10 Awesomely Awesome Meaningless Meaningful Jets/NFL Thoughts
By Sean Lester Durham
Jets OT Wayne Hunter was finally benched this week by head coach Rex Ryan
1. Jets head coach Rex Ryan finally decided to do what most fans were calling for LAST season in benching RT Wayne Hunter. Hunter is coming off a horrible pre-season performance against the Giants in which he was completely EMBARRASSED by Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul. Wayne’s benching was LONG overdue and it seems kind of like Rex neglected to bench Wayne throughout this entire process purely just to prove to everyone that he wouldn’t be influenced or moved by the fans and the media. Out is Hunter and in comes Austin Howard a 2nd year player from Northern Iowa. As bad as Hunter has played for the Jets, he didn’t really get much competition from Howard or this move would’ve been made a lot sooner. To say Jets fans are “ecstatic” that Howard is now the starting right tackle is probably overstating it a bit, as Howard didn’t WIN the starting right tackle job as much as Hunter utterly LOST it.
2. Jets All-Galaxy CB Darrelle Revis is already on record stating that he believes Mark Sanchez can become a top QB this season. Of course we all know Revis is just being a supportive teammate as the likely-hood of Sanchez becoming a TOP QB is slim to none BUT that doesn’t mean Revis doesn’t think Sanchez CANT be better than last season, which actually has a better chance of happening. So it should come as no surprise that Revis questioned whether the Jets have actually done enough to help Sanchez this season. Simply stated, there’s no way any rational thinking person can actually look at the moves made and NOT made this off-season and say that the Jets have done enough to help Sanchez. Here are at LEAST three moves the Jets could’ve done to help Mark Sanchez this season;
- Release Wayne Hunter and pocket the $2.5 cap hit.
- NOT trade for Tim Tebow and use the 4th round pick on Ole Miss OT Bobby Massie.
- Re-sign Braylon Edwards. Obviously Edwards is healthy and Jets have brought former players back before ie Laverneaus Coles.
Those three moves are BARE MINIMUM moves the Jets could’ve made to better help Sanchez and this offense. So Revis does have a fair point when he says “I don’t know” when asked if he thought management had done enough to help Sanchez this season, obviously that’s Revis’s in-direct way of saying “No they haven’t.” Sanchez has the odds stacked against him this season and everyone is betting against him but if Sanchez emerges out of this victorious, then he’s truly earned the respect that young QBs yearn for.
3. Eagles QB Michael Vick was injured this week during his pre-season matchup vs the Patriots, here’s the ACTUAL CLIP of his injury as it happened on the field.
Depending on how healthy he is, OT Jeff Otah should STILL be on the Jets radar.
4. Jets brought in former Carolina Panthers OT Jeff Otah by way of trade. Otah failed the physical that the Jets gave him thus negating the trade with Carolina. Otah was released by the Panthers 2 weeks ago thus making him a free agent. Depending on how fast he heals and the extent of his injury, I truly believe that the Jets should bring him in now while it costs them next to nothing. Even at ½ speed, Otah is better at Right Tackle than what the Jets have over there right now.
5. Bills name Cordy Glenn their starting LT , a move that was expected after the Bill selected him in the 2nd round of this year’s draft. Glenn at 6’5’ 343 is a big OT that can move very well with his size and has great foot work to play the OT position adequately. Week 1 of the NFL season, the Bills visit the Jets and it will pit Glenn up against his Senior Bowl teammate rookie DE Quinton Coples. Though these 2 weren’t on opposite teams for the Senior Bowl, they did battle it out during practices. Coples has had a very SOLID pre-season and has shown that the Jets didn’t make a mistake drafting him before a few other prospects that were deemed better fits for the Jets. It should be fun watching these 2 rookies go at it during week 1 of this season, who wins? MY money is on the ROOKIE : )
6. This week the Jets face the Carolina Panthers in their 3rd pre-season game. To say that the Jets are struggling offensively is a massive understatement indeed. The Jets are the only team NOT to score a pre-season TD and their passing game has racked up a total of 140 passing yards in 2 games. I believe it’s a mixture of the Jets missing a lot of key offensive contributors, trying to gel together a new offense and the fact that they are trying to be as vanilla as possible. That needs to change this week. The Jets are in danger of utilizing the vanilla game planning to the point of counter productiveness. Offensive Coordinator Tony Sparano needs to go ahead and go green light with the first team offense from here on out. There’s simply no reason to continue the vanilla game calling as the season draws closer and closer, there isn’t a switch that the Jets have to turn their offense on and they needn’t act like there is.
Jets WR Chaz Schilens hasn't had much of a chance to make an impression during Jets camp.
7. Jets WR Chaz Schilens looked promising during OTAs but has been absent in training camp due to injuries. It’ll be hard to see Schilens making the roster having been sidelined for so long but if he manages to make the team, I believe he can become a very formidable asset in the passing and run game.
8. The St Louis Rams signed former Jets BUST DE/OLB Vernon Gholston. So am I the ONLY one that believes there’s seemingly NO way Gholston doesn’t look like Bruce Smith when the Rams and the Jets meet this season? OF COURSE he will, the universe will have it NO other way.
9. Why hasn’t anyone signed Plaxico yet? The guy was a beast in the redzone last season for the Jets and I believe he’s had only ONE workout and that was with the Patriots last week. I truly believe he has quite a bit of production left in him and I’m honestly surprised of the lack of interest there has been for him.
10. RIP Tony Scott