“Well, this was a waste of a season”. That’s what many New York Jets fans are thinking after this past season seeing the Jets go 6-10 and not in the playoffs for the second year in a row. You could say that the reason for the Jets problems this season were due to the big early season losses of cornerback Darrelle Revis who is one of the best defensive players on the field when he is healthy and he is the biggest play maker on the defensive side of the ball when he is playing. Revis’s season was cut short this year when he tore his ACL in Week 3 against the Miami Dolphins which really put a dent in the Jets defensive plans for the season. Another big injury that the Jets suffered this past season was the season ending injury to star wideout Santonio Holmes who suffered a LisFranc injury to his foot in Week 4 against the San Francisco 49ers. I understand that these injuries are very severe and it ended up hurting the the Jets on both sides of the ball but when you are in the NFL a lot of players have the ability and potential to step up for their respective teams and carry the slack for them but in the Jets opinion, that didn’t work out at all this season.
Another problem that the Jets had this past season was the very inconsistent play of quarterback Mark Sanchez who ended up throwing 18 interceptions and only 13 touchdowns. According to NFL.com, in the last month of the season Sanchez threw 7 interceptions and only threw 1 touchdown. He didn’t even play in the Week 16 matchup against the San Diego Chargers which the Jets ended up losing anyways, 27-17. In my opinion, the New York Jets need to release Sanchez because no team will trade for the inconsistent Sanchez as their starting quarterback. But the Jets have to really think if they actually can drop Sanchez because the Jets front office hands are tied with Sanchez’s expensive contract which states that Sanchez is owed $8.5 million in guaranteed money. So unfortunately for Jets fans they are stuck with Sanchez for another year unless something drastic happens over this off-season. I will say this though, if Sanchez does get a healthy Santonio Holmes back, wideout Jeremy Kerly continues to develop his game, and maybe Sanchez gets a few new weapons in this year’s NFL Draft, Sanchez might be able to salvage his career as a New York Jet.
On the bright side though, the Jets did have a couple players get elected to the Pro Bowl like safety LaRon Landry who the Jets acquired from the Washington Redskins before this past season. Landry’s numbers were very impressive too; according to Espn.com, Landry finished with 75 total tackles, 4 forced fumbles, and 2 interceptions on a Jets defense that was great on stopping the run as well. According to Espn.com, the Jets ended up having the 2nd best run defense in 2012. The other member of the Jets that was named to the Pro Bowl was cornerback Antonio Cramartie who collected 35 tackles and 3 interceptions this season. The Jets do have solid players on the defensive side of the ball that the Jets can build around like David Harris, Mohammed Wilkerson, Kyle Wilson, and Quinton Coples which will need to step up their game next year if the Jets want to make it back to the Superbowl because I stil believe defense wins championships and they Jets certainly do have the pieces to make that possible.
Last but certainly not least, let’s talk about Tim Tebow. The Jets brought in Tebow this past season to add another dimension to their offense. Tebow was a guy the Jets could use in their Wildcat packages and other situations where the Jets wanted to change up the pace of the game. But this experiment went horribly wrong for many reasons. First, Tebow came in with the mentality that he could be the Jets starting quarterback which the Jets were never going to give him. Next, Tebow didn’t just want to be used as a situation QB or a special teams player and it affected him a lot towards the end of the season. Finally came the controversy of Tebow refusing to play in the Jets regular season finale against the Buffalo Bills because he was sick and tired of not getting the playing time that he was promised which was 50% of the snaps according to what coach Rex Ryan told him before the season began. The Jets are almost certain to release Tebow and his career in the NFL could be nearing the end as well if no team picks him up because he is not the typical QB other teams need and other coaches have said he doesn’t have the QB skills to succeed in the NFL.
This season certainly was a big dissapointment to the New York Jets and their fans. So now the Jets go into the offseason once again earlier than they expected and have a lot of questions and issues to deal with on offense, defense, special teams and even the front office with Jets GM Mike Tannebaum getting fired for the lack of success from the players he brought in the past two seasons. If the Jets want to get back to the playoffs and make that next step to the Superbowl which will be in New York next year, they need to revamp their whole team and come in with a new no nonsense mentality.
