Wednesday Whispers

It can be quite a challenge for all the players involved.

Talking about Thursday Night Football.

One former player said that guys “line up” for Toradol injections before Thursday Night games.

Toradol is an anti-inflammatory drug that reduces hormones that cause inflammation and pain in the body.

Teams don’t force players to do this. It’s up to the player and many players want them, to help get them through a three-hour game.

One veteran lineman said that usually his body doesn’t heal from the previous Sunday game until Friday, so he hates Thursday Night Football.

Road games on Thursday Night can be even more of a challenge.

Jets veteran left tackle Duane Brown made an interesting point about some extra challenges the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars could face.

“[The Jaguars] played an overtime game (against Dallas) and have to travel here,” Brown said.

That is kind of a double-whammy for the Jaguars – they played extra football entering a game on a short week, and have to get on a plane and travel to New Jersey from Florida.

And it can be really tough on the big guys in the trenches, carrying all the extra weight on their bones and muscles, and the Jaguars will be without two key front-seven players – OLB/DE Travon Walker (the first pick overall in the 2022 draft) and former Jets DT Foley Fatukasi.

Also, their starting left tackle, Cam Robinson (knee) is out, and two other key O-Linemen, guard Brandon Scherff (groin) and right tackle Jawaan Taylor (hamstring) are both questionable.

So this is the bottom line – the Jets need to dominate in the trenches, as the home team, against a team beat up in the trenches, and having to travel on a short week.

Stop the run, harass QB Trevor Lawrence all night, and do a great job running the football (especially with a very windy night expected), perhaps with a little more James Robinson mixed in, since he will be highly motivated to show Jacksonville they made a mistake by trading him . . .

This game is viewed as an absolute toss-up and the point spread indicates, with the Jets favored by one-point.

Perhaps some people are getting a little carried away with the Jacksonville hype.

Yes they have won two in a row, but three games ago, they got blown out by the Detroit Lions, 40-14. It’s not like that game was a long time ago. It was on December 4.

The Jaguars beat up the dysfunctional, injury-laden Tennessee Titans two weeks ago, and then Dallas last week in overtime. The Cowboys’ win was impressive, but Dallas’s secondary has kind of fallen apart in recent weeks, and Jacksonville took advantage.

So while Lawrence put up 40 against the Cowboys, don’t expect that kind of production against a Jets secondary that is much better than Dallas.

Plus it’s going to be really hard to throw anyway with the weather forecast.

Not predicting a Jets win. I will leave the picks to those guys and gals on TV that makes those great picks for the gamblers out there, but I’m just saying, this game is an absolutely toss-up, and while Jacksonville has improved the last couple of weeks, they are by no means a juggernaut. and they constitute a very beatable opponent for Gang Green.

December 21, 2022

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