A ray of pass rush Dan Leberfeld
New Jersey – Some schedule talk tonight, or maybe not, and a look at the player being attached to the Jets quite a bit these days . . .
Todd Bowles just did a conference call with the Jets’ beat writers.
The reason for the conference all was the league announcing the schedule.
Bowles didn’t have much to say.
“Bowles was all business and to the point – nothing flashy,” tweeted the AP’s Dennis Waszak.
And that is the way it should be.
I personally think schedule talk is vapid.
Why make the coach talk about the schedule?
First of all, it’s not in their DNA to look past the next game. You know the old, “we are talking it one game at a time.”
That might sound cliché, but it’s a smart way to handle matters – never looked past the next game.
So from this point on, the Jets coaches, aside from working with their players in the spring and summer camps on learning the system and so forth, they will focus on Cleveland.
If were an NFL coach, and they asked me to do a press conference on the schedule, I would pass.
What the heck are you going to say?
You play who they tell you to play?
Another cliché – “We just focus on things we can control.”
Once again, no matter how cliché you think that is, it’s a good approach.
As a player or coach, you have no control over the schedule, so why focus on it?
You take it one game at a time, and never look ahead.
And to analyze how tough a schedule is, on April 21, is chasing windmills.
Most of these teams, we have no clue how good they are going to be.
There are still free agents to be signed; the draft hasn’t taken place yet.
We have no idea what injuries are going to happen in training camp and the preseason. Those are inevitable.
Of course we know the five or six teams with true franchise quarterbacks, like New England and Green Bay, are going to be tough. The teams with the franchise quarterbacks always are.
But most of the league, it’s hard to say how good many of these teams are going to be, on April 21.
So no, I won’t be watching the NFL Network’s telethon evaluating the schedule.
The only comment I have on the Jets schedule is the league did the right thing giving them a bye-week after their game in London, to get their sea legs back, and their internal clocks back to normal . . .
The more I evaluate the draft vis-à-vis the Jets’ first round pick, the more the arrow points to Shane Ray.
Ray might have the best motor in the draft. The guy is a whirling dervish going after quarterbacks. He’s relentless.
“I play with a lot of passion and a lot of energy,” Ray said.
He finished the 2014 season with 14.5 sacks, breaking the record of 11.5 that was set by both Michael Sam and Aldon Smith. Ray also had 22.5 tackles for loss this past season.
If the Jets picked him, he would instantly have great chemistry with a player who could line up next to him quite a bit, former Mizzou teammate Sheldon Richardson, who Shane considers “a big brother.”
I know he didn’t have the best Pro Day, running 4.68, but his game is more about quickness and relentlessness off the edge, than long speed.
“Ray was a twitched-up edge rusher for Missouri,” said former NFL scout Dan Jeremiah. “He has a dynamic first step and a variety of ways to get to the passer. He excels at powering through the outside shoulder of blockers and he has an explosive inside counter move. He rarely exposes his chest and gets locked up. He consistently wins the hand fighting and he can roll his hips on contact once arrives at the quarterback. His explosiveness and effort makes him a special player.”
I know is a little undersized and needs to get stronger, but man, do the Jets need a guy like this – a relentless game-wrecker coming off the edge.
April 21, 2015
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