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A heaping helping of Friday Jets Whispers heading into their big game in Minnesota . . .
George Fant is likely going to return this week and serve as the backup swing tackle.
It’s a valuable commodity for a team to have, a player in reserve, who is equally as adept at playing right and left tackle.
The Minnesota Vikings will be without their starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw after he suffered two recent concussions.
And they will likely go with Blake Brandel, a 2020 sixth-round pick of the Vikings.
Before the 2020 draft, NFL Network draft guru Lance Zeirlein wrote about Brandel – “Likely tackle-to-guard position switch due to his lack of length and consistency in pass protection.”
So this isn’t a backup left tackle on Fant’s level, and the Jets’ talented coterie of pass rushers should be able to take advantage of Brandel at times.
It’s very, very rare to have a backup left tackle like Fant, who is obviously a starting quality player. Usually, when a team has to put in a backup left tackle, there is a big dropoff from the starters. Quality blindside protectors are hard to find, because you need huge guys with the feet of a dancing bear, and obviously there aren’t a lot of individuals like that on the planet.
Darrisaw is one of those guys, so the Virginia Tech product missing the Jets game will benefit Gang Green.
Now, based on watching him on the practice field, it doesn’t look like Fant is truly 100 percent, but he’s doing a lot better than when he went on IR in September. You still see a little bit of a limp when the big guy runs.
You have to wonder if years as a basketball player on the hardwood, and now NFL football on a lot of artificial fields, has taken its toll on Fant’s knee.
Because remember, he had off-season knee surgery, came back this summer, and then had to shut it down for a couple of months . . .
This just in – The Vikings’ defense is really bad.
Dallas and Dak Prescott put 40 on them recently, and New England’s Mac Jones, who is not having a great year, as evidenced in the Patriots’ loss to Buffalo on Thursday, was 28 of 39 for 382 yards and two touchdowns in a recent loss to Minnesota.
We mentioned before they are without two key cornerbacks – Cam Dantzler and Andrew Booth – both injured.
It would be really surprising if the Jets’ offense doesn’t have a big day in U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.
But the big challenge for the Jets will be stopping the Vikings’ high-powered offense featuring Justin Jefferson.
There was so much talk this week about whether Sauce Gardner would follow around Jefferson.
Every time this kind of thing is brought up, and this isn’t the first time, it’s kind of insulting to D.J. Reed, who, you could argue, is having just as good of a season as Gardner.
Look, if the Jets had just one good corner, you could say, of course, he should follow around the other team’s star receiver.
But that isn’t the case here.
Not sure why people keep pushing this narrative. It’s kind of unfair to Reed, who gave up his first touchdown pass of the year, in the Jets’ win over Chicago.
But honestly, his coverage on Bears wide receiver Byron Pringle, a former Kansas State teammate, was really good, and Pringle made a heck of a catch with Reed in very tight coverage in the middle of the end zone.
And something else to keep in mind about defending Minnesota’s passing game – they also have a 6-5 tight end with good speed in T.J. Hockenson, so the 6-3 Gardner might be needed to deal with him at times like he did with Baltimore TE Mark Andrews in the opener . . .
December 2, 2022
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