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Morris County – There is the foolish angle out there . . .
. . . that has taken off like wild fire.
That Sam Darnold has become more vocal and more assertive around the team.
This is such a nothing burger, but it’s been a big narrative around the Jets the last week.
If you don’t believe me, ask Darnold.
“Maybe I have been, but I haven’t really noticed so I don’t know,” Darnold said. “I guess that’s something to ask them more about.”
I guess Le’Veon Bell said he’s more assertive in the huddle. The same Bell who has played a total of seven NFL games with him, didn’t play in the preseason, and missed the entire off-season program aside from the three-day mandatory mini-camp. Is he the best judge of the quarterback’s demeanor?
This is a ridiculous angle, but you read about it all over the place.
Darnold hasn’t changed, and that is one on of his strongest attributes – he’s the same guy all the time – a Rock of Gibraltar. He’s one of the most even-keeled guys you will ever meet.
Darnold has played really well the Jets last two games, both wins, but it has nothing to do with him being more assertive or vocal, but instead making really good reads and throws, along with doing a heck of job improvising on a number of plays . . .
I asked Ryan Griffin today if he expects more coverage attention from opposing defenses after a few strong games in a row as a receiving tight ends.
And he took it step further than “more coverage attention.”
“You would think they would at least try to cover me, unlike last week,” Griffin said.
Good point. There were a few plays last week that he wasn’t even covered, like on his 45-yard reception.
Griffin also said something else that caught my attention.
In the middle of an answer, he said, “I didn’t get a lot of first team reps in training camp.”
This wasn’t a complaint or a shot at anybody, but this got me thinking about something I wondered quite a bit in training camp – why was Chris Herndon, who was suspended the first four games of the season, getting most of the first-team TE reps in camp? Why would you give a player all those first-team reps knowing he wouldn’t be available the first month of the season. I never got that one.
This was a mistake by whoever made the decision. If you want to do it for the first week or two to get Herndon some work with Darnold, fine, but then you should shift gears and let the starting tight end for first four games get the lion’s share of the work.
Never got this one, so it’s interesting that Griffin made reference to not getting first-team reps in camp. And once again, the way he said it, it clearly wasn’t a criticism of anybody, just a matter of fact statement . . .
Whatever you think of Adam Gase as head coach, one thing some of you might agree with him on is frustration with some of the decisions of the former GM.
Ian Rapoport announced in May that Gase wasn’t a fan of the money the Jets paid running back Le’Veon Bell and linebacker C.J. Mosley, and he was probably right. Bell has been somewhat underwhelming, and Mosley has been out most of the season with an injury. But the injury notwithstanding, you saw the linebacker combo of Neville Hewitt and James Burgess do a terrific job in Washington. Paying inside linebackers megabucks probably isn’t the greatest idea. You can find guys like Hewitt and Burgess to get the job done in the there for a fraction of what Mosley makes.
And let’s not forget the Trumaine Johnson contract, one of the most wasteful in not just Jets history, but NFL history.
November 21, 2019
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