Schottenheimer Quickly Coaching His Way Out of New York

Everyone knows the Jets' identity on defense since Rex Ryan arrived in New York—blunt force trauma and blitzing from the time they get off the team bus.  The offense's identity?  Seems like each year, the Jets try to rediscover who they are all because their offensive coordinator, Marty's son, Brian Schottenheimer, is hell bent on stamping his schizophrenia on the players he oversees.  Several weeks ago, Rex Ryan revealed to the media that he told the offense that he didn't trust them yet.  Now we know why—it's hard to trust a group led by an offensive coordinator that doesn't know what he wants his unit to be from week-to-week. I personally don't think that Brian Schottenheimer is going to be on the Jets' payroll for much longer.  If you look at his total body of work as a coordinator, he's just not good.  Check the stats: until Sanchez's 323-yard overtime effort against the Lions today, Schottenheimer-led offenses hadn't generated a 300-yard passer since 2006.    If you go back to Rex's lack of confidence in the offense (an indictment of Schottenheimer), the fact that the Jets defense played well enough to win in both losses and the fact that the head coach and the offensive coordinator differ so much from a mentality standpoint, a divorce is imminent.  I've written several articles outlining Brian Schottenheimer's shortcomings as an OC.  Aside from the 2008 season when Favre was running the offense (Jets finished 10th in the league in points scored that year), Schottenheimer-led units have never finished above the bottom half of the league in scoring offense.  In the two Jets losses this year, the offense has generated zero touchdowns, and against the Green Bay Packers, the offense generated no points at all.  Seems like when Brian has too much time to game plan (the entire summer for the Ravens and two weeks for the Packers), the offense suffers greatly.  Against a banged up Packer defensive front, Schottenheimer's game plan called for the league's second ranked rush offense to run the ball all of 25 times, excluding Sanchez scrambles, Weatherford's fake punt, Brad Smith's wildcat runs and a pitiful Cotchery reverse that lost eight yards.  Sixteen carries for Tomlinson, SIX carries for Greene.  Six.  Another interesting tid-bit: Schottenheimer's infatuation with forcing Holmes into an offense that had scored at least 28 points in three straight games before he was activated has damaged their production dramatically.  In Holmes' first game back against the Vikings, the Jet offense scored 22 points.  Against the Broncos, a game where Holmes had a huge fumble on a reverse, the offense scored 24 points.  Against the Packers?  Zero points.  It took the Jets an extra period to score 23 against the Lions today.  Meanwhile, an offense that was humming by setting up the pass with the run has gotten away from getting the ball to the pass catcher that seems to make the entire offense flow beautifully like quick silver—Dustin Keller.  The Jets are still in good shape to have a season that includes a Super Bowl appearance; however, it is clear to me that it will all depend on the offense and how they're coached.  That should be a major concern for all Jet fans.    False starts and holding calls on run plays at the most inopportune times, dropped passes and unforced fumbles are all signs that the offense is being coached by an offensive coordinator that has not instilled discipline on that side of the ball.  Look at the talent on the offensive side of the ball.  There's no excuse for their offense to not be unstoppable.  Then again, there's a perfect excuse why they're not—Schottenheimer.  Although at the end of the day, it's Rex's ship, we all know who runs the offense and who runs the defense. I'll keep the guy who runs the defense for sure, but at some point soon, the Jets will have to make a change in offensive leadership if they want to be the consistent juggernaut they should be.    Schottenheimer's total body of work warrants him standing in the unemployment line.  The Jets' offensive performance on offense against the Lions today is further proof that he needs to go.