Last year, I took a shot at predicting how our new draftees would fare throughout the season. For the most part, I was within reasonable vicinity of my predictions that I decided to do it again this year. Check out the 2011 projections HERE. But before my 2012 projections, here is a quick analysis of last years rookies and a comparison of projected and actual stats.

Muhammad Wilkerson DE: (PROJECTED STATS) 37 Tackles, 5.5 Sacks, 2 FF, 1 F. recovery, 8 TFL

(ACTUAL STATS) 49 Tackles, 3 Sacks, 1 FF, 0 F. recovery, 9 TFL

ANALYSIS: Wilkerson showed great flashes throughout the year, but really put it together to end the season. His long arms showed off the promise he has as a pass rusher while improving throughout the year against the run. Very solid contributor for the team and an overall, good rookie year.

Kenrick Ellis DT (PROJECTED STATS) 29 Tackles, 2.5 Sacks, 3 FF, 7 TFL

(ACTUAL STATS) 7 Tackles, 0 Sacks, 0 FF, 1 TFL

ANALYSIS: The whole Gang Green community quickly bought into the man, the myth, the legend: Kenrick Ellis. That being said, Ellis's season was disappointing as he didn't become active until around Week 7. Despite the disappointing season, Ellis had to compete against a lockout and one of the game's best DT's in Sione Pouha. Expect a bounce back year for Kenrick, becoming a key part of the rotation and contributing stats similar to my original projection.

Bilal Powell RB: (PROJECTED STATS) 12 Carries, 49 Yards, 1 TD

(ACTUAL STATS) 13 Carries, 21 Yards, 1 Fumble

ANALYSIS: No one expected him to light the world on fire from day one; however, it's safe to say not every one thought he would be this bad. A big body that doesn't dish out punishment, can't make people miss, and terrible acceleration make Powell expendable. I think he's either cut or leapfrogged by Ganaway.

Jeremy Kerley WR (PROJECTED STATS) 36 Catches, 426 Yards, 3 Receiving TD, 1 KO TD

(ACTUAL STATS) 29 Catches, 314 Yards, 1 Receiving TD, 0 KO TD

ANALYSIS: Kerley garnered high praise from both teammates and the media and he made sure not to disappoint. After the Mason debacle, Kerley took over the #3 WR spot and quickly found a role for himself. He was excellent in converting 3rd downs and proved to be adept at slipping through tackles. Also, he provided a dangerous weapon on punt return for Westhoff. A possible breakout season looms for our young WR.

Greg McElroy QB (PROJECTED STATS) Make team as #3 QB, no playing time

(ACTUAL STATS) No playing time. Made idiotic comment on radio about team

Scotty McKnight WR (PROJECTED STATS) 7 Catches, 54 Yards

(ACTUAL STATS) Cut, still Mark Sanchez's best friend

GGN POLL QUESTION: Which rookie will have the biggest question for the upcoming season?

1. Muhammad Wilkerson 58%
2. Jeremy Kerley 28%
3. Kenrick Ellis 8%
4. Greg McElroy 2%
5. Scotty McKnight 1%
6. Bilal Powell 0% (OUCH)

In essence, the Jets had a pretty successful draft in 2011. They had immediate contributors and added much needed youth in the defensive line. Can the FO continue off last years drafting success? Read after the jump to find out.

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Underneath all the hype of Tim Tebow, criticism of Mark Sanchez, and mess of our locker room is a point the media has seemed to miss: the 2012-2013 NFL season will define Rex Ryan's tenure as the Jet's Head Coach.

Through his first two years, Rex Ryan was celebrated, rightfully so, as one of the best coaches in Jet history after leading us to two consecutive AFC Championships with a young, inexperienced QB in Mark Sanchez. However, the wheels began to fall off in the beginning of the third year when he allowed the offense to progress from 'Ground and Pound' to an air it out 3 WR set. It didn't work. Eventually, by the end of the year we collapsed, losing three straight, to fall out of the playoff race. Unfortunately, news of a lockerroom mutiny spread like wildfire, leaving Rex to explain he didn't have the "pulse" of the team. So where does this leave us now?

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Despite the win against the Dolphins, it's still clear this team has a lot of weaknesses. The offensive line still has trouble getting push in the running game, Greene has trouble getting to the second level, and our run defense can't seem to slow down the perimeter runs.  This isn't a one game problem either.  This has consistently occurred throughout the season and there needs to be a change in philosophy.

