New York Jets Must Answer Tough Questions in 2012 NFL Offseason

Another New York Jets season has ended with the team coming just short of the team's ultimate goal, and Rex Ryan's guarantee: a Super Bowl championship.

This year, though, it ended without the tease of a run to the title game. Instead of a crushing loss in the AFC Championship Game, as has been the case the past two seasons, it ended with a crushing loss in the regular season as Mark Sanchez threw three interceptions and continuously wasted solid field position.

As the Jets take stock of their season, there are several immediate and long-term questions that sit before them.

But the biggest questions center around five individuals.

What's the deal with Santonio Holmes?

For a guy who was appointed team captain, Santonio Holmes' season ended inauspiciously, with the star wideout on the bench.

According to a report from NJ.com's Jenny Vrentas, it was part of an attitude problem that has grown over the past few weeks and came to a head today. Holmes tuned out Sanchez on the sideline, and even began arguing with Sanchez in the huddle. Back-up receiver Patrick Turner replaced Holmes with less than two minutes left in the game.

This points to a bigger problem with character in the locker room, as the Jets have continually ignored character in their quest for talent and a Super Bowl ring. 

But one person's character may have been more of a detriment to the team than anyone else.

How far can the team go with Rex Ryan?

In 2009, Rex Ryan entered the New York limelight in much the same way as he has continually retained it in his tenure: With Super Bowl guarantees and superfluous sound bytes.

He has held no punches, and his team loves him for it. But has he done more harm than good? NFL Network's Michael Lombardi lambasted Rex for what he feels is foolish behavior and bald-faced lies.

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His players know what he is saying is not true, because they watch the same tape he does. ...And Ryan gives the opponents free bulletin-board material. This is where his bold predictions become counterproductive. To me, what separates a good leader from a great one is his management of trust. The people following the leader should trust everything he says to be true, and the leader should be consistent with his approach and remain honest, regardless of the situation. This is where Ryan's act loses its effectiveness.

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Keep in mind, also, that Lombardi's piece was written before the Jets lost to the Giants, where the Jets did nothing but talk all week long leading up to the game. 

While the methodology has made Ryan a media darling, it has made the Jets perpetual possessors of a big fat bulls-eye on their backs.

He continually tries to shoulder the blame, and while that's noble, it's just not that easy. As much as Rex's mouth puts the team on the bulletin board and in the cross hairs, it's not all on Rex.

Is Brian Schottenheimer on the way out?

The rumors have been swirling for weeks about the status of the Jets' offensive coordinator, as he and Sanchez have shared the blame for the struggles of the offense this season.

How much of the blame falls on each man remains to be seen, but we won't have to wait long to find out.

Poor adjustments, a complete lack of a running game and bad game planning decisions put the Jets in unfavorable spots time and time again. With a quarterback that needs as much nurturing as Sanchez does, it's been a comedy of errors on offense.

How do they feel about Mike Tannenbaum and the team building philosophy?

Time and time again, we have been told of Tannenbaum's personnel genius. How, then, do you explain allowing Jerricho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards to walk away in free agency while the team signed Derrick Mason and Plaxico Burress? Talk about putting the screws to your own quarterback, the Jets deprived Sanchez of the two targets with whom he had built some of his best rapport. To top it all off, they replaced those receivers with two aging, slow receivers—one of whom didn't even make it through one season with the team, the other coming off two years out of the league.

Building through free agency has left the Jets without necessary depth to address injuries. This is what we saw when Nick Mangold missed significant time in the middle of the season, and the team was forced to go with rookie Colin Baxter.

Trading Dwight Lowery is another move that highlighted a lack of depth, as the Jets might have had a suitable replacement option when Jim Leonhard went down had they held onto him. Lowery could have certainly helped in games where the Jets got burned through the air, specifically against the Eagles and Giants.

A win in either of those games, and the Jets would have at least had a chance to back into the playoffs.

But it goes far beyond free agent flops and questionable trades.

The Jets have mortgaged one draft after another in pursuit of the players they see as the best targets. It has worked out for them in some instances, but bit them in the behind in others.

