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You know what is interesting about the whole receipt thing . . .
Is Robert Saleh has a great relationship with the beat writers, appears on some of their podcasts, and they haven’t been particularly critical of him, all things considered.
So it’s receipt collection, if you will, is likely not coming from the press room. And not really coming from the local TV sportscasters.
And as for the national media, the only person I’m aware of that has come after him hard is VSIN’s Michael Lombardi. There are probably some others I haven’t seen, but it doesn’t seem widespread.
So the receipts deal has to be driven by social media. Saleh and his team take a lot of heat on Twitter from the public.
Where else is it coming from?
I’ve covering this team for a long time, and I’ve seen coaches and GMs get hammered relentlessly and run out of town by fierce critics in the press room. Ask John Idzik. That is certainly not the case now . . .
This is certainly a winnable game for the Jets on Sunday, because they are facing a QB, Jacoby Brissett, who is best served in a backup role. He doesn’t see the field that well or throw with much anticipation. He generally needs a running game to sell play-action fakes and bootlegs. If you stop the run, and make him a pure pocket passer, he struggles.
The Jets certainly did a terrific job stopping the run against Baltimore, but it could be more of a challenge against Cleveland. First of all Baltimore was without two key running backs – J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley, and then lost Stanley’s replacement in Ju’waun James, in the game, so they were playing a third-string left tackle for a big chunk of the game.
The Ravens have one of the NFL’s best offensive lines, and perhaps the best one-two punch at running back in the league, in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Not saying the Jets won’t be solid against the run again this week, just saying it could be a bigger challenge based on the lines and backs. Obviously, Brissett isn’t Lamar Jackson as a running QB, so that challenge will be lessened, but the line and backs are better . . .
The most troubling thing about two of the touchdowns the Jets gave up against Baltimore, the 55-yarder to Rashod Bateman and the 17-yarder to Devin Duvernay, is that the receivers got behind the secondary.
One of the biggest tenets of the Cover Three-based scheme the Jets play is to never let people behind you . . .
Getting back to Brissett, what Browns head coach/offensive play-caller Kevin Stefanski wants to do, is run the ball like crazy, leading to easy passes, some down the field, due to teams overplaying the run.
And if Jordan Whitehead (ankle) doesn’t play, the Jets will likely start Ashtyn Davis in his place, and one of his issues last year, was going for the “eye-candy” as they say, the play-fakes, leading to him being out of position at times. Davis has worked diligently this spring and summer to improve his game. He’s a very, very hard worker. We will see if his eye-sophistication improves, because if not, it could be problematic for the Jets’ deep patrol at FirstEnergy Stadium . . .
September 14, 2022
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