Injuries are the #1 thing that derailed this season, Mario 2

[TheFunPolice]

#1 Injuries

#2 Mario being a locker room cancer

 

That's my top 2 things that derailed this season.

 

Let's talk injuries first.

 

Remember when Harvin was playing? He was a key factor early in the season. He was supposed to be that threat alongside McCoy, Sammy and Clay, with Woods and Hogan as complementary players. He made some nice plays early in the year and looked like a great pickup.

 

Harvin going down REALLY hurt the offense IMO. Suddenly it was Sammy and Clay. Then Sammy and Clay started getting banged up. Not having that true #2 WR was a serious blow to the offense, and Harvin was pretty much done very early in the year.

 

Then McCoy missed a lot of time early on with the hamstring. Suddenly our RBs were going down left and right. That hurt the running game and timing.

 

Before the season even got rolling we lost Powell and Wynn to season ending injuries in August. While these guys were not stars in the league, what they are is two solid depth players that would have seen a LOT of playing time. We lost them before the campaign even began. So it stands to reason that whoever was behind them in the rotation is another level of dropoff.

 

Then there is the issue of safety, which is a key position in Rex's defense. Our best young safety was lost in week 2 and never came back. We basically played without the guy who was supposed to anchor the back end all season.

 

Speaking of great players, what about Kyle Williams? He is a leader in the locker room and a very good DT. He went down about halfway through the season and it hurt.

 

Our young starting QB missing a couple of games did not help matters at all.

 

I'm probably forgetting a few. But these hurt a young team trying to gel in a new system. IMO Powell, Wynn, Harvin, Kyle Williams, and Aaron Williams hurt the most. That's a lot of solid to very good talent that missed all or most of the season. On a young team trying to get with a new system that is disaster.

 

This is not a team like NE* that has been in the same system, with the same coach and same QB for what seems like forever (it seems like it's been 100 years or so). We are in year #1 of a new system with a whole new staff and a 1st year QB. It's a lot to expect everything to go as planned when so many key men miss such enormous chunks of time.

 

Then there is Mario Williams, a $100 million dollar player, being a locker room cancer.

 

Too harsh? When guys like Sammy mention "cut him" and "do your job" (without naming anyone) you are seeing a simmering anger boil over, IMO.

 

That doesn't just happen out of the blue. I think it is a symptom of a long-simmering issue behind the scenes. Guys are starting to talk because they probably are about to snap hearing about the "system" and how they stink this year.

 

When one of your KEY men is half-assing it and whining about scheme it affects the guys around him. This is $100 million you have tied up in this headache.

 

I really like Mario as a player, but this immature behavior cannot be tolerated. Simply put, they can take the $7 dead money hit and use the $12 million in savings to sign two $6 million players that WANT to play this defense and are 100% in. Net result (along with Wynn, Kyle and Powell coming back) is going to be a MUCH better defense.

 

I have a lot of hope for 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Cat]

I don't know what happened from the first 45 minutes of this season when they had the Colts shut out (now, granted the question marks surrounding that team have certainly made themselves known since, but that shouldn't take away from damn-near 3 quarters of shutout football), and the deluge that happened in week 2 against NE. But they never recovered from that game. And I just can't determine why. Injuries further compounded the issue, and then the defense just slipped into abject mediocrity and 7-8 is the result.

 

The D sprung back to life in large swaths of NYJ1 and NE2, so it's not a complete lost cause. But Whaley's comments today are telling: changes are coming to defensive personnel. They gotta get better from a talent standpoint, but just as important, they need to get better from an attitude standpoint.

 

Listening to Rex gush about Tarpley yesterday was just as telling in the attitude regard.

 

And, to your point, don't for a second think that Mario's earnings relevant to his production are lost to the men in that locker room whose pay is directly impacted by his.

[C.Biscuit97]

1 - can we stop using the word cancer with sports? So misplaced.

 

2 - I love how posters pretend like they have any idea what is going on in the lockerroom? There has been one report of Mario causing problems in the lockerroom.

 

In fact based on comments by several of his teammates, they are more in his corner than the coaches.

 

But I respect the attempt to make up controversy. Skip Bayless would be proud of you.

[The Big Cat]

1 - can we stop using the word cancer with sports? So misplaced.

 

2 - I love how posters pretend like they have any idea what is going on in the lockerroom? There has been one report of Mario causing problems in the lockerroom.

 

In fact based on comments by several of his teammates, they are more in his corner than the coaches.

