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East Rutherford – So much to get into today, and so little time. Where do we start? Okay, here we go . . .
With Mo Wilkerson out of the lineup, Sheldon Richardson was back at his natural position of defensive lineman and was dominant.
Having him play linebacker was a square peg in a round hole.
One of his best friends, Cardinals LB Markus Golden, told me last week in Arizona, Sheldon “loves playing three-technique (defensive tackle).”
That is his natural position. That is why he was compared to Warren Sapp (on the field). That is the position Sapp played.
Playing a great deal over guard John Urchel today, Richardson was dominant. He led the Jets with eight tackles, had one sack, two quarterback hits and three tackles for losses.
Playing over interior lineman is where Richardson does his best work. Playing over defensive ends, which he was often doing before this week, is not using him to the best of his ability.
You could see on the first drive, this was going to be different. He blew by Urchel, and stopped Kenneth Dixon on the line. Then at the end of the first quarter, he beat Urchel for a sack.
If the Jets move him back to outside linebacker when Mo returns, whoever makes that decision deserves some criticism . . .
Buster Skrine, who has been struggling mightily, had a terrific game today, including a third quarter 51-yard pick returning the ball to the three. The Jets got a field goal out of this.
Clearly what happened on this play was the receiver, Breshad Perriman, messed up his route. He wasn’t in the right place, and Skrine took advantage.
Perriman, who has hardly played since being drafted in the first round in 2015 due to knee issues, is very raw.
After the game, I saw veteran receiver Mike Wallace having a long talk with Perriman in the locker room, giving him a tutorial and pep talk about what happened.
Perriman was starting because Steve Smith was out, one of seven starters inactive for the Ravens.
The Ravens had almost 30 percent of their starters out. You need to take advantage of a team this banged up, and the Jets did.
As the old saying goes, “it’s not who you play, but when you play them.” . . .
Ryan Fitzpatrick is clearly pissed at Woody Johnson.
Most of the people covering the team think Johnson forced Todd Bowles to make a quarterback change.
Jets officials deny this, but many in the press room think this is the case.
How often does a player call out an owner? Fitz did this after the game.
“The biggest thing in this game — to last — is to have belief in yourself,” Fitzpatrick, who entered the game in relief after being benched the week before in favor of Geno Smith, said. “Because 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. That’s kind of something I’ve dealt with before and something I’m dealing with now.”
I have been covering the Jets over 20 years. This is one most powerful quotes I’ve heard.
I’ve never heard a player call out an owner.
Notice, it was the owner he listed first there.
I think Fitz thinks the owner drove his benching.
And while it was a very risky thing to do, I have no issue with what Fitz did.
Of course Mr. Johnson can do whatever he wants, but if the Jets want to be successful, it’s probably best for the owner to stay out of player personnel.
Fitzpatrick made his comment after Bowles addressed the media, so we weren’t able to ask the coach about Fitz’s gutsy move, calling out the owner, coach and GM.
He puts the ball in their court now. He’s getting the $12 million this year, either way, so he can afford to do this.
Entering a stretch of games against injury-ravaged Baltimore, Cleveland., Miami and Los Angeles, the Jets benched Fitz right as the Jets’ brutal schedule lightened up.
Kind of a low blow.
Whatever you think of Fitz, don’t you think he can lead the Jets to a few wins over these kind of teams?
So they handed Geno a much easier card.
Stay-turned, this story is going to get interesting this week.
October 23, 2106
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