Bowles gave our guys time until week 3 to get most of the issues fixed, and they delivered. The tackling has gotten better, the amount of bigplays given up went down, the offense moved the ball, scored touchdowns, the passing game is working really well so far, the running game is off to a good start, the pass protection is really solid, no turnovers on offense, on defense however we create turnovers. So far so good. If we can carry this momentum into the regular season and keep making progress the way we do it'll be hard to overlook us. Studs QB Fitzpatrick & Petty Both QB's once again did not turn the ball over, that's now 3 straight games. Fitzpatrick played the entire first half and showed off good arm strength and accuracy. He missed a couple of throws but outside of those 2-3 he was spot on with all his passes, his chemistry with Marshall and Decker is improving and will continue to improve over the next few weeks. The TD Pass to Decker over 2 defenders was beautiful and impossible to defend. Petty meanwhile wasn't asked to do too much, I think Bowles just wanted him to close the game out and get a W under his belt, not turning the ball over, having a clean game. And that's pretty much what he did. He played the entire 2nd half but only had 8 pass attempts, I think the plan was just to make sure he continues to grows as a player each week, to make sure he stays confident and to not put him in bad situations where he could be forced to make bad throws and decisions. If he can close out the next game in a similar way and we keep him off the field this year I really, really have high hopes for him as our potential franchise QB next year. Running Backs Ivory continues to impress with his quickness and speed, outrunning defenders to the sideline. His vision has improved, he reads his blockers well, he sees the holes, and if they aren't there he bounces it to the outside and creates 10+ yard gains. Same goes for Bilal Powell, they look identical on the field. He doesn't run with the same power but he's a bit quicker. Zac Stacy ran hot & cold today. The screen pass he took to the house worked really well, but that was more of a blown coverage by the Giants. Other than that he looked a bit slow and stiff, running the ball over the middle. He had a couple of good blocks in pass protection but also clearly missed a blitzing safety (#30) from the outside who just came flying in and blindsided Petty from the left side. He also had a bad drop. Overall still a good day for him, I think he can be that short yardage / backup guy if Ivory goes down and we need somebody to spell Powell. At least until Ridley returns. Offensive Line How about the big guys up front? It seems like we have created a wall on the left side. Brick and Mangold now finally have the guy sandwiched in between them that they've been looking for their entire career I believe, or since Faneca left at the very least. Carpenter looks like a beast out there, I wouldn't be surprised to see him go to the Pro Bowl this year, as well as Brick and Mangold. Granted, the Giants don't have a Watt type player, but they have pretty good DT's, Hankins is a top 3 pass rushing DT and a couple of other decent guys (Ellis, Bromley). Colon runs hot & cold, I'm a little bit worried that he might be the weak link that will cause some trouble on the right side. Watching a nobody like Kuhn slap him around a couple of times was kind of embarrassing even though he handled him for the most part but that stuff shouldn't happen, that's not a quality DT or even a solid starter. Colon should bury those types of players. Maybe Mangold will have to help him out more because Carp can is just fine by himself. If that doesn't work I still feel Aboushi is easily the better player of the two, he once again looked rock solid & like a legit starter when he came in, blocking guys like Ellis & Bromley. But Bowles is going to stick with Colon unfortunately. H-Back I'm not sure if this is a permanent move or not, but Enunwa lined up in the backfield vs the Giants for the most part and he could have done some serious damage there. The playaction rollouts were almost endless in the first half, and Fitz always had Enunwa wide open. Not for huge gains, but he was that safety blanket a QB needs. Enunwa looked great blocking on running downs and in pass protection at the HB position. I'm not sure if they plan on moving him back to the slot once Jace returns but we've seen a glimpse of what this offense