I want to address a point that a couple of commenters touched on after Debbie’s post. That is, defensive players who’s production is dampened by the position they play. The Jets have a few guys who aren’t being maximized because they’re in schemes not meant for them.

Vilma is the most glaring example. We know he has a ton of ability. He was probably their best defender as a rookie when he won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. The Jets were going to build around him, both as a defense and a marketing tool. When he took a step back under Mangini we figured he was just adjusting to the 3-4 defense. But he never seemed to adjust as the year went on, and hadn’t made any strides during the handful of games he played this year before a mystery knee ended his season. Maybe he’d have fit in given more time. More likely, we are never going to see the old Vilma as long as Mangini uses a 3-4.

Then there’s DeWayne Robertson playing an undersized defensive tackle. He’s one of a couple of undersized guys on that front line. The Jets need more meat up there. I’m tired of seeing people open up holes on the front three when all over the league there are big immovable monsters playing nose tackle. Robertson, and Shaun Ellis too, would benefit from a different system where they aren’t asked to do so much grunt work against big O-lineman.

So what should the Jets do? Is it a coach’s responsibility to adapt his system for the talent? Or does the plan supercede the individuals because they come and go? If so, what do you do about guys like Vilma wasting their talent on a position they don’t play especially well? Trade them? Keep them and accept the lowered production?

If you’re looking for a positive from this season and especially the Thanksgiving Day Massacre is the play of rookie Darrelle Revis. I think that he’s been as advertised; he held Terrell Owens to a touchdown when the man had four in the prior game.

He has kept many of the big name receivers of the opposition in check. He’s made some stupid mistakes but also many rookie mistakes though I still question a couple of the calls in the game against Cincinnati but I was listening on the radio so…

From where he came from, having been one of the last rookies to sign and had to rush to learn the plays, till now; he’s progressed a lot and I look forward to watching the kid grow.

“Mangini can do an OK job with only four days to plan,” said a friend of mine earlier this week.

Uhhhh…not so much. The Cowboys just slapped the Jets all over Texas Stadium in what was easily New York’s worst loss of the season. Up until today the Jets had never got their butts handed to them. Dallas is obviously a better team anyway but they dominated in all phases of the game. I think the Dallas waterboy even beat up New York’s waterboy at one point. The Jets are now assured of a losing season, in case anyone was harboring fantasies of a Ray Lucas-style comeback to 8-8 like in Parcells’s last year.

It came back to the line play today. Where was that bunch that sacked Roethlisberger seven times? Shaun? DeWayne? Anybody home? Revis actually did a great job on T.O., but when you don’t get any pressure, receivers are going to shake loose eventually. And the O-line made the D-line look like Pro Bowlers. This group has been a big disappointment all season and failed to open holes once again. Thomas Jones was outrushed by brother Julius—and Julius was outrushed by 40 yards by Marion Barber!

The left guard situation has to be addressed before anything else in the offseason. Offensive line is the most important unit on the field. Despite good seasons by the two sophomores this group has allowed far too much pressure. When your quarterback is throwing lefty to avoid sacks, you got a problem. Adrien Clarke especially is not getting the job done. It begs the question again, why was Pete Kendall traded? It made no sense then and it makes even less sense now that we know there was no suitable replacement. There was some hope in Jacob Bender, then he doesn’t even start Week 1. That whole Kendall situation was a serious misstep in what’s become a season full of them.

What to say about the Turkey day massacre…other than the blatantly obvious?! It seemed to me that last week literally was a figment of all of our imaginations. The defense didn’t attack a barking dog. Three sacks?!?!? How do you go from seven sacks to three???? Give credit to Dallas’s offensive line; it played a good game.

But in that same vane, the Jets’ O-Line couldn’t get out of their own way. The running game couldn’t get off the ground which led to the passing game doing nothing. The entire game was a bloody mess.

All I have to say is that if they play like this against the 0-10 Miami Dolphins, the fish might actually get their first win. These next 10 days are going to be long and painful.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

That’s the biggest question I have coming out of the win against Pittsburgh. The defense got seven sacks in one game when throughout the first nine games, it had nine sacks. They threw some great looks at the Steelers’ offense. That’s the biggest key for victory on Thursday … pressure on the quarterback. Don’t let Romo scramble. Tony Romo needs to be on his backside all game long. I may sound like Ray Lucas, but I agree with him. If you keep Romo in the pocket then the defense can get to the quarterback.

