I'd Rather Get Beat Up In An Alley

Between the bad play calling (after all these years it’s no longer suspect) and his tendency to be ultra-conservative (read PREDICTABLE), I just can’t figure out why Brian Schottehnheimer is so well thought of.  Honestly, I can’t explain why he even has a job at all other than the man’s last name.  Last Sunday’s gaffe, to me, was inexcusable.  Yes, I know we won the game and I’m psyched that we did.  Up yours Tom Brady.

Let me set the stage, or reset it I guess.  Tie Ball Game.  35 seconds left.  We have 2 timeouts.  The ball is on our own 40 yard line.  A field goal wins it.  Obviously we look to get in Nick Folk’s range right?  The dude’s missed 3 field goals today but he can make up for it by booting this one home.  With a little luck and some good clock management we should be able to give him a shot.  Simple enough right?  I’m sure you all know where this is going but I’m going to rant about it anyway.

We played for overtime.  WTF?  Why? As if we hadn’t already come close enough to losing?  We ran the ball and let the clock wind down.  Stupid.  Why leave the game up to a coin toss?  Especially in a contest where we hadn’t exactly been running up the score?  I see no reason whatsoever for this possum-like strategy.

Before you hit me with your “But we won” comments let me remind you we won following Chansi Stuckey‘s miracle fumble after our offense failed to move the ball.  We did indeed win the coin toss but we did not march down the field triumphantly.  It didn’t go according to any plan whatsoever.  We. Lucked. Out.

Let me ask you this… what do you think Bill Belichick would have done in the same situation?  Rolled over and hoped for the best in overtime?!?!  Hell no!  That diabolical bastard would have tried to win the gosh darn game because that’s what NFL coaches are paid to do.  He would have put up 8 points and stormed back to his secret evil lair.

Schotty is no good.  Play calling aside, his clock management is worse than Herm Edwards’ ever was.  Remember the Minnesota game?  Favre’s interception saved Schotty from the  wrath of many an angry football-smart Jet fan.   A few short weeks later and here we go again.  Inexcusable.  Unexplainable.  Unforgivable.  Unless we win the Super Bowl… then I can forgive him.

Man it’s good to see Jerricho Cotchery playing like a superhuman again.

Sorry Schotty- you stink.

How does an offensive coordinator continually, year after year, make such bone-headed idiotic mistakes?   You’d think that someone who spends so much time working on football would comprehend basic offensive strategy.  You know, things like clock management or trying to get 1st downs… or even just understanding that his job is to try to win the game.  It reminds me of Herm Edwards back when he pretended he could coach for a few years (love ya Herm but really).

Lets relive the Jets final drive last night shall we?  We’ve got a 2 point lead with 2:47 left and the Vikings have just used their final time out.  It’s 1st down with 10 yards to go.  All we really need to do is run a play that takes 2 seconds to develop and the Vikings are on the ropes.  It could be a draw play, a pitch to the outside, a qb scramble…  anything that gets us to within 45 tics of the 2 minute warning.   At this point “yardage gained” becomes secondary to “time off the clock.”  All Minnesota could hope for is to get the ball back with maybe 30 seconds or so.   I’m going to remind you that they had exactly zero timeouts left.

I guess going for the jugular isn’t Schotty’s cup of tea because he once again got cute (or stupid- semantics I s’pose) and called a quick run followed by 2 passes.  Instead of pinning the Vikings with no time on the clock, we gave them almost 2 minutes to put together a drive that only would require a field goal to win the game.  In the words of Mark Sanchez’s great grandfather, “No Bueno.”  If you watched the game I’m sure you will agree with me when I say that we looked doomed.  Favre had been torching our defense the entire 4th quarter and 1 of two things was about to happen-  Favre was going to tear out the hearts of Jet Nation or Favre was going to throw an interception.  Thank the football gods it was the latter.

I just don’t understand it.  I’m not a professional football player, coach, ball boy, or cheerleader (well maybe) but this is basic to the game.  It’s fundamental.  What’s up with this dude?  I’ve seen him call double reverse pitches in a biblical rainstorm, in-completions on 3rd and inches, spread formations with an immobile quarterback, and pass plays to a hard nosed runner with hands made of stone.  How many times do I have to watch our offensive play calling hurt us?  Enough already.  Had we lost this game Schotty’s name would be mud and the back page of the Post would be hilarious at his expense.