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While the Jets are feeling a little better this week after a win, they still have a lot of things to clean up if they want to turn this into a winning streak.
While their pass coverage was a little better last week then in four games before that, they still need to tighten things up.
That 53-yard pass down to Mike Wallace down the deep middle in the first half should never have been completed.
The Jets had two players in the area, and Calvin Pryor misplayed the ball. He should have broken up this pass. It was there for him to knock down. He needs some work on his tracking skills.
While he’s a heck of a box safety against the run, he’s a little inconsistent in space, in coverage.
And this problem could rear its head at times over the last nine games.
If you are going to use Pryor to the best of his ability, it’s in the box against the run and as a blitzer.
But if you have noticed, he’s not blitzing as much this year.
Why?
One reason is the Jets corners need more double-coverage help this year, so they can’t blitz Pryor as much this year. He needs to constantly help the corners.
If you thought Ryan Fitzpatrick was going to apologize today, you had another thing coming.
Remember what he said after the Jets win over Baltimore, a game he came in as a relief-pitcher after getting benched.
“When the owner stops believing in you and the GM stops believing in you and the coaches stop believing in you, sometimes all you have is yourself,” he said in his postgame news conference. “That’s something I’ve had to deal with before, something I’m dealing with now.”
No apology. He didn’t walk back his statement at all. On Wednesday, Fitzpatrick was asked if he regretted what he said on Sunday.
“No, not at all,” Fitzpatrick at the team’s New Jersey training complex. “The underlying message there really is I believe in myself. That’s what I’d like to get across today. You don’t make it as long as I have in the league, as many teams as I have been in the league, having to pick myself up over and over again, without believing in yourself.”
If you really cut to the chase here, Fitzpatrick is right. The owner, GM and coach did stop believing in him. He was benched. So from a semantics standpoint, yes, they did stop believing in him.
So why should he take something back that is true?
But honestly, this whole “scandal” really isn’t having a negative impact on the Jets.
First of all, his teammate genuinely like him, and as for the coach and GM, they aren’t drama kings. They just let the statement role off their backs.
As for the owner, knowing him, he’s acting like nothing happened. He’s very happy-go-lucky. He was on Snapchat today at Jets practice.
And I do think there will be one tangible positive that comes out of this situation for Gang Green – Fitzpatrick is finally going to stop forcing passes, or at least cut down on this significantly.
You could see in Baltimore game. One writer described him in that game as a “neutered Fitzpatrick.” He was taking NO chances in that game. If a guy wasn’t obviously open, he wasn’t throwing.
And that is what the Jets need from him. Stop forcing passes into double coverage. Just take what the defense gives him.
Perhaps he finally got the message. It certainly seems that way, but the proof will be in the puddling.
October 26, 2016
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