The Countdown

Edition #424

Good morning ☕

I think this is the first time we’ve taken a break from sending daily newsletters since TJW was founded back in October 2021. But I thought I'd check in mid-week.

We are now just 7 days away from the players reporting to camp, so we really are into the final countdown.

If you follow the Jets players on social media, the holiday photos have turned into workout photos as they work to get back into football shape.

I do have some exciting news to share, as I have just agreed to write a weekly column for the official New York Jets website in the UK. The first piece should be live soon and I’ll be sure to share that here.

🏆 Can Aaron Rodgers power the Jets to a championship? NFL.com had this to say about the possibility: “You don't trade for Aaron Rodgers to settle for more moral victories. You've had enough of those in the past few years. The current regime has put it all on the line for the four-time MVP. I'll stop short of saying they need to reach the Super Bowl, but let's be truthful: How many more chances will they get with Rodgers, who is turning 40 in December? Advancing to, say, the AFC title game would mean the Jets made a huge leap -- but it might not feel like it if they lose to the Chiefs, Bengals or Jaguars once there.”

🤔 The Draft Network believes this is a make-or-break year for Jermaine Johnson, which I disagree with completely. But here’s what they had to say: “Johnson was brought along slowly compared to his rookie counterparts. He played a total of 312 defensive snaps as a rotational defensive end. Johnson made 14 regular-season appearances with zero starts. Johnson ultimately wrapped up his rookie campaign by recording 29 total tackles and 2.5 sacks. Pro Football Focus credited Johnson with 14 quarterback pressures, nine hurries, and two additional quarterback hits. He also blocked a punt that resulted in a safety. The production can be summarized as modest.”

🙌 CBS had an article about the 5 AFC quarterbacks under the most pressure in 2022, and they had Aaron Rodgers at #2 just behind Russell Wilson in Denver: “Rodgers had a career-low passer rating as a starter in 2022 (91.1), and threw 12 interceptions, which was just one shy of matching his career high. You can't say the 39-year-old is regressing given that he's won two out of the last three MVPs, but the Jets' expectations are sky-high. Let's see what Rodgers can bring to this franchise.”

I wasn’t planning to release a newsletter today. My expectation was that this week would be one of the quieter weeks in the NFL calendar, so we could all take a collective breath, have a break and then come back strong next week with players reporting for camp. We’d then have consistent coverage right through to the end of the season and through the draft.

Asante Samuel had other ideas.

Asante Samuel woke up yesterday and chose jealousy and violence as his food for the day. He started by taking a pop at Sauce Gardner and ended by arguing with Darrelle Revis.

There is a culture of real jealousy in sport and it’s often led by former players.

It’s strange, but I haven’t really seen the NY Media mentioned as a vehicle for hype since the invention of the internet. But if he wants to believe that, then fair enough. It’s hard to quantify the effect of media coverage. But I would say it works both ways, if you do well then you’re a star, if you do badly you’re a bum. If you get extra credit in NY, you certainly get extra criticism as well.

One thing we can quantify is the statement that Tariq Woolen had a better year.

I don’t know why we have to try and tier players as much as we do, and I’m not in. the business of putting young guys who are at the top of their field down, but that statement by Asante is categorically untrue.

Let’s just use this chart from Jets X-Factor that we produced over there after the season ended, in the hope that it would categorically end this debate.