Jets \ Eagles Post Game Thoughts

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It was a painful game to watch but let’s take a look at some thoughts as the preseason closes.

Special Teams

– One bad flashback to 2015 with the punt return TD, but other than that the coverage units continue to look improved.

– With a horrid offensive performance Lachlan Edwards got quite a workout and was outstanding.  Fantastic upgrade over Ryan Quigley.

Defense

– Ended the pre-season on a high note, creating almost as many turnovers (five) as the offense scored (six).

– Deon Simon (NT) controlled the running game and showed excellent range laterally.  He and Steve McLendon look to be a nice replacement of Damon Harrison.

– Taiwan Jones (ILB) had a “Canton” game with at least 10 tackles, multiple TFL’s, creating an INT with a tip and grabbing an INT.  Did that save him a roster spot or was it too little too late?

– Juston Burris (CB) ended pre-season on a high note with an INT and better ball awareness when covering WR’s.  He’s going to get important reps in the regular season with the way he’s improved this summer.

Offense

– LVP of the game was Brandon Shell (OT).  Who had at least two whiffs that nearly got Bryce Petty killed and definitely got him injured.  He’s got a ton of technique work to do because he reaches and “ducks” his head when pass blocking.

– Speaking of Petty, with him getting hurt does that “help” us with roster management?  Will Maccagnan put him on IR to save us a roster spot?  Too bad he got hurt because he was on his way to a big game.

– Christian Hackenberg looked overwhelmed the longer he played which was disappointing.  But I didn’t go crazy last week when he had a TD drive so I’m not going crazy with last night’s dreck. He needs to be rebuilt and the organization appears dedicated to that process, so see you next
year Hackenberg.

– Was that Jace Amaro’s last appearance?  He had a couple of catches but something always seems “off” when he plays in a game.  To me his worst play was at the end of the first half when we were  trying to get into FG range.  He makes the catch and gets the necessary yardage for the FG but
fumbles the ball which allows time to run out before we can call a timeout.  Bad situational football.

– Khiry Robinson flashed a lot of ability behind a makeshift OLine.  He showed good hands in the passing game and ran with good power inside & outside.  With Robinson, Forte & Powell it appears we’ve upgraded our RB corps.

– Robby Anderson completed his fantastic summer with another long TD.  It’s amazing how far he’s come since camp opened in late July.  Early on he flashed with some catches in practice but Karl Dorrell (WR coach) was all over him about the depth of his routes & footwork.  But he took the
coaching and now he’s doing what we expected from Devin Smith.

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Cam Newton shares thoughts on Colin Kaepernick protest

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Cam Newton shared his thoughts on Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest recently and is being criticized by some for his mostly neutral responses.

Newton sat down for an interview with ESPN’s Trey Wingo and talked about Kaepernick protesting the national anthem in an effort to call attention to the mistreatment by police officers of some African-Americans. Newton did not really take a stance on the matter, although he did say Kaepernick has a right to express his opinion.

Here’s a clip from the interview:

“What I can’t fathom is how does 1/8 of an inch, something so small, be the difference in such a big commodity in our whole lifetime, and that’s the thickness of our skin,” Newton said. “And under that, we’re all the same color. And that’s the big picture.

“A lot of scrutiny happens when the athletes start talking about race, but the truth of the matter is we just gotta do right by each other, no matter what color you are. Certain things that has happened in our life, in our lifetime, is kind of embarrassing to be affiliated with, but it still happens. Who am I to say ‘Colin you’re wrong.’ And who am I to say, you’re right. We all have the right to think whatever we want to think.”

Newton was taken to task by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who says the reigning NFL MVP was being too protective of his brand to truly share an opinion on the subject. Others called out Newton for tap-dancing around the issue.

Meanwhile, Kaepernick’s protest took a turn on Thursday when the 49ers quarterback issued a statement about his police pig socks.

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Jets Lose Snoopy Bowl; Post Game Thoughts

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By KRL

An “encouraging and dominant loss” last night, let’s take a look at the game:

General

– Good to see the “challenge operation” improved as Bowles got both of them right and got awarded a third.

– Impressed with NYG Eli Apple he looks like he could be a good CB.  He better watch his hands though he got away with several holds that weren’t called.

Special Teams

– Continues to show massive improvement from the what we’ve been exposed to the last few years.  Lachlan Edwards, Bruce Carter, Rontez Miles, Jeremy Ross and Chandler Worthy all had big games.  Our coverage units had a couple of hiccups though allowing a good punt and kick return.

– Good bounce back from Ross Martin with that 55 yard FG.  He won’t make the team this year but with a little more work he could get the job next year.

Defense

– An absolutely dominant effort, NYG couldn’t get past midfield until the third quarter and that was because of a facemask penalty.  The missed tackles and “whiffs” disappeared and the third down efficiency was excellent.

– The speed and pressure started to remind me of what Bowles was running in ARZ.  You also saw a ton of 4-2-5 looks where Calvin Pryor “floated” between S & LB.

– Speaking of Pryor he had a huge game with a sack, at least one TFL and an assist on the Revis INT.  Beckham was so scared of getting clocked by Pryor that he broke off his route and allowed the pick.

