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The Jets secondary needs
to improve their communication.
We have seen communication issues in games.
And today, in practice, a receiver was wide open down field uncovered.
This was against the Jets offense, which exactly hasn’t been a juggernaut.
It’s either they need to get more instinctive cover guys, or the system is too complicated, and it’s leading to assignment errors.
This can’t continue.
But every week in games, we are seeing receivers wide open against the Jets, and this must stop, You can’t survive as a defense in the NFL, which has turned into a passing-happy league, allowing receivers all these easy plays . . .
I went over Joe Douglas entire press conference today, to transcribe all the quotes. It was 25 minutes long, so he covered a lot of stuff.
I’m telling you, and I’ve been covering the Jets for over 25 years, this is the best hire the organization has made since Bill Parcells in the late 1990’s, either in the GM or coaching spots.
Christopher has made a lot of mistakes since taking over as owner, and he would be the first to admit it, but he hit this hire out of the park.
If you have issues with the coach, don’t blame Douglas. That’s not in his wheelhouse.
And perhaps he will be working with a different coach if they make a change, and I suspect if they make a change, Christopher will allow Joe to pick the coach.
This first draft has the potential to be really, really good, led by Mekhi Becton. And now a lot of people are criticizing the Giants for not picking Becton, but going with Andrew Thomas, who is struggling mightily.
It’s not that Joe can spot talent, but he also can connect with that talent. Some past GM’s didn’t have the best people skills. Douglas gets high marks for his people skills. I know he’s not the coach, but it’s also important for the GM to have a strong connection with players he brings in. Douglas and Becton have a good bond, and Douglas has a plan in place to make sure Becton realizes his enormous potential.
“There is a lot of desire for him to be the best player he can be,” Douglas said. “We have made it our mission to bend over backwards to help him reach his goals.”
Douglas understands what high level player development looks like, from all those years at the hip of Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore. There is a lot of involved in it and he understands what a great player development program looks like.
Good hire. This guy gets it. Don’t judge him too harshly for what is going on this year. He took over a dumpster fire . . .
Sam Darnold didn’t practice today. They were giving his bruised shoulder a rest. Look, I get the part about resting his shoulder, but the tough part for him, is going against New England with limited reps during the practice week. Remember, last year, he admitted to seeing “ghosts” in their complex pass coverage. And while the Patriots aren’t great this year, they still have a pretty good secondary.
So while I get the resting of the shoulder angle, I’m not sure this is a good week for Darnold to be missing reps in his preparation for an opponent . . .
Speaking of the Jets’ offense, they should be able to run the ball effectively against New England’s front seven, which is really struggling this year. They are undersized and getting gashed quite a bit . . .
November 5, 2020
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