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New Jersey – Here is a dose of Dan’s Website heading into the weekend with notes on injury that helps the Jets, big plans for a new weapon not named Percy and more . . .
The Jets get a break with Buffalo Bills wide receiver Marquise Goodwin out due to a hamstring injury. He is one of the fastest players in the league, and the Jets don’t have great speed at cornerback, so this kind of player can stress their corners. This injury will help the Jets secondary . . .
The Jets loading up on fast receivers makes sense considering the quarterback’s skillset.
Breaking down all seven games this year, one things I notice about Geno Smith is that he likes to throw to guys who can create decent separation creating a big window to throw into. He’s not a quarterback who likes to “throw receivers open,” as they say. So the cast of very fast receivers the Jets currently have – 4.3 guys like Percy Harvin, T.J. Graham, Saalim Hakim and the super quick Jeremy Kerley are a good group for him to go along with Decker, because they can run and create spacing. Geno needs spacing – he’s not big on 50-50 balls.
This is a big reason he likes throwing to Jeff Cumberland. The Jets tight end has great speed, and pulls away from linebackers, and often creates big windows for Smith to throw into . . .
Like I mentioned yesterday, the Jets have big plans for Graham this Sunday.
He’s now comfortable with the offense, and with Greg Salas (wrist) and David Nelson (waivers) out of the picture, and Percy Harvin going to be limited because he doesn’t know the offense very well, there is an opening for Graham to get a lot of playing time this week. And the Jets know he’s highly-motivated to torch the Bills.
Graham is a lot more physical than I thought he’d be.
I had this image of a track guy, which he was in high school or college, but he’s not a finesse player, like so many players with track backgrounds.
Graham really gets after it as a blocker and on special team coverage.
The Jets have something good going on their punt coverage with Graham and Saalim as the gunners. They both getting down field in a hurry, and creating problems for returners. Few teams have a pair of gunners this fast . . .
The Jets have to be a little nervous about Kyle Williams lining up over Oday Aboushi.
Here is the thing with Aboushi. He is super-tough, and gets a lot of push in the run game. He did some excellent run blocking against New England.
But like Brian Winters, interior quickness and stunts can give him issues.
A few examples from the last game to chew on.
Remember, the first quarter touchdown pass to Jeremy Kerley called back due to a hold on Aboushi?
Well there was a stunt inside by Donta Hightower, and Aboushi was late to react, and had to hold the linebacker as he ran through an interior hole so he wouldn’t crush the quarterback.
People say this was a lost touchdown, but honestly if Aboushi didn’t hold, Hightower would have likely not allowed Smith to connect with Kerley.
In the second quarter, there was an issue with a stunt on the left side, and Chris Jones pressured Smith, and Hightower got the sack.
In the fourth quarter, Chris Jones beat Aboushi with an inside move, and hit Smith, who was down for a while, and had to come of the game for a play with some kind of leg injury.
Like I said, he did some excellent run blocking, and seems to have a bright future at guard, but Williams could be a touch chore him this week. Williams is very quick, and quickness can give Aboushi problems. When the guy is right in front of Aboushi, he’s a road-grader, a mauler . . .
October 24, 2014
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