Problem area for Bills that Jets can exploit

Florham Park – Dan checks in with more of the good stuff from Florham Park, including notes on Geno Smith, Marty M, Cumberland and more . . .

The Jets passing game is coming off a rough game, and there is a good chance it bounces back this week against a real banged-up Buffalo Bills secondary.

Not only is their best cornerback Stephon Gilmore out with a wrist injury, but his backup, Ron Brooks, hasn’t practiced all week with a foot injury, and is very iffy for this game, as is their best safety Jairus Byrd, who also has foot issues, and hasn’t played yet this year.

The Bills also have a rookie middle linebacker Kiko Alonso, who is a good prospect, but has only played two games, and the Jets’ tight ends should able to get some work done against a guy who is still figuring things out.

I expect a heck of game plan from Marty Mornhinweg and company with 10 days to prepare . . .

I think we all expected Jeff Cumberland to be a bigger part of the Jets passing attack this year. He had a good preseason, and he’s certainly seemed poised for a big year?

So far, he has no catches?

He nearly caught a deep pass against Tampa Bay, but was almost decapitated by Dashon Goldson, who was fined for the play.

I asked Marty Mornhinweg today about Cumberland, who is 6-4, 250 and runs 4.5.

Marty did admit he needs to get him more involved.

It’s kind of feeling out process right now since Marty is a new coordinator, and he’s getting used to who does what well.

But there is something else at work with Cumberland.

He’s staying in a lot as an extra blocker to help the line give Geno Smith extra time.

Once Marty feels more comfortable with the line, he will likely send Cumberland out more.

But this might not be the week, because the Bills have a terrific pass rush led by Mario Williams

You have to give Cumberland a lot of credit – he’s turned into a terrific blocker.

Remember, he was mainly a wide receiver at Illinois, so he had a ton of work to do on his blocking when he came in.

All his hard worker has paid off . . .

As we all know, the Jets want their punters to do a ton of directional punting, and Robert Malone struggled with this.

From what we hear, Ryan Quigley did a lot of directional punting at Boston College, so he has a lot of experience in this area . . .

Rex Ryan said today, that Geno Smith looked really good throwing the ball in practice today.

I’m sure he did. He can make all the throws, and has a live arm.

But this doesn’t mean much as far as Sunday.

Many weeks leading up to practice, in the last couple of seasons, Ryan would say Mark Sanchez looked good in practice.

You have to take practice throwing with a grain of salt.

There is no tackling, so no sacks.

Both Mark and Geno have a tendency to hold the ball too long.

So in these practices, where the real bullets aren’t flying, so to speak, it’s not a good gauge for what will happen on Sunday.

I’m not saying Smith is going to have a bad game.

I’m just saying looking good throwing the ball in practice isn’t a realistic litmus test for what is going to happen on game day . . .

September 19, 2013

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