• Linebacker David Harris—Jets traded a second-, third- and sixth-round pick to the Packers for the pick used on Harris.
• Cornerback Darrelle Revis—Jets traded 25th overall pick, second- and fifth-round picks to Panthers to move up 11 spots to No. 14.
• Quarterback Mark Sanchez—Jets traded 21st overall pick and second-round pick, Kenyon Coleman, Abram Elam and Brett Ratfliff to move up to the fifth overall pick for Sanchez.
• Running back Shonn Greene—Jets traded 76th pick, as well as fourth- and seventh-round picks to move up 11 spots to No. 65.

Of course, two of those players are talented enough to justify the trades (and we'll get to the other one later), but it points to the make-up of the team. They are extremely top-heavy, with talented play-makers at most of the key starting spots. When it comes to depth, though, they're more comparable to a kiddie pool.

Quite frankly, the Jets haven't drafted very many impact players since the beginning of the Rex Ryan era. In fact, none of the players they've drafted—save Shonn Greene (arguably)—have been worth the selection used on them.

And when eight of 13 possible selections are quarterbacks, running backs or wide receivers, that points to a fundamental problem in the team building philosophy. 

The team consistently has so few draft picks that their failures to find competent players have been even more magnified than they would be otherwise. 

What is Mark Sanchez's ceiling?

Rex has said time and again that Mark Sanchez is his quarterback until he's gone, but how could he have confidence in that statement? Sanchez's stat sheet has improved (if only slightly) in each of his three years in the league, but that misses the point. The question shouldn't be about whether he's improved or how far he's come, it should be about how much he projects to improve over the course of his career.

Is he ever going to become a quarterback that the team can count on to lead them to the promised land?

Reaching two straight AFC Championship Games by winning a combined four road playoff games is nothing to ignore. It's quite the accomplishment. And Sanchez is partly to thank for that success. It does not, however, earn him the equity to play as he did this season, especially down the stretch.

Sanchez was responsible for nine turnovers—seven interceptions and two lost fumbles—during the team's three-game losing streak to close out the season.

We keep hearing that "this is the year" for Sanchez. We've heard so many theories on how quarterbacks progress greatly from their rookie year to their sophomore year, and others saying it's the second-to-third season transition that is supposed to mark the biggest improvement.

So far, no cigar. 

Some would say it's a product of poor coaching, and that's fair. Brian Schottenheimer has tried to make Sanchez something he's not, having him throw the ball excessively even though the team knows he's better off when they run the ball effectively.

That seems true, at least on the surface. The Jets haven't run the ball well this year at all, ranking 30th in the NFL with 3.82 yards per attempt. However, they don't run the ball much better when they win (3.87 yards per attempt) than they do when they lose (3.76).

That hasn't been the difference between them winning and losing.

One distinct difference is in the attempts. They average 25.1 rush attempts per game in their eight losses and 30.3 in their eight victories.

Likewise, when they force the ball into Sanchez's hands is when they have the hardest time pulling off wins. Sanchez averages 30.3 pass attempts per game in the Jets' eight wins, but 37.6 pass attempts in their losses. Respectively, Sanchez has a passer rating of 89.6 when the Jets win, as opposed to 67.6 when the Jets lose.

Not only is Sanchez a better quarterback when he doesn't have to shoulder the load, but the Jets are a better team that is more capable of winning ball games.

But it should be less about the stats and more about the eyeball test, which Sanchez fails with flying colors.

• Sacked in the end zone for a safety with a chance to march down the field for a win against the Giants.
• Intercepted with 10 seconds left in the first half that handed the Dolphins the ball in field goal range.
• Threw the ball with a defender draped around him, right into the arms of a defensive linemen. 

But have we seen the maximum potential of Sanchez? And if so, is that the type of quarterback the Jets want running their offense? The sooner the Jets answer those questions, and build their team accordingly, the sooner Tannenbaum, Rex and Sanchez can get the Jets flight back on schedule for a Super Bowl.

That is, assuming they're around to make the flight next fall. After all, when it comes to flying, there are no guarantees.

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