Content available exclusively for subscribers
The Jets reported . . .
and a few people were made available to the media.
One was guard Alijah Vera-Tucker.
He was asked what he thought about all the stories about Zach Wilson’s dating life which have been all over social media.
“I didn’t see that,” Vera-Tucker said.
Is that possible?
Look, it’s unfortunate that Vera-Tucker has to be asked questions about TMZ kind of stories, but considering how many of his teammates commented on it on social media, including his good friend Mekhi Becton, is it really possible he’s not aware of the story?
Perhaps just say “no comment.” . . .
Several Jets interviewed today were asked questions about how much better Wilson is in year two.
These are rhetorical questions, that can only be answered one way, by praising the teammates’ improvement.
The way I would answer it, as a non-teammate:
“I will let you know when the real games start.” . . .
Somebody asked Quinnen Williams a question I have to admit I’ve never heard asked about a teammate.
In a question about Carl Lawson coming back from a torn Achilles, the reporter asked Williams: “Did you see a step back from him?”
I’ve never heard a teammate being asked about a teammate’s possible regression.
That is usually reserved for a coach or GM, and they usually won’t touch it.
And Williams didn’t go there either.
Lawson might turn out to be tremendous for the Jets this year, but as we have pointed out before, he’s now had two ACL tears, a serious hip injury, and the Achilles.
The guy is so fanatical with his conditioning he should be fine, but he’s been through a lot on the medical front. Hey, he’s still only 27, so perhaps he will bounce back fine. Nobody will outwork him . . .
Quinnen Williams said today, “This defense can be spectacular.”
Quinnen is a wonderful person and very good player, but some might argue, “How about getting good first?”
As one former GM was fond of saying: “You have to be good before you are great.”
Man, do the Jets have a lot of work to do on defense.
And yes they added two key players in the first round of the draft, in potential #1 corner Sauce Gardner and talented edge-rusher Jermaine Johnson. But they will be rookies this year. It’s hard to expect rookies to lift a unit too much initially.
It’s interesting that even after what looks like a superb draft on paper for Gang Green, the wise guys in Vegas didn’t change the Jets over/under win total.
Why am I bringing that up? Because clearly the guys who make the lines don’t think a potential great rookie class, while it could be very good for that organization in the long haul, is going to have a big impact on the win-loss total initially.
Look, not to belabor the point that Mike Lombardi made about how bad the Jets defense was last year, but we need to keep in mind, they have a tremendous amount of work to do on that side of the ball, and it doesn’t just involve getting better play from players, but also improved X’s and O’s at times.
As we have pointed out before, if veteran quarterbacks come to the line, and know exactly what defense you are in, they will eat your lunch.
The Jets perhaps need to add a little more complexity to what they are doing on the defensive side of the ball.
But with all that being said, they certainly should be better on defense because they should have eight quality defensive linemen to rotate, which is important in this scheme, which requires a lot of running. Last year, there was a big dropoff when the second team came in . . .
Pictured above is tight end Tyler Conklin one of five Jets to address the media today.
July 26, 2022
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Wednesday.