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Morris County – A few different things to get into today heading into the weekend and the Jets’ preparation to spoil the Indianapolis Colts’ playoff dreams . . .
Leonard Williams has been a revelation this year. He’s a burgeoning NFL star.
I kind of forgot this, but he brought up today who his defensive line coach was at USC – Ed Orgeron, who was just named full-time coach of LSU.
He said Orgeron always focused on his bad plays in film study after games. Williams didn’t like this at first, but he eventually realized Orgeron was trying to bring out his greatness.
Leonard should have a big game on Monday Night Football. It’s well-documented the Colts line isn’t very good.
And players get extra pumped for MNF football, regardless of the team’s record. They want to show the country, and their football brethren watching at home, how good they are . . .
I asked Todd Bowles today two questions I thought were very important.
First, I asked him about Mo Wilkerson. I asked him if they need more from Mo Wilkerson than the two tackles he had against New England.
I wasn’t being a wise guy or disrespectful. I respect Mo. It’s a question that needed to be asked.
“I need more from everybody,” Bowles said. “The plays don’t always go to him, so he’s not going to have a slew of tackles, so we need more from everybody.”
That is Todd’s stock answer when asked about getting more production from a certain player.
People keep asking – “What is wrong with Mo.”
In my opinion, I think he’s had some concern about re-injuring the leg again. He saw a player with the same injury do it right in front of him in the Jets’ fourth preseason game – RB Khiry Robinson.
It’s human nature. I think very soon, he will totally trust the leg, and let it all hang out.
This is my theory on what is going on here.
The second question I asked Bowles was about how important it is to get sacks at the outside linebacker position in a 3-4 defense, pointing out Kansas City as an example. I asked him if the Jets are getting enough sacks out of their outside linebackers, which is so important in this defense. Notice his first sentence was similar to what he said about Mo.
“We need to get better overall,” Bowles said. “Outside linebackers, we would like to have more sacks, but we’re starting to get some more pressures. There are young guys getting better. Obviously, I would like to see them better first in the run game, which they are doing which translates to them understanding the passing game a little better, but those guys are getting a lot better.”
The bottom line is there isn’t a transcendent 3-4 OLB pass rusher in that room. They have some solid contributors, but no Von Miller, Justin Houston or Elvis Dumervil.
Mr. Coffee better drink some extra espressos and fix this in the off-season.
Enough already. Get it done . . .
I wouldn’t rule out Jets right tackle Breno Giacomini (back) just yet.
He practiced more today than Thursday, and I saw him sprint on to the field for a drill today, and didn’t look like a guy too hobbled.
December 2, 2016
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