A major reason the Jets can't get the ground game to have any traction is teams are stacking eight in the box consistently. We're only averaging 2.7 YPC up the middle. (2.7?!?!)  Unfortunately, we haven't been able to take advantage of that through the air. Why? Simply because the opposing defense is sitting on all the short routes, not worrying about anything vertical or double moves.  Well it's time for the coaches to change that. (Listening Schotty?) We need to bomb it at least once or twice against San Diego; even if it's incomplete it serves a purpose.  The safety will stop cheating down and teams will begin to respect the homerun threat giving much more room for our battering ram, Greene.  That and getting Sanchez into an early rhythm will lessen the pressure the running game has to deal with. Secondly, we need to get Joe McKnight some more touches to the outside and even split him outside which is a nice touch.

As for the run defense, the defense has been stout up the middle throughout the season.  However, we've been vulnerable to outside runs specifically this year. It's been a plethora of issues ranging from bad angles to poor tackling but there's been one constant: lack of penetration.  I honestly think we should have more 4-3 alignments, with a front of Devito, Ellis, Pouha, and Wilkerson.  That's a lot of beef and athleticism teams have to deal with and should keep teams from consistently getting the edge against us. 

IN OTHER NEWS...

• Kenrick Ellis should be activated for the rest of the season, no question.  He really made a difference out there last week with 2 TFL.  Yes, he's going to get blown off the ball on occasion from playing too high, but he's shown a lot of flashes and the only way to get better is to get consistent burn.
• Davone Bess is a very good receiver.  He consistently gets 70+ catches a season.  He was erased on Monday.  He's been quiet but Wilson's been one of our best players this year.
• Good bounce back game for Conley.  He was pretty poor against NE; but  he boomed most of his kicks and was vital in the field position battle.
• Nick Folk, I no longer worry when you have to kick, good job.

Football is just getting into the swing of things and teams are starting to show their true colors.  Like always, there is always a plethora of story lines to appetize even the savviest football fans.  See below.

• Nick Mangold's injury makes me realize how healthy the Jets have been the last 2 seasons:  Besides Jenkins and Leonhard, the last two years we have been remarkably healthy.  Our O-line, as of now, is nowhere near a strength.
• Tom Brady is the best QB in the league right now. Period.: I hate typing that, but it's true (No disrespect, Mr. Rodgers).  Is it possible he's getting better?
• Romo shows some heart: I'll be honest, I wasn't surprised when he choked against us, it really seems to be his MO.  That being said, his performance against the 49er's was just class, tough, leadership.  Playing with a cracked rib takes guts, and Romo showed he had some.
• The Dolphins are not mentally tough:  I'll admit the team has talent, but they can't seem to put it together. They're 1-11 in their last 12 games at home.  That's pathetic and a big reason why the Phins may end up in the cellar this season.
• Cam Newton impresses again:  Ok, he had three interceptions so it wasn't a brilliant performance.  But don't take away the fact that he's had back to back 400+ games and this came against a good defense in GB. I think Carolina's got themselves a keeper.  Poor Jimmy Clausen.
• Suck for Luck?: You're well on your way, Indianapolis and Kansas City.  It's funny how a season can change things.  KC went from a division championship to perhaps the worst two weeks of football ever played.  Our December matchup with them seems a lot easier.
• San Diego still doesn't convert it's opportunities:  There's a reason they can't make the superbowl.  They make crippling mistakes at the most inopportune time and yesterday was the perfect game to example this.  I still don't know how Norv Turner has his job.
• Kyle Wilson is a completely different player:  There is a huge gap between Wilson's rookie and sophomore year.  This year he's not only in position but making plays on the ball.  I think his time with Revis may have been beneficial.  On an interesting note, with the Jets committed to Cro for the next four years what will the Jets do with Wilson? Personally, I think Wilson will exceed Cro as a corner within that timespan and I'm just wondering how the Jets would play that situation.
• The Lions are a good team, as long as Matt Stafford is healthy:  He may be as fragile as a china doll; but there is no denying Stafford is a massive talent.  The offense can put up points in a hurry and the D-Line is a Top 5 unit in the league.  I see playoffs.
• Oakland's D-Line is considered a strength, but can be run on:  That's proven by the fact that Fred Jackson almost averaged 10 yards a carry running behind an awful offensive line.  The game may be an anomaly but it gives me hope for a successful running game next week.

• SANCHEZ>HENNE

As the season nears it's becoming clear that the Jets are going to be more dependent on the younger players.  Gone are Old Vets (Ellis, Cotch, Price) and in are the new generation of Jets.  Last year's draft class disappointed with Wilson being demoted to the #4 CB spot (I think he'll improve greatly this season) and Ducasse struggling to pick up the speed of the NFL game.  It's safe to say that we're going to need a stronger contribution from this year's class and I have to say I'm optimistic with Wilkerson already named starter at DE and Kerley garnering praise from both players and coaches.  Below I'm going to take a shot at what I expect from our rookies this upcoming season.

