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New Jersey – This week in the Whispers’ Lounge, we get into a number of Jets matters including Willie Colon, Chris Ivory and more. Let’s enter . . .
On Thursday, as I was walking from the media session in the locker room, back to the press room. Willie Colon was walking in front of me, going to the commissary, and he was hobbling, limping on his bad knee.
And after the Jets win over Indianapolis, I saw him after the game walking around with ice bags on both knees.
Colon is always going to have knee issues.
They aren’t going away. He’s a huge man, who has played a decade in the NFL, at about 330, on those knees. That takes its toll.
It’s just a matter of managing the problem.
But it seems like this week, one of his knees, seems to be worse than normal.
But you know what, the guys is so tough, with such a high pain threshold, don’t rule him out.
Last year he played with a calf that was messed up most of the season.
He finds a way . . .
With Chris Owusu out, it looks like the Jets kick returner this week is going to be Zac Stacy.
Devin Smith can return kicks but the Jets have no intention of using him in that role right now. Coming off broken ribs, they don’t need him doing double duty returning kicks and playing wide receiver.
Stacy has little experience returning kicks.
He has never returned a kick in the NFL.
And at Vanderbilt, he did some punt returning, but not kick returning.
This isn’t to say he won’t do well. I’m just saying this is kind of unchartered territory.
I actually think he could surprise people.
Usually kick returners are smaller players.
Stacy is a 5-9, 224-powerhouse, with surprising quickness, who breaks a lot of tackles.
He is going to be a pain in the butt for kick cover guys to deal with. They usually don’t deal with battering rams like this, running full speed at them – it’s usually smaller faster guys who are easier to bring down . . .
Speaking of Stacy, with Chris Ivory very iffy for this game due to quad and groin issues, Stacy should see some action, platooning with Bilal Powell.
While the Jets will miss Ivory if he doesn’t play, this is a very good duo that can get the job done.
Stacy is really, really underrated.
He has terrific vision running between the tackles, is super-tough and very hard to tackle due to his thickness and low center of gravity. He’s also a terrific receiver out of the backfield who does a nice job on screens.
Smart move by Mike Maccagnan trading a seventh round pick for him.
And he should come in handy this week . . .
Some in the media have made a huge deal out of Jeremy Kerley not playing a lot. It’s become a cause célèbre.
There has been speculation that Todd Bowles and Chan Gailey don’t like Kerley. This is total bull.
It’s very simple – Kerley missed time this summer, and Bowles, Gailey and company were very impressed with the work of Chris Owusu and Quincy Enunwa. That’s it. It wasn’t personal, but merit-based.
This week, with Owusu out after a knee scope, Kerley will get more action.
Maybe this will get the Kerley Lobby in the media to pipe down for at least a few weeks.
September 25, 2015
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