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While he still is a work in progress
on stunt recognition, you can tell that rookie guard Alijah Vera-Tucker is going to be special.
An example of his enormous potential was in the fourth quarter, on a 13-yard run by Michael Carter to the left side, where AVT pulled to the second level, knocking safety Dane Cruikshank out of the way, opening a big hole . . .
While it was a nice win for the Jets, you have to wonder what the outcome might have been if Tennessee had been playing with their star receivers – A.J. Brown and Julio Jones – both out with hamstring injuries.
“This is a good Titans football team,” said CBS’ Adam Archuleta. “But they are a different football team without those two receivers.”
The Jets’ corners had a very good game against the backup receivers like Josh Reynolds. But hey, you can’t control who you are facing, and they did a nice job on the Titans’ receivers.
But the week before they struggled against front-line receivers in Denver like Cam Sutton and Tim Patrick.
So it will be interesting to see what they do against Atlanta’s emerging star Calvin Ridley (and Russell Gage if healthy) . . .
The Jets are a little thin at defensive end right now.
On Sunday, they made Tim Ward inactive. He is a player they claimed off waivers from Cleveland on the final cutdown, who played a lot the first three games, but didn’t have much of an impact. So with Ward inactive, the Jets end rotation against Tennessee was Bryce Huff, John Franklin-Myers and Shaq Lawson. They actually moved DT Sheldon Rankins to end on a few downs with JFM dealing with a calf injury. Lawson finished with no tackles. Lawson has a great motor, but his instincts are so-so. Rankins is much better inside and had a heck of a game when at DT against the Titans.
So with Ward still a work-in-progress, JFM hobbling and Lawson’s minimal impact, the Jets could probably use another end. The slow development of Jabari Zuniga is hurting the Jets a little, because at this point, they had hoped he’s been in their end rotation, but he’s currently on their practice squad. And obviously the Carl Lawson injury has hurt them, along with Ronald Blair not being able to stay healthy . . .
Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich called a really good game, and you could see he had a terrific game plan right out of the gate.
Two great delayed blitz calls on the first series involving linebackers. with C.J. Mosley, and then Quincy Williams, waiting a split second for all the blocker to be occupied, and then shooting into open gaps to sack Ryan Tannehill. Really good calls by Ulbrich.
There was also a lot of effective defensive line stunts . . .
As for Quincy Williams, who had 12 tackles against Tennessee, while he’s made a lot of terrific plays against the Titans, he has some feast or famine tendencies.
He’s very fast and tough, but sometimes is a little out of control, and overruns plays. creating running lanes for offensive players.
He has a lot of talent, but needs to play a little more under control on some plays . . .
October 4, 2021
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