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The 2017 Denver Broncos are similar to the 2016 New York Jets
– a dysfunctional mess.
The problem isn’t all the losses, it’s the blowout losses.
The 2016 New York Jets got blowout six times. That shouldn’t happen in a league set-up for parity and competitive balance.
I’m not saying you won’t have losing seasons now and then. Of course you will, but there is no excuse to get blown out with regularity.
That is what happened to the Jets last year, and it’s happening to the Broncos this year.
That is why Denver rookie coach Vance Joseph is on the hot-seat. Not that he’s losing, but it’s how he’s losing.
“Vance Joseph can survive the losses,” wrote Mark Kizla of the Denver Post. “It’s the embarrassment that could get Joseph fired as coach of the Broncos. Joseph has allowed Denver to be crushed seven times by double-digit losses.”
So if this continues down the stretch, Joseph could be one-and-out as the Denver coach.
I know Joseph. He’s a good man, but I have to admit, I was surprised Denver hired him after one year as Miami’s defensive coordinator. It’s not that he was just the coordinator for one year, it’s that his defense wasn’t that good.
I think this game will help Joseph’s case. The Jets don’t blow people out. Why? Their pass defense.
In a passing league, when you play pass defense like the Jets do most Sundays, you aren’t going to blow many teams out.
The Jets pass defense against Kansas City was embarrassing – four long, easy touchdowns.
To me, the Jets’ pass defense problem is simple. They have one starting quality cornerback (Mo Claiborne) and a bunch of guys after him who don’t have the best instincts and do a lot of guessing out there.
You combine that with two rookie safeties, who should both be terrific, and have flashed, but they are rookies, so you are going to have issues as they learn.
Not to look ahead, but the Jets’ game in New Orleans next week could get ugly with the Jets’ pass defense issues.
Mr. Coffee better pick a cornerback high in next year’s draft, sign another as a free agent, and bring back Claiborne also.
One of the reasons the Minnesota Vikings defense is so good is they go five deep with good corners.
The Jets go one deep . . .
He’s playing with everyone.
He doesn’t know some of the stuff he claims to know.
Like the Jets don’t like Louisville QB Lamar Jackson.
But his stories get a lot of clicks, and that is all his paper cares about.
He wrote that Mo Wilkerson is “gone” after the year.
There is no way he knows that.
National Enquirer stuff.
But it got a lot of clicks. All the NFL aggregators, hungry for content, link to all his “scoops.”
So he gets a lot of clicks, and that is all that matters.
And the Jets have no answer for him.
I have covered the Jets for over 20 years.
I’ve never seen anything like this on the beat.
December 7, 2017
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