What Will the New York Jets' Offense Look Like in 2009?

Following the Jets’ selection of USC quarterback, Mark Sanchez, in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft, many fans are expecting to see the football whipping around the Meadowlands as if Joe Namath himself went through a 45-year time warp and is suiting up for the team this season.

Although the Jets have great expectations for Mark Sanchez, and we may one day see Sanchez demolishing defensive secondaries, it probably won’t be this season.

Historically, expectations are typically low for rookie quarterbacks, particularly if they are the team’s opening day starter.

No matter how talented a rookie quarterback may be, some time still needs to be allotted for him to learn the play book, adjust to the speed of the NFL game and figure out his own way of commanding a group of players who have been in the league a lot longer than he has.

Last season, we happened to see Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan step in and very quickly appear as if they were seasoned veterans rather than the inexperienced rookies they were. 

But the rookie campaigns of Flacco and Ryan are not something that happens often in the NFL, and it may have skewed fans’ reasonable expectations for how Mark Sanchez should perform if he is indeed the Jets’ opening day starter.

So, then what should we expect from Mark Sanchez this season?

Well, the Jets will more than likely need to rely heavily on their running game and defense to win games early on in the season.

That’s not to say that Sanchez will be some kind of bust if he’s the team’s opening day starter, it just means that Sanchez will need to be eased into life in the NFL through a small number of short, low-risk passes, very similar to the way in which Joe Flacco was eased into the starting role in Baltimore last year.

Although Thomas Jones will be turning 32-years-old in August, look for him to carry most of the weight on the offensive side.

Jones will receive more handoffs in 2009 and may also receive more short screen passes than at any other point in his career.

Chansi Stuckey has been working out in the slot with the Jets starting squad, so look for Stuckey to also receive a large number of short, low-risk passes from Sanchez at the beginning of the season.

Jerricho Cotchery and David Clowney are likely to be the starting wideouts, but they will certainly be running routes vastly different to those they ran last season while Brett Favre was taking the snaps.

Cotchery and Clowny obviously have the speed and ability to be very successful in running longer routes. However, if Sanchez is the team’s opening day starter, they may not be asked to do so often, at least not during the first few weeks of the season.

Jets’ offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is one of the few members of Eric Mangini’s 2008 coaching staff that was not promptly shown the door after Rex Ryan was hired.

Shottenheimer will be entering his fifth year with the Jets, so he has experience in running the offense with two vastly different quarterbacks in Chad Pennington and Brett Favre.

Although Rex Ryan was the defensive coordinator in Baltimore and had nothing whatsoever to do with the rapid development of Joe Flacco, Ryan was still there to witness first hand the way in which Flacco was eased into the starter role.

Flacco’s on-the-job training in Baltimore last season consisted of a large number of short, low-risk passes at the start of the season.

Once Flacco’s confidence began to build and the Raven’s confidence in Flacco also increased, they began to utilize Flacco’s biggest weapon of all—his arm strength. 

During the Ravens 2008 season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Flacco completed 15-of-29 passes all while never attempting a pass more than 15 yards and throwing for just 129 yards on the day.

By Week 17, Flacco completed 17-of-23 passes and threw for 297 yards against Jacksonville. By this point Flacco looked more like a seasoned veteran leading the Ravens into the AFC Playoffs than a young, inexperienced rookie.

Want to know what the Jets’ offense will look like in 2009?

With Brian Schottenheimer’s experience with Chad Pennington and Rex Ryan’s experience in Baltimore last season, look for the Jets offense to resemble something in between the Chad Pennington days in New York and the early days of Joe Flacco in Baltimore.

Surely not the type of thing Jets fans want to hear, but, probably the best way for Sanchez to develop while serving as the team’s starting quarterback.