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Robert Saleh was very curt in his press conference today.
Two more stories blew up this week on the internet based on two quotes that might have been taken out of context.
Now it turns out that the brouhaha about Robert Saleh being accused of saying the team might need to pull back a little on Aaron Rodgers’ complex cadences after penalty issues against Denver, was created by recklessness.
After the game, Saleh was asked about the cadence issues and said, “We’ve got to figure it out. Whether or not we’re good enough or ready to handle all the cadence. Cadence had not been an issue all camp. Felt like our operation had been operating pretty good, obviously, today it took a major step back.”
So a few minutes later when Rodgers took to the same podium, a reporter claimed Robert said the team might need to “dial back a little bit” on the cadence stuff, Rodgers said, “‘That’s one way to do it. The other way is to hold them accountable.’”
Saleh never used the words “dial back.”
Rodgers was asked about “Cadence-gate” on Pat McAfee’s show, and said, “I think the question might have been posed in a way that might not have been exactly what was said.”
So that imbroglio stemmed from a reporter paraphrasing what Saleh said and making it seem worse than it was.
The other big story being pursued today in the press conference was related to something Garrett Wilson said on ESPN Radio in response to a long question about the team’s offensive identity. It was a nothing burger, but just like everything else these days, it was blown out of proportion. Wilson even fired back on X at a reporter who called his comment “interesting.”
So Saleh was clearly in no mood to be expansive with any answers today about cadence, Wilson or anything else, and can you blame him?
And this should probably be his approach for the rest of the year.
That thing that happened with Rodgers after the game, where Saleh’s quote was paraphrased wrong in relaying it to the head coach, had to piss off the coach, player and the PR department . . .
So the Saleh/Rodgers and Wilson stuff is fake news, but a real news story, that isn’t getting the attention it deserves, is the possibility of nose tackle Leki Fotu coming off injured reserve, where he has been the last month with a leg injury.
His injury really hurt the team over the first month of the season, with their run defense struggling against San Francisco, Tennessee and Denver. The Tennesee and Denver games were particularly troubling because they were facing young QBs who are still trying to figure out the NFL, so you should be able to load up to to stop the run, but the Titans and Broncos still ran successfully on Gang Green.
They really missed Fotu, because the last month they’ve only had one plus-sized defensive tackle, Javon Kinlaw, and when he wasn’t on the field, the team was small up the middle and teams took advantage of that.
So the return of another jumbo-sized run stopper (6-5, 330) like Fotu, this could help their round defense significantly.
The Jets defensive coaches are big on linemen who “strain” – give it all they’ve got at all times. They used to call Nathan Shephard – “The King of Strain.”
And while straining is important, it’s also important to be able to stack and shed consistently, and while some of these smaller linemen give you all they’ve got, they get engulfed by bigger blockers too often.
So if Fotu comes back this week, it should be one of the biggest stories of the week, not Cadence-Gate and Wilson’s answer to ESPN Radio which was much adu about nothing, so much so, I’m not even putting it in this space . . .
Speaking of size on the defensive line, while he was five sacks on the season, which is impressive, you have to wonder if the Jets might need to use Will McDonald a little more situationally, than as an every-down end. Due to no fault of his own, he’s one of most svelte 4-3 ends you will find. You see him up close, and he looks like a big receiver, like Mike Williams. That isn’t a shot, just the reality of the situation.
And while he did have three sacks against Tennessee and two against New England, his impact against the run has been minimal. Against Denver he registered no tackles. If I were the Jets, I’d platoon him with Michael Clemons, where Clemons plays on obvious rushing downs, and McDonald on obvious throwing downs.
And another reason to perhaps cut back on how much they are using McDonald is because he’s facing tackles that usually outweigh him by 70-80 pounds, so he is taking quite a pounding in these games, and I noticed he’s wearing a new brace on one on his knees.
Situational pass rusher – absolutely. Full-time end – not so sure about that at this point.
None of this is an attack on the player, who is a great guy and gives you everything he’s got, but he’s somewhat skinny to be a full-time 4-3 end at this point.
October 2, 2024
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