Derrick Mason has lofty expectations for the Jets’ offense this season.
The veteran wide receiver signed with the team earlier this month because he saw the potential of the offense with himself, Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress all lining up together. What he’s seen in training camp and the preseason has just lifted those expectations.
Mason was asked this week how good this offense can be.
“As good as we allow ourselves to be,” he said. “If we can go out there and make defenses pay for certain coverages they play and make sure we are all on the same page every play — not nine out of 10 plays, but on every play — I think we are just as capable as anyone else at scoring 30 points.”
That echoes Burress’ comments from last weekend when he said he thinks the team can score 28-30 points per game. To average 30 points per game, the Jets would have to score 480 points this season — or 61 points more than their franchise record set in 1968. The Jets have scored over 400 points just three times in franchise history.
History does not faze Mason, though.
“I think with the personnel we have, the coaching we have, we can be one of the top-scoring teams in the NFL,” he said. “But you can’t do it by talking about it. We’ve got to go out there and execute. We have to figure out: How do we use the talent we have to the best of our ability?”
The Jets will take another step toward answering that question tomorrow night against the Giants. It will be the first time the Jets’ starting offense is on the field together after injuries on the line and to Burress, Mason and running back Shonn Greene have given an incomplete picture so far.
Mason is itching to get on the field after missing Sunday’s game with an injured left knee. He hurt the knee last Friday in practice, and the coaches held him out against the Bengals. Mason said if it had been a regular season, he would have played.
The 37-year-old has only been with the Jets for three weeks, but he already appears comfortable. He signed a two-year deal, partially because of head coach Rex Ryan. Mason got to know Ryan in Baltimore, where the two spent four years together with the Ravens when Ryan was defensive coordinator.
“We always talked,” Mason said. “Rex is my type of guy. Even though I’m on offense I think like a defensive player — aggressive, coming at you every play. I just enjoyed watching Rex coach when he was on the other side of the ball. Everybody on that side of the ball loved him and loved playing for him. Just being around him, even if you were an offensive player, you enjoyed it.”
Mason has enjoyed his reunion with Ryan, and said what separates Ryan as a head coach is he is true to himself. Many coaches in the NFL do their best Bill Belichick impression and fall short.
“There’s only one Belichick and you can’t try to mold yourself after him,” Mason said. “You could take some of his teaching methods but you have to implement them into the way you teach. You can’t be him. I think that’s where a lot of coaches go wrong. They try to be who they saw or who they coach under.
“I think Coach Ryan is himself. I’m sure he’s learned a lot from different coaches he coached under but I think, all in all, he’s himself. That’s what you respect about him. He’s not going to be one way when you’re around and a different way when you’re not looking.”