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Some random thoughts . . .
C.J. Mosley expressed dismay after the game about how people don’t respect the Jets and that bothers them.
Heck, he didn’t even respect them last year, when he collected a $10 million bonus and then opted out. Does he really want to be here or is he stuck after Mr. Coffee locked him into a long-term contract? The money was so insane, he couldn’t say “no,” even though his heart was likely still in Baltimore.
Late in the game, RB Kenneth Gainwell ran for 12 yards off left tackle. Nobody set the edge. After the play, Mosley went ballistic on the field.
Granted, he didn’t play the best game today, including an encroachment penalty on fourth-and-three, but he’s clearly at his wits end with young players blowing assignments all around him with regularity . . .
This isn’t just a matter of young defensive players getting experience that will benefit them down the road. That doesn’t apply to all of these players, Some don’t have good instincts and need to be replaced. Time isn’t going to work for all of them . . .
Joe Douglas has had a rough time with placekickers and it started right out of the gate in 2019, when he signed Kaare Vedvick, who had no experience kicking in an NFL game, and he was a big reason they lost to Buffalo in the opener that season, missing an extra point and a 45-yard field goal. Fast forward to 2020 with Sergio Castillo, who struggled, and now this year with Matt Amendola, who was waived this week, and Alex Nessman who missed two extra points today.
All these guys were first-time NFL kickers. It’s clearly time for the Jets to go out and get a veteran, and stop rolling the dice on inexperienced guys.
As British philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who don’t learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Get a veteran! . . .
As we wrote during the week, the matchup between the Jets’ defensive line and the Eagles’ offensive line was a bad one for the Jets, especially with the Jets missing DT Sheldon Rankins.
And the Eagles dominated the Jets on the ground.
With Rankins out, Nathan Shepherd had to play more, and on Gainwell’s 18-yard TD run, Shepherd was pancaked by guard Landon Dickerson, opening up a big hole up the middle.
Shepherd gives you everything he’s got, but he’s on the ground too much.
Raw rookie Jonathan Marshall played in the defensive tackle rotation today and didn’t have a tackle.
The Eagles’ offensive line flat-out dominated . . .
A big story right now is about how the Jets’ didn’t prepare for QB Gardner Minshew, who ended up starting for the injured Jalen Hurts. C.J. Mosley told CBS sideline reporter Amanda Bolionis that the Jets didn’t prepare for Minshew
The spin is that the Eagles didn’t change the offense, but that that isn’t an ideal excuse because Minshew and Hurts are very different players, so it might be the same offense, but you need to prepare for the tendencies of a particular player, even within the framework of the same offense. Minshew is more of a pocket passer, and Hurts a runner. They throw the ball differently. Since it was up in the air who was going to start, the Jets should have prepared equally for both players.
There was an Eagles reporter sitting near me. After Minshew threw a 36-yard TD to TE Dallas Goedert in the first quarter, while under pressure, I asked the reporter what he thinks Hurts would have done on that play.
“He would have taken off and run,” said the reporter.
Different players. You can’t have a one-size-fits-all approach to preparing for an offense . . .
Joe Douglas is going to really show his alpha dog qualities after the season, not just replacing some players, even if they were draft picks, but force the head coach to make some major changes. Douglas now has the power to do that as the football czar. He’s going to have to ruffle a lot of feathers after this year if the Jets are going to turn this around.
December 5, 2021
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