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This isn’t meant to be a gotcha moment, but on Thursday in Charlotte, Robert Saleh spoke to the media before practice instead of after and was asked if he was concerned about practice fights.
“I’m not worried about it,’ Saleh said. “You’re always going to get pushing and shoving, that’s going to happen, guys get competitive out here, but the reality is that the fighting usually happens on the second day, when teams go in and they talk about whether they won or lost, and then they come out with a little bit of edge, and so that’s why were, at least speaking for us, New York, we’ve always been proponents of just doing it once.”
Well, as you know by now, there were two fights in the Jets-Panthers organized practices, one between Carolina WR Terrace Marshall and Jets CB D.J. Reed. The other was between Jets defensive end Michael Clemons and Panther running back Mike Boone.
So obviously Saleh’s quote didn’t age well.
While Saleh’s theory makes sense that sometimes players look for payback on the second day, it’s pretty clear that on a hot summer day, fights are bound to happen on day one or day two . . .
Such a big part of X’s and O’s in the NFL is calling plays to take advantage of matchups that favor your team, and Aaron Rodgers did that twice over a short stretch in yesterday’s Jets-Panthers practice.
Carolina Panthers had a backup cornerback, D’Shawn Jamison, playing a lot, since a starter, Dane Jackson (former Buffalo Bill) was out with a hamstring injury.
And he was sometimes matched up with Jets #1 receiver Garrett Wilson.
When you see a matchup like that, you gotta go there, and Rodgers did, first on a deep ball, where Wilson beat Jamison deep down the left side. Wilson was about to catch a touchdown, but Jamison accosted him to prevent the completion and was called for pass interference.
Then, a few plays later, Rodgers hit Wilson on a quick out in the red zone for a touchdown with Jamison in coverage.
The last couple of years, it seemed, too often, with an inexperienced QB, the Jets would throw passes to a first-read, even with perhaps the other team’s #1 cornerback in coverage. I remember that specifically happening in Denver against superstar CB Pat Surtain several times.
It seems Rodgers is more cognizant of favorable matchups, and will check off to those once at the line, and not just stick the original call come hell or high water . . .
Jets defensive end Michael Clemens would be ideal for a team playing a 3-4 front at 6-5, 290 pounds with arms like vines and great strength.
He tends to run into linemen and bull rushes them, as opposed to beating them into gaps off on the edge.
There was a play on Thursday where he crashed into Panthers guard Robert Hunt (who signed a massive deal to come over from the Miami Dolphins in free agency), and both players ended up falling to the ground.
With the emergence of edge-rusher Takk McKinley in camp, the Jets might need to consider shopping Clemens to a team that plays a 3-4 front, where Clemens can use his power and length to play a two-gapping role.
Clemens, who doesn’t possess top-shelf speed or twitch, isn’t the best fit for the Jets scheme that asks defensive linemen to shoot into gaps and run sideline-to-sideline.
But he could be superb in a 3-4 front, and many teams player that scheme . . .
Aside from the play that got all the attention involving the fight between Marshall and Reed, after a TD catch by the receiver, Marshall had another play of note before that, being left wide open in the end zone for a TD pass from Bryce Young.
The Jets’ secondary has the potential to be one of the NFL’s best but still has some communication issues to work out.
There was a blown coverage on this play.
August 16, 2024
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