A Jets fans not so brief thoughts on Herm

[Matt39]

From the poster "Sperm Edwards" over at Jetnation- very funny guy.

Took over a team with a veteran 3-4 defense, hires a DC (Ted Cotrell) whose specialty is the 3-4, & inserts a 4-man front, cover-2 base package that was successful in Tampa Bay (never considering that TB had 4-5 defensive pro-bowlers and two pro-bowl RB’s to keep them off the field).

Though the offense had an immobile pocket passer who missed the ’99 season with a ruptured Achilles tendon, and comparatively smurf-like WR’s (Chrebet, Coles, Moss), shifted the team to a west-coast offense under Paul Hackett (who had just been fired for running the USC program into the ground after 3 years, after being fired as the maddening OC of your beloved Chiefs).

After an 8.5 sack rookie season, decided to move huge, future-pro-bowl DE Shaun Ellis to DT, where he became a small, pushed-around DT; a colossal flop.

When his starting RB had two (two!) BAD high ankle sprains would not sit him out for so much as one entire non-garbage-time possession for the entire season.

’03 season: With Pennington injured with a broken wrist to start the ’03 season does not alter the offensive playbook one iota for his immobile backup (Vinny). Herm also decided that the only RB on the team with breakaway speed (Jordan) will now be relegated to goal-line & short-yardage duty. Never mind that he’s a “RB with power” rather than a “power RB.” This is also ANNOUNCED, so any opponent who sees him come into the game (when it’s not garbage-time) is fully aware that the next play will be a handoff to Jordan (more than half his year’s carries were in 2-3 TE sets). On the year, a staggering 87% of the RB carries (including garbage time) went to Curtis Martin so he could amass 1300 yards. By comparison, Jamal Lewis with over 2000 yards got 81%; Ahman Green & with almost 1900 yards, 75%. Santana Moss starts the year buried behind Wayne Chrebet and Coles-replacement Curtis Conway. No amount of dropped balls gets Conway out of the starting lineup. Only an injury. Once he was finally given the chance, Moss explodes like we all hoped he would be when we traded up to draft him two years earlier, for 1100 yards & 10 TD’s despite only starting 12 games. Numbers not to be approached again until traded away from Edwards.

In Herm’s marquis season, 2004, the Jets are given the gift of the easiest schedule to start the season in recent memory & do win all 5 of those games, including the Bengals (in Carson Palmer’s first NFL start); the Chargers (1 game removed from the NFL’s worst team & 2 weeks removed from considering starting rookie Phillip Rivers at QB for the season); the 4-12 Dolphins (with no line, no RB’s, and a QB controversy in full swing); the then 0-3 Bills; and the 2-14 49ers. Those teams’ combined record at the time of their games with the Jets was 1-11 (1-16 after the losses to the Jets). Despite the favorable outcomes, nearly blew the games against the Bengals, Chargers, Bills, and even let the hapless 49’ers get out to a 14-0 lead. With Quincy Carter starting effectively and the OL mauling the vaunted Ravens rush defense, the Jets take commanding control of this game, only to watch Hackett/Edwards foolishly (and needlessly) attempt a HB option that is intercepted & returned for a TD while the Jets were driving into Ravens territory. The same game Edwards is caught on camera having “clock guru” D!ck Curl telling him how many timeouts we had & when they were to be used; Pennington coaching Herm to instruct Carter on what to do; the clock-killing debacle where Edwards can’t come up with a single play on his own at the end of regulation that put us in a position to have to choose between a play or a FG even though it wasn’t 4th down; also shots of the Ravens’ booth repeatedly & correctly predicting what play would be called as the 4th quarter wound down. In the post-game press conference, Edwards initially lies about a play being relayed to Carter with adequate time, to shift the blame onto the player, before retracting it upon realizing the replay of the game on NFL network showed the polar opposite. After beating the 4-12 Browns, 6-10 Cardinals, and 7-9 Texans, the Jets faced the Steelers and failed to score a touchdown as Jordan is stubbornly kept on the sideline despite Martin’s game-long ineffectiveness. (The average opponent scored ~16ppg against the Steelers; the Jets offense managed 12 pts in 2 games). In the playoffs, the Jets failed to score a single offensive touchdown against Pittsburgh (again). The defense & special teams keeps the Jets in the game and are in a position to win it with a field goal despite just missing one the previous possession. With the clock winding down, the Jets decide to predictably run up the middle twice (and get stuffed both times) before Edwards comes up with his crowning achievement as decision-maker. Though at Heinz Field, the worst place to kick a FG in the country, and a weak-legged kicker who just missed from 40+ yards, it is decided that a 41-yard FG is to actually be made into a 43-yard FG on purpose by kneeling on the ball (which would have been the longest FG ever made at Heinz Field at the time). Doug Brien misses, Jets lose.

