NFL: Santonio Holmes & Plaxico Burress Speak Out Against Jets’ Offensive Coordinator

Four weeks into a season with Super Bowl expectations, the locker-room complaints have grown louder in light of the Jets’ offensive struggles.  Wide receivers Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason have individually gone to Rex Ryan in the past few weeks to question offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s  system.  Today they face the New England Patriots, their offense must step up big time.  Read more after the jump.

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Gang Green, losers of two straight entering today’s game against the Patriots, ranks near the bottom of the league in total offense (25th) and rushing offense (30th).

Despite the fact that the Jets have been pass-heavy during the first month – they’ve thrown it 62% of the time – the receivers clearly aren’t happy with the offense. Their decision to meet with Ryan at different points in the past month is a clear indictment of the offensive philosophy.

Holmes and Mason average three catches per game. Burress only averages 2.5. The trio has combined for 35 receptions for 432 yards. Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker, on the other hand, has 40 catches for 616 yards.

“We just grind for everything,” a source told The News. “Nothing’s ever easy.”

Despite the organization’s efforts to surround Mark Sanchez with plenty of weapons, the offense has sputtered. Gang Green had only seven first downs, 150 total yards and three points from the offense in the 34-17 loss to the Ravens last week.

Only the Broncos and Steelers  have had more turnovers than the Jets’ 10 giveaways (five fumbles, five interceptions) through the first four games. Baltimore scored 24 points off four of them.

The offense is tied for 24th in the league in third-down efficiency and first downs and 30th in yards gained on first down.

“Underwhelming,” a source said.

Schottenheimer accepted the blame for the meltdown last week.

“We were really just kind of struggling, calling bad plays and not executing as clean as we need to do,” Schottenheimer said. “I take responsibility for that … I think there have been cracks throughout certain times of our play.”

The offensive woes against the Ravens prompted Holmes and Mason to speak out.

“Obviously, there’s things that have to change,” Mason said after the game. “There’s some cracks. And don’t nobody really want to identify the cracks. Until we identify the cracks, we’re going to keep having the same problems. Whenever somebody wants to seal up the cracks, then we’ll continue to move forward as an offense.”

The receivers’ decisions to approach the head coach during a season when the Jets are throwing it more than ever under Ryan speaks volumes about their feelings about the play-calling. Wideouts don’t typically want to change when they’re part of a pass-friendly offense. However, all of them recognize the importance of re-establishing a ground attack that has lost its way. To that end, Ryan admitted that his team will lean more on the ground-and-pound attack moving forward to re-establish a more physical mind-set.

“I’m not going to make any calls, any play calls or whatever,” Ryan said. “I’ll certainly give my opinion. I’m there to help.”

After the loss to the Ravens, Holmes pointed out multiple failures on offense.

“We got to do a better job of running the football,” Holmes said at the time. “That will be the key to jump-starting our offense… We definitely have to focus more on what we have to do running the ball and get the ball in the hands of the playmakers. Give our guy (Sanchez) a little bit of time so he can deliver the ball to the guys that can make plays for us.”

Sanchez told reporters that any future critical comments by his teammates would stay in-house.

Despite the subpar start, the Jets’ offense will likely have opportunities to exploit the Patriots, who rank last in total defense. Although Gang Green only averages 4.6 yards on first downs (30th in the league), New England is giving up a league-high 8.8 yards on first down.

If the offense sputters again Sunday, the dissension may become more widespread.

NYDN