Content available exclusively for subscribers
New Jersey – It’s time for a heaping helping of Website Whispers with notes on Buffalo, competition and more . . .
Jets reserve cornerback Josh Thomas went to college at the University of Buffalo.
He knows all about Buffalo weather.
He said the Bulls, who play in the MAC Conference, had to cancel several practices due to the snow.
“The snow trucks are getting stuck, so the snow keeps adding up,” Thomas said, “With no snow trucks, the roads are a disaster.”
It’s funny, Thomas, who is from Texas, went to Buffalo to experience snow.
He also went to Buffalo because he wanted “a drastic change.”
You see this dynamic a lot. Players wanting to get away from their home scene, so they go to college far away. It’s a good way to grow up.
Marcus Williams went to North Dakota State to get away. He is from Minneapolis, which isn’t a crazy distance from Fargo, but it’s a got him away, took him to a different culture, and helped him grow up. Williams could have gone to the University of Minnesota, right in his hometown.
Both Thomas and Williams are very mature.
Thomas actually married a girl from Buffalo, but he and his wife don’t live there. They live in Charlotte, from his time with the Carolina Panthers.
Thomas said the winters can be very depressing in Buffalo with the sun not coming out very often. He said something I found somewhat profound.
“It’s very easy to have a bad day,” Thomas said about Buffalo winters . . .
Darrin Walls is ready to come back, so who will the Jets’ starting cornerbacks be?
Rex Ryan claims the team is having a competition this week in practice to determine that. The participant are likely Marcus Williams, Phillips Adams and Walls. Thomas also might be in the mix.
“We’re going to let it ride out,” said Jets coach Rex Ryan. “Let these guys compete for it. That’s why I can’t tell you who’s starting. I can’t tell you exactly who’s going to be (starting). Let the week play out and then when we evaluate it as a staff, we’ll put the guys that we think have done the best job out there. Guys they know it and I think everybody’s play picks up because of the fact that there’s a possibility that you’re going to start. It makes your practices better, it makes the team morale better, everything, because they’re part of it.”
This is a great approach. The best approach. Kudos for Rex for taking this approach.
But it does beg the question – where was this earlier in the year, at positions like let’s say, quarterback, and Newsday’s Kim Martin asked Ryan about this.
“Maybe not necessarily to that degree,” Ryan said. “No, I wouldn’t think so. But, here it’s been more let’s see what we have. Obviously, there have been different challenges. You lose three guys or whatever and then here comes another one that’s hurt, so I think it’s probably been a bigger challenge at that spot in particular than others.”
Martin’s question was perfect.
Where was this with Mike Vick in the off-season and summer? Where was this was the safety job handed to Calvin Pryor before he was ready?
Maybe, just maybe, Rex Ryan and John Idzik have learned their lesson – competition is important, and there are no nuanced definitions of the word . . .
As you know by now, the Jets are playing the Bills in Detroit on Monday due to the snow disaster in Buffalo.
Reportedly the Bills weren’t totally into having this game at Ford Field, because the fast track, with no weather issues, is such a great set-up for Mike Vick and Percy Harvin to shine.
But then again, it’s also great for Bills speedsters Sammy Watkins and Marquise Goodwin.
I will have more on this game moving to Detroit tomorrow, but I wanted to get this update up by 9:30 as promised.
November 20, 2014
Premium will return 9:30 pm on Friday.
