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From a PR standpoint, from a spin standpoint, Wayne Hunter did something really smart on Thursday during the media locker room session.
Hunter has become a lightning rod in “The Jets Nation,” for his inconsistent play last season.
The fans have been beating him up all off-season, along with some members of the media.
For now, the Jets are sticking with their physically talented right tackle. While you can criticize him for his lack of consistency last year, it’s hard to argue with his physical talents. If you were to build a right tackle, he would look like Wayne Hunter – 6-5, 318 (with very little fat), powerful and athletic.
Now let’s get to his smart PR move.
He went after B-Schotty.
Hunter told reporters on Thursday, it’s a “night and day” difference between new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, and the man he replaced, Brian Schottenheimer.
If you want to curry favor with a big chunk of “The Jet Nation,” throw Schotty under the bus.
So Hunter’s comment about Sparano, vis-à-vis Schottenheimer, were a smart move.
As you all know, I don’t criticize B-Schotty as much as others.
While he’s far from a perfect offensive coordinator, I think that Mark Sanchez’s shaky pocket presence and field vision really hurt the offensive coordinator.
It’s hard to succeed as an offensive coordinator when your quarterback is in love with his first read, and is too often guilty of telegraphing.
But you know what – the proof will be in the pudding.
Let’s see how B-Schotty does in St. Louis. Let’s see what Tony does with the Jets.
In a couple of years, we will see how much B-Schotty was the problem.
But I will say this related to Hunter and Schottenheimer.
For whatever reason, it too often took the Jets forever to get the ball snapped on offense last season.
Whatever it was – the call not getting in on time, Sanchez having more audible power – this was a big problem.
And for an offensive lineman, having to constantly wait until the end of the play clock to fire off the football, is a challenge.
Waiting and waiting and waiting.
Not to defend penalties, which are inexcusable, but part of Hunter’s penalty issue was him getting ansy, waiting forever for the ball to be snapped . . .
Clearly Brian Costello thinks Rex isn’t being forthright, claiming he doesn’t have any idea whether the Jets are out of the running for “Hard Knocks.”
So Costello took a shot at the coach in today’s paper.
Rex was asked by reporters about “Hard Knocks” at a charity event on Saturday.
Here is how Costello presented Rex’s quote about the Jets reportedly being out of the running –
“Whatever, I don’t even know. This is news to me,” said Ryan, who prides himself on transparency.
Costello clearly thought the coach wasn’t being forthright.
Think about this for a second – if the Jets decided to drop out of contention for “Hard Knocks,” don’t you the Rex would be aware of that?
Of course he would.
My opinion on why Rex gave such a bizarre answer to the question. I think it’s because the NFL told the Jets and other teams they don’t want them talking about the selection process, so Rex decided playing dumb would be a good way to abide by the league’s edict.
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