I was very pleased with where the Jets bye week fell when the schedules first came out.  It was positioned almost smack-dab in the middle of the season -- a perfect time, I speculated, to have guys lick their wounds and get ready for a second-half playoff surge.

Ah, well.

With an appalling 1-8 record, the Green and White aren't going to the post-season, but this week off is a good time to look back and see what worked (not much) and what didn't through the first nine games.  Iggle fan Brian came up with a nifty template and I'm ripping it off (it's OK -- he's cool with it).

Has Gang Green been unlucky or has this thing become gangrenous?  Let's take a look.

QB: Chad Pennington, Kellen Clemens

Stats:

• Pennington: 128 completions, 190 attempts (67.4%), 1,317 yards, 9 TD, 7 INT, 87.5 rating
• Clemens: 52 completions, 101 attempts (51.5%), 588 yards, 2 TD, 4 INT, 59.3 rating

I suppose this thing was brewing from the preseason and I was too naive to notice it.  Pennington missed the second game of the season against the Ravens due to an injury and second round pick Clemens came in and almost brought the Jets back from a large deficit.  Combine that with a horrible start and the QB controversy was on.  Pennington hasn't had a good season by any means, but he hasn't exactly been terrible either.  His downfall came during a poor three-game stretch against Buffalo, the Giants and Philadelphia.  Maybe if the Jets won one, two or all three of those games (which isn't a ludicrous statement) then maybe No. 10 would have gotten a pass.  Didn't happen.  Clemens has the arm and showed that he also has some escapablility, but it's still too early to tell what he can do in this league.  One thing KC has going for him is a fighting spirit -- he almost brought the Jets back against the Ravens and led the Jets on a tying drive late in the game against Washington.  If his receivers held on to the football in those games, maybe the Jets would have two more wins this year.

Grade: C-

RB: Thomas Jones, Leon Washington

Stats:

• Jones: 160 carries, 606 yards (3.8 average), 0 TD. 17 receptions, 122 yards (7.2 average), 0 TD.
• Washington: 38 carries, 127 yards (3.3 average), 1 TD. 21 receptions, 118 yards (5.6 average), 0 TD.

You know the running game is deficient when your leading rusher averages less than 4 yards a carry and has zero touchdowns on the year.  Jones has shown glimpses during the season, but those flashes have been few and far between.  I've been guilty of complaining that Jones hasn't gotten the football enough, but a quick look at the stats shows that TJ has the fifth-most rushing attempts in the NFL.  Still, he's only carried the ball more than 20 times in a game three times this year and he went for over 100 yards in two of them.  Washington hasn't gotten a lot of carries this year, but he has the only rushing touchdown on the season by a Jet other than Chad Pennington (how sad is that). The Jets should really use more of his playmaking abilities in the passing game.

Grade: D

WR/TE: Laveranues Coles, Jerricho Cotchery, Brad Smith, Justin McCareins, Chris Baker

Stats:

• Cotchery: 51 receptions, 682 yards, 1 TD, 13.4 average
• Coles: 42 receptions, 473 yards, 6 TD, 11.3 average
• Smith: 18 receptions, 196 yards, 1 TD, 10.9 average
• McCareins: 7 receptions, 81 yards, 0 TD, 11.6 average
• Baker: 17 receptions, 177 yards, 2 TD, 10.4 average

The Jets have two solid receivers in Cotchery and Coles, but the lack of a reliable No. 3 has hurt them this year.  McCareins is really in the dog-house and Brad Smith hasn't really progressed the way I thought he would.  Gang Green could also use a guy that stretches the field -- not that the Jets ever go deep anyway.  Last season, the Jets would toss one bomb a game to McCareins.  It usually didn't work, but it was the Jets way of keeping the defense honest.  That hasn't happened this season.  This offense is dink and dunk and with a struggling running game, it's going to be hard to make anything happen after the catch.  I think Baker can be a play-making tight end, but he just doesn't get the touches.  This unit has also had some big-time drops that possibly cost the Jets a couple of games.

Grade: C-

Offensive Line: D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Adrien Clarke, Nick Mangold, Brandon Moore, Anthony Clement

Stats: 23 sacks allowed for 144 yards (2.5 a game).  851 yards rushing on 235 attempts (yes, I'm including rushing stats from Pennington and Clemens), 3.6 average.

The group doesn't give up a ton of sacks, but that's because this offense is predicated on getting rid of the ball early.  The loss of Pete Kendall hurt, but I find it hard to believe that he's the reason this unit is struggling.  Ferguson has had a decent sophomore season and Mangold is solid in the middle, but those two guys are still learning.  Clarke has been a mess at left guard, Clement isn't anything special and for some reason the Jets decided to reward Moore with a contract extension after Week 1.  But the biggest problem with this unit is its inability to open holes in the running game.  They say that run-blocking is a state of mind -- an attitude.  You impose your will on the other team.  Maybe that's a bit too simplistic, but I think there's something to it.  The Jets lack any mean, nasty S.O.B.-type guys on the line and that's something you can't teach.

