What single move started the downfall of this team?

[kennyo7]

The single move that started the downfall of this team was signing Brett Favre.

This completely changed the teams philosophy from building with high character, hard working, team first young players through the draft and UDFA to building with high profile, older, selfish players through trades and free agency.

It also lead to replacing a disciplined coach who was high on being prepared, kept his players focused and held them accountable for their mistakes to a players coach who was great at motivating but didnt always have his team prepared and allowed the inmates to run the assylum

[Dunnie]

Signing Santonio Holmes .... This stared the circus act. Shoulda kept Cotch and Bray.

There is a real argument to made that we should have kept Mangini as well .... He gave Rex a lot to work with.

[patman]

There is not one reason why the Titanic struck the iceberg or one reason for the jets not staying competitive.

The decision that the defense could carry the offense to the playoffs.

And Tanny's Decision that resulted in 9 players having 80% of the cap

[jetster]

Originally Posted by SAR I

Bravo. I'm going to keep copy/pasting this in the hopes that others will come to their senses:

Playmakers Mark had earlier in his career:

Edwards,
Holmes,
Cotchery,
Burress,
Keller,
Smith,
Tomlinson,
Richardson,
Jones,
Greene (young),
Washington.

Replacement players this/last year:

Schillens,
Hill,
Kerley,
McKnight,
Connor,
Gates,
Hilliard,
Reuland,
Gilyard,
Greene (old).

Find me 1 player that's a better one-for-one swap of the guy he replaced. You can't. We have the worst set of receiving targets in the NFL. It's hard to be a good QB when you have nothing to throw to.

Note that I did not list the OL fails. Note that I did not list the Coordinator fail. Note that I did not list the Tebow distraction.

SAR I

As much as this year was a giant cluster*uck, it really was the best thing to happen to this organization.
It's been 44 so what's one wasted year that exposed both our GM & our QB as complete & utter frauds.
Sanchez is a below average QB that will never be a Starting QB in this league again except for a drastic scenario, where a team needs a body after injuries.

Had we kept Edwards, cotchery, this still wasn't a " Superbowl" team.
The only thing it would have accomplished was masking Sanchez deficiencies
By a few % points in his completion %.

Hopefully we land Gamble & stop chasing average free agents like Pace, then overpaying them, or drafting players like Bryan Thomas in the 1st round, or players like Ducasse from a school like Umass in the 2nd!
Sure Thomas was a contributor after 3 freaking years.
I'm sure if you go back to that draft there were players we passed up that would have had more of an impact.
Tanny was just a microcosm of the Jets problems.
Way too cocky!

[crasherino]

Originally Posted by Redlichtie

The misguided belief that Santonio Holmes was a no 1 and worthy of that mega contract.The acquiring of Holmes for a 5th round pick was genius but the smart,pragmatic move was to let him hit the market in 2011 (remember he was a restricted FA at he top of his value curve) and turn that 5th rounder into a probable 1st and 3rd or even 2nd and 4th.Then draft a young replacement WR high and prioritise Braylon.Not the sole reason for our demise but a pretty key part of it.

Holmes was a UFA in 2011, not a RFA. The reason the jets overpaid for him was that they had to compete with the rest if the market.

[patman]

Originally Posted by crasherino

Holmes was a UFA in 2011, not a RFA. The reason the jets overpaid for him was that they had to compete with the rest if the market.

So they had to overpay him, rather than let him test the market then pay him?

They overpaid him period, what did he do that year that earned that kind of contract? 52 receptions 746 yds in 12 games and 6 tds. good numbers to be sure, but elite 10mill guaranteed type numbers- No way in hell. This is a guy that had two strikes against him in the substance policy and was "kicked off" one team in the league already.

One of the reason the jets overpaid for him has just been fired and the other believed that his personality/motivational techniques would keep him performing.

[Dunnie]

Originally Posted by patman

So they had to overpay him, rather than let him test the market then pay him?

They overpaid him period, what did he do that year that earned that kind of contract? 52 receptions 746 yds in 12 games and 6 tds. good numbers to be sure, but elite 10mill guaranteed type numbers- No way in hell. This is a guy that had two strikes against him in the substance policy and was "kicked off" one team in the league already.

One of the reason the jets overpaid for him has just been fired and the other believed that his personality/motivational techniques would keep him performing.

Bingo, Bango, Boingo

[JETranger 206B]

Originally Posted by jetstream23

A combination of 3 things all centered around the running game - Not effectively replacing Damien Woody and Tony Richardson while elevating Shonn Greene (not a capable starter) into the starting RB role occupied by Thomas Jones and LT in 2009 and 2010. In other words, trying to get by on the cheap....which we've continued to do on offense.

Bingo! +1

[darkprime]

Originally Posted by kennyo7

The single move that started the downfall of this team was signing Brett Favre.

This completely changed the teams philosophy from building with high character, hard working, team first young players through the draft and UDFA to building with high profile, older, selfish players through trades and free agency.

It also lead to replacing a disciplined coach who was high on being prepared, kept his players focused and held them accountable for their mistakes to a players coach who was great at motivating but didnt always have his team prepared and allowed the inmates to run the assylum

I was going to say the name thing.

[Foggy]

Hopefully these last two years have deflated the myth of Rex Ryan as a "players coach" who can motivate above average effort from his players.

