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The key will be the action in the off-season . . .
Anybody who wasn’t born yesterday, realizes that coaches and GM’s aren’t going to shoot from the hip very often when talking about players.
And in their defense, often they really can’t. You say something even borderline candid about a player, and it blows up in the media and on social media and becomes a controversy.
A perfect example was an innocent comment from Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur during training camp about Mehki Becton, who was struggling.
“He’s not playing at his best, and he knows that,” LaFleur said. “He’s a good dude and he’s going to work through all this stuff.”
That turned into a big story.
So you can understand why coaches and GM’s are careful with everything they say and sometimes talk in complimentary terms about players who might not even deserve it.
Saleh was asked on Sunday why he believes why he thinks the Jets’ young core is going to be special:
“We still think our quarterback is going to be special. AVT (Alijah Vera-Tucker) has been getting better every single week. Elijah Moore, his play speaks for itself. Michael Carter, his play speaks for itself. The nickel, Michael Carter, his play speaks for itself. (Brandin) Echols had been doing a nice job before he got injured. Then, you look at the last class. Bryce Huff, we’re really excited to get him back. Bryce Hall has been doing a nice job at corner. Guidry has been stepping in and doing a really nice job. Ashtyn Davis got an interception today, so there are a lot of first and second-year players doing a lot of good things. Are there frustrating moments? Sure. There are. But, at the same time, these are all scars that they are getting. They’re learning.”
Some of this isn’t coach-speak – like the stuff about AVT, Elijah Moore and RB Michael Carter, but some of the praise for others, is debatable.
But here is the deal.
I get coach-speak or GM-speak about players.
But here is the most important thing.
When they sit down in personnel meetings with coaches, scouts and the GM, after the season, they don’t say this stuff about players who are struggling behind closed doors.
That is the most important thing. You can’t win with Pollyanna scouting reports on your current roster that don’t match the play.
This Jets’ defense has been historically bad, so praising how well some of these young starters are doing just doesn’t pass the smell test.
Those two young corners he mentioned, aside from Bryce Hall, are they really playing well?
Ashtyn Davis had a pick against Miami, but it wasn’t a diagnostic play. It was an overthrow. It shouldn’t change the evaluation of the player at this point. This play didn’t involve instincts and he didn’t jump a route. It was an overthrow that went right to him. He still has a lot of work to do.
Saleh, without mentioning names, said the defense had some issues with “eye discipline mistakes” against Miami. In other words, not reading keys right and falling hard for play-fakes, leading to being out of position.
This has happened with a lot of young defensive players throughout the season.
So maybe they need to temper the public praise for their young defensive players.
But then again, praise them as much as you want publicly, but the most important thing is, don’t allow this kind of press conference talk to EVER happen in meetings going over the roster, behind closed doors.
In those meetings, you need blunt force trauma when talking about players. The unfiltered truth at all times.
Or it’s hard to build a winner.
November 22, 2021
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