One nitpick Eddie: he didn’t have a whole training camp to make progress, because he came in late. Toss in a position change, no Senior year in college and a lack of HS football experience and you have a recipe for a slow start.

The comment that the guys who are actually playing should be the ones we are focusing on kind of sums up my point. Let’s stop worrying about VG, since he was never likely to contribute much this year.

Either he will become good eventually, or he won’t and neither can be ruled out based on what we have seen so far. Hopefully it will be the former. Either way, that won’t affect Sunday or the Jets playoff push this season.

I think he might go after Faneca, who is a tremendous run blocker but has made a few mistakes in pass protection, but he can probably give any of our linemen problems one-on-one, so the key is that the protection must be adequate to give help. This is partly on Favre (who must call the protection at the line), although the preparation by Callahan will be critical.

So, next year, some team would be drafting him with a bigger contract than that which the Jets have given him this year, and he would be just as raw. At least the Jets are getting a guy that has worked at his NFL skills and knows what it takes to play in the league.

3-4 OLB is his best NFL position, according to many experts. He might struggle with gap control as a 4-3 lineman. 3-4 lineman, as noted above, is not an option. 3-4 DE’s are typically 290-300 and VG is in the 260’s, but more importantly, it doesn’t suit his skillset.

As I posted in the offseason, I only really expected him to be used in a situational pass rusher role this year with a more expanded role next season. The trouble with that is that the offense knows what’s coming, which makes it really easy for them to pick him up and this, coupled with the fact that he has not refined any pass rushing moves, limits his effectiveness in that role. Even so, he did have a couple of pressures and near-sacks in limited action earlier in the year, so wasn’t a complete loss.

The Jets instead used him more in a conventional 3-4 OLB role in some games and he showed some promise, albeit without statistical productivity, in that role, which was a bit unexpected. He has been contributing well on special teams (apart from the missed tackle in Buffalo), which is important for his development.

As noted, when in a playoff race, reps for the new guy are a luxury that can’t be afforded.

And all the calls for him to get reps in garbage time might make sense, but if VG is on a heavily incentive based contract (which he is), then some meaningless sacks could prove to be expensive on next year’s cap (where they are already up against it, especially if they keep winning). Instead, I’d expect to see him unleashed in meaningful action, when he’s ready, which may or may not be until next year.

I don’t see any hate, just frustration, which is understandable because the media gave everybody unrealistic expectations (to the point where I was told I was not a Jets fan because I said I’d take the under when someone predicted he’d have six sacks).

Fonzie’s Chad Pennington Fact
Chad Pennington challenged Lance Armstrong to a testicle contest. Chad won by 5