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A heaping helping of camp Whispers . . .
Sauce Gardner won’t just help the Jets by being a good cover guy, but as a talented blitzer.
Today, he blitzed Zach Wilson in his own end zone, and the QB was forced to throw the ball away . . .
One of the real positives about the offense run by Jets OC Mike LaFleur, which he learned from Kyle Shanahan, is it can create a lot of easy throws for the QB when it’s operated correctly, meaning establishing a strong running game, to help create bootleg throws.
You saw that today when Zach Wilson ran a naked bootleg and hit tight end C.J. Uzomah for a nice catch and run.
“One thing about Kyle’s offense, there are a lot of easy throws for the QB in this offense,” said one former NFL executive . . .
Wilson did some good things today, but one point on a play he needs to work on. Sometimes he needs to take some mustard off short throws. Sometimes he gets so hyped up, he fires fastballs on short passes, like a pass today to running back Ty Johnson, which went off his hands. I heard a fan call Johnson “butterfingers” after the play, but I think the pass was thrown too hard. You have to temper your speed on short passes.
Wilson could learn a lot from Joe Flacco, who throws very catchable short passes . . .
One thing the Jets need more of in camp are linebackers making plays on the ball in pass coverage. We haven’t seen a lot of those over the first six practices.
The secondary looks better in this regard, but the linebackers need to step up . . .
Watching defensive tackle Solomon Thomas in a one-on-one pass rush drill with offensive linemen, he looks like a guy who is well schooled on using his hands as a pass rusher. He showed nifty hand-work to get by guard Dan Feeney on one rep . . .
Mike White had a terrific back shoulder throw to running back Breece Hall down the left sideline. This was a case of throwing a guy open by throwing it a little short, before the cornerback suspects, as the target is running down the sidelines like he’s running a go-route.
Hall is one of these running backs with the receiving skills of an actual receiver. This was more of a receiver play than a running back play, and he executed it with aplomb . . .
On the first play of the team period (11-on-11) in practice, center Connor McGovern pancaked Quinnen Williams opening a hole for a run by Johnson up the middle.
Williams is a very talented player, but sometimes when you use small defensive tackles, which the Jets like to do, if they don’t beat the offensive lineman into the gap off the snap, they can be susceptible to pancakes due to the size advantage of the O-Lineman . . .
Another nice block by wide receiver-to-tight end convert Lawrence Cager today, this time on defensive end Hamlicar Rashed, to help open a hole on the right side for RB Zonovan Knight.
Jets tight end coach Ron Middleton has done a nice job of giving Cager a crash course on tight end blocking. He’s much further along than some would expect at this point of his position change . . .
Speaking of good blocks, Jets fullback Nick Bawden had a nice block on linebacker Kai Nacua on a run by La’mical Perrine up the middle. Bawden is a glass eater who takes no prisoners (how about that for two football cliches in one sentence) . . .
Robert Saleh said today what Jeff Ulbrich has said before – he couldn’t believe that safety Jordan Whitehead was allowed to hit free agency. He’s looked very good in camp – very instinctive. The former Tampa Bay Buc looks like a great get for the Jets.
August 2, 2022
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