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East Rutherford – When Todd Bowles said the other day, “We are going to cut some good football players,” he wasn’t kidding.
The Jets have so much more depth this year in camp than last year. That was on full display on Thursday night in their win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Charone Peake and Jeremy Ross had good games as a receivers tonight. Robbie Anderson had a pretty touchdown catch, but it was ruled he didn’t get both feet in bounds, but you could see his talent on this play, and he’s had a terrific camp. Wide receiver Jalin Marshall had an 84-yard kickoff return. The Jets are going to have some tough decisions to make with their last few receiver spots.
The Jets go six deep with good inside linebackers. Taiwan Jones might be the odd man out, but he played well tonight.
Julian Stanford was the fifth inside linebacker tonight, and he had a terrific game in limited action, and has been outstanding in camp.
The Jets backup offensive line was very good tonight, and all five guys have a good chance of making it, but can you keep ten?
A lot of tough decisions coming up . . .
One negative from the Jets win tonight was once again their edge rushing. Lorenzo Mauldin is struggling getting off blocks. Jordan Jenkins was terrific against the run tonight, but didn’t generate much pressure. Like I’ve said before, it’s time to open up this competition to people like Josh Martin and Freddie Bishop. Don’t anoint Mauldin and Jenkins,
Mauldin seems to be in a little bit of a funk. He ripped himself on twitter after the game.
Mauldin was pancaked by Jags TE Ben Koyack on Chris Ivory’s one-yard TD run . . .
I think Bryce Petty has improved by leaps and bounds from last year.
In defense of Petty’s work late in the game, the line he played behind in the fourth quarter was patchwork. The Jets first and second lines were really good tonight, but the third one was problematic. And you know what, when Petty played with the better line in the third quarter, the second unit featuring tackle Brent Qvale (right side) and Ben Ijalana (left side), he looked much better.
Don’t judge Petty by the fourth quarter – he was running for his life. I like Brandon Shell was a prospect, but as a right tackle prospect – he’s not an NFL left tackle . . .
I kind of felt bad for Romar Morris. He’s a 190-pound change of pace back, a third down back, and he was being used as a workhorse in the second half, and took a terrible beating. They had nobody else. It would be like featuring Bruce Harper. But Dominique Williams suffered a concussion, Bilal Powell was pulled early and Matt Forte, Bernard Pierce and Matthew Tucker were inactive . . .
Kyle Friend was called for holding 6-3, 330-pound defensive tackle Richard Ash late in the game. It’s very hard to play center in this league at 6-0 with short arms. Friend gives you everything he’s got, and it’s not a lack of will or toughness, it’s just physically very difficult for him to compete at this level with his physical limitations . . .
You saw a glimpse of how great the Jets’ passing attack can be on the Ryan Fitzpatrick’s second and last series of the game which ended with a Powell touchdown run.
With all the attention Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall garner on the outside, Quincy Enunwa caught passes on consecutive plays for 26 and 43 yards. On the first one, he was being covered one-on-one by a linebacker.
You throw in Bilal Powell and Matt Forte catching out of the backfield, and this could be a special year for the Jets’ passing attack . . .
Jacksonville running back Chris Ivory broke four tackles on a ten-yard run off right tackle. The Jets should have re-signed him. Pay a little less on the defensive back contracts, and they could have got it done. The Jets are going to miss this guy . . .
August 12, 2016
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