Nothing ground breaking. Those two additions to the line should be enough to help the running and passing game. Add some help on defense, a returning offense and I am fairly optimistic about the season. BZ
And this article was the cover for this weeks Sporting News magazine. Very happy this morning when I checked my mailbox and saw that TSN's cover was the revamped Offensive Line. Being a Jets fan, you don't get to see the Jets on a big sports magazine's cover too offen.
Do you mean by what we think we could be in 2008? Well, most Jets fans will tell you it depends on who the Quarterback is and how well he plays and I don't think you can argue with that. If Pennington is under center and plays like, well, anything like he did before 2007, the team will probably be a 9 or 10 win team, challenging for a playoff spot. If Kellen Clemens is under center, which I think he will be (and I think that is the right move) we really have no idea. There is plenty of talent around him on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball where they should be playoff contenders, but who knows what he will become. If he plays poorly enough, this team could be a 5-11 or 6-10 team. But as long as he is able to game manage and learn on the fly without making too many mistakes, I see no reason, and I think most Jets fans will agree, that this team can't be at least a 9-7, 10-6 team. The schedule is somewhat easy, especially when you take out the two games against New England, and the Offensive Line added two maulers too it to strengthen the running game, something the team wanted to do last year but couldn't with Adrien Clarke and Anthony Clement, both of whom are of the league. Alan Faneca immediately makes the left side of this line the best in the AFC East and it will much tougher for opponents to apply pressure. On defense the key is how Bryan Thomas rebounds after a down season, how Calvin Pace fares in Year 2 of a 34 scheme and how quickly Vernon Gholston can become a force. Nobody is expecting 2, 3 sack games each game, but by Novemeber if he's not going out their racking up sacks and getting to the Quarterback and applying pressure, the doubters will start to flow in. This team has the talent to be a playoff contender, possibly a playoff team. It all comes down to the Quarterback.
