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A few things to get into tonight.
There was some criticism of Sam Darnold for dinking and dunking too much, checking down a lot against the Redskins.
I think this is a little blown our of proportion for two reasons.
First, the pass protection wasn’t very good, so on a number of plays he didn’t have a lot of time to throw. It’s hard to throw deep without pass protection. His blindside protection was a little inconsistent with a third-string left tackle (Brent Qvale) and a second-string left guard (Jonotthan Harrison). And honestly, Qvale is a much better fit at right tackle, and Harrison at center.
Secondly, the Jets’ running game was substandard, so it was hard to sell any play-fakes.
While I think Darnold has a lot of work to do, I don’t think the criticism of him throwing short too much on Thursday night is unfounded.
He did what he had to do under less than ideal circumstances . . .
This could be nothing, but I saw defensive end Henry Anderson going to the X-Ray room after Thursday night’s game at FedEx Field.
I also noticed he was in the trainer’s room for a long-time after the game.
Once again, this could be nothing, but clearly he was having something checked out . . .
Over the last few months, the winds of change have been blowing a lot behind the scenes with the Jets.
Three high-ranking executives quietly departed – Director of Operations Clay Hampton, chief contract-negotiator Jackie Davidson and a high=ranking business VP.
Reportedly the business VP and Davidson will stay on as consultants.
But where there is smoke there is fire.
I just don’t think it’s all peaches and cream behind the scenes at One Jets Drive.
As I mentioned before, I keep hearing from people around the league the GM and coach aren’t on the best terms.
And when you have acrimony between the two top decision-makers, it certainly has a trickle-down effect in an organization.
Stay-tuned . . .
The Jets edge-rush was underwhelming again. Against, Washington they had two sacks – linebacker Jordan Jenkins and safety Terrence Brooks.
Here is the issue with this.
The Redskins’ starting offensive line played one series. After that it was all backups. And the Jets had some of their top outside linebackers playing against this backup line, and the only sack by an outside linebacker was Jenkins on QB Colt McCoy in the middle of the first quarter. There were no sacks by outside linebackers from this point on. Guys like Josh Martin, Dylan Donahue, Brandon Copeland and Frankie Luvu had no sacks playing against backup offensive tackles for 3.5 quarters.
That is a problem.
Look, I can understand struggling against Redskins Pro Bowl left Trent Williams, but that isn’t who they were facing.
The Jets need to get this going or it’s going to hurt their secondary.
Big-money free agent CB Trumaine Johnson is an excellent player, but he’s a 4.6 forty guy, and if you don’t get to the quarterback, he will have trouble holding up on an island forever.
Jets might need to make a trade for a edge-rusher, and perhaps Teddy Bridgewater can be the bait to get one. The Denver Broncos need a veteran backup, so maybe the Jets could get Shane Ray (if his wrist if okay) out of Denver . . .
Inside linebacker Neville Hewitt led the Jets in tackles in each of the Jets first two preseason games. Perhaps the Jets should let him compete for a starting inside linebacker job, and put away the anointing oil.
August 17, 2018
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