Houston Calling

Edition #537

Good morning!

The problem with the NFL season is that it’s so quick. Unlike the MLB, NHL and NBA, teams are not afforded the luxury of having a sustained slump. You lose 4-5 games in a row and it’s likely your season is in the drain.

That’s where we find ourselves right now. The Jets are losers of 5 games in a row, if we lose on Sunday it’ll be 7 in a row, as there’s no chance we’ll walk into Miami next week and take home a victory if we’re rolling with a 6-game losing streak.

This week the impressive 7-5 Houston Texans come to town, led by the even more impressive rookie C.J Stroud. Houston are winners in 4 of their last 5 games, with a loss to the Jaguars their lone mark.

DeMeco Ryans has done a fine job in Houston this year and Stroud has been as good as you can expect a rookie QB to be. So what do the stats say? That’s what we’ll get into today like we do every Friday.

Hackett’s press conferences are always interesting, I sometimes find it hard to keep a straight face when I listen to some of the stuff he comes up with. It does make me wonder if his public persona is the same in private, and if it is, I’m not sure I’m that surprised that he’s not getting the best out of his players. He strikes me as more of a politician than a coach, maybe that’s the PR training after being a head coach.

• Said that Zach had an opportunity to “re-centre” himself over the last two weeks and he’s now better aware of when to be aggressive and when to pull back.

• Said that Abanikanda has a long way to go to in terms of pass protection. Sounds like until he’s got that down, he won’t be seeing the field.

• On Tim Boyle getting cut: “This is the best profession in the world, but it’s not the best business and unfortunately, it’s part of the business, and it happened. Obviously, everyone knows how I feel about Tim.  I love him. I wish him the best, and that’s just part of how things work. It’s unfortunate, but we have to move on. We got to score some points.”

• He was also asked if he ever second-guessed himself considering the troubles and he gave a fortune cookie answer: “With adversity brings growth. A very, very smart man always taught me that, so I think that as a coach, you always embrace the challenge”

With the Patriot’s victory in Pittsburgh last night, the Jets are now just 1.5 games out from having the #2 overall pick in the draft. That’s still extremely unlikely, but if it did I’d look forward to the debate about whether to trade it or pick a QB like Drake Maye.