Defensive Players to Watch vs Commanders

Edition #674

Good morning! ☕

Who’s ready for football! On Monday we’ll have some actual game action to talk about for the first time since January 7th. Considering it’s August 9th, that’s a very long time.

Today we’re going to recap the joint practice against the Commanders, and look forward to the game on Saturday by picking out one player from each position group who needs to step up. Our offensive edition can be viewed HERE.

🟢 The Jets made an announcement that Ring of Honour member Marty Lyons will move from the radio booth after 22 years calling games to an ambassador role for the franchise. Former Jets TE Anthony Becht replaces Lyons alongside Bob Wischusen in the booth and they’ll have the call for you this season.

⚪ Tyler Conklin was asked to explain the importance of these joint practices: "First of all, it's a good opportunity after a long time just going against each other and seeing the same faces playing against your teammates every day," Conklin said on Wednesday's virtual press conference following the team's indoor walk-through. "To go and work your craft against a different scheme, different people, it's a really good opportunity for us as a group offensively and to continue to build on what we've been doing in camp.” He continued "It's a good opportunity just to see something different. You get used to doing what your defense does and obviously that's not how it works throughout the season. So, it will be good not just for the O-line and us as a group to get different looks, handle different blitzes that our defense doesn't give us. So, I think it will be important these next couple of joint practices, starting with Washington in the preseason, to just keep building chemistry."

🟢 Sauce Gardner was asked about the joint practice after he made a standout PBU on McLaurin - "I came in today, I was excited, it felt like gameday, all you could ask for," the two-time first team All-Pro cornerback said. "You know that's all you can ask for because you're not going to play much in a preseason game, but you still had the opportunity to line up against another team, so my mindset and everything, it felt like gameday. It really did because y'all know how the weather is at MetLife and in Jersey in general. It rains all game and then when it's over it stops. That's how it was in practice today so it was really a gametime feel, for sure."

⚪ PFF outlined their matchups to watch for week one of the pre-season and they picked out Sauce Gardner, although I’m not sure how much he’s going to play if he plays at all. “Matchups to Watch: Commanders WR Terry McLaurin vs. Jets CB Sauce Gardner. Washington totaled the fourth-most off-target passes (81) in 2023, yet McLaurin still produced a respectable 74.6 PFF receiving grade, a mark that should sizably improve with an upgrade at quarterback. That Daniels-McLaurin connection will be put to the test early with this matchup. The Jets' two-time All-Pro cornerback is coming out of his second straight season of producing a 90.0-plus coverage grade.

• Robert Saleh made the decision to sit Aaron Rodgers for the joint practice with Washington yesterday, mainly because of the weather conditions which were absolutely treacherous with high winds and a lot of rain. Last thing you need is an over eager Commander slipping into the lower legs of Aaron. Smart move coach.

• Good news on the injury front. Not only has Mike Williams been activated (and was present if held out yesterday), but Ashtyn Davis and Chris Glaser both returned to practice.

• CB Emmanuel Forbes was absolutely destroyed by Garrett Wilson. I did say in the preview that it would be a test for Forbes and he failed it. Garrett beat him for multiple touchdowns and first downs. We expected it to be honest.

• Another thing we expected…the Jets defence dominated the session against Daniels and the Commanders with Sauce impressing in particular, not overly surprising. The Jets defence were expected to dominate and they did, job done.

• The Jets offence started really well from what I saw, Tyrod Taylor in particular looked good connecting with Wilson and Breece Hall was sprung for a big one. Those were with Moses and Smith in. Unfortunately in the drive the field period, the drive stalled and it was noticeable that the line was struggling without Smith and Moses.

• One big surprise…there were 0 fights. Not a single one. Sauce Gardner later confirmed that Robert Saleh had promised repercussions for anyone fighting from the Jets side.

Considering what we’ve seen since Robert Saleh took over in 2021, it’s easy to have more confidence in the Jets unearthing talent on the defensive side of the ball.

Quincy has taken a huge leap under this coaching staff, Michael Carter II is arguably the best slot in the league, DJ Reed was an incredibly smart pickup and UDFA Tony Adams continues to make strides. We won’t even go into the development we saw with Bryce Huff before he took his talents over the Philadelphia.

It does also mean that we head into the 2024 season with immense expectations for this unit and a starting roster that is largely set in stone. But there are plenty of spaces for players to make a statement and force the coaches into providing snaps.

Here I’ve picked out one player from each position group to keep an eye on this Saturday against the Washington Commanders.