The list of Jets wide receivers from recent years is remarkable: Chaz Schilens, David Nelson, Clyde Gates, Stephen Hill, Jason Hill. The days of Don Maynard and George Sauer, Wesley Walker and Al Toon or Keyshawn Johnson and Wayne Chrebet felt long gone around the Jets as the position became a wasteland.
Enter Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker, who have rebuilt the position for the team and rewritten the Jets record books in the process. The duo has 176 catches this season, more than any other wide receiver tandem in the NFL and the most by a Jets pair in a single season. They have scored 24 touchdowns, the most in team history and the most in the NFL this year. Marshall and Decker have both scored touchdowns in eight games this season, breaking an NFL record held by Randy Moss and Cris Carter of the 1998 Vikings, one of the most prolific offenses of all time. The Jets are 7-1 this season when each catch a touchdown.
Consider this to illustrate how dramatic a change the Jets have undergone at the position: In 2013, Jeremy Kerley led the team with 43 catches. Marshall has 44 catches in his last six games.
When the Jets added Marshall through a March trade to team with Decker, who signed in 2014 as a free agent, they created a two-headed monster defenses have not been able to slay.
“Eric Decker is a great player by himself,” Bills coach Rex Ryan said. “Brandon Marshall is a great player by himself. But put them together … oof. I’m not downplaying the other guys [on the Jets]. The other guys are good players, but these players are great players. You wish they were smaller. Both of them have size. They’re red-zone threats. They do it all. Yeah, it’s rough.”
Decker and Marshall create a dilemma each week for defensive coordinators. If you try to take away one, the other will flourish. They also create openings for others to catch passes.
“You’ve got to try to figure out who you want to double,” Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie said. “Those are our two main guys, but when you add a guy in like Quincy [Enunwa], you add [Kenbrell Thompkins], who has been coming along the past couple of weeks. When you start adding those guys in, you start to want to double this guy, double this guy and now you’re putting Quincy on a linebacker or a safety. You start to create mismatches.”
Decker had a strong first season with the Jets last year, but was miscast as the No. 1 receiver. He has flourished as the No. 2 receiver with Marshall on the other side, catching 75 passes for 977 yards and 11 touchdowns this year.
“You always talk about receivers being prima donnas or what not, but to be able to have the relationship that we have he’s a guy that has been great to this team,” Decker said. “He’s vocal and he’s a great leader. We have good chemistry where we’re rooting for each other. It’s not like I don’t want him to catch anything or I want to be better than him. It’s always we’re rooting for one another. That makes it that much better. We both want to be great. We both push each other to be great. It translates from the film room onto the practice field and on Sundays.”
Marshall came to the Jets from the Bears for a fifth-round pick. He broke the franchise single-season record for catches with 101, had 1,376 receiving yards, 59 yards shy of the team record set by Don Maynard in 1967, and has 13 touchdowns, one behind the record of Maynard (1965) and Art Powell (1960).
“To be honest with you, I still don’t know the records as far as what receivers have those records, but I do know when we won the championship here,” Marshall said. “That’s what everyone remembers. This is my first year here. That’s all that matters. When you understand legacy, it’s all about winning. That’s what’s important now.”
If the Jets get a chance to chase a championship this season, Marshall and Decker will be two major reasons why.