Grade: D

Defensive Line: Kenyon Coleman, Dewayne Robertson, Shaun Ellis, Sione Pouha, Eric Hicks, David Bowens, C.J. Mosley

Stats:

• Coleman: 51 tackles, 1 sack
• Robertson: 34 tackles, .5 sack
• Ellis: 35 tackles, 2 sacks
• Pouha: 13 tackles, 0 sacks
• Hicks: 16 tackles, 0 sacks
• Bowens: 13 tackles, 0 sacks
• Mosley: 7 tackles, 0 sacks

Now, we're getting to the nitty-gritty.  To call this group of guys awful would be a gross understatement.  I'm not sure how Coleman managed to record 51 tackles since running backs are usually seven yards downfield before they're touched.  Anyway, this is HUGE reason why the Jets sit at 1-8 heading into the bye.  Robertson isn't big enough to clog the middle and that leads to gaping holes in the middle of the line.  The Jets have tried using Pouha and Mosley on occasion, but that has had zero effect.  Ellis may be getting long in the tooth, but he's still having a decent season.  Hell, he's the leading sack master for this team with a whopping two!  The additions of Hicks and Bowens haven't meant a thing.    

Grade: F

Linebackers: Jonathan Vilma, Eric Barton, Victor Hobson, Bryan Thomas, David Harris

Stats:

• Vilma: 43 tackles, 0 sacks, 1 INT, 1 fumble recovery
• Barton: 48 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT
• Hobson: 41 tackles, 1 sack
• Thomas: 31 tackles, 1.5 sacks
• Harris: 66 tackles, 1 sack

There is some talent in this linebacking corps, but that hasn't translated to the football field.  Vilma is out of position and was struggling even before his injury, Barton hasn't been much of a factor, Hobson has been inconsistent and Thomas is showing that his 8.5 sacks in 2006 was just an aberration.  The Jets middle linebackers aren't big enough to take on offensive lineman and their outside linebackers aren't fast enough to create pressure on the corners.  It's a deadly combination and the result is a unit that can't stop the run, pressure the quarterback or create turnovers.  Throw in a slew of missed tackles and you come up with the perfect storm on defense.  David Harris has shown excellent instincts (especially in the last two games), but the Jets still gave up almost 300 yards on the ground last week against the Redskins.  That ain't gonna cut it.  I can say the 3-4 defense doesn't allow these guys to use their talents (and I've said it before), but you still have to make plays. 

Grade: F

Secondary: Darrelle Revis, Hank Poteat, David Barrett, Andre Dyson, Drew Coleman, Kerry Rhodes, Erik Coleman, Eric Smith, Abram Elam

Stats:

• Revis: 57 tackles, 10 passes defensed, 1 INT, 1 fumble recovery
• Poteat: 14 tackles, 2 passes defensed, 2 INTs
• Barrett: 39 tackles, 5 passes defensed
• Dyson: 11 tackles, 4 passes defensed, 1 INT
• D. Coleman: 2 tackles
• Rhodes: 48 tackles, 4 passes defensed, 1 INT, 1 fumble recovery, 1 TD
• E. Coleman: 41 tackles
• Smith: 16 tackles, 2 passes defensed
• Elam: 23 tackles

Inconsistency is the word to describe this cast.  Eric Mangini likes to rotate corners on a week-to-week basis and the mix of Barrett, Poteat and Dyson hasn't been very good.  Revis has had some bumpy moments in his first season, but he looks like he's the real deal.  Erik Coleman hasn't been in the starting lineup since his concussion against Buffalo in Week 4 and may have lost his job at safety.  Elam seems to be the man Mangini is going with instead of Coleman in the secondary and I'm not sure why.  Elam plays with a chip on his shoulder, but he's made two awful plays this season that contributed to Jet losses.  One was a mental mistake -- taking a swing at a player in Cincy that turned a third down into a first down and the other was delivering a knockout blow against teammate Revis on Buffalo's 85-yard TD pass a few weeks ago.  Rhodes isn't having a terrible year, but he hasn't been the playmaker he was last season.  This group also has a knack for missing a bunch of tackles.  Still, these guys must be playing with their tongues out since the front seven can't contain the run or pressure the quarterback.  It's never a good sign when your corner is second on the team in tackles. 

Grade: D

Kicking/Punting: Mike Nugent, Ben Graham

Stats:

• Nugent: 13/18 FG (72.2%), 16/16 XP
• Graham: 35 punts, 42.7 average, 36.4 net, 13 inside the 20, 2 touchbacks

Nugent missed two makeable field goals in back-to-back weeks at Buffalo and "at" the Giants that changed the complexion of both those games.  On the plus side -- he has gotten better at hitting the ball deeper on kickoffs.  Graham has had his share of shanks this season, but the Jets have bigger problems than the state of their punter.

Grade: D

Kickoff/punt return: Leon Washington, Brad Smith

Stats:

• Washington: 25 kick returns, 837 yards (33.5 average), 3 TDs. 9 punt returns, 59 yards (6.6 average)
• Smith: 6 kick returns, 130 yards (21.7 average)

I could have grouped this in with the kicking game under the heading of special teams, but I wanted to give Washington some love (not literally, of course).  His kickoff prowess this season has been a ray of sunshine on an otherwise gloomy season.  Too bad they haven't resulted in more victories.

Grade: A+

Add it all up and you get a team that's 1-8 and on the verge of "earning" a Top 5 pick in next year's draft.