 

But I respect the attempt to make up controversy. Skip Bayless would be proud of you.

 

92% of snaps and not appearing on the stat sheet. Precisely what are you defending as it pertains to Mario?

 

Wood, Graham and Watkins all made comments that were pretty clearly direct at Mario.

Edited December 29, 2015 by The Big Cat

[KDIGGZ]

I think what happened to this team is Rex told our pass rushers not to rush the Passer and they didn't like it. There's always going to be injuries but when your 3 highest paid players are on the defensive line and they have no impact on the game then that's a problem

[BillsFan130]

Injuries were definitely a problem but I think there is more too it then that

[Marv's Neighbor]

We've been bothered with way too many injuries, and its been that way since Rusty left.

[C.Biscuit97]

 

92% of snaps and not appearing on the stat sheet. Precisely what are you defending as it pertains to Mario?

 

Wood, Graham and Watkins all made comments that were pretty clearly direct at Mario.

Let's see the comments and see if they are pointed at Mario. They made comments about bad communication and alignments.

 

Also, if Mario isn't playing hard, why aren't the same coaches you religiously defend pulling him? Won't that be bad coaching?

[TheFunPolice]

This is just the opinion of one guy on a message board. I have re-evaluated and don't think the sky is falling.

 

Mario has a pattern of being accused of playing half-speed going back to his days with the Texans. Either he's been unfairly accused of it on numerous occasions on two different teams or maybe there is something to it.

 

Maybe he is just unfairly targeted everywhere he goes. It's possible. I guess we'll see what the team does in the off-season.

 

I would like to keep him AND have him 100% on board but I don't see how that happens.

[The Big Cat]

Let's see the comments and see if they are pointed at Mario. They made comments about bad communication and alignments.

 

Also, if Mario isn't playing hard, why aren't the same coaches you religiously defend pulling him? Won't that be bad coaching?

 

I don't know why he's not on the bench. I'll gladly concede that point. I said he should have been deactivated against Dallas and Washington.

 

Ddi you really not hear what Wood, Watkins and Graham said? I'm not going searching links if you haven't. You're welcome to think I'm lying/exaggerating. I'm not.

[4merper4mer]

I don't know what happened from the first 45 minutes of this season when they had the Colts shut out (now, granted the question marks surrounding that team have certainly made themselves known since, but that shouldn't take away from damn-near 3 quarters of shutout football), and the deluge that happened in week 2 against NE. But they never recovered from that game. And I just can't determine why. Injuries further compounded the issue, and then the defense just slipped into abject mediocrity and 7-8 is the result.

 

The D sprung back to life in large swaths of NYJ1 and NE2, so it's not a complete lost cause. But Whaley's comments today are telling: changes are coming to defensive personnel. They gotta get better from a talent standpoint, but just as important, they need to get better from an attitude standpoint.

 

Listening to Rex gush about Tarpley yesterday was just as telling in the attitude regard.

 

And, to your point, don't for a second think that Mario's earnings relevant to his production are lost to the men in that locker room whose pay is directly impacted by his.

 

Your first paragraph makes complete sense but does not connect to the rest of your post. The ridiculous game plan for NE1 exposed a lot about Rex's D and other teams exploited it. Some stupid teams with bad QBs like Miami, could not. Those are the games we won. Rex's dumbness allowed NE1, Cin, NYG, PHI, KC, WAS, and to a smaller extent, even Jax to waltz up and down the field. He only adjusted in NE2, in which the D looked very good, and NYJ1 as you point out.

 

The defense wasn't broke but Rex fixed it. Then is was broke and he left it alone. Nice job, but let's blame a single player for that.

[BuffaloBaumer]

There will be injuries again next year....and the year after that....and the year after that.

[The Big Cat]

 

Your first paragraph makes complete sense but does not connect to the rest of your post. The ridiculous game plan for NE1 exposed a lot about Rex's D and other teams exploited it. Some stupid teams with bad QBs like Miami, could not. Those are the games we won. Rex's dumbness allowed NE1, Cin, NYG, PHI, KC, WAS, and to a smaller extent, even Jax to waltz up and down the field. He only adjusted in NE2, in which the D looked very good, and NYJ1 as you point out.

 

The defense wasn't broke but Rex fixed it. Then is was broke and he left it alone. Nice job, but let's blame a single player for that.

