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Florham Park – Another busy day in bucolic Florham Park. Today we have a variety of Whispers on Tebow, Pouha, Kerley and so much more. Don’t miss out – just $7.95 a month.
When Tim Tebow was asked today how much the Jets will use the Wildcat on Sunday, and he responded, “I genuinely don’t know.”
This isn’t just semantics – he legitimately doesn’t know.
“It’s a feel thing for Coach Sparano and Coach Ryan,” said Tebow.
And it really it is.
They will see how the game is going, see what type of defenses Buffalo and future opponents are playing, and react accordingly.
So when Tebow, Sparano and Ryan are vague about how much they will use the Wildcat scheme, they aren’t just being evasive – they themselves aren’t entirely sure . . .
Interesting note on Bills punter Brian Moorman – one Jets player told me they will know what side he will angle his punt towards, based on how he positions himself pre-snap. If he’s off-set to the left, that means he’s going to the right, and vice versa . . .
Mike DeVito said today he felt great running on his injured quad, and considers himself 100 percent.
With Sione Pouha likely not playing, DeVito is going to be huge for the Jets on Sunday, likely lining up at all three line positions out of the Jets 3-4 front.
He will probably be the backup nose tackle to Kenrick Ellis.
And DeVito is also going to have provide a lot of leadership and direction on the field. With Pouha out, the Jets are going to very young upfront with rookie Quinton Coples at end, along with second-year players Mo Wilkerson and Kenrick Ellis, at end and nose tackle, respectively.
In the 3-4 defense, it’s very important that players stay in their gaps, do their jobs, and often young guys stay from this mindset.
The Jets had a pretty young line last year, and had issues with blown assignments up front, and gave up some pretty big runs, due to blown gap assignments.
If the Jets mess up their run fits, Freddie Jackson will gash them.
DeVito is going to have to be traffic cop up front.
I know Ellis has improved, but he’s not Pouha has a run stopper. Sione is one of the best run defenders in football, so the Jets will definitely miss the talented Tongan if he doesn’t play on Sunday . . .
The Jets will start Yeremiah Bell and LaRon Landry at safety on Sunday.
People in Miami and Washington, respectively, will tell you these guys are both best utilized as box safeties.
Mike Pettine said neither is just a box safety.
I would agree with him 100 percent about Landry. He’s displayed great range this summer in practice and in games. He might not run the 4.3 he ran coming out of college, but he’s definitely still a 4.5 guy.
As for Bell, based on his work this summer, I would say while he’s serviceable in coverage, he does his best work in the box – he’s a superb run defender. However, at 34, his range is somewhat limited in coverage, so to have him running around a lot in centerfield would be a mistake . . .
Jeremy Kerley (pictured above) has looked very quick in practice all week, and it seems like his hamstring isn’t much of a problem at this point . . .
Just when it looked like it was going to be a quiet day in Florham Park, this bizarre injury report scenario popped up with Pouha.
“I feel better about him going next week,” Ryan said this morning.
A couple of hours later, a Jets spokesman said Ryan misspoke because he didn’t have the final injury report in front of him, and there is a chance Pouha could play.
So what is going on here?
It’s pretty simple.
It’s while it’s very, very unlikely Pouha (back) is going to play, the Jets are listing him as questionable, so they want Buffalo to have to prepare for him.
This is just gamesmanship, and some in the Jets brass (probably Tannenbaum) didn’t like that Rex let the cat out of the bag on Friday about his starting nose tackle.
Rex clearly doesn’t want Sione playing this week.
September 7, 2012
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