A Simple System Simply Works

Wow, what can I write about on a weekend when Charlie Weis and Lawrence Frank both got fired, the Jets earned a hard-fought victory against Carolina using some seemingly cockamamie color-code system to direct their rookie QB, and two NFL games were decided by last-minute touchdowns thrown by the likes of Vince Young and Chris Redman? And let’s not forget Dennis Dixon.

Well, it’s easy really. I don’t really care that much about Notre Dame or Charlie Weis. I figure both parties will make out just fine, thank you. And Lawrence Frank is better off going elsewhere, given the bad roster and bad luck he has been handed. Lawrence Frank will come up roses if it’s true that good things happen to good people.

And all I can say about Vince Young is that I was wrong about him. I’ve been thinking for five weeks now that he’d be a total failure. I’ve been thinking he’s just another one of these great college QB’s who couldn’t make it in the big time. But he lead that Titans team down the field twice from deep, deep in his own team’s territory to ultimately come back and win the game…twice.

And it was great that a backup QB you never hear “boo” about stepped up in a big situation to lead his Falcons team to victory, and on fourth down no less. Chris Redman did just that yesterday to keep the Falcons in the playoff picture, for at least one more week anyway.

And I was amazed as Dixon kept the Steelers in the game against the Ravens for about 4 ½ quarters. He did it on short notice too, as Big Ben Roethlisberger’s headaches occurred only Saturday.

But, without a doubt, the best prospect for discussion is the color-code system that Rex Ryan and the Jets concocted to keep a rein on their rambunctious quarterback, Mark Sanchez. It seemed too simple and a little silly. How confident could we be that the Jets made the right pick? I mean, did this guy ever play football? Was USC always ahead?

For his part, Sanchez was exultant after the victory and was only too happy to heartily accept the color-codes. That at least shows some humility. He may eat franks on the sideline and he might “diss” the entire NYC media population but he does readily accept direction and, too often this season, blame.

But for once there was no blame. Not that he lit up the joint, an impossible feat given the conservative plan, but he did throw for some yardage, not a lot, and he only threw one interception. He didn’t fumble one time.

Two things bother me a little though.

For one, this system worked great in a game their defense easily controlled. Jake Delhomme, as I had foreseen in my last words on the subject, threw the ball all over the yard. His only problem was he didn’t discriminate on the color uniforms to which he threw the ball. The Jets were only too happy to catch it when he did. The Jets took the early lead. The closest the game got was 7-3.

So when was the code any color but red? I mean, maybe he had an amber somewhere along the line, but the predominant color all night had to be red. What happens when they have to give him the green?

The only other troubling thing is that he’d need the system at all. But hey, maybe a rookie QB, who’s had to digest all this new information week after week, needs the focus, needs the hand-holding, to keep his tenuous hold on reality in a game that can be chaotic at best.

I just hope he understands the game a little. A lot of millions went his way. There were reservations from his USC coach Pete Carroll as to whether Sanchez was ready for the NFL at all. Hopefully, Pete was wrong about Sanchez. He’ll be the face and future of our New York Jets for many years to come. He started the season on fire but has stumbled through too many games, games his very tough defense deserved to win.

It’s great to have an athletic quarterback though. Just watching him avoid the rush and take off once in a while gives me hope for the Jets in the future. He’s really not all that accurate, at least not thus far, but he throws very well on the run, and, hell, Eli Manning isn’t all that accurate either, not like his big brother.

And some NFL experts would undoubtedly say he’s too short.

(As this is written, Drew Brees has been beating up the Patriots. Drew is just a hair over 6 feet and seems to manage quite well. They’re now ahead by 38-17 and it’s great to see the Pats get their noses rubbed in it a little. The Saints are now just running the ball into the line so as not to embarrass them any more than they’ve already been. I love sweet justice).

But the point is that, short or tall, a real quarterback has other resources to beat you with. Sanchez seems to have some of them, if not all of them just yet.
Rex Ryan seemed to think so too, and was challenged to find a way to deal with Sanchez’s wilder impulses. He seems to have found just the thing. If it takes a little more communication with the sideline to make the rookie a top-flight quarterback, I’m on board with that.

Maybe when the color does change to green, he’ll respond. The last two Jets games will be against the undefeated Colts and the top defense right now, the Cincinnati Bengals. But the next three, at Buffalo, and then against Atlanta and Tampa Bay, are certainly winnable, especially if Sanchez is working in red mode, or even amber.

Sometimes things that work very simply simply work. Rex Ryan has found a system that’s a lot like that.