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Saint Charles, Missouri – Dan checks in from Missouri with a boatload of Jets Whispers including notes on Mo Wilkerson, Sione Pouha, Quinton Coples, Aaron Berry, the post-game scene and more . . .
Rex Ryan is a tremendous defensive coach, he really is.
The last two weeks, the Jets have played seven quarters of really good defensive football. I give them a little pass for the fourth quarterback in Seattle.
They were tremendous for three quarters against the Seahawks, with no help from the offense, and ran out of gas late, but put a tremendous amount of pressure on Russell Wilson.
And then in St. Louis they harassed Sam Bradford the entire game. He was clearly rattled. You could tell from his poor accuracy.
The stat sheet says the Jets finished with one sack of Bradford. That is totally misleading.
They really put a licking on Bradford all day, and took him out of his game.
7 of the last 8 quarters have been vintage Ryan 4-6 defense with tons of pressure in the Front Seven.
And the last two games, Mo Wilkerson has played like a Pro Bowler. He dominated in Seattle and again in St. Louis.
Here are four dominant plays by Wilkerson in St. Louis.
In the second quarter, Wilkerson had a strip sack on Bradford, and Bart Scott ran 38 yards with a fumble. This set-up the Jets only touchdown pass of the game, a 25-yard strike from Mark Sanchez to Chad Schilens.
On this play, Wilkerson blew by guard Shelly Smith to make the play.
Late in the first half, Wilkerson collapsed the pocket, allowing Ricky Sapp to get a QB pressure, forcing a Bradford incompletion.
Early in the third quarter, Wilkerson blew by the Rams other guard, Harvey Dahl, and got in Bradford’s face forcing him to dump to a back for just a gain of two. Then on same possession, Wilkerson pushed right tackle Barry Richardson back into running back Stephen Jackson, and Bryan Thomas cleaned it up for a loss of four.
Wilkerson has played like a Pro Bowler that last two weeks.
And Quinton Coples has also stepped up the last two weeks, like when he leveled Jackson, stopping him for a loss of a yard late in the second quarter.
Mike Tannenbaum has taken a lot of heat recently, but don’t be shocked if the Jets last two #1 picks turn into the best 3-4 end combo in football. Both players are big, quick and athletic . . .
Speaking of the defensive line, you have to give Sione Pouha a ton of credit for trying, but he’s just not healthy. He did some good things last week, but it looks like that game too it’s toll.
Pouha played very little today, even after Kenrick Ellis re-injured his bad knee early in the game, and never returned.
And Pouha was constantly doing deep knee bends to stretch his back (anyone with back problems knows the motion I’m talking about), and had his back heavily wrapped during the game. After the game, he had some kind of device on it as he left the locker room.
Let’s be honest, this isn’t going to be right the rest of the year . . .
Ellis told me after the game he didn’t have a setback with his problematic knee. He said he tweaked it, and will be fine . . .
Aaron Berry hurt his quad in this game, but went back in, and injured it again.
I asked him if he made it worse by going back in the game, and he said, “I hope not,” and limped out the locker room.
This is a bad injury for the Jets. With Isaiah Trufant on IR, they are already thin at cornerback, and if Berry can’t go against the Pats on Thursday, they will be very thin a position you can’t afford to be against Brady.
Expect the Jets to call up Donnie Fletcher from the practice squad . . .
The media is making a big deal about Bart Scott attempting to get teammates to boycott the media after the game.
That isn’t how I saw it. I think he was targeting Manish Mehta, not everyone.
Mehta wrote that hatchet job on Tebow earlier in the week.
This will get blown out of proportion like everything else around the Jets, but he really only tried to do it with a few guys in his area – Bryan Thomas and Wilkerson, and he was smiling the whole time. Also, Thomas and Wilkerson didn’t listen to him – they laughed and kept doing the interviews.
Clearly, some reporters can dish it out, and can’t take it . . .
I will have more on the offense tomorrow, but this game was a perfect formula for Sanchez to succeed – good running game and defense, and he throws just 20 passes.
But clearly the Jets will need more from him on Thursday.
November 18, 2012
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