Practice has little to do with defense problem

The Jets’ defensive issues explained:

Safety Bradley McDougald on SNY: “Slow practices and it correlates to the game. We’ve yet to have one complete, dominating week of practice.”

Linebacker Avery Williamson on WFAN:, “Sometimes, in practice, guys are missing tackles or we’re not doing things right. We haven’t been as crisp as we should be at times. We don’t start fast at practice.”

I respectfully disagree with McDougald and Williamson.

I don’t think practice is the problem.

I believe it’s poor personnel utilization decisions by the team’s defensive coordinator related to who’s playing and who isn’t.

I don’t want to belabor the point, and become repetitive, because I’ve mentioned this issue several times recently.

Henry Anderson, with his 5.0 speed (not this fault, it’s what he was given), having to set edges against the run is shocking. It happened last year, and continues to happen this year. The starter on the other side is speed challenged as well, and when you put these guys out there at end, you are inviting opponents to run to the outside. How they continue to do this after it was a problem last year makes little sense.

I’ve already been over the wild decision to put Nate Hairston, cut at the final cutdown, and in-active in Week Two, in for Pierre Desir in Week One. Wow.

And then this past game, the decision to start Alex Ogletree at inside linebacker, who arrived a couple of weeks ago, was mind altering, when you had Harvey Langi, who played well in Buffalo after Blake Cashman got hurt, and they also had Avery Williamson. One of the strangest personnel decisions I’ve seen in my quarter century covering the team, and the results were an unmitigated disaster, like on the 80-run TD run, and the 55-yard run run on 3rd-and-31.

And for Frankie Luvu to hardly play in this last game, when he’s the team’s best edge-rusher, and one of their fastest defenders (on a speed-challenged defense) is something I can’t wrap my mind around.

So no, it’s not the practice, it’s the personnel decisions being made by the DC, who should not be making these decisions. It should be the head coach. A head coach needs to be the head coach of the entire team, and not farm out one side of the ball, especially when it comes to who’s playing . . .

Jets guard Cam Clark is probably a ways off from returning from a training camp knee injury

The reason I bring up the Jets fourth-round pick out of Charlotte is the Jets’ guards, especially the right guard, seem to be struggling with interior quickness, and Clark is the likely the heir apparent at one of the guard spots, so they might want to get him in there at some point to get his feet wet. But he doesn’t seem close to returning right now . . .

Obviously bright spots for the Jets so far are Quinnen Williams and Mekhi Becton, but another young guy who deserves some praise is Trevon Wesco.

He had a great camp as a blocker and receiver (why they don’t throw to him, I have no idea), but he is a wrecking ball as a blocker on Sunday.

On the Jets’ second series, Frank Gore had a gain of four off left guard. Wesco pancaked Nick Bosa, who’s knee buckled under him as he went to the ground. Unfortunately this was a season-ending injury, and I’m not making light of it. Nick Bosa is a heck of a player. But to see Wesco manhandle such a powerful man like this, probably shocked some people, including Bosa.

Late in the game, he led the way on a La’Mical Perine 10-yard gain off left tackle.

Mr. Coffee had a few misses, but this wasn’t one of them.

September 23, 2020

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