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Old staffer, same as the new staff . . .
Jets special team’s coach Brant Boyer has been retained by Adam Gase.
He will fit right in with the team’s other two department heads with his hard-nosed approach.
Gregg Williams running the defense, Adam Gase running the offense, and Boyer running the special teams, give the Jets three type-A personalities running each of their departments.
For the last three years, the voice you heard on the practice field the loudest, and most often, was Boyer.
And if this were a drinking game, and the buzz-word was an f-bomb, you would be drinking a lot listening to Boyer on the practice field.
Boyer is always loud and always pushing his guys. He’s tough and loud, and says things like, “Get your bleeping butts in gear.”
He constantly stays on top of his players on the practice field making sure they always play at the tempo he did as a special team’s standout with the Miami Dolphins (1994), Jacksonville Jaguars (1995–2000) and Cleveland Browns (2001–2003). He had a great motor and expects the same from them.
I’m not saying that being loud and boisterous is the most important thing in coaching, but Boyer was the coach you always heard the most barking on the practice field the last three years. I didn’t even know what most of the other coach’s voices sounded like.
Boyer was not the special team’s coach during Todd Bowles’ first season as Jets coach. That was Bobby April, fired after one season. April had a great career as an NFL special team’s coach, but that was a bad year for the Jets in that area.
Boyer’s first two years with the Jets were pedestrian, but part of the problem was suspect personal and not having the requisite parts needed to succeed.
Last off-season, Mr. Coffee made a concerted effort to give Boyer what he needed, and voila, the Jets shined this year on special teams.
Boyer was coaching his guys just as hard the first two years, but he didn’t have great kick returners, and had too many guys on his unit who would short-circuit mentally.
This season he had a great returner in Andre Roberts, a great kicker in Jason Myers, and an excellent core group filled with tough, cerebral players who were assignment-savvy.
The 99-yard kick return for a TD by Roberts against Green Bay was one of the best blocked returns by the Jets in a long time, with key blocks by Eric Tomlinson on cornerback Josh Jackson, Frankie Luvu had a pancake on cornerback Bashaud Breeland and linebacker Anthony Wint and receiver Charone Peake took down LB Oren Burks in the middle of the run. There were other blocks also. It was a thing of beauty.
Boyer fits in so well with Gase and Williams approach – all three are blunt, bold and tell it like it is guys, who aren’t shy about telling you what they think.
As I said yesterday, the Jets look to be in good shape with the three guys running their offense, defense and special teams.
And did the smart thing keeping Boyer, who did a heck of the job this year, and takes no prisoners as a coach.
January 17, 2019
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