 

I'm sorry, but this idea that all offenses need to do is throw the ball in less than 2.5 seconds is a somehow a weakness of a defense is a point that eludes me.

[TheFunPolice]

Yes there will always be injuries, but this team doesn't have the depth or stability to overcome them.

 

Everyone is new and the schemes were new. The starting QB wasn't known until late August.

 

Then you have injuries to key men everywhere as you are trying to implement everything. That hurts a LOT.

 

When you have an established system that everyone understands (and buys into 100%) you have an easier time overcoming key injuries.

[4merper4mer]

 

I'm sorry, but this idea that all offenses need to do is throw the ball in less than 2.5 seconds is a somehow a weakness of a defense is a point that eludes me.

 

Well, then just look at the final cores if you want to skip over details. That's fine.

[boyst]

Mario is going to be the scapegoat of the year.

 

I hope he is cut. I hope he goes to Carolina next year and is All-Pro while Rex continues to struggle with his horrible defense which relies heavily on resources.

 

Jets D by draft round

2014

1st Round

Dee Miller

Calvin Prior

Sheldon Richardson

Quinton Coples

Mo Wilkerson

Kyle Wilson

Calvin Pace

2nd round:

David Harris

7 first rounders and David Harris

2013

First Rounders:

Dee Miller

Calvin Prior

Sheldon Richardson

Quinton Coples

Mo Wilkerson

Calvin Pace

Antonio Cromartie

2nd round:

David Harris

6 first rounds, David Harris

2012

Bryan Thomas

Darelle Revis

Antonio Cromartie

Kyle Wilson

LaRon Landry

AARON MAYBIN

Calvin Pace

and David Harris

 

2011

Mo Wilkerson

Darrelle Revis

Calvin Pace

Antonio Cromartie

Bryan Thomas

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

We've been bothered with way too many injuries, and its been that way since Rusty left.

 

The Rusty gauntlet has been thrown down.

 

Well-played, sir!!

 

By the way, the Steelers look close to making the playoffs, even though their starting QB and starting RB (the two best players on their team) missed a ton of games with injury.

[4merper4mer]

Yes there will always be injuries, but this team doesn't have the depth or stability to overcome them.

 

Everyone is new and the schemes were new. The starting QB wasn't known until late August.

 

Then you have injuries to key men everywhere as you are trying to implement everything. That hurts a LOT.

 

When you have an established system that everyone understands (and buys into 100%) you have an easier time overcoming key injuries.

 

They have plugged in about 746 running backs this year and all of them seemed able to score in a brand new system. It was the defense based on string theory and Dareus covering Odell Beckham that may take a while to understand.

[boyst]

 

92% of snaps and not appearing on the stat sheet. Precisely what are you defending as it pertains to Mario?

 

Wood, Graham and Watkins all made comments that were pretty clearly direct at Mario.

Watkins words were a bit jumbled and it was not 100% clear, IMO.

Mario spoke out about Watkins, too. Watkins spoke about Watkins. Both wanted Watkins getting the ball. Watkins had weeks disappearing on the stat sheet - did he disappear, too? No separation, no effort, poor blocking...

 

Eric Wood is a blowhard. He and Rex are twinsies. Wood has improved his play but he is a twat.

 

Grahams comments were not just directed at Mario. They were also directed at the coach and staff saying that the play calls were late, etc. Many things that Mario himself said.

[The Big Cat]

 

Well, then just look at the final cores if you want to skip over details. That's fine.

 

You're right, the devil is in those details. And one of those details is defensive players not making plays. Whiffing on tackles, blowing coverages, taking terrible angles. THOSE are the details that we can have the chicken v egg argument about. But they've got nothing to do with scheme.

 

Losing Spikes and Aaron Williams exposed flaws in many players. Losing Kyle Williams to injury and losing Mario Williams to himself blows a gaping 50% hole in this d-line that everyone wants to insist has been neutered by the coaches.

 

So, again, I come back to what the hell happened to a team that flew to the ball and played like they wanted to rip off their opponents' heads to one that did not.

 

Rex said so himself after the WAS game. I thought it was one of his most telling quotes of the year saying players can't be afraid to attack the ball. And our team looks like they are! Watch the Arizona players. They want to HURT the other guy. The Bills defense played this way last year. And Rex Ryan defenses have ALWAYS played this way. And they did in week one. Connecting the dot to Rex ignores every speck of history we have.

 

And that's where the confusion lies on my end.

Edited December 29, 2015 by The Big Cat