21 Comments

I applaud Saleh’s move to relieve Mitchell. It was the right move, but it’s the same move that I wish he made in the 4th quarter in New England with Zach. I believe we’re 8-4 without a tie-breaker to worry about with White finishing off the Pats.

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Agreed there Bruce. Maybe that's Saleh learning lessons, we need to remember that he's only in his second year as a head coach. It's easier to take out a rookie 4th round pick than the perceived future franchise guy.

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This is why I look forward to this every morning. Dead on accurate account imo. I thought Joyner was worst player on the field, and his lack of effort was intolerable! DWH was the only postgame I saw that picked up on this. Bravo.

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Appreciate that Bruce. Yeah he looked very poor to me yesterday, didn't seem to be on the same page as the rest of the secondary and I saw Whitehead explaining something to him after a big play, at least that's what it looked like to me. I think FS will be a key focus position this off-season, and with Joyner being out of contract it fits quite nicely.

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David, ok, so I believe I just said this last week but what the heck. Every time I congratulate you on a great piece you come up with a better one. This is so spot on right down to your late mention of the officiating which did appear biased. I just finished watching this game for a 3rd time. Once again our offense appeared to get going slowly. However there were two passes, one to Davis and one to Mims where the replays clearly showed early contact plus the defenders are draped around them. Both should have been flagged for PI penalty’s. I also saw that on a game thread by the Jets X-factor so I looked for it while re watching. I think we all agree this team is clearly ascending. Definitely on the right track. As always I believe I speak for all the regulars when I say thank you for all the time and work you put into these articles. For my money nobody covers this team as well as you do! Looking forward to tomorrows “ stat pack” 👍

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I don’t think ‘should’ve’ won this game is accurate. ‘Could’ve’ is the better adjective. The ball to Berrios wasn’t a gimme. It was behind him a bit, allowing the defender to influence the play. And if they scored, the Vikes had plenty of time to get to FG range.

Coulda, not shoulda. Otherwise, excellent report as usual.

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If you're an NFL receiver you need to make that play, Berrios wasn't making any excuses and he'll know that he should have made the play. The Jets outgained the Vikings by 200 yards and made 6 trips to the red-zone. For me that's a should have won situation, but it's largely semantics. Jets played well.

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I agree Berrios needed to make the play. Not a layup though. And yes this is semantics! Good stuff David! The big question I have now is this: England or France? #COYS

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Ha, I'm positive with the Jets but always negative with the national team. I think France will win, but it's going to be one hell of a game. Fortunately I'll be able to watch this one.

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Agree totallly - while the the game was there to be won not bummed out (maybe a tad lol) about losing it. White getting off the turf after a tough hit and coverting on a 4th and 10 was pure Joe Namath !! The guy has started 6 games for the Jets winning 2 of them. IF the number 2 pick was doing anything ,at this point in his second year the QB play would be great. My point being imagine if White had played the whole year - we may be looking at 10-2

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Certainly there is a significant Red Zone Problem, possibly TE’s could be used. But it’s important to address the Short Yardage problem. The Jets are a horrible short yardage, some of this is on MLF, but do the Jets need a big back ? James Robinson’s legs seem to be dead, is clearly not the answer. Do we bring back Nick Bawden ? Mike White can QB sneak, opens up a dive play off either 320 pound Tackles.. Jets will work on Short Yardage this week, but do they need a roster change to improve ?

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Thanks for a great perspective, and one that I share in terms of positivity.

As I said on Ron's FB group "Old Time Jets Guys", most games come down to a handful of plays, we just came up a bit short.

On the officiating, yes there were very obvious calls not made, but what to me is something that MUST be fixed, is the spotting of the ball. Half yards lost or gained throughout the game by inaccurate placement influence the game immeasurably. The White TD as an example; the linesman to our offensive left was marking it a a full half yard short and with seeming absolute confidence. Our team struggles on 3rd and short, it matters when a ball gets placed short of the line. No conversion, end of drive.

The NFL needs to use technology to fix this. It's ridiculous in this day and age to be using sticks connected by chain links and old mens guesses from fifteen yards away as to where the ball should be placed.

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Spot on analysis as always. Thank you for finding some silver linings when I was only seeing the clouds of what ifs this morning.

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I'm in the USA (NJ to be specific) so have no fatalistic feelings about the English National Team. I think they will win, actually, but it should be a great game. About the Jets? As a 63 year-old fan I should be fatalistic but I'm not; what's the point? Try to be realistic. Like the overall direction with Douglas/Saleh. Not sure about White yet but pleasantly surprised. Still more to be written, obviously. Now, how can Spurs integrate Richarlison better? That's a tricky question indeed. :).

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I agree with your assessment of the game again DW-H. You're on point! I am disappointed they lost but when we have a chance to win the game and battle with a team I consider better than ours it is refreshing.

My observations:

Joyner did not have a good game. He was beat a few times and I saw at least two missed tackles.

Fant's block in the back had me yelling at the TV. It was way too obvious and I'm sure he would like to have that play back.

The two glaring missed throws MW had was the overthrow to GW and the redzone pass to Berrios. If he throws it i/f/o Berrios and not behind this could have been a win.

The Defense is for real and they played better than the final score indicates. The 2 INT's had something to do with it. Get a ballhawking FS, and work out contracts for Huff, K-9, Quincy and let's keep this D rolling.

Big test for MW this week. He gets to face the Bully that beat him up last year. The team really loves MW. The MW tee shirts were hysterical. ZW will have to earn his job back and grow mentally. It's a big challenge for #2.

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Absolutely Chris, agree with your assessment there. I think I place more of the blame on Braxton than White on that dropped TD but like I said above, it's a little bit of semantics, they both took blame and I love that accountability.

Also absolutely agree on the defensive side of things. If we can get a new FS in the building who has a nose for the ball and keep the rest of the gang together, this can be the #1 rated defense in the league, I truly believe that.

White absolutely has the team and I think there may be a mutiny if Saleh tries to go back to Zack, although I've seen nothing from Mike to suggest that Saleh will be going back.

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Ultimately, this Battle of the Jets Backups (White v O’Connell) felt like playoff football.

Thank you Jets players, coaches and front office (all except Joyner)

For the first time since Rex I’m optimistic while looking at the Playoff Picture in December instead of Tankathon.

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Why they didn't use the TEs to block for the RB to get into the end zone I'll never understand...

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Yeah the TE usage was really strange yesterday, especially inn the red-zone.

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Yes!

I think you mean the Bills on the road next week

I'm curious how we did on blocking Hunter and Zadarius. It seemed like MW was pushed outside the pocket - was that due to blocking deficiency or was he bailing early?

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I don't think White bailed early yesterday and I don't remember him being pushed outside all that much, outside what you'd expect. We only allowed the one sack and we threw the ball a lot, so I think we did a good job on Hunter and co.

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