The Sports Guru

Projected Record
4-12

Projected Schedule W/L
@Tennessee(W)
New England(L)
@Buffalo       (L)
Indianapolis  (L)
@Jacksonville(L)
Miami             (L)
Detroit           (W)
@Cleveland (L)
@New England(L)
Chicago          (L)
Houston         (L)
@Green Bay (L)
Buffalo          (W)
@Minnesota(L)
@Miami       (L)
Oakland       (W)

It was only 18 short months ago that the Jets were a Field Goal away from going to the AFC Championship Game, TWICE!  It has been a steep drop ever since both those field goals went wide right.  Their quarterback has had two major shoulder surgeries.  Half of the offensive line has been jettisoned, and to top it all off they traded their Head Coach to Kansas City for a 4^th Round draft pick.  Needless to say Jet fans have no need to book playoff travel plans anytime soon.

Team Strengths – On paper there really doesn’t seem to be much of a strength anywhere on the field.  They really can’t go into the season and hang their hat on anything so this year could be a struggle.
Team Weaknesses – Plenty here.  They retooled the O-Line, drafting two lineman in the first round.  Both the 4^th pick, D’Brickashaw Ferguson 29^th pick Nick Mangold figure to be thrown into the fire.  That immediately make the Offensive Line a weakness along with the running game.  Curtis Martin returns but questions about just how much he has left are swirling.  At QB, Chad Pennington will try to come back from his 2^nd major shoulder surgery, and is in competition with former Redskin Patrick Ramsey and 2^nd Round pick Kellen Clemons, who everyone seems to be high on.  Defensively there are some playmakers in the likes of Jonathon Vilma but extended time on the field due to a weak offense will wear this unit down.  Eric Mangini, at 34 years old, becomes the youngest Head Coach in the league and it is surely going to take time for him to get his feet wet.  Overall, a lot of potential weaknesses.

 Best Case Scenario – Somehow Pennington can make like the 6 Million Dollar Man and use his robotic arm to get the ball down field.   Curtis Martin finds the fountain of youth and a young O-Line comes together faster than expected to protect Pennington and lead the way for C-Mart.  Eric Mangini brings some Belichick magic with him and the Jets win 7 games.

 Worst Case Scenario – Pennington’s arm actually falls off and the Jets have to go with Ramsey.  Martin gets hurt and the O-Line doesn’t come together.  Defense is on the field 45 minutes a game and Mangini begs Belichick to allow him to come back as the ball-boy in New England.  Jets go 1-15 and the curse of Rich Kotite lingers on in the Meadowlands.

My Opinion – It was a toss up for me between the Jets and 49’ers for #32.  TO me, The AFC East, while solid, is not overly tough and with Buffalo also going through a transition year there are games to be won.  The Jets also match up against the AFC South, some potential victories over the likes of Houston and Tennessee.  After the loss of Herm Edwards the Jets really stripped down the talent and are looking to start from scratch.  The Ferguson and Mangold picks, while not sexy, were smart and Mangini by all accounts looks too be a solid young coach.  By grabbing Clemons in the 2^nd Round the Jets gave themselves a security blanket in case Pennington and Ramsey don’t work out.  It is going to be another tough year in New York but the Jets do have some foundation laid for the future.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 27th, 2006 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Broncos/NFL, 2006 NFL Preview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.