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This quote caught me off guard . . .
“He was always getting beat up by you guys [reporters] but he would play a great game against us. We would have problems blocking him, we would have problems making sure he was accounted for, he’d do a good job in coverage. I think he’s the type of player that has a lot of the things you’re looking for from that position.” Adam Gase said about Darron Lee at the Combine.
He’s lucky I didn’t go to to combine this year.
Because a follow-up question or two was needed.
I would be polite and courteous, but do my job as a journalist.
Like this player didn’t deserve to be criticized (or “beat up” as he put it) by the media, and this idea that he played “great” against the Dolphins, what the heck does that mean in the big picture?
Even if you believe that to be the case, that he would “play a great game against [Miami],” which is debatable, is that how you judge a player in a 16-game season, how he played in two games? That makes very little sense from a personnel evaluation standpoint.
Did Gase watch the the first Jets-Patriots game from November 25?
The Patriots ran all over the Jets, and Lee was one of the reasons why.
*Late in the third quarter, on a James White gain of 27 to the right side, Lee got taken out by pulling guard Joe Thuney.
*Early in the fourth, Lee taken out by fullback James Develin on a Sony Michel gain of 33.
*In the middle of the third quarter, Lee had missed tackle on a Michel gain of nine up the middle.
*In the second quarter, Lee got caught in the trash on a Michel gain of 12 on the right side.
So for Gase to stand up there at the podium and act perplexed as to why the media has been critical of Lee, is somewhat surprising.
And it wasn’t just one bad game against the run. This has been a problem his three years with the team. He’s too small, and lacking the body armor, to take on and shed blocks, as an inside linebacker in a 3-4 defense.
Yes he has improved in coverage, but his run defense hasn’t. I can’t get the image out of my mind of Buffalo’s LeSean McCoy running him over for a TD in MetLife Stadium. McCoy is a scat-back. His deal isn’t running over people, it’s around them.
I went back to the second Jets-Dolphins game from this past season, and didn’t see “great.”
I only had two things in my notes on the player.
*Late in the first half – Frank Gore broke a Lee tackle attempt up middle the run went for seven – it should have been two.
*Late in the first half, running back Kalen Ballage beat him on a crossing route.
I didn’t have anything else in my notes.
“We would have problems blocking him,” Gase said.
Many other teams didn’t.
Once again, let’s see what Gase does when the season starts and what the player’s role is, and if he earns it. To me he’s a bubble player, but Mr. Coffee probably doesn’t look at it this way.
But right now what Gase is peddling about Lee that is far from reality.
To act like Lee’s struggles were a figment of the media’s imagination.
Jeez.
February 28, 2019
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