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Adam Gase deserves some . . .
. . . credit for the element of surprise on the last drive, having a first read going to WR Vyncint Smith for a gain of 37. The Dolphins didn’t expect this, with Robby Anderson, Demaryius Thomas and Jamison Crowder as the focal points of the Jets’ pass game all afternoon.
It was kind of like Ryan Griffin at Washington, where he was an afterthought to the Redskins’ defense, and the Jets made hay with some big throws to him, including a 45-yarder.
Good job of catching the Dolphins off-guard on that key drive going to Smith . . .
I was on the Dolphins’ pregame show before the game, and the first question the host asked me was about Le’Veon Bell being inactive. I said that isn’t “earthshattering” for the Jets.
I wasn’t trying to be flippant, but just basing it on what we’ve seen this season. Aside from a few nice plays here and there, like the two-point conversion catch against Buffalo, he’s been pedestrian.
And having Bilal Powell as the main back today, gave the Jets somebody who does less dancing, and hits holes with more authority, which was helpful to the Jets’ patchwork line.
So Bell missing this game, had no little to no impact on the Jets’ offensive attack, and some might argue, Powell did a better job of hitting holes faster than Bell is wont to do . . .
Linebacker James Burgess led the Jets with 13 tackles to go along with a forced fumble and a defensed pass.
Can somebody explain to me why the Jets went with rookie Blake Cashman early in the year when they had injuries at inside linebacker, and not Cashman? I’m all ears. Please explain this to me, and I have nothing against Cashman. But this made no sense to me. Burgess is an instinctive, experienced veteran familiar with Gregg Williams defense from Cleveland, and Cashman was learning on the job. This was a head-scratcher . . .
A reason for the Jets’ win today was they were much better in the trenches, on both sides of the ball, then they were in Cincinnati. They had two sacks, which I’m not going to lie, I didn’t see, but they also had 12 QB hits total. Ryan Fitzpatrick was under constant duress and took a beating.
And the Jets’ offensive line did a nice job both protecting Darnold and run blocking.
The Jets won the trenches today.
And with that being said, considering how well he was protected, Darnold probably should have been a tad bit better than 20-36 passing. He left some plays out there.
Once again, the issue is he needs to throw with more anticipation, and not always wait for a guy to flash open and then throw a rocket into that window.
I will give you a perfect example of what I’m talking about:
On the Jets’ second to last offensive possession that ended in a Sam Ficken field goal, on 3rd-and-6 from the 24, Darnold attempted a deep out on the left side of the end zone to Robby Anderson. The receiver had a step on the defender, but the ball was late and too wide. You throw this ball a split second earlier and more
accurately, it’s six points.
December 8, 2019
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