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Philadelphia – Here is an interesting bit of information for you.
Most of training camp Jets starting nose tackle Steve McLendon was held out.
I speculated he might have been dealing with a knee issue.
After digging around a little bit on this, I found out there is nothing wrong with him, and he could have played the last two weeks.
My understanding is Todd Bowles just decided to take it easy on his 32-year-old nose tackle, so he would be fresh for the regular season.
So this is certainly positive news for the Jets . . .
Great line from Todd Bowles in the post-game press conference. He was asked about if he has enough good pass rushers.
“I will let you know after the season,” Bowles said.
Mr. Coffee might want to make a call the the Eagles – their reserve defensive end Steven Means finished Thursday night’s game with three sacks. The Jets had no answer for him.
The Jets might be able to pry him lose for a draft pick.
With training camp and preseason over, I think the Jets best edge-rusher based on the summer is Frankie Luvu. He flashed against tonight.
Speaking of pass rushers, on the interior, Xavier Cooper was very active tonight. This guy is a very underrated football player. He’s a defensive tackle who runs a 4.86 forty (great for that position) has very quick feet, and is constantly beating offensive linemen into gaps . . .
I have refused to speculate on who the Jets’ quarterback is going to be. A lot of other people are, but I won’t go there. I’m not James Van Praagh or Nostradamus. It’s a waste of time.
When they make the announcement, I will cover the starter.
People talk about reading the tea leaves based on game and practice reps.
But who really knows what that means, considering that last summer, those reps favored the young guys – Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg.
So I have no idea who is going to start.
But NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported that Darnold will start Week 1 against the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football.
I asked Todd Bowles what he thought on the Rapoport report.
“I haven’t talked to Ian, so [if] he’s wearing the head coaching here, you can believe Ian,” Bowles said. “So I haven’t made a decision and I haven’t talked to anyone to make a decision, so until I say who the starting quarterback is, I have no comment on it.”
So there you have it . . .
The Jets are clearly going with Darron Lee and Avery Williamson as their starting inside linebackers. While Williamson was never going to play in Philly, he actually wasn’t in uniform tonight. All the Jets’ starters who were healthy, were in uniform tonight, even if they didn’t play. Williamson was not in uniform. So clearly he’s a little nicked, though the team isn’t saying what it is.
As for Lee, he had a rough preseason, and got ripped by Bart Scott on SNY and WFAN for not being stout enough against the run. Bowles seems to like him a lot. I hear Bowles pushed hard for the Jets to draft him in the first round in 2016.
For the third time this preseason, ILB Neville Hewitt led the Jets in tackles
So if Lee struggles in the regular season, the Jets have a very good insurance policy.
August 30, 2018
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