Mike Maccagnan Lulling New York Jets Into Same Old Holding Pattern

From the desk of:  WALT MICHAELS REVENGE

Whose Jet Is This Anyway?

SUNDAY

Atlanta Falcons

vs.

New York Jets

FROM

TANK CITY

New York Jets: One Call From Woody Johnson Can Change Everything; He Must Be Willing To Pay A Heavy Price First.

Nothing puts matters in perspective like time.

Head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Mike Maccagnan are now in their third year together with the Jets.  Their respective contracts expire after the 2018 season.  So far, there has been no mention from Woody Johnson about extending Maccagnan, nor has there been any word from Maccagnan with regards to extending Todd Bowles.

Here's the condition ...

To date, the New York Jets are arguably no better off today, than they were on the day they fired Rex Ryan and John Idzik.  Yet, the Jets ironically are in infinitely better hands.

If I were an outside, independent auditor, though, hired to provide Woody Johnson with an organizational progress report, I'd tell him he has a really good coach on his hands, but that his general manager is blowing it.

I'm not suggesting Mike Maccagnan should be fired, a la John Idzik - far from it.  I still believe Maccagnan and Bowles are good football people who can potentially turn this organization around.  Instead, the general manager simply needs a firm directive from his higher up, then needs to execute said directive, and not deviate.

In other words, what we have here is a failure to communicate.  That is why I'm suggesting Woody Johnson wire Maccagnan from England, instructing him to cut the crap, and rebuild the team from the ground, up, post haste.

Coach Bowles is just coaching the players Mike Maccagnan gives him, and doing a good job of it. Outside of eight victories, I feel nothing regarding the Jets last 23 regular season games should reflect poorly on Todd Bowles, and that he is an innocent party to Mike Maccagnan's lack of conviction.

After two-plus years, Maccagnan is proving just as wishy-washy as the general managers which precede him.  I say that because he's made no distinction between trying to win straightaway, from trying to survive, or trying to rebuild.

Maccagnan indeed took over a team that upon his hiring went 4-12 the previous season.  By throwing a lot of money at it, and bringing in quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Jets achieved a 10-6 record in his first season at the helm.  But that same plan garnered no such results last year, as the Jets once again found themselves in last place of the AFC East after a disappointing 5-11 season.

Maccagnan entered this season cutting ties with some of the very same higher priced players he monetarily gifted back in 2015.  And so everyone thought he was going to start deconstructing, and finally rebuilding this the right way.  At least that's what everyone was led to believe during preseason.

Jets fans were going to pay special attention to college football this season so as to scout the Jets #1 overall pick in next year's draft, right?

If you're coming off a 5-11 season, then further deplete the roster entering this season, why bother bringing in Josh McCown?  I understand Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenburgh needed someone to work with.  So the better question at this point is why is Josh McCown still starting?

It appears to me that last minute touchdown taken away from the Jets against New England in Week Six isn't the only screw job befalling Gang Green this season.  Again, I contend Mike Maccagnan's lack of command directive is screwing Todd Bowles.

Let's face it, outside of that spirited effort against the Patriots, the Jets only credible achievement this season came and went with their victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.  A victory over the then homeless Dolphins, and defeating the hapless Cleveland Browns, were perhaps the worse things that could have happened to the Jets, because all that did was inspire false hope.

Again, why continue starting Josh McCown?  Why not trade trade Muhammad Wilkerson and Matt Forte by the deadline?

What is Mike Maccagnan saving, this season?

He realizes the 49ers and Browns have yet to win a game, right?

Entering Week Eight, the AFC East, North, and West, are clearly defined by the Patriots, Steelers, and Chiefs.  Whichever team that does not win the South, will be in the pool of teams competing for Wild Card spots.  One must ask how many of those teams does Maccagnan think the Jets can overcome?

J.J. Watt is out for the season as the Texans try to win with a rookie quarterback; Marcus Mariota has yet to really blossom in Tennessee; Baltimore's Joe Flacco might be out for some time.  Are these conference variables that will enable the Jets to outclass the field; Miami, Buffalo, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Houston, Denver, Baltimore, or Oakland; for one of two Wild Card spots?

Say the Jets barely make the playoffs.  Then what?  This team is still losing altitude in the long run, regardless.  Shifting around the same pile of money will only get the Jets so far.  It's been demonstrated time and again.

Buck trends.  Stop this vicious cycle.  Salvage the future by just letting go.

This is precisely why Woody Johnson needs to step in, and tell his general manager exactly what he wants.  Before that can happen, though, Woody needs to take a long look at himself in the mirror as well.

He's the one who created a culture where people work simply to save their jobs.  There's no conviction, long-term commitment for a plan, no stick-to-it-iveness.  Each passing administration merely adds to the growing scrapheap of failed, short term ideas.  That's because Woody never demands a definitive course of action.  He always leaves that to the people he puts in charge.  In some respects, that's commendable.  That's why I'm not asking Woody to become meddlesome.  I'm suggesting Mr. Johnson give his general manager clear marching orders.

Nothing more.