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Isn't it frustrating when a random football fan makes fact-less claims about your favorite teams?  The past two years, many football fans have had a plethora of misconceptions about our New York Jets.  Look after the jump to see the list.  Note* This list is based things I've seen from other fans across SB nation and from my school.

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As we all know, Mark Sanchez is entering his third year in the league.  Most people, including Rex, believe that the third year is where you'll see the most improvement in a player, especially quarterback.  Sanchez showed the fans a lot of improvement this past year including: having a knack for clutch plays,looking off the safety, being less turn-over prone, and swallowing his pride by checking down.  However, some bad habits are still their with our young QB as his completion percentage is still far too low and he making questionable decisions.  He led the NFL last year with most dropped interceptions, 15.  Look below to see Sanchez's stats and what we as fans can expect in year three.  

 Season Team    G QBRat Comp Att Pct     Yds       Y/G Y/A TD Int Rush Yds Y/G Avg TD Sack YdsL Fum FumL 

2009-10 NY Jets 15 63.0    196   364 53.8 2444 162.9 6.7 12 20 36 106 7.1 2.9 3 26 195 10   3  
2010-11 NY Jets 16 75.3    278   507 54.8 3291 205.7 6.5 17 13 30 105 6.6 3.5 3

As seen above, Mark's accuracy is poor and didn't really improve that much from his rookie year.  However, he was asked to shoulder the load much more his sophomore season as he threw nearly 150 times more than his rookie year.  For the hopefully, upcoming season Sanchez will boost his completion percentage to around 60%.  Although that may be looked at as still mediocre, keep in mind Sanchez is a big play guy, boom or bust really.  He will never be a Chad Pennington or Peyton Manning completing almost 70% of his passes.  However, I think we will see a decent spike in completion percentage this year.

Although he may lose at least one of his free agent wide receivers, I still believe Sanchez will bloom into an upper echelon(Top 10-15) quarterback for the 2011 season.  For one, people saying the loss of Holmes or Edwards would greatly hurt our passing attack; yet, Sanchez had his best interval of the season throwing for 6 TD's and 0 Int's while Holmes was on suspension.

Overall, I believe Sanchez and the Offense will open up even more this year and become a quarterback who can win in a shootout or when his running game doesn't support him.  It's not crazy for him to throw around 25-30 TD's next year and taking the next step in becoming a hopefully, elite quarterback.  My projection: 26 Touchdowns, 14 Interceptions, 3650 yards, 61% completion.        Thoughts?

This had to be probably the toughest loss I've encountered in my short life span being a Jets fan.  And a million times tougher than last years AFC Championship loss.  For one, I came into this game feeling supremely confident like many of the fans on this site and felt we were better than Pittsburgh.  Whereas last year, I really was just happy to be there as a fan.  Unfortunately, it's been 42 long years and we're going to have to wait a bit longer.

Hats off to the Steelers in the first half; they clearly dominated.  They pounded our front seven with abandon and marched up and down the field while our rushing game accumulated a measly one yard rushing.  It just seemed to me that Pittsburgh wanted it more; especially Mendenhall he really impressed me today with his running.

The second half was a completely different story as we actually exploited or mismatches; like keller and Braylon near the end of the game.  This is what made it so tough, we played like we should in the 2nd half and yet there was nothing there during the whole first half.

The Pittsburgh goal line stand was painful.  I think Schottenheimer has been calling some pretty good games the last month.  But this was awful and couldnt have come at the worst time.  The fact that he called a dive (The steelers are the best at stuffing runs up the middle) with Tomlinson, and not Greene, was infuriating.  Also, what the heck was he thinking.  Greene was the far superior runner today and it wasn't even close.  It's a travesty Greene doesn't get twenty carries in this game.

Finally, the missed opportunities will haunt me.  Revis dropped an INT; that drive ended in a TD.  Wilson dropped an INT.  Westerman had a terrible penalty.  This team had the talent to not only go to the superbowl but win it, which will make this a tough game to swallow in the coming months.

As we all know our Jets have come out of the first quarter of this season in pretty good shape, sitting at 3-1.  I know today is Monday and this probably should of been up at the beginning of the week, well i'm lazy.  At least I got it in before tonight's game. 

This post is just a recap of our first 4 games.  Leave your thoughts below and see my awards after the jump!

