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Madison – Dan Leberfeld checks in from Jets Country with a heaping helping of Website Whispers – stuff you can’t read anywhere else. Let’s get it started . . .
Mike Westhoff said he’s working on a Houston game plan.
He’s not being cocky, it’s just that if the Jets do beat the odds and make the playoffs, that is who they play in the first round. It’s very hard to start preparing for the next opponent on Monday . . .
Mike Pettine had high praise for the Dolphins third receiver, Brian Hartline, on Thursday.
Hartline will be a major challenge for Kyle Wilson, who has been somewhat inconsistent over the second half of the season. Look for the Dolphins to target Wilson . . .
Mike Pettine clearly isn’t happy with all of his personnel.
He said after the season there are some “schematic and personnel issues” that need to be cleared up on defense.
Pretty candid remark . . .
You have to wonder if Bart Scott will be back. I would say for one more year.
His cap hit is very big next year, but not a lot in 2012.
And this team doesn’t have much leadership, so why get rid of one of the few leaders . . .
Pettine was asked if OLB Ricky Sapp will be active this week, and he said the decision hasn’t been made yet.
I doubt it.
First of all, his knee still isn’t truly 100 percent.
Secondly, they didn’t promote him from the practice squad to help them.
Generally this kind of promotion is because another team attempted to steal him off the practice squad.
I was going to check with Sapp on this today, but he was engrossed in conversation with Marcus Dixon during the media time in the locker room, so I didn’t want to be rude.
I will ask him on Friday.
If Sapp didn’t hurt his knee late in his Clemson career, he looked like a potential first or second round pick. He slipped to the fifth round because his knee still wasn’t 100 percent around the 2010 draft . . .
Speaking of Dixon, yesterday, I finally had a chance to ask him about “Curtain-Gate.”
Remember, he was the guy who put the curtain back over the Giants logo, after they took it down, on Saturday at MetLife Stadium.
When I brought up the subject, two Jets PR people came over to monitor the situation.
He really didn’t say much, but he did looked pissed off talking about what the Giants did.
We will have more on this in the next issue of Jets Confidential . . .
Eric Smith has taken a lot of criticism, but in his defense, he’s playing on one leg. He’s been playing on a bad knee for quite a while . . .
Pettine seemed excited to get Marquice Cole back this week from a knee injury.
He mentioned that Cole can play some safety.
Last week, in some brief action, Tracy Wilson seemed to be involved in a blown coverage. Victor Cruz broke free in the end zone, but Eli Manning overthrew him.
Remember, Wilson had to play last week when Brodney Pool got dinged.
Wilson is a good prospect, but he’s very raw, and doesn’t know the whole playbook.
Remember, Wilson came out of Northern Illinois early, and on top of that, he missed most of his last season there due to an injury. A guy coming out after his junior year, who missed most of his junior year, that is what you call a “project.”