Talking Brian Schottenheimer and Former Jets Turned Rams with Jets Blogger Scott Salmon

A couple of months ago, I asked a simple question: will Brian Schottenheimer be successful with the Rams? Obviously, it's only been the pre-season, which means it's too early to answer that question.

So, since I couldn't answer that question, I decided that asking someone who knew about the New York Jets would shed more light on Brian.

So I decided to ask Scott Salmon from Gang Green Nation, the SB Nation Jets community, about Schotty. Eventually it went from Schotty, to Matt Mulligan, Vernon Gholston, and Wayne Hunter.

This interview might seem different, but that's because I wanted to try something new. I decided to message him on Twitter rather then email him, mainly, because I expect that it will seem more natural and fluid, like a regular conversation. Speaking of twitter, if you want to ask Scott a question, he tweets at @salmon48.

Tevin Broner: I checked the website, and I'm curious, why do you guys like Schotty so much that you created a holiday for him?

Scott Salmon: Haha, we were just happy that he is gone. Schotty has been such a detriment to Sanchez's development and one of the most reviled coaches in Jets history.

Tevin Broner: What's so bad about Schotty as a coordinator? He didn't look bad in the preseason, but it seems like the fans, players, and even Rex Ryan didn't agree with him much.

Scott Salmon: Oh man, it's tough to go into detail on this. But his offense was overly complicated, yet ridiculously predictable. His MO was to do whatever you weren't expecting, but it became obvious, because he'd try to force our weaknesses, because obviously they won't expect that. An example includes last season, the close game against the Giants. We are running the ball down their throat and so Schotty changes the plan to throwing the ball SIXTY times. This was with a weak QB and a hurt offensive line. In a close game that we could win if we just ran.

Here's one more example of a typical play call. This is 3rd down.

Scott Salmon: Look at the statistics of how Schotty's offense ranked with the Jets, over the six years he was OC. The only time it was ever decent was with Favre before he was injured. He had four QBs and was never able to make a top ten offense.

Tevin Broner: Well, that's not what I wanted to hear. That play was horrible. I was never high on (B.S), but do you think Rex is to blame though?

Scott Salmon: Only in that he is a defensive coach, so he left the O unsupervised. Schotty ran free. Maybe Fisher will do better with that, but if it's left to Schotty, he'll stink it up.

Tevin Broner: Rex said that he didn't understand the terminology of the offense so he stepped back. Do you think he should have played a more active role? Maybe told him to cut back on the verbiage?

Scott Salmon: Right, but doesn't that say something about the offensive system, that the head coach can't even understand it? Sure, Rex should have been more active, but that doesn't excuse Schotty . It was overly complex, and none of the players understood it. That's why we had a lot of errors in execution.

Tevin Broner: I agree with you. I'm not going to lie, I rarely watch Jet games, but when I do Sanchez didn't look like a stable QB. And an aging Favre was probably the best QB he had, next to Chad. Do you think that had something to do with the struggles?

Scott Salmon: Maybe somewhat, but it shouldn't take a top 5 QB to produce at least an above average offense. And isn't it the OC's job to improve his QBs? If he succeeds it will be due to Jeff Fisher reigning him in, not his own skills.

Tevin Broner: Can you describe some of his incredibly difficult offense to me? Did he run a lot of 3 or 4-wide sets? Does he run a lot? Play actions?

Scott Salmon: He changes it every week, which makes it difficult for a young QB to get into a rhythm. He definitely game plans based on the opponent and tries to do what they're least expecting. If we're really good at running it, they won't expect us to pass 35 times. Which made the Jets do what they were weakest at, with predictable results.

Tevin Broner: Can you tell me anything positive about your old OC? Something that can make Ram fans happy?

Scott Salmon: Eh, he had a few good games, mostly in 2010. Not many.

Tevin Broner: How do you feel about Matt Mulligan?

Scott Salmon: Oh god. The Rams are picking up all of our worst players/coachers. Schotty, Mulligan the Penalty Machine and Gholston.

Schott Salmon: Mulligan just picks up penalties. He's supposed to be a blocking TE, but he's not very good at it. He's great at false starts and holds though.

Tevin Broner: What about Gholston? I'm sure he probably won't make the final 53, but why did he fail there?

Scott Salmon: Because he never tried. He never put in the time or effort to learn how to play at the pro level, and always just tried to coast by on talent. And that was fine against the backups in preseason, but if he had gotten 1 sack, 1 int, 1 fumble recovery, he'd have gotten $9 million. But he was fine to just coast along and didn't even care enough for that. And that's also why he failed in Chicago.

Tevin Broner: If someone wanted to watch a game or two of Schotty calling plays last year, what games would you recommend.

Scott Salmon: Off the top of my head, maybe the Broncos and Giant games? The Eagles might be good. Definitely the Giants though. Playcalling was so predictable and atrocious. Typical Schotty. This, mind you, wasn't long after we declared Ground and Pound.

Tevin Broner: So tell me about Wayne Hunter?

Scott Salmon: Not much to tell. He's literally the worst right tackle in the league. He had a good 2010 (subbing in for Damien Woody for the last few), but then was statistically one of, if not the worst RT last year. He's a fine backup, but even then, he. After getting demoted last week, he played with the second and third stringers this week against Carolina. He gave up at least one sack. His confidence is shot. A new team might be a breath of fresh air, but I doubt it. He's 32 and over the hill. He was never too good to begin with.

Here's a link to Scott's article about the Wayne Hunter and Jason Smith trade.