[Long Suffering Jets Fan]

Originally Posted by Redlichtie

The misguided belief that Santonio Holmes was a no 1 and worthy of that mega contract.The acquiring of Holmes for a 5th round pick was genius but the smart,pragmatic move was to let him hit the market in 2011 (remember he was a restricted FA at he top of his value curve) and turn that 5th rounder into a probable 1st and 3rd or even 2nd and 4th.Then draft a young replacement WR high and prioritise Braylon.Not the sole reason for our demise but a pretty key part of it.

I think it was a huge part of our demise. Think about what we could have done with the $24M signing bonus that we gave holmes. Aside from what you mentioned above we could have landed 4-5 very solid veterans at 'name the position', or 2 all pro level players at 'name the position'.

Those $$$ could have been used to replace our aging DL, OT, OLB, WR, backup QB, RB, FB, not mention resign some of our own departing veterans. Smith, Edwards, Cotchery.

[GenoT]

When sanchez had open receivers he couldn't get the ball to them. Thats his job, along with protecting the football, something he was never good at

[Long Suffering Jets Fan]

Originally Posted by kennyo7

The single move that started the downfall of this team was signing Brett Favre.

This completely changed the teams philosophy from building with high character, hard working, team first young players through the draft and UDFA to building with high profile, older, selfish players through trades and free agency.

It also lead to replacing a disciplined coach who was high on being prepared, kept his players focused and held them accountable for their mistakes to a players coach who was great at motivating but didnt always have his team prepared and allowed the inmates to run the assylum

I hated the Favre move!

[intelligentjetsfan]

There is no one move, the fact is this team was never built correctly for long term success. Their top-down management structure was an affront. The owner has no clue how to oversee a successful football operation. And when the blue collar, lunch pail players started to get old or needed to be replaced, the procurers of talent embarrassed themselves. The coach let his personal limitations affect his coaching ability and so you have the current train wreck now have to endure.

[First DOWN!]

The downfall started the day they started believing that Sanchez was no more than a game manager and instead trusted that he could be OUR offense.

[Vin]

"What single move started the downfall of this team?"


The ill-fated attempt to "wait it out" for Aso which resulted in Braylon Edwards NOT being re-signed. That was the catalyst which began the downhill-spiral back into laughing-stockville for this franchise.

Had the Jets AT LEAST re-signed Braylon, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out so bad. Although, who knows? Maybe things turn out close to the same since Mark has sucked all along? We'll never truly know....

[JetsFanatic]

To me, the downfall began with the personnel moves after the 2011 lockout ended:

Selected low-lites:

Losing Brad Smith when Tanny and Rex were infatuated and wasting time with Nnamdi Asogwa;

Not signing Braylon Edwards in favor of Plaxico;

Jericho Cotcherey for Derrick Mason;

In 2012 expecting Stephen Hill to start;

Signing and then trading Drew Stanton and bringing in Tim Tebow after extending and guaranteeing Sanchez' contract. ( no clear plan at all!)

Including myself, we have been very hard on Sanchez, but their dealings with him have been beyond stupid!!!

[Ohio State NY Jets fan]

Originally Posted by crasherino

Holmes was a UFA in 2011, not a RFA. The reason the jets overpaid for him was that they had to compete with the rest if the market.

and he won at least 2 (Texans, Browns) on last minute catch and run for TD "rock star" plays

but the Homes signing is a potential downturn milestone:

If the Jet's don't get into bidding war, they probably get a comp pick, keep Bray, Cotch and 20Million

[Gastineau99]

Originally Posted by Jetsfan95

Chasing after Nnamdi during 2011 free agency after the lockout. We already had a more than capable #2 corner in Cro willing to come back to NY (as seen by his re-signing) and by wasting time we lost key players like B. Smith, Braylon, Cotchery, T-Rich, and Ellis. The three WRs could have continued to build their chemistry with Sanchez, who probably emerges as a better QB with receivers he trusts. Now look at what he is.

Chasing Nnamdi had nothing to do with us losing Cotchery, Braylon, T-Rich and Ellis.

[SMC]

Originally Posted by Dreamers

Trading up and drafting Sanchez. End of story.

No, I disagree.

It's easily, in hindsight, to say that was a mistake, but the singular mistake, the biggest mistake this franchise arguably made in decades was entrusting the development of the team's most valuable asset to Schitty and Cavanaugh.

It is not hyperbole to say that Sanchez was the Jets most important draft pick since Joe Namath. Sanchez was coachable coming out of USC. He wasn't a lazy ahole or injury prone, which is the qualities that usually undermine high 1st round QBs.

Sanchez had his warts, but all 1st round QBs do. The Jets job was to develop his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. The best course wouldve been to sign a placeholder veteran in 2009 and let Sanchez sit. Of course, being coached by a bona fide offensive coaching staff, rather than the abomination the Jets had in place.

The Jets committed professional malpractice in developing Sanchez. Not only did they have the wrong staff to develop him, they put him in a situation where he couldn't learn.

A popular argument here is that Sanchez had a great situation 2009 with a veteran team, strong D, and strong running game. The WR group was weak, but improved with Braylon acquisition. But in actuality this was a bad situation for a rookie QB with 16 collegiate starts. You can't tell a rookie QB "Don't screw up and we'll win it for you." The QB can't learn that way. He'll be too focused on trying to avoid mistakes rather than make them and learn from them.

Then we had the musical chairs at WR, the receiving corps changing every year and Sanchez couldn't gain the proper comfort level.

Sanchez sucks and and is ruined right now, but it didnt have to be that way. Say he sucked from the beginning all you want, but I strongly believe that any first round QB that is coachable and not injury prone can be developed into, at least, a solid starter under the proper coaching.