Content available exclusively for subscribers
You could definitely tell on Robert Saleh’s Zoom press conference today
that he sounded stuffed up, like he had a cold. He has COVID-19, and it’s up in the air whether he will coach on Sunday . . .
Zach Wilson was asked a bunch of questions about facing Trevor Lawrence. Four to be exact. What does that have to do with the game on Sunday? He’s not facing Lawrence, he’s facing the Jacksonville defense. Yes, they were both in the first round of the same draft, but who cares?
Both of these dudes have much more to worry about than facing each other. They are both struggling, and Lawrence has thrown one touchdown pass in the last six games.
One question fine, but four?
Easy story to write, but it really is kind of irrelevant to the game.
And if Wilson is thinking about Lawrence on Sunday, his head is in the wrong place, and it doesn’t sound like it is.
“We both have different situations, different teams,” Wilson said. “One thing I learned through combine training is it’s not like me against him.” . . .
With the Jets down a few safeties, Jason Pinnock could play a lot.
“We’ve been kind of sprinkling [Pinnock] in throughout games, but he’s going to get the full gambit, hopefully this week, but we’ll see,” said Saleh.
Be careful what you’re hopeful for.
Pinnock was moved to safety in the middle of the season, and rushed into games, and the results haven’t been good, including being implicated in two touchdown passes against Houston. His positional instincts aren’t there yet, which is understandable. It’s a new position for him. Even with injured players, not sure I would give him the full gambit, and if they do, expect the Jaguars to target him.
He has potential at the position, but he’s very early in the transition.
Honestly, I would consider playing the news guys – Will Parks, Kai Nacua and Elijah Benton ahead of him. They are confortable in their safety skin, Pinnock isn’t yet . . .
It’s time to stop acting like Zach Wilson is a victim.
Question from today to Saleh – “Are you concerned at all, now he’s going to be out there, he’s going to be missing two of his linemen, he’s missing, I don’t know about Jamison, but if Jamison can’t go he’s missing his three starting wide receivers? (Ryan) Griffin is out, he’s missing basically his number one tight end. Are you just worried about how this affects him?”
What is this pee-wee football? And I’m not blaming Zach for this. He didn’t ask the question.
Every team in the league is going through this stuff this 2021. And when you talk about missing both guards, the two guys replacing them – Greg Van Roten and Dan Feeney – have started a ton of games in the league. It’s not like they are throwing a couple of inexperienced guys out there to protect Wilson, and it’s not like Jacksonville has a great D-line, especially with their best pass rusher, Josh Allen, out with COVID-19.
Enough of this “concerned” and “worried” rhetoric. Buckle up your chin strap and go out there and win the game.
Every team has major problems this year with personnel in and out of the lineup. No need to play a violin for Zach Wilson . . .
It’s been a rough year for the Jets and their first-year head coach Robert Saleh. They currently stand at 3-11, and are in last place in the AFC East.
But one problem they haven’t had are leaks from people in the organization criticizing what’s going on. They have been clean on that front.
Whether you like Urban Meyer or not, he had major leak issues in Jacksonville, with staffers leaking negative stuff about him to their friends in the media. which contributed to his firing. Jimmy Johnson went 1-15 his first year in Dallas, but didn’t have the leaking issues that Meyer did.
“The difference is, in Dallas, I had my entire coaching staff from college,” said Johnson. “I had my administrative assistant, I had my P.R. director, I had my trainer. We were all on the same page when we had adversity. He didn’t have that in Jacksonville. There was a lot of backstabbing, one thing or the other, because he didn’t have his people.”
Saleh has a very loyal staff, with a lot of people he worked with in the past. They have his back. Meyer hired a number of veteran NFL assistants he had no connection with, and it came back to bite him, with the media leaks . . .
December 24, 2021
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Sunday from MetLife Stadium.
