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Facing a team with myriad weapons in the passing game, the Jets need all hands on deck at cornerback, and it looks like that might happen.
Their top two nickelbacks, D’Angelo Ponds and Jarvis Brownlee, are dealing with calf injuries, but both practiced fully on Thursday. Brownlee is also dealing with a shoulder issue.
Ponds missed most of the summer with a strained calf. Brownlee got kicked in the calf in Tennessee in the first half, had to be taken off on a cart to the locker room, but did return in the third quarter.
If they can both play on Sunday, which seems to be the way it’s trending, that will be helpful to the Jets, facing a deep receiving corps that includes Christian Watson, Matt Golden, and Jayden Reed.
Jets cornerback Nahshon Wright played for the Chicago Bears last year, so he faced the Packers twice since they are in the same division. He said one thing that makes the Packers offense so good is that they do a great job of spreading the ball around to many different guys. Wright praised QB Jordan Love’s poise in the pocket.
If the Jets have both Ponds and Brownlee on board this Sunday, that will certainly help the Jets in dealing with this loaded and creative (Matt LaFleur is a very good play-caller) passing game . . .
I had a mental lapse today watching practice after seeing #83 with a nice catch and run in a receiving drill.
I’m thinking, “It looks like Omar Cooper’s going to be able to play on his injured ankle.”
A few minutes later, I realized that Cooper had changed his number, and it was new practice squad receiver Tyler Johnson, who was signed this week to the practice squad due to Cooper’s injury.
Cooper is obviously #11 now, as we saw in Week One on his 30-yard catch-and-run on the Jets’ first offensive series.
While Johnson was on the Jets last year and did some good things, the team has a different offense this year under Frank Reich, so if the Jets need to call up a receiver from the practice squad, while Johnson is a veteran, you have to wonder if they’d call up one of their other practice squad receivers – Jamaal Pritchell or Malik McClain- who were with them in the spring and summer, so they might know Reich’s offense better, even though Johnson has more NFL experience than the youngsters.
In a couple of weeks, it would likely be a different story, with Johnson being a no-brainer elevation from the practice squad, but a few days after he got here? Probably not . . .
I don’t agree with Frank Reich’s following statement:
“Listen, I think as play callers, I’m sure AG feels the same way I do, it’s about the players. They’re going to make it right.”
Of course the player needs to execute, but after covering several suspect play-callers over the years, on both sides of the ball, I think Reich is selling himself and other top-shelf play-callers short.
He referenced something Geno Smith said to him – “I said something to Geno about how, ‘I wish I had that one back.’ And Geno looked at me and he said, ‘Coach, there are no bad plays. Every call on that sheet you give us, we’re going to make it work.’ And I know that AG feels that way, that’s the way the defense feels. My experience is when the players have that attitude, just give us the call, there are no bad calls on that call sheet, we’re going to make it work, that’s what we’re paid to do.”
Reich is a heck of a play-caller. He’s making a big difference already. We saw that in Nashville, and we saw that on Geno Smith’s only drive of the preseason, at Pittsburgh, a 10-play, 69-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard TD pass to tight end Jelani Woods. Smith was 7-of-7 on passing attempts on that drive.
So I don’t totally subscribe to Reich’s quote.
Play-calling matters a lot in the NFL.
Look at what Chicago’s Ben Johnson did in the Bears’ 59-37 win over Carolina in Week One. Crazy good offensive play-calling. Look at what the former Seattle OC did with QB Sam Darnold last year during the Seahawks championship season – great play calling all year, helping the journeyman QB have one of his best seasons.
So I disagree with Reich, and that should not be taken as a shot at Reich, but a compliment.
Yes, player execution is always important, but having great chess players in your coordinator roles is huge on the NFL level as well.
September 17, 2026
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