I'm suggesting he eliminate the confusion in Maccagnan's mind, by reassuring his general manager that reconstructing the Jets requires long-term employment and front office commitment.

Losses be damned.

Fans must overlook Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick, and take a wider look at life in the NFL.  Show me a winning organization, and I'll show you a stretch of consecutive seasons when they sucked really badly.  If Woody really cares about turning around his organization, and establishing a winning culture the right way, he must first be willing to pay a similar toll.

Otherwise, he has good people in place.  That's not the problem.

They need direction.

Without it, the Jets will continue circling in this never ending holding pattern.

N.Y. Jets: Mission Improbable Suddenly Not So Far Fetched

From the desk of:  WALT MICAHELS REVENGE

WEEK SIX

New England Patriots

vs.

New York Jets

New York Jets: To The Chagrin of Fans In Search Of The Elusive Number One Overall Draft Pick, Gang Green Is Suddenly Playing Must See Football.

The Jets were written off before they ever reported to training camp.  And according to some, that was the intended plan.  Tank the season (discreetly, of course) in an attempt to secure the number one overall selection in next year's NFL draft.

Consecutive losses to open the season against the Bills and Raiders, by a aggregate 66-32 score, had Jets fans thinking they were greenfully on their way towards last place, and finally on their way towards resolving a decades long crisis at quarterback.

Only now, Jets antagonists, and even some of their own fans, are growing increasingly bitter because they're failing to get even that right.

Defeating the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns were only somewhat understandable victories.  The Jets couldn't help but be better than them.  What are you gonna do..?  Their 23-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, however, was far more unexpected, and conflicting.  I'm sure the Jags are all still kicking themselves over that game.  As I'm sure there's one or two Jets fans whom kicked themselves in the posterior over it as well.

Not winning a Super Bowl in 48 years kind of does that.

Nevertheless, the New York Jets are winners of three in a row, and locked a three-way tie for first place in the AFC East entering Week Six, along with Buffalo, and Sunday's opponent, and primary nemesis, the New England Patriots.

Which ever team wins Sunday between the Jets and Patriots, will be the undisputed leader of the AFC East, at least for one week, that is.  The Buffalo Bill will sit out this Sunday with a bye.

Think about that for a second ...

It would have been irresponsible for anyone to have suggested before the season started that the Jets would be locked in a three-way tie for first place entering Week Six.  The Jets playing the Patriots for sole possession of first place in Week Six was never even a fleeting consideration, much less an improbable one.  And for a fan to have gone as far as predicting the Jets would have a legitimate chance at actually winning this game would surely have invited sports bullying upon him/her self.

But the truth of the matter is that Coach Bowles has his Jets playing hard-nosed, fundamental football.  He's done the best he can do considering the team's roster and circumstances, and you can't blame him for that.

Not too long ago, Rex Ryan's Jets featuring Mark Sanchez at quarterback, and a defense led by Bart Scott, earned an epic and improbable playoff victory against the Patriots at New England, and a trip trip to the AFC Championship Game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

These Jets aren't nearly as talented as that team.  This team is still rebuilding in the aftermath of the Rex Ryan years, who in turn took over Eric Mangini's roster and gave it a little tweak.

I digress ...

These Patriots, in their present state, can be beaten.

The Patriots defense, to date:

• the most yards allowed per game.
• the most yards allowed per play.
• the second most points allowed per game.
• the second most points allowed overall/season.

That being said, if anyone can make a quarterback look amateurish, regardless of defensive personnel, it's Bill Belichick.

Even Mark Sanchez had a strong running game guiding his way, and making play-action a viable option.  I'm not sure these Jets can execute ball control and time management well enough to disrupt Tom Brady's playing time.

The Patriots are still scoring points at their usual rate.  Tom Brady, however, is under siege.  New England's pass protection has been negligible at best.  Tom Brady has always also been a statue in the pocket, so perhaps this is the week Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams finally break through for their first respective sacks of the season, if not more.  And where there's sacks, there's the potential for turnovers.  So at least the Jets have that to shoot for.

Jets transient quarterback Josh McCown is no stranger to the game.  There's no reason for him to feel overwhelmed by the Patriots come Sunday.  Instead, it would be nice to get another calm, cool, collected, performance from the 15-year veteran.  If he keeps completing 71% of his passes against the Patriots, the Jets could indeed gain some much needed altitude within the division.  He'll need to be at least as good as his modest season averages, because Bilal Powell has a strained calf, and so the Jets running game will be compromised.  Matt Forte is probable.

Yes, these Jets are way different than the team a young inexperienced Mark Sanchez led in 2010 against the Patriots.  Those Jets had more talent operating around him, and a Pro Bowl center like Nick Mangold to hide behind.  Where as these Jets are instead supposed to be competing to be among the worst in the league along side the Browns, 49ers, and the suddenly moribund Giants.

Problem is Coach Bowles isn't letting the Jets lay down on themselves, which flies in the face of the front office's unofficial, top secret objective of tanking.

To the chagrin of many Jets fans, their recent counterproductive success, coupled with their upcoming game against the New England Patriots, have suddenly transformed the team into must see football.