But, you say, the Jets made the playoffs 3 of 5 years with Herm!!!!! How?

2001: Eked out 1-point victories vs the Bengals (6-10), Colts (6-10, who they also lost to), and Panthers (1-15) and a 6-pt win vs the 3-13 Bills before losing to those same Bills in a win-and-we’re-in game 15. Made the playoffs on a 53-yd FG in Oakland in the last game when Janikowski was injured & unavailable. Impressive?

2002: Chad Pennington had a magical season and almost single-handedly brought the Jets back from the dead, throwing 22 TD’s to 6 INT’s and going 8-4 in his regular season starts (including the two blown games vs Cleveland & KC when the Herm tried to run out the clock in the 3rd quarter). With the Jets in control of their own destiny, lost to the (then) 3-10 Chicago Bears. Thanks to an improbable outcome in the last game between Miami/NE, the Jets won a 3-way tie-breaker as all 3 teams ended up 9-7. Jets win the division. Impressive?

2004: See above for the dominance of our 5-0 start. Lost 3 of their next 4 once we stopped playing automatic-win games. Then after beating the 4-12 Browns, 6-10 Cardinals, and 7-9 Texans, the Herm Edwards Jets would again lose 3 of their next 4 games, including blowout losses to the Pats & Steelers & then the 7-8 Rams. A Buffalo loss to the Steelers 2nd & 3rd-stringers allows the Jets to advance to the post-season anyway. Impressive?

It doesn’t sound all that impressive put this way, does it? It wasn’t impressive for us to watch. Inherited a team that went 9-7 behind a bad coach that the players despised (Al Groh). He's leaving now that we're in this current mess & isn't getting his requested raise or an extension after going 4-12.

Good riddance.

Enjoy our reerun.

[Brock]

I pretty much have to agree. Hopefully, he's learned a few things.

[ChiefsfaninPA]

Face it. No matter what coach we hire we are going to have people who are going to hate on them. We have no idea how he will be as our coach. Until he proves himself HERE then we should reserve our comments to see how he will perform.

[siberian khatru]

That sounds like ChiefsPlanet stuff.

Intense hometown fans find all the flaws, deserved or not.

Yeah, that 2002 Jets team was a pretender. They sneaked into the playoffs then laid a 41-0 whoopin on Peyton Manning.

Herm gets a fresh slate with me. He's got 5 years to get us to the promised land.

[HemiEd]

I am off to slit my wrists.

[ChiefsfaninPA]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

I am off to slit my wrists.

Nice knowing you. One down, a lot more to go.

[kcfanintitanhell]

What if DV were to come out of retirement once again and become the HC of another team? Could anyone imagine the negativity that that particular team's BB would be bombarded with?

But this is beside the point-Herm has not yet become the HC of the Kansas City Chiefs.

[FringeNC]

Matt, what's your take on Donnie Henderson if we get him?

[ChiefsfaninPA]

Originally Posted by kcfanintitanhell

What if DV were to come out of retirement once again and become the HC of another team? Could anyone imagine the negativity that that particular team's BB would be bombarded with?

But this is beside the point-Herm has not yet become the HC of the Kansas City Chiefs.

What do you mean, haven't you seen all of the reports. HE is coming. You better repent.

[kcfanintitanhell]

Originally Posted by ChiefsfaninPA

What do you mean, haven't you seen all of the reports. HE is coming. You better repent.

forgive me Herman, for I have sinned...
through my most grievous fault...
Whew!!!
Feel a lot better now...

[Halfcan]

When the Jets end up with Martz-they will be beggin to have Herm back.

Something has to be done about our defense-this is a good start.,

[Halfcan]

Now we need Jimmy Ray back to fall assleep on the run button again-and watch LJ pile up the yard.,

"Chiefs run up the middle for the tenth time in a row-amazing playcalling!!"

[ChiefsfaninPA]

I think Herm will be a good coach. He won't be a whiny ass like Vermeil. Our team needs some discipline. Plus from what I gather, his players seem to like him.

[tk13]

Yeah, we could send gochiefs to other boards and he could do a great big post like this about Al Saunders and scare the hell out of everybody. You can dissect anything and make it look bad.

And that said, beating up on bad teams is not a crime. If we'd beat the freaking 4-31 Bills, we'd still be playing this week. The Colts are likely going to get to a Super Bowl using an easy schedule... that's the NFL.

[KChiefs1]

Jets fans calling into the station are all happy to get rid of Edwards. Pretty scary listening to them bitch about how conservative he is & that he wouldn't take chances on offense.