– The DLine was so dominant it seemed like NYG was scared to run certain plays and put Manning in harm’s way.  Muhammad Wilkerson and Steve McLendon were absolute beasts and lived in the backfield all night.  With McLendon’s ability to penetrate we didn’t have to sub him out in passing downs and stayed with four down linemen.

– The only bad play of the night was Dee Milliner getting spun around and giving up a TD to a second string WR.  He needs to be better than that.

– An under the radar guy who had another excellent game was Julian Stanford (ILB).  Was all over the field with the #2 defense and is a demon on specials.  Can he find a spot on the roster?

Offense

– Was the worst of the three units particularly because of awful QB ball security when we were in scoring range.  Ryan Fitzpatrick held onto the ball too long allowing the Harrison sack/fumble and Bryce Petty threw a “Sanchezian” screen pass pick 6.  Those plays cost us 6 points and gave them 7.

– Speaking of Fitzpatrick he needs to get into better sync with ALL the WR’s not just Brandon Marshall. Because there were at least three wide open receivers he missed that would have gone for big gains:
* Eric Decker on a 15 yard out for a first down
* Matt Forte on a screen in single coverage against a LB
* Robby Anderson wide open with no one around on a broken play

To whom much is given much is required, he wanted $ 12 million he’s got to play up to that level.  He can’t be under 60% again when it comes to completion percentage, not with this group of WR’s.

– Good opening drive by Christian Hackenberg taking the team in for a TD.  He was up and down after that but that’s to be expected.  There’s still a ton of work that needs to be done but one thing that’s encouraging is he works through his progressions when scanning the field.  He doesn’t just lock onto his first option.

– Good pass protection from the OLine again.  The RT’s remained anonymous and for all the $ $ $ NYG spent on their DLine our QB’s remained clean.  Did Pierre-Paul even play, I never heard his name. The run blocking was up and down but I’ll give credit to Harrison for that, we all know how good
he is.

– Good to see Matt Forte out there working the rust off.  Nothing dynamic but you caught glimpses of how he’ll help in the pass game.

– Solid games out of Zach Sudfeld and Brandon Bostick at TE.  Can they push Jace Amaro and Kellen Davis out the door?

– Solid games again for Jalin Marshall, Robby Anderson, Charone Peake and Jeremy Ross at WR.  In my book I keep all of them over Kenbrell Thompkins.  A few nice catches last year doesn’t give him a “scholarship”.

Tell us your New York Jets thoughts in our forums.

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Thoughts After the Redskins Game

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In any other sport when I watch during pre-season I never go “crazy”, but when it comes to football I always have to catch myself before I start screaming at the TV. I wonder why that is?  After watching the game again there’s a ton to clean up.  Bowles is probably going to turn the heat up this week in practice:

Special Teams

– So far so good with Lachlan Edwards and the punt coverage.  Every punt had good distance, hang time and “flipped” the field.

– Unfortunately we had nothing in the return game due to touchbacks and good WAS coverage.

– Ross Martin may be a good kicker in the future but he’s not ready yet.

Defense

– The “whiffs” and missed tackles need to start decreasing.  They’ve led to big gains and extended drives.

– Third down efficiency has to increase, too many third and longs are being converted.

– It’s good that the defense is “bending” and not giving up points.  But I’m tired of seeing the opponent march down the field for 7-8 minutes at a time.

– Bad games from Marcus Williams and Erin Henderson.  Williams was soft in coverage giving up completions and Henderson vacated his lane a few times allowing a couple of big runs.

– Jordan Jenkins had a rookie up & down game.  He had two QB hits (which were almost sacks) but he badly whiffed on a clean sack of McCoy.

– Lorenzo Mauldin needs to get better cleats or improve his balance.  Because multiple times he was closing in on the QB off the edge and he ended up on the ground.  He also lost containment on a couple of runs.

– Good games from Rontez Miles & Ronald Martin.  Both patrolled the middle of the field and made multiple tackles at the line of scrimmage.  In addition Martin showed good range knocking passes away on sideline patterns.

– Even though Juston Burris gave up two TD’s (which he had good coverage on) he had some impressive PBU’s.

– Is Leonard Williams going to average a sack a game for the year?

– Solid games from Deon Simon and Mike Catapano particularly killing WAS running attack.

Offense

– Horrible drops which led to multiple three and outs and prevented the offense from developing any kind of flow.

– Zach Sudfeld made a nice TD catch, other than that the TE’s were awful in their ball security.  Kellen Davis and Sudfeld have no excuse for allowing DB’s to knock the ball out.  And Jace Amaro had multiple brutal drops that killed drives.

– When Bilal Powell was at RB the running game looked good.  When Tommy Bohanon and Julian Howsare took over our running game disappeared, enough said.

– Considering Mangold sat out the OLine was solid.  Ben Ijalana & Brent Qvale alternated at RT and both were not noticeable (which is what you want).

– Jalin Marshall had a down game with multiple drops, he needs to bounce back next week.

– Charone Peake also had a couple of drops but fought through and made some plays.

– Robby Anderson was the big standout and it was good to see him high point the ball and take it away from CB’s.  Has he moved up in the WR pecking order?

– Shocked at how poorly Geno Smith performed.  Playing against #2’s you can’t be inaccurate and short hopping balls.  In my eyes the #2 spot is now up for grabs between him and Bryce Petty.

– Petty had a good game and continues to grow.  He showed good mobility in the pocket and was able to make plays when the protection broke down.

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