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A lot to get into today . . .
Sam Darnold is coming back this week.
People who thought he was coming back last week weren’t readying the messages being sent by the team.
He was limited all week in practice. There is no way they were starting a rookie QB who was questionable all week. Rookie quarterbacks need EVERY rep.
Darnold coming back likely won’t change the fortunes of the Jets’ offense. He’s not riding in on a white horse. The last time we saw him he had four picks in Miami against a pedestrian defense.
Saving the Jets isn’t what this is all about.
The positive aspect for the Jets is that the man who they hope will be their franchise QB will get some work down-the-stretch.
So let’s not conflate this and act like he’s coming back and that is going to magically transform the Jets’ offense.
Not really. He’s coming back to get some game action to help his maturation process.
And if I were Josh McCown, I’d be saying to myself, “Go ahead kid, you can have Buffalo and Houston the next two weeks – two of the best defenses in the league who really get after quarterbacks. Knock yourself out.”
The next two weeks are going to present quite a challenge for Darnold against this combination of defenses.
Did he benefit from sitting and watching for three weeks?
Todd Bowles put it best when he said, “We won’t know until he plays.” . . .
John DeFilippo must have a heck of an agent, or is a leaker to some national NFL insiders, because considering how much the Minnesota Vikings offense has underachieved this year, not sure why so many media-types are pushing this guy as a hot head coaching candidate in 2018.
I saw somebody mention him for the Green Bay Packers today . . .
A little surprising that Josh Martin was back on the practice field today. He was put on injured reserve after suffering his second concussion of the year in Week Four. He had suffered the first concussion in the the third week of the preseason.
Martin also suffered a concussion with the Jets at Miami in 2016, and in the summer of 2015 with the Kansas City Chiefs.
So those are four concussions right there, and I have no idea if he had any others in college, high school or earlier in this NFL career. I can only point to the four documented ones.
Coach Todd Bowles said in October, it’s “definitely alarming” for Martin to have two concussions in such a short time this year.
Martin said earlier this year after his second concussion, “It’s definitely concerning. I’m definitely interested in having a career post-football, that’s always in the back of your mind.”
He has a degree from Columbia, and now wants to come back after four concussions to a team in a lost season. To each his own . . .
I asked Jamal Adams what he meant when he said on WFAN on Tuesday that things need to change because, “We’re running out of time.”
He wouldn’t answer me. He has a policy that he won’t answer questions about his WFAN comments which happen on Tuesdays. So whatever bombs he drops on Tuesday, which have been many, he will not discuss with the beat writers the next day.
Really good player, but needs some work with the media. Leaders just stand in front of the mic and answer questions, no matter how much they hate the questions, like Josh McCown and Eli Manning do. Adams wants to control the questions.
But the bottom line is he’s playing really well and that is the most important thing.
I think the changes that need to be made, and I’m sure he’d agree, are lineup changes. Adams is doing his job, but on defenses, guys all around him are consistently screwing up – blown coverages, bad run gap integrity. And this sloppiness around him has to drive him crazy.
December 5, 2018
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