Originally Posted by Rain Man

Or, even a horrific offensive coordinator, one who calls for a 3-yard pass on 3rd and 9 every stinking time, and who accepts a college coaching job during the week when his team is entering the playoffs and then doesn't prepare a game plan because he's 'interviewing', and who costs his team a Super Bowl because he won't let the quarterback throw the ball since he's relying on the defense to completely win the game, and who has been known to just give the ball up and punt saying, 'we'll get it back later', and who still causes fans to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat screaming, "HACKETT! IT'S THIRD DOWN AND LONG! THROW THE FREAKING BALL TO A WIDE RECEIVER!", can field a decent offense for a two-game stretch if he's got a very good quarterback who seldom puts them in a third down situation.

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Or, even a horrific offensive coordinator, one who calls for a 3-yard pass on 3rd and 9 every stinking time, and who accepts a college coaching job during the week when his team is entering the playoffs and then doesn't prepare a game plan because he's 'interviewing', and who costs his team a Super Bowl because he won't let the quarterback throw the ball since he's relying on the defense to completely win the game, and who has been known to just give the ball up and punt saying, 'we'll get it back later', and who still causes fans to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat screaming, "HACKETT! IT'S THIRD DOWN AND LONG! THROW THE FREAKING BALL TO A WIDE RECEIVER!", can field a decent offense for a two-game stretch if he's got a very good quarterback who seldom puts them in a third down situation.

Originally Posted by Amnorix

I obviously didn't see your offense in action, but it seems more likely to me that the QB was throwing to the checkdown receiver after it was clear to him that the primary targets (who were past or at least closer to the first down markers) were well covered.

Again, I have NO IDEA what your offense was like back then, so I probably shouldn't say anything. Hackett has been decent (not great, but decent) as the OC of the Jets.

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Yeah, you didn't see the offense in action. It was never the checkdown receiver.

There was a semi-famous exchange once when Gunther was DC and sat in the booth next to Hackett at OC. On third down, Hackett called a short swing pass that had about a one percent chance of success. Gunther asked, "What the hell are you doing? Are you even trying to get the first down?" CantHackett's response was something like "Don't worry about it. We'll just punt it and then stop them on defense and get the ball back."