What more is there to say about the New York Jets that hasn’t been a hot button media issue all summer long? A disappointing 8-8 season after two straight AFC Championship losses, and innumerable amounts of Super Bowl guarantees by head coach Rex Ryan, has led to an offseason overhaul of the way the New York Jets go about their business.

Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was replaced by former Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano, who plans to reimplement a run heavy offense akin to the style the Jets used with backs Thomas Jones and LaDainian Tomlinson in Ryan’s first year at the helm. Third year running back Shonn Greene is primed for a breakout season with the workload shifting entirely in his favor after Tomlinson’s retirement, but questions remain about his durability and the offensive line in front of him.

Speaking of that offensive line, this Jets squad is a far cry from the 2009 crew that boasted five of the league’s best. Despite the presence of pro-bowlers D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold, the offensive line struggled mightily last year and into this preseason. This prompted Ryan to bench starter Wayne Hunter in favor of undrafted rookie Austin Howard, leading to Hunter’s jettison to St. Louis in return for former first-round draft pick, but all around underachiever, Jason Smith. Quarterback protection and forward push in the ground attack will be a major issue for the Jets this season.

That brings us to the quarterback situation. Beleaguered starter Mark Sanchez has had his ups and downs as a pro since being the Jets first pick in the 2009 draft. After riding the Jets stellar defense and potent running game to the playoffs for two straight seasons, Sanchez’s flaws were highlighted last season, coughing up three straight losses to close out the season with far too many turnovers from their franchise quarterback. It didn’t help that a public squabble with star receiver Santonio Holmes lasted well into the offseason.

Despite the shaky play, Sanchez earned a contract extension after the Jets unsuccessfully flirted with the opportunity to bring in Peyton Manning. Shortly after, the Jets brought in a backup quarterback by the name of Tim Tebow, you may have heard of him. The Jets management have stayed true to the idea Tebow is Sanchez’s backup thus far, and was brought here to help the team win in that capacity alone, but owner Woody Johnson may not have accounted for the deafening chants their much heralded backup will receive after Sanchez’s first costly interception.

The Jets garnered more attention on the issue after operating their wildcat packages with Tim Tebow in secrecy, shrouded from the media and their preseason opponents.

After three preseason games, the Jets are the only team in the NFL to not score a touchdown, an unenviable accolade. They are the first team in 35 years to go three preseason games without scoring a touchdown. Whether they’re saving their big play moments for the regular season, or are simply an anemic offensive unit remains to be seen. One thing remains consistent however: Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you’ll certainly be seeing a lot of Jets coverage this upcoming season.

Image Courtesy of  New York Jets

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This is the question that the New York Jets need to ask themselves. If this was a year or two ago, the answer would’ve been simple: a ground and pound offense and a smash mouth defense. However, this year the Jets look like a team who are searching for their identity, which is not good considering this team is planning on winning it all.

At the beginning of the year, the Jets decided to make Shonn Greene their bell-cow running back and moved last year’s starter, LaDainian Tomlinson, to a third down receiver type back. The only problem is the Jets have been unable to run the ball in their first three games this season. The team that would beat you up with their big skilled offensive line now has to rely on the passing game for points.

Mark Sanchez threw the ball 44 times in the opener against the Cowboys, and has had to throw the ball a lot more than intended because of the inefficient run game, even throwing in a blow out against the Jaguars in Week 2.

Now a lot of this has to do with the Jets interior line who, without center Nick Mangold, is sporting two first year players and second year player, Matt Slauson. This a big difference from the line of last year and from two years ago in which tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, who is a pro-bowler in his own right, was the weak point.

The spectacular Rex Ryan defense, which should be playing great as 10 of the 11 starters are now in at least their second year in the system, has at times looked bad. The Cowboys were able to expose the defense almost costing the Jets the home/season opener two weeks ago, and it cost them the game on Sunday against the Raiders who torched the Jets defense for 200+ yards on the ground.

Bad tackling combined with a lack of pass rush has plagued the Jets and the mental mistakes aren’t helping either. While I’m sure the defense had a bad game, and will be fine as the season goes on, the real problem is the offense and how the Jets are going to score points. If the Jets can’t find their identity as a team, they can stop all the Super Bowl talk now and kiss their season goodbye.

These next two weeks will really show what the Jets are made of. They travel to Baltimore this week for the Sunday night game against the Ravens, and then to Foxboro to square off with their nemesis, the New England Patriots.

The worse that could happen is the Jets lose both and fall to 2-3 in the season, which will not put them in a good spot considering the Bills, yes, you’re reading that right the Buffalo Bills, right now are atop the division at 3-0 and have easy games. The Patriots, assuming they beat the same Raiders the Jets just lost to, would be 4-1.

While the season is long and a lot can happen, the Jets need to ask themselves who they really are as a team, and they better figure it out quickly. Otherwise the answer to the question, “Who are the 2011 Jets?” will have one answer: a team with all the talent in the world that just couldn’t put it all together.

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