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Madison, New Jersey – It’s time for a heaping helping of Jets Whispers, including notes on a huge injury, Calvin Pryor and home-field advantage . . .
The Jets didn’t have much of a home-field advantage in their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
There were tons of Eagles fans in attendance, and I mean tons. The section right in front of where I was sitting in the press box, looked like it was a 50-50 split.
And there was clearly a mixed din in the crowd.
When the Eagles did something successful, you could hear the excitement in the crowd.
The Jets have so many tickets available on the secondary market, it kills their home field advantage when they face certain teams.
Obviously Philadelphia is just two hours from MetLife Stadium, and on top of that, South Jersey is a Philly market.
And a lot of Eagles fans made the trek to East Rutherford . . .
A big reason the Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins, could contribute a great deal to Jets win, if the same factor exists this week.
The Bills were without their high-priced, talented left tackle Brandon Albert against Buffalo.
That was huge.
When you are facing a pass rush like Buffalo, and you are playing a backup left tackle (Jason Fox), that is a HUGE problem.
If Albert misses another game, with a hamstring injury, it will help the Jets chances a great deal.
I know you might think I’m making a big deal about one position, but there is such a big drop-off from Albert to Fox, it can mess up an offense.
And you know darn well Mo Wilkerson would be lining up over Fox early and often.
Keep an eye on this injury as the week progresses. It Albert can’t play, it will certainly help tip the balance of power in the game to the Jets . . .
Calvin Pryor has improved from his rookie year, but he still has a long way to go.
He is so aggressive, that he puts himself out of position too often.
He rushes up field so anxious to lay a big hit on the opponent, he often over-pursues. He needs to play more under control.
On Darrin Sproles first carry of the game, a gain of five. Pryor shot up the field and Sproles ran by him.
Then on the Eagles’ second possession, on a third-and-nine, Pryor was a little out of control running up field to deal with Sproles on the short right side, and missed a tackle, and the runner went for nine yards and a first down.
In the second quarter, there was a pass on the right side to a wide open Ryan Matthews, and he dropped it. But he was wide open, and it was Pryor who failed to get over there.
He’s a very talented player, but still a major work-in-progress.
And the Jets are clearly a little nervous about him because they keep bringing in safeties. They claimed Dion Bailey on waivers from Seattle today.
Bailey was released by the Seahawks to make room for Kam Chancellor. Bailey started for Chancellor in Week One. He is a second-year player out of USC.
Bailey is a safety with a background at linebacker.
Bowles likes these kind of hybrid guys, often referred to as “bandits” in football parlance.
9/28/2015
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