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I was dead wrong . . .
. . . about Ryan Griffin (pictured above).
Early in the season, I labeled him “a blocking tight end,” and man was I wrong. You know what he is, he’s a tight end the Houston Texans didn’t feature enough in their passing game during his six years there (aside from 2016 when he had 50 catches).
He’s an impressive combo tight end, looking like Jason Witten the last few games for the Jets, blocking and receiving with equal proficiency. At first he was viewed as a stopgap during the Chris Herndon suspension, but now he’s a guy who’s earned another contract from the Jets.
The UConn-graduate is a really smart player who consistently finds holes in the defense to exploit. And Adam Gase has done a nice job of catching defenses off guard with more play-calls to him than defenses expect. With so much attention going to Demaryius Thomas, Robby Anderson, Jamison Crowder and Le’Veon Bell in the passing game, Griffin is getting favorable match-ups he’s exploited, and in same cases, no match-up at all (nobody covering him).
Gase and Griffin deserve a ton of credit for the tight end’s explosion. Gase for dialing up more plays for him than the defenses are expecting, and Griffin for taking full advantage of his opportunities . . .
How much has Foley Fatukasi emerged this year? Two-time Pro Bowl guard Brandon Scherff jumped off sides with Fatukasi over him. That’s the kind of thing usually reserved for the Aaron Donald’s of the world who make offensive guards nervous. Fatukasi has taken a quantum leap this year . . .
Somebody after the game asked a Jets defender, “The defense didn’t allow a touchdown until the fourth quarter, what was clicking on that side of the ball?”
I forgot what the answer was, but if I were answering the question the answer would have been, “Facing Dwayne Haskins, a rookie quarterback in his second career start, who only started one year in college, that helped a lot.”
I hate to be cynical, but to me, you always need to keep things in perspective, especially those in decision-making positions. This team is still 3-7, and their defense is a big reason why.
Nice performance by the Jets’ defense at FedEx Field, but they were facing a QB who isn’t ready to play, and it showed.
To use an borrow an old Bill Parcells expression, Haskins was “like a ball in the weeds.” Lost.
There is a reason Jay Gruden and Bill Callahan didn’t want to play him yet. This is Daniel Snyder’s pick and he wants him to play. When owners get involved in scouting and playing time decisions, it rarely works out well.
Haskins might be good in a couple of years, but he’s not ready to play yet, and the Jets took full advantage of that fact. Hat-tip to them for taking advantage of that, but let’s not go overboard and act like the Jets’ defense has turned a corner. Time will tell on that. They dominated a rookie QB who clearly isn’t instant coffee . . .
Gase made a line-up change mistake that was corrected today by an injury.
In the first quarter, rookie right tackle Chuma Edoga got beat for two sacks by Ryan Kerrigan.
Edoga unfortunately hurt his ankle in the second quarter, and Brandon Shell came in and there were no problems on that side for the rest of the game.
I have no idea why the Jets replaced Shell with Edoga. Never made sense to me. It was a frivolous lineup change.
Shell is better than Edoga now, and you saw that today in Washington.
Speaking of frivolous lineup changes, the signing of Ryan Kalil in August, and putting him in the lineup ahead of Jon Harrison, was unnecessary.
How’d the Jets’ offense looked the last two games with Harrison at center?
Harrison was a big part of the Jets’ running game having perhaps their best outing of the season in Washington.
You wonder if the Kalil move was pandering to a degree, to a media and twitter-verse, demanding all off-season the Jets upgrade their center position. You should never govern by public opinion polls. Not putting Harrison in Canton, but he is more than capable and Darnold was comfortable with him.
And from I hear, according to a league source, Harrison isn’t thrilled with some of the reporters who were beating that “Jets need a center” drum all off-season.
Kalil’s was put on IR yesterday, and one of the reasons was a shoulder injury. A shoulder injury was the reason he decided to announce 2018 was his last season in the NFL. May the buyer beware.
November 17, 2019
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