N.Y. Jets: Sucker Punch was a Slap of Reality

From the desk of:  WALT MICHAELS' REVENGE

Extra Baggage:

• Smoking pot while driving in excess of 130mph with a child and registered yet loaded gun in the vehicle;
• The inability of well compensated NFL athletes failing to settle a dispute over $600 dollars in an adult manner; 
• Sucker punching people; at your place of work particularly at this age in one's life....?
• How one malcontent can derail an entire team's hopes for success;
• Individualism, and entitlement, 

....are all acts, and the machinations of immaturity, persons incapable of grasping life beyond boundaries set for themselves since high school and in their neighborhoods.  These are persons whom failed to grow up and join the real world in a timely manner,  where civility matters.

New York Jets: That wasn't just a sucker punch, and a broken jaw sustained by Geno Smith.  That was reality smacking the Jets square in the face.

Had the FAA ever gotten their hands on Air Woody's old operational records, they'd have banned the New York Jets from the skies years ago.

As if...

Eric Mangini was too methodical and yawn inspiring for New York, although he and Mike Tannenbaum were arguably on to something.  On the other hand, Tannenbaum and Rex Ryan were an intoxicating flighty mix whom reached their ceiling, but eventually crashed and burned.

Somehow, Rex miraculously crawled out of the wreckage unscathed.  Good thing too; on the one hand he was good for business.  Woody's next move, on the other hand, was not.  He insisted Rex Ryan stay on as head coach, but mandated that the next incoming GM work with him.  But that created an untenable situation for Rex as a lame duck coach under potentially hostile over site.

Enter John Idzik.

Once settled in, he operated less like the general manager of a football team, and more like a TSA agent searching for Tannenbaum's little black box.

In the course of his 800 day reign of error, John Idzik scattered the Jets' leftover charred remains throughout the hanger at Florham Park, dispensed their usable parts to the local competition, seized the capital budget, and essentially set the company on a course of regression.

That being said, Idzik's greatest accomplishment as GM of the Jets might very well have been sabotaging Rex Ryan's final season as head coach (maybe even in defiance of Woody's stipulation).

In any event, credit Woody Johnson for acknowledging his own failed operation.  As a businessman, he smartly reorganized - in a manner any beleaguered fan base could want, dream, or ask for.

This past off-season made it evidently clear the Jets haven't benefited, much less employed this much competency since swindling Bill Parcells away from the Patriots.

Within a few shorts months on the job, Mike Maccagnan not only cleaned up the mess left behind by non-personnel types Mike Tannenbaum and the exceedingly incapable John Idzik, but smartly advanced the Jets forward without even having played a game yet.  There's no escaping Maccagnan did in a few shorts months what John Idzik could not throughout his entire time in office.

Generally speaking, I'm an organizational guy.  I believe success starts at the top and matriculates its way down to the field.

That said, Mike Maccagnan certainly gets my vote.  His selection of Todd Bowles as head coach also has my support.  On the next level down, I feel the Jets will be well served by Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey, and to a lesser degree Defensive Coordinator Kacy Rogers.

I think they're a tremendous foundation for which the Jets can build a serious contender upon....

Eventually!

Here's the thing....

That wasn't just a sucker punch, and a broken jaw sustained by Geno Smith.  That was reality smacking the Jets square in the face as well.

If history has taught us anything, it's teams generally win regular season games with decent quarterbacks, win playoff games with very good quarterbacks, and generally win championships with great quarterbacks.

Unfortunately, Geno Smith was none of the above.  In fact, the Jets have fumbled and stumbled over their QB situation ever since their dirty tryst with Brett Favre.

Until the acquisition of Ryan Fitzpatrick, Geno Smith was all the Jets had.  Planting the notion Smith was to start the 2015 season was merely applying lipstick on a pig.

When you get down to it, a lack of quarterback has made all these coaches and GMs look stupid, in a manner of speaking. Get a good quarterback, and all these supposed loser coaches and GMs suddenly look like geniuses again.

That's the nature of the beast.  And if I may digress, that's precisely why the NFL has endless rules in place to protect the quarterback.

All those rules couldn't help Geno in the locker room though.

Without a quality QB, your team will suck.

Period.

The Jets will have a good defense this season.  But losing Geno because of some thug's lack of professionalism doesn't really detract from Mike Maccagnan's inherited problem at quarterback.



Mike