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Hello all Dolphin's fans, as we all know first place is at stake Sunday night?  As much our fans dislike each other let's keep it civil.  Rec this so it stays afloat the fan posts.  Any questions regarding the Jets and I will be happy to answer a long with any Jets fan who stops by.  Normally I see David doing these posts; however, the anxiety has been killing me to start discussing this game.  Fire away!

• I don't remember the last time the Colts started 0-1; is this the year you get to the playoffs Texans?
• The Pats offense looked explosive, the Dolphins offense...anemic
• The Lions absolutely got robbed of a win today, that rule needs to be changed, total shame.
• A good sign for sophomore signal callers, Freeman looked good leading the Bucs over the Browns.
• A lot of people are high on Oakland improving this year...they might want to take that back after getting thrashed today.
• Pittsburgh and Atlanta brought the first overtime game this year and was a defensive lock through most of the game before Mendenhall's 50yd sprint ended the game.  I really like Pittsburgh's defense.
• At least the Giants didn't open the new stadium the way they closed the old one.
• I know the Rams are bad but does anybody think it's cruel to ask a rookie qb to throw over 50 times?
• Michael Vick got his first major playing time in awhile and I'll admit he played well, we may have a quarteback controversy in Philadelphia.
• Biggest Shocker to me: Seatte blowing out 49ers.  Alex Smith looked pretty bad after the 1st quarter.

Those are just some things I saw today.  Add your thoughts below.  P.S so pumped for tomorrow it can't come soon enough!

     Seeing as it's July, and football news at a minimum, I've decided to list the top 10 games in terms of excitement and how the game will turn out.  I won't predict the game (Like Matt's recent and very good game by game piece) just point out some storylines and magnitude of said games.  I will do this in 2 parts as i'm somewhat short on time part 2 should be here soon though.

See more after the jump

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So with the draft nearly a whole month away many of us wonder what Mike T will decide to do in the draft.  Will he play it safe and draft a Hughes or Odrick at 29.  Or will he make his usual draft day deals?  However, in a deep draft I would not be opposed to trading down, it would help build a future and give us solid depth for next year.  The poll is below.

On Sunday we saw the end of a great season, as we fell to the mighty Colts 30-17 in a highly competitive game. Seeing as it's officially the off-season I have decided to reflect on the season.  Basically,  I'm going to rate our players 1-5 with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest.  More after the jump.  Seeing as i'm a dedicated student I don't have that much free time.  So for today I will only post the 5 gameball players/units/coaches.  Comment below if you agree or disagree or would like to add anything.  I will do 4 game balls tomorrow.  And I should do one every day. Enjoy.

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Yes our playoff chances improved this week even after a loss to Atlanta.  This is what we need to happen for us to control our own Destiny.

According to the Jets, they need the following to happen this week for them to control their own destiny:

— Beat Indianapolis (14-0).

— Hope Jacksonville (7-7) loses at New England (9-5), AND Miami (7-7) loses vs. Houston (7-7) at home.

Plus, either of the following:

— Have Baltimore (8-6) lose at Pittsburgh (7-7), OR Denver (8-6) lose at Philadelphia (10-4).

Are any of those far fetched at all.  I think Denver and Jacksonville will lose.  Let's pray that Miam and Baltimore follow suit.  Honestly, we don't deserve a shot, but i'll take it.

1.  Jump out to an early lead.

                 I can't stress how vital this is.  Our nightmare scenario is playing from behind and being forced to throw the ball downfield with an erratic quarterback.  The more we throw it the less we get away from our strength, the running game.  This won't wear down the defense as much and this exact scenario happened in their first victory over GreenBay.  GreenBay fell behind and was forced to throw it.  Rodgers was forced to throw it 40 times and didn't allow the Pack to run the ball with any consistency.  Oh Yeah Kellen Clemens is no Aaron Rodgers.

2.  Hold on to the damn ball.

             Yesterday, John had a post stating that the Jets were in fact Number 1 in Pass Defense and Rushing and number 2 in pass defense.  Pretty odd numbers for a 6-6 team, eh?  Well a big reason is turnovers, we have 26.  Thats a little more than 2 a game which is unacceptable.  Im looking at you Greene.  Braylon please secure the ball.  Dustin please don't fumble at the one.  And Kellen Clemens please don't play like Kellen Clemens.

3.)  No lapses during the game.

              We're fighting for our playoff lives I don't want to see a silly 5 yard offsides, or illegal contact 30 yards away from the play.  I wan't to see intensity and not take a 1-11 team lightly,  I want someone to really stick someone (I'm looking at you Rhodes),  But Most of all I want to play a complete 60 minutes and see the defense have that killer instinct they havent had at the end of Miami Game #1 and The end of the Jacksonville Game.