The rest of the wide receiving core needs to kick it up a notch. If Lavernues Coles can’t go tomorrow, then the rest need to help Jerricho Cotchery out. You know that the Dallas defense will be keying on Coles and Cotchery which should leave Brad Smith and Justin McCareins open for Kellen Clemens. But in all seriousness, does McCareins need something on his gloves to help him catch the ball like that kid in the movie Little Giants. How many times has he dropped one of Clemens’s passes? The secondary for the Cowboys is exploitable so if the wideouts and Chris Baker can get in one on one situations; then Clemens should be able to get the passing game in order.

I’ll be off with the family for Thanksgiving with my uncle and two cousins who are Giants fans who will probably routing very hard for the Jets to win this game. I never thought I’d see that. I really hope they do win, but in order to do that, the Jets need to play four quarters of football and all facets of the game need to be in synch because the duo of Romo and Terrell Owens will be on their game.

Shockingly, the Jets haven’t clarified Laveranues Coles’s status for tomorrow. He was limited in practice today, so don’t count on him making a miracle recovery in 24 hours. Expect to see Brad Smith in the starting lineup. That can’t make anyone too happy. Smith was shaky last Sunday. He dropped that catch in the end zone that would have put the Jets ahead late in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t a great throw but he still had it on his hands.

Jerricho Cotchery’s streak of games with at least four catches was ended against Pittsburgh in part because the secondary bottled him up when Coles got hurt. It’ll be more of the same tomorrow when the Cowboys double team him on every route. Justin McCareins needs to catch something other than a cold to ease Cotchery’s burden. At least the Dallas secondary can be exploited. The Jets really have to put up points to beat this team, because you know Romo and T.O. will be doing their thing.

Doesn’t it feel like the Jets played yesterday? Thursday games are nutty. It’s great to watch them again so soon. I hope the 10 days afterward don’t feel like an eternity.

By the way, how sweet would it be if the Jets beat Dallas after the Giants twice failed to do so.

I would like to think that the rest of you all were basking in the fact that Gang Green just defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that most people thought that the Jets would get mauled. But then to hear about what the drunken Jet fans at Gate D were doing. I know that this kind of thing happens and I’ve been to many games over my years; but for a girl to humor these drunken idiots…where’s the self-respect?!?!?!?!?

Why would any woman with some amount of self-respect want to pull her top off to placate some drunken idiots?! If any of you can answer that then you’re a lot smarter than I am.

I agree with Jake; what happened at Gate D was completely uncool.

Now you’ve heard from the male perspective…it’s time for the female Jet fan of this duo to take the floor. I know that I’ll miss Andrew personally because he and I used to chat a lot about some of the happenings out at Hofstra but I hope that I will be able to give you my insight as a Jet fan as well. I’m Debbie Schechter and as Jake said yesterday; we will hopefully be able to stick together through the rest of this rough Jets season.
But Sunday was definitely a great win for the club and it’s a good confidence builder with Dallas on Thanksgiving. I will be back later to talk about the you know what that went down at Gate D and give you my thoughts on the game.

Hate to open my stewardship of the blog with a story like this, but it just came over the wires.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Senate President Dick Codey wants a crackdown on the behavior of Jets fans at Giants Stadium. The New York Times reports some fans gather on a pedestrian ramp at Gate D and engage in an obscenity-laced chant for women to expose their breasts. Codey says Gate D apparently stands for “drunk and disgusting.�

Hi fellow Jets fans, this is Jake Thomases. I’m another reporter here at The Journal News, and I’ll be commandeering this blog along with fellow reporter/fan Debbie Schechter for the rest of the season. It’ll be a different kind of blog with us in charge. Debbie and I won’t be at Jets practice every day so we can’t hope to provide the insider information that Andrew did. We’re here to lend a fan’s perspective as the team tries to claw its way back to relevance.

Even more so than when Andrew was here, we need your contributions to propel the conversation. We can all celebrate together and suffer together. All I’m hoping to do is make a couple interesting points. Hopefully you’ll stick with us (and not compare us to Andrew).

At least the Jets gave us a running start with their overtime win over Pittsburgh, one of my most hated teams. I’ll be back later with thoughts on the victory.