The Injury Shuffle
The Star Ledger reports that Jets Fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief, it looks like Center Kevin Mawae won't break his streak for consecutive starts and will play against the Dolphins, in some capacity, though Herm ain't saying where. Everything looks to point to Mawae and Kendall flip-flopping, since the injury is to Mawae's snapping hand and Kendall started at Center for Arizona in 10 games.
On the other side of the ball, a young gun will get to make some impressions as the signal caller for the Jets. Jonathan Vilma will get the first start of his NFL career, playing MLB for the injured Sam Cowart. Herm makes a point that I thought true the moment I heard Vilma in an interview… “This kid is smart.” I have no question Vilma has the intellect to do the job, but we will see how he holds up for a full game.
“Any given Sunday” and all those aphorisms, but this is a good week for these shuffles to take place. The Dolphins offense has looked anemic so far (31st Ranked Offense scoring just 7.7 PPG) giving Vilma a good game to “ease-in” to this role.
Also, this should be a great game to really see how well the Jets are running the ball. With Miami boasting the 5th ranked Defense, thought the stats are totally whacked (143 RYPG, 112 PYPG).
