Content available exclusively for subscribers
New Jersey – Time for a helping of Friday Night Whispers with notes on the Jets’ cornerback and front office situations . . .
The Jets handling of cornerback Phillip Adams has been a little bizarre.
He went for starting, to not playing.
And now he’s going to start again.
I have asked Adams repeatedly what happened, and he said he doesn’t know. There was a game he missed due to a groin, but the last two games, his non-existent role wasn’t injury-related.
He did press Adams on what he might need to improve, and he said his tackling. He missed some tackles.
The handling of Adams in Kansas City was strange. They needed him. I asked Ryan today why Adams didn’t play last week.
“There are different matchups and sometimes you take the strength of a player and maybe something that’s not as strong, a weakness of a player,” Ryan said. “You look at what you’re up against and you adjust accordingly. I think Phillip Adams, this week, I think will play much more than the plan was to play him last week.”
I’m sorry, I’m not on board with this.
I’m not putting Adams in Canton, but how on earth can anybody make that argument that Adams, who is a pure cornerback, is a worse option that Antonio Allen, a safety playing out of position at cornerback. That makes absolutely no sense. None.
And here is another point that shoots a hole in Rex’s argument. Adams is expected to start against the Pittsburgh Steelers. How can you trust a guy to start one week, and not even play him the previous week? Makes no sense.
I understand that the Jets are behind the eight ball at the cornerback spot, but they aren’t helping matters with decision making like this.
What matchup could Rex possible be talking about that would lead to Allen starting at corner last week, after so many rough recent games, and Adams not playing. C’mon man.
No question the Jets need to upgrade their talent at some of the secondary spots this off-season.
But also, better decisions need to be made as well (like stop rushing high draft picks into the lineup before they are ready – see Dee Milliner and Calvin Pryor). Also better coaching needs to take place. There are too many blown coverages. And often times, blown assignments aren’t just talented-related, but coaching-related.
Yes, the talent is an issue, but it doesn’t end there . . .
The Jets have no plans to make any changes during the bye-week according to a team source.
So don’t expect a coaching or GM change during the bye-week . . .
One thing people need to keep in mind about a coaching or GM change – who is going to decide on these changes?
As I’ve mentioned many times, when the Jets looked for a new GM, the three-man panel doing a lot of the interviews consisted of Woody Johnson, Neil Glat and Ira Axselrad.
Do you think they are great at interviewing people for football jobs? That is debatable. They recently hired a new Jets Senior VP on the business side, Ian Lasher. He had been a long-time executive at ESPN. Johnson, Glat and Axselrad are very much qualified to make this higher. It’s in their wheelhouse. They are business people.
So let’s say the Jets decided to make a GM change, this trio is going to likely pick the replacement. Do you think that is a good idea? Are you comfortable with that?
And talking to people around the league, the feeling is that Idzik resonated with this trio during the selection process because he was considered a very good cap guy.
Like I said – business decisions fine, football decisions – don’t know about that.
If I were the Jets, and they wanted to change things up, I’d hire a really strong football guy, like a Mike Shanahan-type, to oversee the operation, or at least as consultant, so if they make changes, they make the prudent ones.
November 7, 2014
Premium will return by 11 pm on Sunday.
