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Florham Park – Time for a heaping helping . . .
One silver-lining in the Jets’ loss to the Buffalo Bills was their kicking game, and I asked their special team’s coach, Brant Boyer (above), about this on Thursday.
“I thought Lachlan (Edwards) did a really nice job,” Boyer said. “He controlled the returners for the most part, he had a nice average and the net was up there. Chandler Catanzaro kicked the hell out of the ball.”
Speaking of the Jets’ special teams, man do they need a long punt or kick return to help out the two other phases of their team. It’s been way too long since this happened. I asked him about this.
“We just need to contribute more to an overall win,” Boyer said. “We need to break these returns and give this team the lift it needs to put us over the hump. Last week – that is why you come here as a special team’s coach, to make a difference and to have that big return for a win or to block a punt for a win. To do something to put you over the hump, so to speak.” . . .
The Jets waived defensive lineman Claude Pelon today. He will probably move to the practice squad, and I suspect the Jets will promote defensive lineman Lawrence Thomas.
And this could be related to the kick return blocking. Eric Tomlinson, who is part of the Jets mini-wedge (two guys who link hands to lead the way for the returner – it used to be three, before the NFL outlawed that) with Brent Qvale, is injured, and Thomas is a guy the Jets like on the wedge. So Thomas is probably going to be elevated to take Tomlinson’s place this week in the mini-wedge . . .
In a suspect game for the Jets’ defense, the team’s new defensive end Kony Ealy was a shining light. It looked like he was actually playing outside linebacker, which I think could be his best position in a 3-4 defense.
On the Bills’ first offensive play, he had a QB pressure on Tyrod Taylor as he rolled right, and the QB threw the ball away. On the Bills’ second possession, Ealy shot into the backfield, forcing Taylor out of the pocket, and he took off running and went out of bounds after no gain. At the end of the first quarter, Ealy had two impressive plays on one drive. First he stopped LeSean McCoy after a gain of one, and then a few plays later, he stopped McCoy after a loss of one.
Late in the third quarter, Ealy had a QB pressure as he knocked down Taylor as he threw.
If this continues, this waiver claim will look like a masterstroke.
This was a heck of a debut for a guy who two teams gave up on in a year – Carolina and New England.
“For the first time out, it really wasn’t bad,” said Jets defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers.
I think the problem in New England was he was a bad system fit – square peg in a round hole.
If the Jets just let him play on the edge, and do his thing, I think he can help them.
September 14, 2017
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