Monthly Archives: September 2009
Uh oh … something worth tracking for the rest of the week regarding the health of the Jets secondary? Could be.
We’ll know more when we talk to coach Rex Ryan after practice, but three-fifths of the Jets’ secondary didn’t practice Wednesday morning. Not a good sign with Saints quarterback Drew Brees and his high-flying offense up next.
Cornerbacks Lito Sheppard (quad) and Donald Strickland (ankle) remained out and safety Jim Leonhard (undisclosed) also didn’t practice. Sheppard and Leonhard are starters and Strickland is the team’s nickel back.
Hutch doesn’t seem to think much of it, based on the fact that the team didn’t sign Corey Ivy, but I’m not so sure.
Wednesday is the big day for practice during game week, so it could go one of two ways. Either Rex is protecting the guys from the more demanding nature of today’s practice, or missing today is a sign that if you can’t practice today, there’s a low chance of you playing Sunday, since they install so much of the gameplan today. Either way, this unit needs as many players up for the game this weekend, and not having Lito, Donald and Jim would be a big loss to this team going into New Orleans.
Jets Extra Point: Chansi Stuckey – 9/29/09
Wheelhouse: Kerry Rhodes – 9/29/09
Geico SportsNite: Bart Scott – 9/29/09
SPECIAL TEAMS: LB JASON TRUSNIK, JETS
Trusnik tied for a team high with two tackles on special teams and was part of a unit that created two turnovers that led to 14 points in the Jets 24-17 win against the Titans.
In the first quarter, Trusnik forced a fumble when he knocked the ball loose from Titans kick returner Ryan Mouton and recovered the ball at the Titans 19-yard line. The Jets scored five plays later to take a 14-0 lead. Through Week 3, Trusnik is tied for a team-high six tackles on special teams.
In his third season from Ohio Northern, this is Trusnik’s first career Player of the Week Award. The last Jet to win AFC Special Teams Player of the Week was kick returner-running back Leon Washington in Week 11 of 2008.
Trusnik is the second Jet to win an AFC Player of the Week award this season, joining linebacker David Harris who won in Week 1 after getting 11 tackles and a sack against the Texans.
Other nominees for AFC Special Teams Player of Week 3:
- New England kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who tied his career high with four made field goals (22, 33, 33 and 21).
- Baltimore punter Sam Koch, who punted four times for 176 yards (44.0 average) and placed two inside of the 20-yard line.
(NFL Football Info)
I know some of you are fond of Football Outsiders, (as am I) so once the season gets underway and trends start developing, looking at an opponent’s rankings on Football Outsiders helps to give fans some perspective on the Jets opponent for this weekend and what to expect.
Pass Offense: 70.9% (3rd)
Rush Offense: 37.0% (3rd)
Analysis: Even though there might be better pass or running offenses, there’s no one team that combines such good units together, which is why they’re the best offense in football right now. The Saints can grind out short yards, can break long runs up the middle or around the edge, and have one of the very best Quarterbacks in the league in Drew Brees with a capable set of receivers and tight ends to which to distribute the ball.
So far, Rex Ryan and the Jets have done a great job limiting other teams from gainin yards, converting third downs has had the ability to set his defense after one aspect of an opposing offense, but now it’s time for the Jets to play a more balanced pass-run defense, that also happens to be one of the best. We’ll see how it goes, but the Jets might have to bring a more base approach to blitzing while using extra blitzers strategically rather than some of the reckless abandon that we’ve seen in past weeks.
How can you separate the contenders from the pretenders? Don Banks tries to do just that on SI.com with a look at the NFL teams with winning records. In it he places teams into three categorites, and the Jets are in the top grouping.
New York Jets (3-0) — Nothing breeds confidence on a team more so than winning even when you don’t have your “A” game on any particular day, and that’s why the Jets’ Week 3 grind-it-out conquest of the Titans was valuable. Quality teams find a way to get the W even when they’re not at their best. A huge test looms this week with New York’s trip to New Orleans, but Rex Ryan has his Jets believing they’re destined for great things this season, so no game will be too big for them. And check out that schedule. After the Saints, New York isn’t likely to play another winning team until its much-anticipated rematch at New England in Week 11.
• Early season playoff potential: Even Eric Mangini took the Jets to the playoffs in his first season, and Rex Ryan is no Eric Mangini.
Here’s the latest set of power rankings.
ESPN — 6th — The Jets team that beat the Titans on Sunday might have more staying power than the 8-3 Jets that beat Tennessee in 2008.
FoxSports — 5th — WORSE THAN RECORD: Are the Jets a big tease, overrated and destined for a major fade? No. They will challenge for a playoff spot and the AFC East title. But Mark Sanchez will have a few rookie moments before he’s through this season and the Jets still haven’t faced any major road test … until Week 4, that is. Tune in next week.
