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A couple of things to get into today in our Jets Whispers section . . .
A reporter for the CBS Sports website wrote today, “Of course, when you think about the fact that a team quarterbacked by Tom Brady is going up against a team quarterbacked by Josh McCown, a 9.5-point spread actually doesn’t seem that big.”
I actually think the spread being that high has little to do with Brady-McCown.
McCown is doing a good job of managing games with a 71.4 completion percentage.
The reason that spread makes sense, or might be a little low, is related to the Jets’ defense, in my opinion.
Their run defense is not good right now, currently ranked 30th in football.
It’s hard to win in the NFL playing run defense like that.
And this could lead to major defensive problems against New England.
If the Patriots run on the Jets, like every other team has, this is going to give Tom Brady an opportunity to kill them with play-action chicanery and make major hay against the Jets through the air.
The last three quarterbacks the Jets played weren’t able to do as much damage with play-action. But none of them are anywhere near the stratosphere of Brady.
Cornerback Morris Claiborne is having a good year for the Jets. So far that looks like a very good signing, but the cornerbacks after him all have been inconsistent, and can be picked on, and the Jets weakened themselves at the position yesterday with the release of Marcus Williams (who was claimed by Houston). I will get back to his shortly.
And another issue is tight end coverage. If Browns rookie tight end David Njoku torched them last week, what is Rob Gronkowski going to do?
Darron Lee was picked to cover tight ends like Gronkowski. He’s been pedestrian in coverage in his first year and change. No picks. And this year, in five starts, he has just one defensed pass. Last year, he had three the entire season. I’m sorry to upset people, but this is a problem. He needs to step up on coverage. This is a big reason he was picked.
So to me, the matchup of Brady vs. McCown isn’t the concern this week. It’s Brady vs. the Jets’ defense, which needs to take their game to the next level this week for Gang Green to have a shot at pulling the upset . . .
The Jets released Marcus Williams yesterday. He was immediately gobbled up by Houston.
In my opinion, this was a bad move by the Jets.
In his first action of the season in coverage, Williams gave up a few completions in Cleveland, and now he’s gone. Remember, he wasn’t a draft pick or signing of the current regime, so that hurt him. This stuff is SO political.
Look, I’m not saying he’s Deion Sanders, but when you look at the corners after Claiborne, like Buster Skrine, Darryl Roberts and Juston Burris, he has better instincts than that trio. You saw that throughout training camp.
And last time we saw Burris, he had an awful game in Oakland. Why didn’t they get rid of him after that, like they just did with Williams? He’s a draft pick.
In my opinion, Williams is better than Burris. Williams had nine interceptions in his first three seasons with the Jets. That tells you something about his instincts.
The release of Williams was a head-scratcher to me, and probably to Houston as well. The jumped right on him.
October 10, 2017
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