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Florham Park – Dan checks in from bucolic Florham Park, New Jersey with a heaping helping of Jets notes. Don’t miss out. Sign up now . . .
One of the Jets defensive backs had a red jersey on today in practice.
There is no injury report yet (since the Jets play a day later this week), so there was no list distributed of who was injured.
But through the process of elimination, I think it was Darrin Walls.
A player wearing a red jersey usually has a medical issue, so the red jersey means you can’t touch him . . .
After getting released by the Cleveland Browns in late August, David Nelson has been working out at API, in Texas. That is one of those state-of-the-arm facilities a lot of NFL players work out at.
He’s in tremendous shape.
I think he needed that extra month to get his knee just right. It acted up a little in training camp.
Nelson is extremely bright and should pick things up quickly.
I really like this signing. He was definitely a player on the rise in Buffalo when he blew his knee out last September.
I’m not putting him in Canton, but for in-season signing, somebody off the street, this is a pretty good one.
At 6-5, and a large wingspan, he’s really going to help Smith, who has had some accuracy issues. You don’t need to have pinpoint accuracy when throwing to Nelson . . .
Whenever he’s asked about Geno Smith’s struggles, Rex Ryan makes it a team issue.
It’s the same thing he did during Mark Sanchez’s struggles.
When asked if Smith needs to step up after his four turnovers led to 28 Tennessee Titan points in the Jets 38-13 loss, he responded, “It’s not just Geno, it’d be all of us.”
Perhaps, but it’s a quarterback-driven league, and when your signal-caller commits four turnovers that lead to 28 points, what do you want from the other 52 players on the roster?
But what Rex is doing is smart from career standpoint. His boss, John Idzik, loves this quarterback, saw things in the player, that personnel evaluators from other teams didn’t see, so it’s behooves Ryan to stay with the kid, and support him.
Very smart – good career move . . .
And a head’s-up, if the Jets have a bad offensive game against Atlanta, it’s going to be the weapons, not the quarterback. You know darn well the spin is going to be – “it’s the weapons.”
But you know what, the Falcons defense stinks. Last week, New England torched them on the ground, with Stevan Ridley and LaGarrett Blount combining for 117 yards.
And Kenbrell Thompkins caught six catches for 127 yards. Julian Edelman had seven catches for 118 yards.
Tom Brady threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns.
Look, I’m not comparing Geno Smith to Tom Brady, but it’s not like the Jets shouldn’t be able to move the ball against this group with Jeremy Kerley, Clyde Gates, Ryan Spadola, two very good tight ends, Mike Goodson and so forth.
Thompkins and Edelman are two undrafted free agents, and they lit Atlanta up. And the Jets have better tight ends than the Patriots.
I know the weapons are going to be the narrative, but the Jets should be able to move the ball on these guys – the 25th ranked pass defense in the NFL . . .
The addition of Mike Goodson is really going to help the Jets.
The guy is a special talent.
Unbelievable feet and quickness – a special open field player.
He should help them as a runner and receiver out of the backfield . . .
I was the only one who had a chance to speak to Brian Winters today (the other reporters were with Geno Smith at the time, and then Winters left before anyone else got him).
He’s taking over for Vlad Ducasse at left guard. Ducasse is being replaced due to his penalty problems.
The last time we saw Winters he didn’t look very good, in the first half of the Jets-Eagles games.
Winters told me, over the month and change since that game, he has regained his confidence. He was able to work on some of the problems he had in that game.
“It feels good,” Winters told JC about getting the starting nod. “I have been working hard. It’s a blessing.”
October 2, 2013
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