Slaying the Titans

Edition #698

Good morning! ☕

I’m ready to turn the page on the San Francisco 49ers game. There’s only so many times you can point out that our run defence sucked, our linebackers looked slow, nobody could tackle and we got pushed around in the worst way.

It’s done, it’s in the books. We can’t change it, but we can learn from it. We’re going to find out what kind of team the 2024 New York Jets are this coming Sunday. If they get pushed around again and walk out of Tennessee 0-2, even the most optimistic of fans will be questioning the legitimacy of not just our Championship expectations, but our playoff ones too.

🟢 The team announced that they had signed linebacker Jackson Sirmon to the practice squad. The former first-team All-Pac 12 man spent the summer at 1JD after going undrafted in April. 2022 was Sirmon’s best college season as he racked up 104 tackles to go along with career-highs in tackles for loss (6), sacks (3.5) and pass defences (4). The linebackers left a lot of plays on the field on Sunday.

⚪ According to PFF, the Jets have one of the easiest schedules remaining ranked as the 28th hardest. Although that didn’t stop them dropping the Jets all the way down to #20 in their latest power rankings that I finally managed to track down. “Mistakes cost the Jets in big spots. Breece Hall fumbled early in the game, and while that only led to a Niners field goal, it was a possession wasted. A Rodgers interception was converted into a field goal in the third quarter, too. And on top of that, the Jets' receivers dropped two passes.”

🟢 Allen Lazard had 6 receptions that resulted in a first down on Monday Night, that’s the highest mark of his career. That was only his second career game with multiple touchdowns as well and Aaron Rodgers wanted to highlight his buddy post-game and in my opinion, rightfully so. "I want to highlight Allen. I've been talking about him for a lot of camp," Rodgers said. "I thought he played a nice game, made some nice plays for us, and I'm really proud of him."

⚪ Here’s a positive from Monday night (I promised you there were some). Last season the Jets ranked dead last in the NFL in third down conversion at 26%. In week one against a very good defence, they converted 60% of their third downs. If you can convert on third down at a good rate, you usually win a lot of football games.

🟢 Good news on Michael Carter II, Saleh said he would have been limited on Wednesday had the team been practicing, but should be fine for Sunday’s matchup against Tennessee, same goes for D. J. Reed who got a little banged up against the 49ers.

⚪ Jermaine Johnson had this to say about Titans QB Will Levis: "He's a talented athlete and can throw the ball pretty well, but just watching film and just understanding some things about him, especially when he comes out, he's one of those guys that, when things aren't going his way, he kind of can panic a little early." - I’m not a huge fan of saying anything even remotely negative about an upcoming opponent.

🟢 The Jets re-signed Connor McGovern to the practice squad after Wes Schweitzer was placed on IR. McGovern has been with the Jets since 2020 and played 7 games last season before landing on IR himself. McGovern started out very poorly in 2020, then bounced back with some average to above average seasons in 2021 and 2022 before looking abysmal in 2023. I don’t mind this move to stash him on the practice squad considering the injuries. In a corresponding move the Jets announced that they had released RB Xazavian Valladay.

⚪ Sad news overnight as we learned that that former Jets RB Kevin Long passed away aged 69. Long was the first Gamecock to rush for over 1,000 yards and was a 7th round pick of the Jets in 1977, the same draft as Joe Klecko, Wesley Walker and Marvin Powell. He played five seasons for New York, rushing for 2,190 yards and 25 touchdowns. He caught 74 passes for 539 yards and three TDs. My thoughts are with his family and friends this morning.

If you think the Jets had a bad week one, then take a minute to talk to some Titan fans who were at fever pitch having let a 17-0 lead against the Bears slip away, resulting in an embarrassing 24-17 loss despite the Bears offence scoring just 9 points on three Cairo Santos field goals.

The Bears had 148 total yards, 98 passing yards from Caleb Williams and averaged just 2.8 yards per play. They had 11 first downs all day and converted just 2/13 third downs. Yet they walked out of that game with a victory.

It was daylight robbery. But the NFL is a three phase game and the Bears Special Teams and Defence did something the offence couldn’t, and that’s score a touchdown.

For their part, the Titans threw this game away. Will Levis was 19/32 for 127 yards and 2 interceptions. He did have a nice touchdown pass to Chig Okonkwo, but overall he looked like a deer in headlights. His accuracy was all over the place, he had happy feet in the pocket and he stared down his receivers.

So kicking off our little preview we’re going to talk about two major factors that could go a long way in deciding who walks out of the Nissan Stadium with the victory.