

9. Learning a new D. Ryan's system is radically different from the Mangini scheme, and it will take some getting used to. Players say they're still thinking too much on their feet, not reacting instinctively. It's early in the process, very early, but it would be unrealistic to expect the defense to be as smooth and efficient as Ryan's old team in Baltimore. There will be growing pains.

10. Can anyone punt? There are no experienced punters on the roster. T.J. Conley, a rookie free agent from Idaho, has a chance. If he bombs, they'll sign a veteran for training camp.

[notjustQBs]

It's easy to be bored when you're a beat writer, I guess. We were just a little spoilt by E-Bola.

This team is being built to punish the other team -- both the offense with the running game and the defense with the crazy kats' chaos.

Now, punishing the other team is kind of an alien experience for the traditionally finess NYJ teams and their fans.

A lot of conventional horse spit is natural when you start counting your advantages and disadvantages using your age-old NYJs' wisdom points, as does Mr. Cimini in this expectable regurgitation.

This young'un, Conley, was a UDFA who just happened to have the longest average yardage amongst his peers in college. If Westoff can get him to punch it directionally we could have something here with this young leg.

The wideouts seem to be having fun, and the QBs in camp don't seem to be complaining.

This off-season isn't getting long in the tooth yet, but folks like Mr. Cimini seem to lose patience quick.

Let's see what happens when the team gets re-introduced to football pads, for crying out loud.

As far as I'm concerned, there is just too much being made about all these silly underwear practices, anyway.

[JETS]

Originally Posted by The Green Titan

Rich Cimini of Newsday wrote this top 10 things for the Jets to worry about. It's a glass half empty look at a team/coach that has been given the benefit of the doubt so far. Here's the list, and after reading, vote in the POLL which of the 10 issues concerns you the most.

1. No proven quarterback. Kellen Clemens has a 3-5 career record as a starter, and only one of the starts (a close loss in Baltimore in '07) could be considered a meaningful game. Rookie Mark Sanchez started only 16 games in college, albeit at a high level of competition. The point is, the Jets don't know what they're going to get from the quarterback position, and that's a scary proposition in the NFL. You've read a lot about Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, both very successful as rookie QBs, but those were rare, perfect-storm situations. Flacco and Ryan started 26 and 32 games, respectively, in college - a huge help.

2. No No. 1 wide receiver. They have a very good No. 2 receiver (Jerricho Cotchery) and a handful of candidates for the No. 3 and No. 4 jobs, but the lack of a true 1 will have a major impact on the offense. With no one to stretch the field and/or draw extra coverage, the Jets will see more blitzes and more eight-man fronts, designed to choke the running game. It's hard to score points when your offense is operating on a 20-yard field, but that could be the case. I wouldn't be shocked if the Jets make another inquiry into Anquan Boldin before the start of training camp. And they will continue to monitor the Plaxico Burress situation.

3. Is there a blocking tight end in the house? The Jets are delusional if they think Bubba Franks is the answer. He hasn't played a full season since 2006, he's an old 31 and he didn't exactly light up the place last summer in training camp. He was dropping everything. But the front office botched the Chris Baker situation, and now it's paying the price. No matter what they say, Dustin Keller can't block. Nice receiver, can't block. It's hard to believe that a team with smashmouth intentions would fail to address such an important position.

4. A rookie coach. Rex Ryan has an impressive resume, a winning personality and good football genes, but he's never been a head coach in his life. There are bound to be some mistakes along the way, especially with game management. He's also had no experience on the offensive side of the ball, so it'll be interesting to see how he coordinates all three phases - offense, defense, special teams - into weekly game plans. Defensive-minded head coaches tend to be conservative on offense, and that's okay, but will that jibe with Brian Schottenheimer's vision for the offense?

5. Lack of depth - in a lot of places. The Jets are thin at tight end, offensive line, defensive line, inside linebacker and safety. Of course, that's what happens when you trade away draft picks. They've picked only 13 players in the last three drafts, and that catches up to a team in terms of the bottom third of the roster. They'd better hope they stay healhy, especially on both lines.

6. A shortage of edge speed. Truth be told, the Jets haven't had a speed rusher since John Abraham. Calvin Pace is a solid, three-down linebacker, but he's not going to draw two blockers. Neither will Bryan Thomas, who has had two straight subpar years. Vernon Gholston was supposed to have edge speed, but he plays about 2/10ths of a second slower than his 40 time. It looks like Ryan will have to manufacture sacks with clever schemes.

7. A short of long speed on offense. Other than Leon Washington, they don't have any home-run threats. WR David Clowney is a burner, probably the fastest guy on the team, but he doesn't have any pelts.

8. Unhappy campers. Washington has joined Thomas Jones on the "disgruntled running back" list. Recent history suggests the organization will eventually cave in. They gave Pete Kendall a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, trading him to the Redskins even though there was no adequate replacement, and they placated Baker by basically granting him free agency before he was due to become free. They pretty much did the same for Laveranues Coles. Washington is underpaid and, I suspect, will land a new deal before training camp. The Jones situation could be trickier. Will Mike Tannenbaum take a hardline approach? Will Jones try to shoot his way out of town? This one could turn ugly.

9. Learning a new D. Ryan's system is radically different from the Mangini scheme, and it will take some getting used to. Players say they're still thinking too much on their feet, not reacting instinctively. It's early in the process, very early, but it would be unrealistic to expect the defense to be as smooth and efficient as Ryan's old team in Baltimore. There will be growing pains.

10. Can anyone punt? There are no experienced punters on the roster. T.J. Conley, a rookie free agent from Idaho, has a chance. If he bombs, they'll sign a veteran for training camp.

other than that, i guess he thinks we are ok!

[ChrebetBoy]

Hands down-We have no #1 Receiver.We still need a Wide out for our Qb's to throw to.

[jetstream1066]

All are very valid concerns in my opinion. Then again, we have also started past seasons with far bigger concerns.

[jetsmets]

Biggest concern now is no #1 WR. Gopefully we can get Burress somehow. My biggest concern is DE. I hope whats his name steps up and can be productive. Teams will test that left side with "what's his name" as DE and Gholston or Thomas as OLB.

[DomUK]

Originally Posted by jetsmets

Biggest concern now is no #1 WR. Gopefully we can get Burress somehow. My biggest concern is DE. I hope whats his name steps up and can be productive. Teams will test that left side with "what's his name" as DE and Gholston or Thomas as OLB.

Marques Douglas - big ugly mofo - lets see them test him.
i think Gholston could have very productive games towards the start of the season as teams test him as you said - hopefully he has improved as much as Ryan says and can surprise some offences.

[Jets337]

Never been a fan of Cimini. At least Cannizarro from the Post puts some effort in being objective, realizing he is writing FOR Jets fans.

[The Green Titan]

Originally Posted by Jets337

Never been a fan of Cimini. At least Cannizarro from the Post puts some effort in being objective, realizing he is writing FOR Jets fans.

I don't know why it feels like I'm defending Cimini today (because I'm not), but in fairness, his list of deficiencies are pretty accurate. I guess when you put them all together on one list it looks awful, but every team has a list like this, we just don't read the ones about the other teams.

[GaelicJet]

He has just put a negative slant on everything. You could say, for example that
- Rex Ryan was an excellent defensive coordinator and the all the players have nothing but good things to say about him
- that TJ and Leon will be back for training camp,
- that a number 1 receiver will not matter as much with the power running game that Ryan will use, see how the Ravens/Titans did last year.

Having said that, I do think the lack of a number 1 WR is a big issue. We need someone for the starting qb to trust and become comfortable with, and I don't really see such a player on the roster at the moment.