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While Darrelle Revis is a great player, you could make a strong argument that Antonio Cromartie would be the better matchup for Calvin Johnson. Cromartie is 6-3 and Johnson is 6-5. “Cro” also has a tremendous vertical. Think about what a terrific job Cromartie did against 6-4 Randy Moss in both the New England and Minnesota games.
Rex Ryan said Revis will be on Johnson. Listen, it’s never a bad decision to put Revis on anybody. He’s a sensational player, but you could make an argument either way when it comes to whether Revis or Cromartie should be on Johnson. But don’t assume that Revis will exclusively cover Johnson. Do you really think Rex was going into detail about his true plan for Johnson? Absolutely not.
Like the Jets used to do with Edwards, the Lions will throw to Johnson even when he’s covered.
“Whether he is covered or not, he’s an elite guy who can go up and get it,” Mike Pettine said. “They throw it to the boundary and either he is going to catch it, or it’s going to go out of bounds.” . . .
The Jets played a song at practice from Detroit rapper Eminem, and one line from the song pretty much sums up their trip to Motown – “Success is my only ‘expletive deleted’ option.” . . .
The Jets linebacking corps is loaded with guys from Detroit with Bart Scott, Vernon Gholston and Calvin Pace. While Pace spent most of his childhood in Atlanta, he was born in Detroit and spent the first three years of his life there. Pace still has a lot of family in Detroit and bought 14 tickets to this game.
When you throw in Grand Rapid’s David Harris, there is a lot of Michigan motivation in this game for the Jets linebackers. Don’t kid yourself, playing at home means a great deal to players . . .
After practice, Pace did some extra worker with a trainer pushing a sled, to help him improve his conditioning. Also, perhaps to improve his confidence in his surgical foot.
Brandon Moore is from Gary, Indiana, about four hours from Detroit, and his mother arranged for a bus to bring about 40 family and church members to the game . . .
I asked a Washington beat writer for his take on the Lions. Detroit beat the Redskins last week.
“Excellent D-Line, but an average Back Seven,” said the Scribe. “Suh makes a huge difference up front, especially vs. a bad line. Calvin is difficult to stop in the red zone. Stafford had a clean pocket last week; helped a lot. I would say they have a growing talent base, yet still plenty of holes. If the Jets can neutralize their defensive line the Jets run game should flourish.”
So since the Jets have a much better offensive line than the Redskins, they should have much results than Washington did last week.
“Completely,” said the writer. “Skins line was bad. Suh dominated. Suh does like to hold other O-linemen on stunts. Lions got a sack in a big situation because you could see Suh holding the right tackle. Kyle Vanden Bosch played off the attention the Redskins paid Suh. I can’t imagine they give the Jets that sort of trouble considering the line and that they have L.T. to protect. Skins really missed Portis in that game.” . ..
The Lions kick return coverage was awful last week, so don’t be shocked if Brad Smith has a big day . . .
While the game is officially sold out, there are now tickets available because the Jets sent back some of their allotment . . .
Detroit’s defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham spent a lot of time in Kansas City with the Schottenheimers, so B-Schotty has a strong feel for what he likes to do . . .