Content available exclusively for subscribers
A lot of teams have the same problem . . .
People make such a big deal about the Jets having a lot of injuries.
They have plenty of company around the league.
People who act like the Jets have it so much worse than other teams, should take a look around the league.
The Jets have plenty of company, including some top-shelf contenders.
The New Orleans Saints, who blew out the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night football, last week put two talented defensive linemen on injured reserve – defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins and defensive end Marcus Davenport – both first round picks.
The San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles are two playoff contenders who are ravaged by injuries.
Don’t take a myopic view and act like the Jets have it so much worse than most other teams. In many cases, they really don’t.
Look at the Jets’ next opponent – the Pittsburgh Steelers. Their franchise QB, Ben Roethlisberger, went on IR after Week One, and they are still in playoff contention. Does it get any worse than losing your franchise QB in Week One?
Football is an injury-laden sport. Plenty of teams have tons of injuries. So please put away that violin for the Jets and all their injuries. Next man up!
Don’t take a myopic view of things and act like the Jets have this unusual injury situation. They don’t.
And honestly, how many of these injured players are big-time difference-makers?
Perhaps C.J. Mosley? Jamal Adams has missed some time, but he’s coming back. Obviously they missed Adams in Baltimore, and made matters worse playing a cornerback at safety instead of one of the three safeties Joe Douglas supplied the coaching staff. Can you say football czar? I thought you could. The Jets need one who would say, “Dude, you are playing one of those three experienced safeties I signed to replace Jamal, not a cornerback, who is a see-and-go reactor.
I’m not going to go up and down the injury list and bring up names. I don’t want to call guys out for not being big difference-makers.
But for all those people making a big deal about all the injuries, who are all these injured players whose absence has turned the Jets season on its head? Don’t just throw out numbers regarding the amount of injured players, really look at who’s out, and what difference that makes.
I will give you Mosley injury as a problem, but while I don’t want to get into too many names, honestly, is there really a big drop off from Avery Williamson to Neville Hewitt? Probably not. And this isn’t necessarily a shot at Williamson, but more of a compliment to Hewitt.
The fact that the Jets didn’t have significant drop offs from most of the injured players to the players who replaced them is a compliment to their depth, but also a indictment of some of their front-line, highly-paid players.
Does that make sense?
What I’m saying is the depth was pretty good, but the starters, in some cases, were a tad underwhelming.
We all know this is a huge off-season coming up for Joe Douglas as he attempts to fix a broken roster.
But in the mean time, enough of the talk of the injury list. How much of a difference did it truly make at most of the spots were starters were hurt?
Let’s deal with reality folks.
December 17, 2019
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Wednesday.