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This a bogus narrative:
The Jets don’t have a good second option in their passing game against Garrett Wilson.
Lazy.
Allen Lazard was signed to be the #2 receiver opposite Wilson.
He was a good player in Green Bay.
You think he forgot how to play?
Do you think making him inactive for one week is going to make a difference in his game?
Or the team’s performance.
Keep in mind, the Jets scapegoated three guys on offense in recent weeks, cutting Michael Carter, and benching Lazard and C.J. Uzomah, and they lost the last two games, 32-6, and 34-13., so it might’ve gotten worse.
And on top of that, Randall Cobb has been phased out for Xavier Gipson, and that has hardly made a dent.
The problem isn’t the weapons.
As an old coach once told me, “Quarterbacks make receivers, receivers don’t make quarterbacks.”
How many star receivers played with Tom Brady when he won those six Super Bowls in New England? Not many, if any. Randy Moss was there one year and they didn’t win a Super Bowl.
There is nothing wrong with Lazard as a #2 receiver or Tyler Conklin, who is a tight end, but is essentially their #3 receiver.
The NFL is a QB-driven league.
The Jets had a dubious backup plan behind Aaron Rodgers, and that, along with inconsistent offensive line play, has hurt their passing game.
Aside from scapegoating offensive players, Breece Hall was called out this week.
He hasn’t forgotten how to run, but when you have no passing game, and teams are putting eight or nine in the box, is that the problem?
You can keep benching guys, making lineup changes and calling guys out, but until Rodgers returns, this year, or next, it’s not going to make much of a difference.
So stop the tarring and feathering of Lazard.
He’s not the problem.
An analytics site said he had seven drops. I sure as hell didn’t see seven drops. Sometimes these sites are unrealistic on what they want receivers to do on bad throws. Has he had some drops. No doubt, but seven. I can’t remember seven legit drops.
When Rodgers returns, you will see there is nothing wrong with Lazard . . .
Not only do the Atlanta Falcons, the NFL’s 4th ranked rushing offense, have a coterie of talented runners, like Bijan Robinson, Tyler Allgeier and Corderelle Patterson, but head coach/offensive play-caller Arthur Smith is a brilliant designer and caller of run plays. It’s not just three yards and a cloud of black dust with Smith, but consistently really creative run play designs that can really throw off a defense.
The Jets 31st ranked run defense is going to have their hands full this week.
Considering all the offensive players who have been benched or called out on offense, I would say there are players on this run defense that deserve the same scrutiny.
Except for a couple of games, everyone has run effectively on the Jets, even the Giants.
Going over the tape of Miami game, there are a lot of issues with this run defense that need to be fixed.
Aside from undersized defensive linemen getting engulfed by much bigger offense linemen, and issues setting the edge, another problem is linebackers playing too aggressively and overrunning plays. Also, there is a linebacker who likes to guess gaps to avoid stacking and shedding linebackers since he’s undersized, and this is leading to some holes.
It will be interesting to see what Jeff Ulbrich does to fix the Jets run defense this week.
“We got to maybe change the presentation a little bit. I can help with some calls that will assist the defense,” Ulbrich said.
December 1, 2023
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