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The Jets ended up “benching” Quincy Williams for the first quarter.
During the week, it seemed like he was made a backup, at least based on his own words.
Mykal Walker started in the first quarter for Williams.
But then, in the second quarter, Williams was back with the starters, and played with them the rest of the game.
This seems awfully familiar to how Jamien Sherwood was handled in Cincinnati.
He was benched for the first quarter and was then with the starters for the rest of the game.
Eventually, I hope to find out what happened with Sherwood and Williams. I promise to keep digging for the readers, but right now, not sure, but considering their “punishments” were exactly the same, that is one clue for the amateur sleuths out there.
Keep in mind, whatever is going on here, it isn’t just Aaron Glenn’s doing, but also Steve Wilks and Aaron Curry.
Some out there might have forgotten that Curry is the Jets’ linebacker coach.
One of the better linebackers in recent college football history while at Wake Forest, he was the fourth pick overall in the 2009 draft by Seattle. That is very high for a linebacker. He played five years in the NFL and then retired. Things didn’t work out like he hoped as a player, probably because he was a tweener at 6-2, 250. Hard to find an ideal position for him.
He jumped right into coaching on the college level upon his retirement and eventually made his way to the NFL.
When it comes to coaching linebackers, he’s a no-nonsense dude who has no filter with his players, and they listen to him, because he’s walked a mile in their shoes.
It seemed like in the previous regime, the linebacker coach, who was a hell of a nice guy, walked on eggshells a little around his players, perhaps because he didn’t walk a mile in their shoes.
And it just seemed like when Williams and Sherwood had bad plays, there was no price to play, and there were plenty of rough plays last year (plenty of good ones too).
With Curry, there will be a price to pay, and I’m telling you, whatever the reason was for the first-quarter benchings of Williams and Sherwood, Curry had a lot to do with it.
This cat doesn’t mess around . . .
It looks like the Jets struck gold with these first-round offensive tackles – LT Olu Fashanu and RT Armand Membou. Against a very good front, the Jets’ two young tackles, and the line as a whole, faired very well.
Myles Garrett only had one sack in the game, and it’s hard to criticize Fashanu too much on this play, because the QB moved from the pocket he thought he was protecting, and Olu doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head.
I think we are too quick to blame tackles for sacks on plays where the QB leaves the natural pocket. The tackles are blocking for where the QB is supposed to be . . .
Over the first half of the season, the Jets’ offensive line had issues with switch-off blocks on blitzes, like when they gave up 15 sacks in back-to-back losses to Denver and Carolina.
But against Cleveland’s formidable front, they were really good on switch-off blocks, the best they were all season.
Hat-tip to the Jets linemen and their position coach, Steve Heiden, for getting this fixed during the bye-week . . .
It looks like Aaron Glenn made a great hire in special teams coach Chris Banjo.
It was a gutsy hire because he only had two years of coaching experience (assistant special teams coach in Denver), and his only 35, but the guy is clearly very good at his job, as you saw today, with kick and punt returns for touchdowns. Kene Nwangwu returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, and shortly thereafter, Isaiah Williams had a 74-yard punt return.
It was the first time in Jets history that a punt and a kick were returned for a TD in the same game.
Nwangnu, who returned a kick for a TD last year for the Jets, is the perfect kick returner for the new kickoff rules, which started last year, which have turned into more of a conventional run from the line of scrimmage.
The reason Nwagnu is perfect is that the start of the play is kind of like a regular run, where breaking tackles is a key, and he’s a big back at a thickly built 6-1, 210 with a powerful lower body, but he also has 4.31 speed, so once he gets past the line, perhaps breaking a tackle with his rugged style, he has the world class speed to outrun the field.
He is right out of Central Casting to thrive with the new setup.
Speaking of Banjo, when he walked in the locker room after the game, one of the players said to him, “Where’s your game ball?”
Not sure Banjo got one.
I think it went to Will McDonald, who had four sacks, and rightfully so.
But nobody would argue if Banjo got one also . . .
November 9, 2025
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