Four days after the Jets’ blowout loss to the Cowboys in Dallas, Kellen Clemens’ struggles since taking over the quarterback job from Chad Pennington remain a topic of interest.
Clemens, who had his worst performance yet in Thursday’s game against the Cowboys, has completed only 49.1 percent of his passes with only three touchdown passes and six interceptions in his four starts. His yards-per-attempt average is an anemic 5.61 and his passer rating is a paltry 56.9.
Most importantly, Clemens has led the Jets to only three offensive touchdowns in his four starts, two in the last three starts since taking over for Pennington.
Yesterday, Eric Mangini went out of his way – as much as he goes out of his way – to defend Clemens, making it clear that, though Clemens has had his struggles, the players around him haven’t helped him be successful.
“The whole group needs to play better than we did offensively in Dallas,” Mangini said yesterday. “In order for him to be effective, the offensive line needs to be effective. They need to be effective in providing not just protection in terms of the pocket but also the ability to establish an effective running game. To evaluate any position, you have to be working in all the different areas to give it an honest assessment.”
In fairness to Clemens, aside from the fact that the offensive line has been an inconsistent mess all season and the fact that his top receiver, Laveranues Coles, has missed two of the last three games, Clemens has faced some of the NFL’s better defenses in his starts.
The Cowboys are ranked No. 7 overall in defense, the Steelers are ranked No. 1 overall, including No. 1 against the pass. The Redskins are ranked No. 9 overall and the Ravens, whom Clemens faced in his first NFL start back in September with Pennington injured, are ranked No. 4 overall.
“Those four defensive teams have made a lot of quarterbacks’ days difficult, more seasoned guys than Kellen,” Mangini said.
Clemens will have a chance to make progress in the coming weeks because he’ll be facing some lesser-ranked defenses, beginning with Sunday in Miami, where the Jets will play the Dolphins. Miami entered last night’s game in Pittsburgh with the 19th-ranked defense, including 32nd against the run.
After the Dolphins come the Browns, who are ranked last in the NFL in total defense and 30th against the pass.
Following those two games, though, it gets tough again, with the Patriots (No. 3 overall defense), Titans (No. 5 overall) and Chiefs (No. 10 overall) to close out the season.
Rankings aside, though, Clemens will have no chance to succeed without more help around him.
“We need to pick up the play around him to help him out, we need to establish the running game, protect him and get open; it’s a collective effort on offense,” tight end Chris Baker said.
“As an offense, we haven’t been very good,” right guard Brandon Moore said. “We’ve got to give (Clemens) a chance. We’ve got to be able to give him time (to throw). (Against Dallas), we didn’t give him a lot of opportunities to do anything.”
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Believe it or not, Coles, when asked yesterday if he thinks the Patriots will go 16-0 this season, said, “I hope so.”
Huh?
“They have a chance to do something a lot of people have never done,” Coles said. “I wish them the best. They have a great team and they’ve weathered all the criticism. I just have a lot of respect for them as a team. I’ve never been the type of person to hate on anybody.
“I want good people to do good things and it seems like they have an excellent team. Why not want them to do well?
“Looking at their record and numbers, you can’t help but respect them and appreciate what they’ve done.”
Coles, who has missed two of the last three games, was in uniform at practice yesterday but didn’t participate in any physical drills, obviously resting his sprained left ankle. His status for Sunday remains in question.