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San Diego Chargers Pro Bowl guard Kris Dielman retired this week.
Remember, on the flight home from a 2011 game with the Jets, he suffered seizures on the plane.
What happened was he suffered a concussion in the middle of the Jets-Chargers game, and stayed in the game to the end, not thinking it was any big deal.
Well it was a big deal, and the collisions that followed the initial concussion made it worse.
As first reported by Jets Confidential Magazine, the concussion was caused by a violent collision with Jets linebacker Calvin Pace . . . .
We hear one of the reasons Bart Scott and the Jets are on the best of terms right now is some of the defensive play-calling.
We hear Scott wasn’t thrilled last season with some of the defenses that were dialed up.
We all know that Scott was pissed about losing some playing time, often coming out on third down.
Here is one scenario we here Scott wasn’t enamored of.
The Jets would often bring in extra corners on third down and blitz them.
If you are taking Scott out for defensive backs because the linebacker is average in coverage, why are you having them pass rush, something Scott is pretty good at? We hear that bothered Scott.
One thing that has always impressed me about Scott is his football intellect – this guy understands football on a high level.
So if wasn’t happy with some of the defensive play-calling last year (not just involving him), where there is smoke, there is fire.
Rex Ryan said he is going to get more involved in defensive play-calling next season.
Rex made a name for himself as a top-shelf defensive coach, so this idea of him deferring play-calling to others really doesn’t make a lot of sense.
If you have a brilliant defensive mind in the building, he should be calling the defense, even if he is the head coach. If he doesn’t, you are wasting a strong resource.
And reading the tea leaves, I get the sense the Woody and Mike prefer that Rex make the defensive calls . . .
One other thing on the some of the defensive dysfunction that bothered Bart last year – from what I hear, some of the Jets linebackers were put in bad positions because of young defensive linemen blowing assignments.
Aside from Sione Pouha and Mike DeVito, the Jets were very young on the defensive line last year, and while they have a lot youngsters with big upsides, they were learning on the job, and sometimes they would play the wrong technique or leverage and mess up a running play.
The Jets defensive line rotation should be a lot better next year with all the young guys gaining experience, and having an entire off-season of teaching.
It should also help the defensive linemen to have a former NFL defensive lineman, Karl Dunbar, coaching them.
Mark Carrier is a very smart guy, but he’s a former NFL safety and secondary coach (his new job in Cincinnati), and it was kind of strange for Rex to have him coaching the defensive line the last two years.
Dunbar, who did a nice job over the years in Minnesota, with that talented front, should be a nice addition to the coaching staff, and should help the young defensive lineman a great deal.
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