Jets Need To Rely On Chris Ivory

When the New York Jets signed Chris Ivory this offseason, many people didn't think too much of it. After all, he had spent the entirety of his career unable to break ahead of the New Orleans Saints' stable of running backs due to injuries nearly every year. When I heard about this signing, though, my expectations immediately shot through the roof.

I had watched Ivory explode onto the scene in 2010 with the Saints when he averaged over 5 yards per carry and rushed for over 700 yards. Over the last two seasons, he has kept that YPC right around 5, but like I said, he has had to deal with nagging injuries essentially every year. While these injuries may seem to disqualify him from being a workhorse-type running back, I tend to think differently.

Given that the Jets lost (if you want to call it that) Shonn Greene and Joe McKnight this offseason, they were in need of someone that would be able to help out a consistently medicore-at-best quarterback in Mark Sanchez who has needed a strong run game to be successful, or a rookie in Geno Smith. Given that both quarterbacks were in dire need of a capable running back, I thought we'd see Ivory featured heavily right out of the gate.

As we know, that is not the direction that the Jets decided to head in. Instead, they decided to have him split carries with Bilal Powell, who's track record (3.6 YPC) will not impress. Both of them struggled, with Powell averaging well below his career average, and Ivory getting only 15 yards on 10 carries.

The Jets won the game, but it was with no help from the ground. Geno Smith basically won the game on his own offensively (with a little help from Lavonte David), and it was clear that one of the two Jets backs would have to step up if the team wanted to compete in the AFC East this year.

Well on Thursday Night Football, they got their chance in the first divisional matchup of the year against the New England Patriots. Both of their backs improved, with Powell getting back to his underwhelming career average, and Ivory jumping up to 4.3. In this game, we saw some great burst from Ivory, but he wasn't without problems.

Like what has plagued him to this point in his career, Ivory fumbled in the 2nd quarter of the game. Regardless of that one instance, though, they need to start giving him the ball more often. By that, I mean anywhere from 20-30 carries per game.

This all goes backs to the fact that they're starting a rookie quarterback. Though he performed well in the first game, he faltered a little bit in the second. His stat line is a bit worse than he seems, as his receivers had a ton of costly drops (I'm looking at you, Clyde Gates), but it still was not his best. He threw 39 times, which is just way too many, especially given the weather conditions during the game.

Rex Ryan should be doing all he can to keep his job, and starting Ivory would be a good start. Yes, it may be taking a chance just given his injury history and fumbling, but his upside is so much higher than Bilal Powell's that it makes this decision a no-brainer.

Thanks for reading.

Follow Brian Rzeppa on Twitter, and check out his NBA work on The League News.

Jets Need To Be Cautious With Geno Smith

Geno Smith will start Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and while that sounds like an exciting alternative to Mark Sanchez and the mediocre results of the past few seasons, it's also something that should scare Jets fans immensely.

Because many fans see this Jets team as weak on both sides of the ball, they say that they might as well go ahead and let Smith play to see what he can do, and hope he develops even quicker because of the immediate playing time. This couldn't be any further from true, and what they're doing may wind up hurting Geno for the rest of his career.

We've seen it time and time again in the NFL, where young quarterbacks are thrown to the wolves too early on, and they're just not able to get their confidence back. This is a killer for development, and the Jets need to proceed with caution.

Let me take you back to 2002. David Carr was coming off of a senior season at Fresno State where he lead his team to a 9-5 record and totaled 4299 passing yards along with 42 touchdowns. This had gained him a considerable amount of hype, and had draft reports saying that "he could make every throw in the book" and that "Not only can he thread the needle with his throws, but he also knows how to put the proper touch on his passes when needed. He is very competitive and a natural leader who makes the players around him better."

Of course, there were downsides, "Because he has such a strong arm, Carr will try and force passes into tight coverage." But the Houstan Texans overlooked these flaws and took him with their first ever draft pick.

We all know how this panned out, as Carr became a human tackling dummy behind the porous offensive line of the Texans, and because he had no credible options at running back, tight end, or wide receiver. He got sacked an NFL-record 76 times his rookie year, and this really just destroyed him for the rest of his career. His weakness going into the draft (forcing throws) was heightened because he knew that he had to try and make something happen before he got leveled. He was also forced to throw a lot because, at that time, the Texans defense was weak and they were often playing catch-up.

How does Geno Smith relate to David Carr, though? Well, he's in a strikingly similar position. Much like Carr, Smith is a player who should be sitting on the bench in his first year or two just to work the kinks out of his game and get adjusted to the pace of the NFL. 

The Jets offense, to put it nicely, is going to be anemic. They were the 5th-lowest scoring team in the league last year, and they'll more than likely drop into the bottom 3 this season. The offensive line is pretty solid as far as run blocking goes, but it has quite a few question marks when in pass protection. 

The options for Smith to throw to are are really not all that appealing, either, as an injured Santonio Holmes headlines an underwhelming group of receivers. Chris Ivory should be a nice addition in the backfield, but there's no doubt about it, the Jets are going to have to be going to the air early and often.

The Andrew Luck's and Robert Griffin's of the world are few and far between, and I feel like the Jets are expecting way too much out of him, way too soon.

He's going to take a lot of hits, and you just have to hope that this won't hurt him like it hurt David Carr. This is the man that represents the future for the New York Jets, and you have to wonder if Rex Ryan is risking Smith's future because he knows it's the only chance to save his own. 

Follow Brian Rzeppa on Twitter, and check out his NBA work on The League News.