By Tyson Rauch
With the New York Jets enjoying their bye week, lets take a look back and see how this 2-2 team is doing.
Quarterback: (B+) Coming off of a six touchdown performance it is hard to give a grade lower than this as it appears the chemistry is starting to develop between Brett Favre and his receivers. Favre has thrown 12 tds with 4 interceptions with a quarterback rating of 110.8 in his first four games. These numbers are impressive considering there was an expected slow start with the growing pains of learning a new offensive system. Also included in this grade is the leadership trait that Favre has started to display.
Running Backs: (C) The Jets have struggled running the ball with only one rushing touchdown from the primary running backs Thomas Jones and Leon Washington. This can be attributed to learning how to run behind a revamped offensive line, but at the same time throughout the first 4 games there have been too many yards left on the field.
Tight Ends: (C) The Jets tight end group has 18 catches with 2 touchdowns from rookie Dustin Keller. As with the running backs there is the learning curve blocking with a revamped offensive line, but there still appears to be some protection issues when it comes to the running game.
Wide Receivers: ( B+) With the running game struggling the Jets wide receivers picked up the slack catching 50 passes including 10 touchdowns. As with the rest of the offense it took some time to get in sync with Favre, but this group has found ways to move the chains.
Offensive Line: ( C+ ) While the Jets revamped line has only given up 10 sacks in 4 games, the running game has still not gotten on track. The lack of a running game has put more pressure on Favre and the Wide Receivers and going forward the Jets success will be contingent on this group progressing and being able to establish a ground game.
Defensive Line: (C+) The Jets pass rush has been drastically improved with 13 sacks in the first four games with Bryan Thomas and Shaun Ellis leading the way. Kris Jenkins has fit the run stuffer role very well but once injured the rushing defense struggled. Going forward the Jets need to figure out schemes that do not completely rely on Jenkins.
Linebackers: (C) The Jets have one of the highest paid linebacking corps in the NFL and the results for the first four games have been mixed. Calvin Pace has provided a pass rushing threat and David Harris leads the team in tackles, but the struggles in coverage continue to be the Jets nemesis.
Secondary: (C) The Jets secondary is lead by Kerry Rhodes and Darrelle Revis but as with the linebackers the results have been mixed. Dwight Lowery has taken over the second corner position but the safety spot next to Rhodes has been a revolving door. The chemistry issues have resulted in some big plays and the communication needs to be improved going forward.
Kickers: (D) Between punter Ben Graham struggling with consistency issues, to Mike Nugent getting hurt, to Jay Feely’s erratic ways, the Jets kicking game is a question mark to say the least. The Jets are continuously losing the field position battle due to this group and the answer appears nowhere to be found.
Coaches: (C-) The Jets coaching staff had a huge challenge incorporating several high priced veteran players into their systems. There was going to be growing pains for the team but the conservative nature coach Eric Mangini went about it cost the Jets a game versus the New England Patriots. Also the Jets defense continues to struggle which is concerning as substantial talent has been added on that side of the ball.