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Florham Park – There is absolutely no way around it . . .
Bill Belichick trading WR Damaryius Thomas to the Jets is a slap in the face to Gang Green.
Don’t get me wrong, Thomas can help the Jets, especially in light of Quincy Enunwa’s season-ending neck injury, but honestly, Belichick made a loud statement by making this trade that he doesn’t consider the Jets a threat. Why else would he deal them a receiver after they lost one?
We can almost assure you he wouldn’t have traded Thomas to Kansas City, Pittsburgh or the Los Angeles Chargers.
Hey, I’m not looking to be negative here folks, just keeping it real.
Can Thomas help the Jets, especially since he knows Gase’s system from Denver? Yes.
Is this slap in the face to the Jets by Belichick? Yes . . .
Big question about Thomas is how much speed did he lose after tearing his achilles last season. Bad injury for any player, but especially positions like wide receiver compared to, let’s say, an offensive guard. He ran under 4.4 when he came out of Georgia Tech. Adam Gase said he looked good in the preseason . . .
On the injury front, Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley didn’t practice today, but at this point, it’s hard to tell if he will play Monday night as he goes through treatment.
As for the other defensive injuries coming out of the Buffalo game, nickel back Brian Poole looked fine today and good to go. Quinnen Williams (ankle) wasn’t out there, but while this might shock some Jets fans, at this point, if he can’t play, they should be okay, because the man who would likely replace him, Foley Fatukasi, is bigger and more stout against the run. In the opener, Quinnen Williams name didn’t appear on the stat sheet. He needs work against the run. The Jets’ run defense in Week One wasn’t great, so getting Fatukasi out there right now isn’t a bad thing. He is 6-4, 318 and a very good run defender who had a terrific summer . . .
As for the Quincy Enunwa season-ending injury, while it’s unfortunate for the player, this is an injury the Jets can overcome. He’s a very good player, but not a transcendent talent. Obviously Thomas isn’t a downgrade . . .
The Jets did the right thing bringing back linebacker James Burgess, albeit on the practice squad. He deserved to make the team coming out of the summer, and they could have used him against Buffalo when Mosley got hurt, and had to rush rookie Blake Cashman into the lineup perhaps before he was ready.
Burgess will also come in handy as the Jets prepare for Cleveland, a team he played for in 2017-18. He knows a lot of about Baker Mayfield’s tendencies and Freddie Kitchens’ offense after facing it in practice (as does Gregg Williams).
And this is another reason he could have helped the Jets in Week One, because he knows Williams’ defense from Cleveland like the back of his hand after playing in it the last two seasons. Williams really likes the player . . .
Ryan Kalil looked like a guy who was hurting today. Not necessarily with an specific injury, but as a guy coming off his first tackle football action since the end of the 2018 season. You could see it watching him walk. NFL practice football with limited contract is way different than NFL game football . . .
One of the weaknesses of the Browns is their offensive line. They traded away one of their better lineman, guard Kevin Zeitler, to the Giants, and get this – they waived their starting left tackle on the final cutdown and brought him back. Have you ever heard of a team waiving their starting left tackle and bringing him back? Good left tackles are like gold. They clearly don’t think he’s that great . . .
New Jets kicker Sam Ficken, pictured above, addressing the media on Wednesday.
September 11, 2019
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