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New Jersey – Big game this week for the Jets against a first-place team on the road. Let’s get the week going with some Monday nuggets . . .
I knew Brady Quinn was toast last week, when Rex Ryan was asked if the 28-year-old quarterback was a good mentor to Geno Smith, and he said he’s not a mentor, he’s a young quarterback.
I thought that was unfair answer and a slap in the face.
But I also knew Quinn was out of here, and they were going to replace him with Garrard.
The Jets seem to think that David Garrard will be a much better mentor to Geno Smith than Quinn.
We will see.
I think that is overrated. He’s got two coaches tutoring him in Marty Mornhinweg and David Lee.
If Quinn wasn’t mentoring Smith, what the heck was he doing here?
A number of teams only carry two quarterbacks on their roster (like the Cincinnati Bengals)
Quinn was inactive for every game. What waste of Woody Johnson’s money.
That Jets had Matt Simms head of him.
I did see Quinn mentoring Smith a lot. Rex should have told him to get the heck away from him if he felt he was such a bad mentor.
The bottom line is this – if Smith gets hurt, or if he’s having an awful game, the Jets need a veteran backup to replace him, not Matt Simms. I have nothing against Simms, who is a nice guy, but he is a project, who the Jets put in Canton after he beat up on the Giants and Eagles backups in the preseason. And in that Eagle game, he didn’t even throw a touchdown pass.
So if Garrard is a better option than Quinn to go in for Smith if he gets hurt, or is really hurting the team if they are in the playoff hunt, then the move today makes a lot of sense.
This mentor stuff is overblown . . .
Jets offensive line better bring their A-Game to Cincinnati.
The Bengals are loaded, and I mean loaded, in the front seven, led by their outstanding defensive tackle Geno Atkins. He is a great player.
They have two athletic 6-6 defensive ends in Carlos Dunlap and Michael Johnson.
You throw in linebackers Vontaze Berfict (one of the most underrated players in the league), Rey Maualuga and James Harrison, and I’m telling you, the Jets line needs to play better than they did against New England.
And Mike Zimmer is a heck of a defensive coordinator – they are going to bring the heat.
Jets rookie left guard Brian Winters really struggled against rookie defensive lineman Chris Jones, who beat him for two sacks.
If Winters struggled with Jones, a rookie, who was claimed on waivers by New England in September, what will he do against Atkins? You know Zimmer is going to put Atkins over Winters as much as possible.
And Chandler Jones beat Brick Ferguson for two sacks as well.
He needs to play better against Johnson, Harrison and company.
I’m telling you, if the Jets line doesn’t bring their A-Game, this could get ugly . . .
Stephen Hill is a decent receiver, but one thing I thought he would be better at is coming down with the ball in traffic.
This is a 6-4, 215-pound receiver with long arms and great leaping ability.
I think many people thought, including people at One Jets Drive, that this would be a guy to go up and win jump balls down field.
Against New England, late in the first half, Geno Smith threw a deep post, and while there were defenders in the area, Hill could have made the catch, if he was better in traffic. He couldn’t come down with it.
I will give a perfect example of what I’m talking about.
Late in the first quarter, Smith rolled to the right, and threw to David Nelson, who was covered pretty well by CB Logan Ryan, but the receiver went up and got the ball, ripped it away from the defensive back – he wasn’t going to be denied.
Hill doesn’t do this enough.
Perhaps he needs to get stronger.
Perhaps it’s a mindset.
But I have to say, I thought he would be better at this. And I wasn’t alone . . .
October 21, 2013
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