2011 Jets: Why the Team, not Mark Sanchez, Is To Blame for Their Failures

Only hours before the New York Jets' season finale, and the writing is clearly on the wall for Rex Ryan and company.

Gang Green is looking headlong into an offseason that will require a huge overhaul of some very significant positions both on and off the field.

As the clock ticks away on this 2011 Jets' season, the time for talking about what could have been and what was supposed to have been must be put aside, and damage control must begin.

The number of moves the Jets will have to make within their coaching staff and roster is evidence that this season’s disastrous outcome was not the result of one man’s mistake.

In covering the Jets this season, it has become clear that statistics just do not support the argument for laying the blame on Mark Sanchez for the Jets' undoing.

When all of the game films have been watched and this season is reflected on, there are plenty of missed opportunities that this Jets' team will have to account for that occurred without No. 6 on the field.

It seems that the novelty of the Jets has worn off in the media world. Any mention of them by major sports outlets in the last few weeks has been a mocking told-you-so towards the Jets' oversized leader.

The reason for this loss of popular interest is laid squarely at the feet of Rex Ryan, who is the principle character who should receive a share of the responsibility for the Jets' current state.

The inability of Rex Ryan to meet his lofty proclamations of Super Bowls and team prowess, has caused more of a distraction in these past seventeen weeks than the previous two seasons. It seemed to be more of a pressing need for Jets players to explain the behavior of their coach than focusing on rectifying their problems on the field.

The debacle that has been the offensive play-calling of Brian Schottenheimer this season should be assigned a vast majority of the blame for his team’s downfall, and more importantly, the perceived underachievement of his prized third-year quarterback.

The lack of mature leadership from team captain Santonio Holmes has been one of the most unwelcome surprises of this season. While it may be true that Holmes exhibited similar behavior problems in Pittsburgh that weighed heavily in their decision to let him go in the first place. There was good reason to believe that Holmes had a change of heart once he became a Jet.

A new multimillion dollar contract and an embarrassingly ill-timed, Eagle-flapping later and Santonio suddenly looks like the court jester of old.

In addition to all of the other mounting problems within the Jets organization these days, the veil must be finally taken off the Jets shortcomings on offense other than under center.

The Jets offensive line has received an undeserved free pass this season, and in order for this team to right the wrongs it has allowed to develop this season, the two gaping holes in the Jets offensive line must be addressed.

Young left guard Matt Slauson is far from reaching his potential yet seems content just staying off the radar. In addition to the Jets' problems in the middle of the offensive line, right tackle Wayne Hunter has been simply atrocious this season, undoubtedly lending a hand in quarterback Mark Sanchez’ overanxious behavior in the pocket.

The moral of this story is that the Jets' failures this season are most definitely the result of their only true team effort this year. By hastily jumping at the first opportunity to sacrifice Sanchez in the name of progress would forgive many other sins committed by this team in 2011.