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There is no way around it . . .
. . . the Jaguars’ defense, perhaps the NFL’s best, is licking their collective chops about facing a rookie quarterback.
How do I know they are licking their chops?
One of their players said it.
“We’re all licking our chops,” Jaguars free safety Tashaun Gipson told the Florida Times-Union.”[Sam Darnold’s] a young guy. There’s growing pains, it’s part of the game. I feel like if we can get him off his mark, kind of get him rattled whether it’s on pressure or [with] tight coverage, I think we’ll have a good day.”
The Jaguars’ loaded defense is ready to feast on the Jets’ rookie quarterback. There is no way around that.
We will see if he’s up to his herculean challenge . . .
ESPN’s Josina Anderson reported, “There seems to be an internal debate with how he’s being coached, specifically the approach with offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates.”
Anderson reports that some in the organization want Bates to simplify the offense.
I asked Todd Bowles about this report, and he shot it down.
So now we have people blaming the offensive line, weapons and Jeremy Bates.
How about putting focusing on what the true issue is – the Jets are starting a 21-year-old rookie quarterback (who I love as a prospect) who started just two years in college.
I’m not saying there isn’t some blame that should go to other areas, but let’s stop beating around the bush here.
Jets have a very young quarterback, who had turnover issues last year at USC, who is learning on the job.
It’s time to stop glossing over this, and pointing fingers all over the place.
And I don’t blame Darnold one bit for his struggles. If a team, perhaps, starts a young player before he’s ready, then the fault lies with them, not the player . . .
Leonard Williams said the Jets had a very good week of practice and guys are in good spirits.
It seemed that a few of the practices ran longer than usual.
Maybe Jamal Adams got their attention.
Some people can kill the messenger all they want, but what Adams said about not being prepared for Baker Mayfield should be a wake-up call to cross all t’s and dot all i’s in your preparation.
But the bottom line is the Jets need to cut down on mental errors and be on top of their defensive keys. The Jaguars are going to run a lot of misdirection with some gadget plays mixed in. Teams with mediocre quarterbacks tend to do this to mask the signal-callers shortcomings. So expect a lot of different looks from the Jaguars’ bag of tricks.
With ten days to prepare and rest their bodies, there is no excuse for the Jets not to be physically and mentally ready for this game.
Bill Belichick likes Thursday Night Football because he is a big fan of the back end – extra time to get ready for the next game. Bowles likes the back end also.
“You like the back end,” Bowles said. “It’s kind of like a mini bye. The guys get some time off and they get to sleep in and they get to heal a little bit. Three games in 11 days takes it’s toll. You hate the front end, you like the back end.”
And they need to take advantage of this extra time to heal-up and game-plan.
September 28, 2018
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