Key Decisions

Edition #505

☕️ Good Morning

Despite the results going the right way for the Jets, I’m glad we’ve got the bye week out of the way. The NFL isn’t half as fun with the Jets watching from the sideline. Just my very biased opinion of course.

Robert Saleh met with the media for the first time in over a week, and that’s where we’re going to start our newsletter today.

🤕 I'm not 100% confident, but I'm pretty sure Saleh is trolling us with his injury updates now. Straight after Tippmann suffered his quad injury, he stated he'd be out a while. Although he didn't specify a timeframe this morning he did say that he was a "pretty quick healer. He looked good this morning." So does that mean he’s in contention this week? We'll find out more when the injury report comes out on Wednesday.

☝️ Duane Brown is eligible to come off IR this week but Saleh wouldn't confirm he would and would not say if he'll be back at LT when healthy. Personally, I'm not moving Becton now and while he'll be an expensive backup, that's what he should be in my mind.

😬 Both DJ Reed and Sauce Gardner are both in the concussion protocol. Let's hope they clear it before Sunday, of course, the priority is their safety, but we're a much better team with both on the field…obviously.

✖️ Speaking about the Hardman trade, Saleh confirmed that the emergence of Xavier Gipson made Mecole expendable. Which is fine, but now play him more than Cobb to prove it. I can't imagine they gave Hardman $4 million just to return punts, which is what Gipson has taken over this year.

The next week is absolutely huge for the Jets for three reasons…

1. We need to make sure that we make the most of the bye-week results by beating the Giants.

2. We need to see what the coaches learned during the bye week in terms of personnel usage and game script.

3. The trade deadline is just around the corner, are we all in? How much value can we get for the

If we’re the same old Jets, we come out and lay a goose egg against the Giants at the weekend. Over the last 10 years, that’s exactly what would happen. The Jets are favoured by 3 points and won the last regular season matchup back in 2019 when Sam Ficken kicked us to victory, they actually have a four-game winning streak if you include preseason games, but I don’t know why you would.

The Giants are dead last with 12.1 points scored per game, they’re 29th with 178.6 passing yards per game and 21st with 99.9 rushing yards per game. They’re also joint 31st with 33.3% of their red zone trips resulting in touchdowns. Despite playing one of the hardest schedules in football so far, three Jets have a top-15 scoring defence and have the leagues 4th best red zone defence, allowing teams to score touchdowns on just 36.84% of trips into the red zone. Yet we’ve played Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott and Josh Allen.

The Giants have the worst offensive line in football when it comes to the QB getting sacked, allowing a sack on 13.81% of all dropbacks, and the Jets have one of the most fearsome defensive lines in football.

Absolutely everything points to us absolutely dominating them, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The question for me is can the offence do enough against a defence that is talented and well coached?

Is it a trap game? Absolutely. But it’s time to shift the narrative. The Denver game was a trap game, but the Jets came out on top there. Getting to the playoffs is about causing upsets for sure, but it’s more about winning the games you’re supposed to win, the Jets are supposed to win on Sunday, even Vegas agrees.

You can make adjustments during the season, but I always think the bye week is the perfect time to sit back and take stock. Where are the marginal or major improvements to take the team to the next level?

Robert Saleh spoke about the emergence of Xavier Gipson making Mecole Hardman expendable, that’s all well and good but if that really is the case then Gipson needs to be used as more than a punt returner and jet sweeper. Those should be part of his role, but not the complete one.

Randall Cobb has 3 receptions on 20 yards through 6 games but has been on the field for 49% of the offensive snap counts. Cobb may be a better blocker than Gipson, and certainly offers more veteran leadership, but that production does not match the opportunities. In the huddle you’ve got Laken, McGovern, Lazard, Conklin…all guys with good experience, and he can still offer that leadership from the sideline. I’m not saying you bench him completely, but 50% of the offensive snaps is too much for a guy who averages one catch every 2 games.