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The Rams are not a better team than the Jets, but they now are 9-6, and the Jets are 4-11.
It shows you the fine line between winning and losing in the NFL.
This was a culture win for the Los Angeles Rams today.
The Jets’ culture is broken, and the Rams have a strong one.
“Culture will beat strategy for breakfast.” – Peter Drucker.
We all know what the Jets need to do to fix their broken culture – hire a alpha dog coach/leader like Mike Vrabel, and let him do this thing without meddling.
It’s simple, but are the powers that be willing to do that?
We will find out.
But there is one positive development on the culture front – there was no tweet about the uniform combination this week. This is important It has nothing to do with winning and sends the wrong message about priorities.
Make the main thing the main thing . . .
It’s hard to criticize Jeff Ulbrich too much. He’s an interim coach thrust into a very challenging situation coaching a team with myriad issues that is rife with dysfunction as pointed out in the New York Times article. They gotta get these issues cleared up moving forward.
However, Ulbrich’s Dan Campbell/Brandon Staley approach on fourth downs today certainly contributed to the loss.
On a bad weather day, that was likely going to be low scoring, field position was of the utmost importance.
Up 6-0, to go for it on fourth and one, on your own 33, in the second quarter, was gambling gone a bit too far.
And on top of that, running Breece Hall up the middle, instead of power back Braelon Allen, was a strange decision.
This turned out to be a turning point in the game, because three plays later, the Rams were in the end zone, tying the score at 6. Both teams missed extra points after their first touchdowns.
Then, in the third quarter, on fourth-and-fourth from the Rams’ 13, up 9-6, Ulbrich went for it, and Aaron Rodgers threw an incompletion. Why not take the points in a close game, and if you are going to go for, why go for such a low percentage throw to Adams?
If the Jets punt in the second quarter and stop the Rams on probably a long drive, and kick a field goal in the third quarter, assuming it’s good, perhaps they win this game . . .
Rams running back ran 23 times for 122 yards for a 5.3 average.
The Jets’ run defense is bad – a combination of an outdated static, predictable scheme installed by the prior coach, and some bad personnel decisions by the former GM?
How do you go with three undrafted free agents on your defensive line? Do you think you are smarter than other teams that didn’t draft them? All three should on the practice squad.
And what is with all these undersized defensive tackles? Why is it that the former coach loved undersized defensive tackles?
There were a couple of series today where the Jets went with a pair of defensive tackles both about 280, and the Rams ran it right at them.
If the Jets do hire Mike Vrable, which is a no-brainer, maybe he can go out and get a Jeffrey Simmons-type DT, a massive, huge game-wrecker, who the coach had in Tennessee.
The Jets’ run defense is bad, and it’s essentially been since this scheme came to town in 2021.
I’m not going to lie – I’m sick of covering this scheme. Enough already . . .
Olu Fashanu seemed to suffer a significant foot injury today.
After the game, after getting dressed, he limped from his locker into the trainer’s room, with no sock on his injured left foot.
You know what is amazing about this guy, and indicative of his character: Even with a serious foot injury, and having trouble getting around, he still had a smile on his face, and was very friendly to people around him . . .
After the game, Jets backup QB Tyrod Taylor went over to the locker of Xavier Gipson, who fumbled a punt late in the game, to encourage him.
Taylor is a great leader . . .
Jets safety Tony Adams suffered some kind of facial injury and had to be taken to the X-Ray room after the game. He had a big bandage on his nose . . .
The Jets didn’t punt today, but scored only nine points. Weird combo. The Jets offense is a dysfunctional mess – they make some very nice plays, but there is no consistency due to penalties, not getting plays off, assignment errors and so forth.
Nobody wants to hear this because he’s public enemy #1, but demoting Nate Hackett, and having somebody else run Hackett’s playbook was a bad idea. Todd Downing is running somebody else’s playbook. How does that make sense?
You saw that when the Jets had to call three timeouts in the first quarter at New England.
“This team is in disarray. 1:37 left in the first quarter and you are out of timeouts,” said Pats radio analyst Scott Zolak after the third timeout was called in the first quarter.
Demoting Hackett, just like the Davante Adams trade, seemed like Twitter-driven moves, and that stuff needs to stop. Let’s football people make football decisions.
December 22, 2024
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