One of the biggest surprise teams in last year's NFL and the beneficiary of the most gift-wrapped entrance ever into the playoffs, the New York Jets are under a lot of pressure now to repeat their performance from a year ago. Despite their tear through the final games of the season, a lot of questions still linger in New Jersey.
Will quarterback Mark Sanchez continue his brilliant, if sometimes erratic, rookie play or succumb to the dreaded sophomore slump? Will the defense, stellar last season behind the ball-hawking abilities of cornerback Darrelle Revis, be able to play at such a high level once again? Will Revis' holdout impact the defense's cohesiveness once September rolls around?
Not only are their questions surrounding last season, but the addition of older veterans, chief among them Ladainian Tomlinson and Laveranues Coles, also add some interesting possibilities for the high-flying Jets.
At least we can be certain of one thing. Rex Ryan will entertain us, whether or not the Jets are able to continue their success from last year. He's trimmed down during the offseason and signed a two-year extension to coach the team. Brimming with confidence, his fiery attitude should be enough to keep the Jets in position to challenge for the division.
By the time the bye week rolls around in week seven, we will know if the Jets were for real last season or the beneficiaries of better teams laying down and giving them a free pass when they shouldn't have.
Wildcat! What happened to the magic last year? In 2008 all anybody could talk about was the emergence of the wildcat offense unveiled to devastating effect against the New England Patriots the third week of the season. Spurred on by the new offense, Miami stole victories with their energetic, deceptive style of play. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams gave the wildcat offense a devastating 1-2 punch that left the rest of the league in its wake. After surprising the rest of the AFC East and stealing the division, the wildcat run came to a sudden, tragic end against Baltimore during the wild card game.
With such great success in 2008, 2009 should have been your year. But you faltered. Injuries hurt you badly. Defenses figured out how to slow the wildcat and your own defense broke down and allowed offenses to run all over them.
To succeed against the likes of New England and New York in 2010 you will have to reassert your dominance in the running game, with or without the wildcat antics. The maturation of Chad Henne and the addition of Brandon Marshall will only help improve your average passing game. But all the offensive firepower will not matter if the defense continues to work like a sieve and allow opposing teams to move up and down the field at will.
With three of your first four games against the likes of New England, Minnesota and the New York Jets, you will have to hit the ground snarling like a rabid wildcat. Anything less and you’ll be swimming in circles the rest of the season, trying to catch up to the rest of the division.
Tomorrow, letters to the AFC West...
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