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Not making excuses . . .
just wondering out loud – is it possible the Jets receivers were a little out of whack on Sunday after their leader got suspended by the NFL a week ago for gambling? Talking about position coach Miles Austin.
The receivers seemed a little off their game on Sunday. Losing their leader couldn’t have helped.
Not making excuses, just throwing that out there. These guys have a strong bond with Austin . . .
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport had a story on Sunday morning that got a lot of attention. He announced that Zach Wilson is in the team’s plans for next season. This story might have been planted after Fox’s Jay Glazer announced that the team expects to “move on” after this season from the QB.
“Jets general manager Joe Douglas does not plan to shop Wilson this offseason, sources say,” Rapoport wrote. “The team views Wilson as an incredibly hard worker, a good teammate and very smart. He has handled his demotions well and kept working.
Rapoport claims a source told him: “He’s going to get better.”
I think we all need to find who that source is and get stock market tips. You can say that Wilson is working hard to get better, but nobody, and I repeat, nobody knows if he is going to get better, unless you are Nostradamus.
The timing of this story was bad.
You are going into a huge game in Seattle, with major playoff implications, and Wilson has put on ice to fix his mechanics, and that is who we are talking about a few hours before a game that Mike White is starting.
The source of this story, who might have thought this was good for the Jets, was mistaken. It was bad for their focus.
Save this for the off-season, don’t leak this stuff before a huge game when another QB is starting . . .
I never call for anybody to get fired. I don’t roll that way. They have families and mortgages. I don’t mess with people’s business that way.
So the following point about Jets OC Mike LaFleur isn’t a call for him to be fired, but more an observation about one thing that might be wrong with the Jets offense.
It feels like LaFleur is just calling plays from his playbook, and not playing chess enough. Being a good NFL play-caller isn’t just calling plays, but playing chess, setting up the defense for future calls, and what you call on a given play, is setting them up for something down the road.
I’m just not sure, at this point, if he’s the chess player his mentor Kyle Shanahan is. Yes, LaFleur brought Shanahan’s amazing scheme to Florham Park, and he knows the plays Shanahan likes to call, but not sure the sequencing of the play calls is as good.
LaFleur needs to improve as a chess player.
It seemed like the Seahawks’ defense was all over their tendencies throughout the game . . .
Nate Herbig was inactive for the Jets-Seahawks game, and the team started Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. This is something we talked about last week. Herbig is dealing with shin and ankle issues.
Now while the move made sense, the only problem with it, is that you are starting a guard, making his first 2022-23 start, at Seattle, perhaps the loudest stadium in the league, and there were clearly communication issues on the line at Lumen Field.
Don’t want to be a hypocrite, because I talked about the need to make this move last week, so I have no issue with the Jets doing it, but just pointing out, there might have been some communication issues related to a first-time 2022-23 starter in a mind-numbingly loud stadium . . .
The Jets’ culture is still a work in progress. People can talk all day about how it’s changed, but when you lose five games in a row when you are in playoff contention, clearly the culture isn’t where it needs to be. That is quite obvious, and not a cheap shot.
One issue continues to be the hyping of rookies and other young players, too much, too early.
There is a reason Bill Parcells always said to reporters about young players – “Don’t put him in Canton just yet fellas.”
Hype goes to young players’ heads.
January 2, 2023
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