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Short Hills – With 11 days to prepare, and facing a rookie sixth round pick QB, you’d expect a Jets win on Sunday. Let’s get into a heaping helping . . .
If Vlad Ducasse was hurting the Jets in this platoon, whether “Guge” is being forced to play him or not, do you really think they would keep playing him?
Honestly, we are into all these “grassy knoll” angles with the Jets, sometimes we get carried way.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the platoon, it hurts the continuity of the line, but it’s ridiculous for us to think they would keep doing it if Ducasse was struggling.
I really think the guy has improved, and I’m not just saying that about a fellow UMass graduate.
“He’s been steadily improving as the season goes on,” Rex Ryan said.
I don’t think this is just coach-speak. I think it’s true.
Honestly, how much have you noticed him over the last couple of months, and I mean that in a positive way. When was the last time you said, “Wow, Vlad really messed up on that play?”
Not much.
So I think it’s bull for people to think “Guge” thinks Vlad stinks. That isn’t the case. “Guge” just thinks Slauson is better now, and so does Rex.
.”If you’re just saying who’s a better player, I would say Matt Slauson is a better player,” Ryan said today.
The point here is simple – the platoon isn’t ideal, but Ducasse is doing a decent job when he comes in for every third series. He’s not a drag . . .
It looks like rookie Ryan Lindley is going to start for the Arizona Cardinals in this game. He was as sixth round pick out of San Diego State.
Here is what Nolan Nawrocki, in my opinion, the best draft analyst had to say about – “He has good size and arm strength. He generates velocity with quick, clean, over-the-top arm action. He has limited athletic ability, instincts and improvisational skills. He’s slow-footed and cannot escape the rush. He has shoddy accuracy and lacks touch. He has too many ill-advised throws. He buckled under pressure.
“He is an intelligent, competitive, well-built, strong-armed pocket passer, but is too inconsistent, inaccurate and heavy-footed to be more than a clipboard holder. Intangibles and arm strength give him a chance.”
Well obviously, he’s doing more than holding a clipboard on Sunday.
Something Nolan also said about Lindley reminded me a little of Mark Sanchez – “Everything needs to be perfect for him to succeed.”
And this is one of the issues I have with Sanchez – he seems to need one of those games – like St. Louis – where the running game and defense are playing on a high level, and then he can do just enough in the passing game, to compliment that.
But you know what, if you are making the kind of coin Sanchez is, that just isn’t enough. You can get a quarterback for a $1 million a year to do that . . .
Ed Werder reported today that Tim Tebow will be inactive this week, so you can basically take that to the bank. I don’t know if he got that from Jimmy Sexton or somebody else, but Ed usually doesn’t throw stuff out there irresponsibility.
Tebow has hardly thrown the football this week.
“They are ribs, so anything you do it affected by it,” Tebow said . . .
The mood in the Jets locker room was great today. This is a closer team than last year, there is no question.
And you know what is pretty interesting – most modern day players are oblivious to all these weird stuff swirling around this team – Bart Scott and the fans, Brian Costello destroying Woody Johnson and “Guge’s” diatribe yesterday – they really don’t give a bleep. They just go about their business.
So while we think they might be distracted by all the craziness around the team, they really aren’t.
Perhaps, the team isn’t good enough to make a late season run, but I don’t sense, being around the club, that distractions will be the reason why.
Look for the Jets to stay away from Patrick Peterson, and target CB William Gay in this game . . .
Speaking of the Steelers’ defense, it will look familiar to you –it’s the Dick LeBeau system from Pittsburgh. LeBeau disciple Ray Horton is the Cardinals DC . . .
Chaz Schilens is good to go on Sunday, and feels he never had a concussion. He said he passed all the mental tests on the sideline, and had no memory issues. The team was just being careful.
November 30, 2012
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