CBS Sports — 5th — Rex Ryan loves a challenge. He has one this week in the Saints offense. For Mark Sanchez, it will be his first major road test. The Superdome will be loud. Does he go to 4-0?
NFL — Between 3rd & 7th — NFL.com has a panel of eight experts that do their own rankings.
USA Today — 5th — No rookie QB has ever led a team to a 3-0 start before Mark Sanchez
- Some of the Saints wanted nothing to do with the New York media.
- The Big Lead reminds us of some choice words Bart Scott had for Reggie Bush.
- Rex Ryan’s approval ratings are flying high.
- Pennington goes on the IR and opts for surgery.
- Will Chad ever play pro again?
- Mangini will name his starter today.
- Fifth Down asks, who has the worst QB?
- A rather odd incident in New England for Jonathan Wilhite.
Just a quick note to vote for Mark Sanchez for Rookie of the Week again.
This is now the third time that Sanchez has been nominated for the honor in three weeks. If this keeps up, he’s on track for some hardware.
In looking over the Jets’ next opponent, some interesting details come to light. Here they are in no particular order:
1) The New Orleans’ fans are surprised that their team has racked up 512 yards rushing since they are, traditionally, a mediocre running team. Their last complete runner was Deuce McAllister, limited by injuries the last two years, who was cut in February due to salary cap issues. Although they didn’t feel they had a complete running back without Deuce, they did not sign a replacement free agent. Interestingly, 222 of those 512 yards were racked up in the fourth quarter of the Buffalo game when the Bills’ defense ran out of gas after their anemic offense went three-and-out for three straight quarters scoring seven points the whole game. (more…)
Rex Ryan Press Conference – 9/28/09
Geico SportsNite: Jets – 9/28/09
Woody Johnson spoke to the Daily News about how the new season and his new coach are doing, and it’s clear that Johnson feels much better about the organization and it’s future.
Johnson, in an interview yesterday with the Daily News, didn’t want to take any bows. He has been around the game for nearly a decade, long enough to know that things can change in a hurry, but he’s absolutely convinced he made the right move. And his reasons go beyond X’s and O’s.
Mangini wasn’t a terrible coach for the Jets, winning nine games with a Jurassic quarterback who broke down, but he suffocated the organization with his secretive and paranoid ways. Johnson could’ve stuck it out for another year, but he took control after last season’s collapse and decided he needed a new coach and a new culture.
Johnson wouldn’t take any shots at his former coach, but it’s not hard to read between the lines. He loves Ryan’s outspoken style, which has filtered down to the locker room. Big Brother is dead; say hello to the new big brother – Ryan.
“We’re not always going to use the king’s English or say what’s absolutely correct, but we’re not working from 3-by-5 cards,” Johnson said. “In the last 10 years, we were working from 3-by-5 cards.”
Maybe now Florio on PFT will stop talking about Tannenbaum and how he’s on the hot seat. I do think that the mix of icy cool GM and fiery coach could be a story to watch in the long run, but for now things are working well. I’m glad that the owner his happy with his coach, and I’m glad that the coach he’s happy with is winning. It’s clear that there was a pretty good base to work from, and Ryan’s interjection into the mix — along with a new franchise QB, of course — have gone a long way to put this team in a much better place than they were a year ago.
Remember when Jonathan Vilma played for the Jets? Doesn’t that seem like so long ago? Hutch writes today in the Star-Ledger that it wasn’t long ago that David Harris took over this team, and made other ILBs a distant memory.
On Sunday, Harris showed why he’s an untouchable as he had five tackles, a sack and an interception in the Jets’ 24-17 victory over the Titans. Both his interception and sack came in the fourth quarter and helped seal the game.
”They were momentum shifters,” fellow inside linebacker Bart Scott said.
Harris, 6-2 and 245 pounds, has a team-high 24 tackles, team-leading two sacks, six quarterback hurries and an interception this season. On a defense loaded with trash talkers, the soft-spoken Harris speaks his piece on Sunday afternoon with his pads.
Bart Scott’s role in Harris’s play this year can’t be understated. While Harris did most of the dirty work for Eric Barton, Scott has made all the difference, taking on that TED role, at least in part. Having someone as versatile and aggressive as Scott, has helped Harris that much more.
While Vilma was one of my favorite players between 2004-07, he had a very tough adjustment to the 3-4 and like many of the players before him, was a casualty of the switch. David Harris was born to play in this defense, and it shows. One of the most frustrating things for me during the 90s and early 2000s was how frequently the team flip-flopped between the 3-4 and the 4-3. Personally, I didn’t care which philosophy the team went with, as long as they did it well … and stuck with it between coaches, because it meant an overhaul of the scheme.
Although Ryan runs a different scheme than Mangini, it’s still shows 3-4, and is in spirit more 3-4 than 4-3. As far as I can remember, that’s the last time that the Jets will have maintained a defensive philosophy between coaches since Al Groh took over.
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