Jets defensive lineman Harrison Phillips was asked about new Jets safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and what he can do for the team’s defense.
And in praising Fitzpatrick, Phillips made it pretty clear that some stuff that went on last year in pass coverage can’t continue.
“He has that cerebral football IQ that can really get everyone on the same page,” Phillips said. “Because gosh dang it is frustrating when someone walks into the end zone wide open. That’s frustrating, and with the leadership and high football IQ, we make those guarded at a minimum.”
Phillips was part of some good defenses in Buffalo and Minnesota before arriving in Florham Park last summer via a trade with the Vikings. He knows what sound team defense looks like.
With that quote, the erudite Stanford graduate made his feelings pretty clear about some of the undisciplined play that was too often the case with the Jets’ defense last year.
Aside from using the word “frustrating” twice in that quote, he used a phrase you don’t hear a lot in these parts – “gosh dang it.”
In googling that phrase, one description on the internet says that it is “the perfect phrase to let off a little steam.”
All the blown coverages last year by the Jets’ back seven were far from ideal.
The Jacksonville Jaguars 48-20 romp over the Jets was a perfect example of too many wide-open, easy throws for an opponent. The second half of the Jets’ loss to the New Orleans Saints was another blown-coverage-palooza.
Phillips feels that with the veteran Fitzpatrick leading the deep patrol, this nonsense is less likely to happen.
Fitzpatrick should be a good traffic cop for the coverage players on the back end.
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