would look like with Jace in the backfield, I think he's going to have a huge season here if he can stay healthy. Thinking around 70+ receptions for 800-900 yards. Marcus Williams He keeps making plays for us. All our DB's looked good for the most part, but Marcus was a standout again. His second turnovers the last 2 games, great effort to wrestle the ball away from the receiver even though he already caught the ball and went down with it. Cromartie had his trademark pick 6 where he baited Eli into making a bad throw, waiting to jump the route and of course Eli delivers. Honorable mentions: FS Gilchrist, LG Aboushi, DE L. Williams, DE J. Williams, DE L. Douzable, ILB J. Lattimore, NT Barnes, LOLB Reilly, WR Powell. Duds TE Cumberland He's absolutely ineffective at everything he does, I don't see how he's going to stick around. In Chan's offense the TE will have to block for the most part, and he's among the worst blocking TE's I've seen. I've seen Fitz show more passion and physicality as a blocker in one play vs the Giants (where he sprinted down the field to take out a defender on a Bilal Powell run) than Cumberland has since he got here. He's not going to be a weapon in the passing game even if we forced the ball to him, which Chan won't do. Because he can't catch either. He's got to go. I rather have Kellen Davis as a blocker in the lineup with Amaro / Enunwa in the backfield catching passes instead of wasting a roster spot on a TE who can't block or catch and costs us 2+ mil. per year to keep around. Cut the ties. OLB Coples When will this farce end? Will it end? Coples just is not a linebacker. He's not even an edge guy as a lineman. He is a 4-3 DT or a 3-4 DE. Why we continue to waste his skills out there at the OLB position I don't get. And even when he lines up up front he's always lined up outside with the LT, a battle he just won't win because he's not fast/explosive enough. Inside however he's shown over the last couple years that he can dominate there, that's where he causes havoc. I can't understand why every fan seems to see and understands this yet the coaching staff for whatever reason feels different. I don't get it. Trade him if you don't want to move him back, bench him if you want to keep him at OLB, just stop wasting a spot on our defense on a guy who simply is not a good linebacker. Move him back, use him the same way you use Sheldon, Leonard, Mo. Let Reilly take his spot at OLB until Mauldin returns, he honestly looked more natural as a LB than Coples does. Honorable mentions: RG Colon, CB Walls, FB Bohanon, DE Bowen. I probably have missed some players, will have to watch the game again but so far that's all I got. Starting Lineup (Offense) Code: QB Fitzpatrick RB Ivory HB Enunwa TE Cumberland WR Decker WR Marshall LT Ferguson LG Carpenter C Mangold RG Colon RT Giacomini Starting Lineup (Defense) Code: LDE Wilkerson NT Harrison RDE Williams LOLB Coples ILB Harris ILB Davis ROLB Reilly LCB Revis NCB Skrine RCB Cromartie FS Gilchrist Second Team Offense Code: QB Petty RB Stacy WR Owusu WR Evans TE Saxton LT Qvale LG Aboushi C W. Johnson RG Winters RT Brewer Second Team Defense Code: LDE Talley NT Barnes RDE Bowen LOLB Reilly ILB Mays ILB Lattimore ROLB Babin LCB M. Williams FS Jarrett SS Miles RCB McDougle
Good- Zac Stacey, Decker WR, Trevor Reilly, Chris Ivory, Revis, Cromartie, Powell PR, Marcus Williams Bad- Demario Davis, Decker PR, Quigley, Colon, Folk missed XP, Calvin Pryor LB's are old and slow and get exposed every game
How about some love for Cromartie island. He covered ODB like a blanket and got us a touchdown to boot. I think the critics need to eat some Cro and admit that they were wrong.
The issue with Coples is that the fans shouldn't blame him because he is being played out of position by the coaching staff or shouldn't have been drafted by the FO (as he was a bad fit for the defense). Additionally, I think Enunwa is going to be our future pass catching TE.
Crystal Ball looking a lot brighter for Jetsies after this game. We now have fighters chance in every gam if this continues Thank you Mac~~~~ Thank You Chan Gailey (I said it here first) We have a great GM and looks like good CS and players Am I dreaming??
Yeah I'm not blaming Coples, I still really like him as a player. I just wish the staff would put him in a better position to succeed. _
Ivory and Powell are going to be the engine of this team. If they can keep moving the ball like they are then it opens up everything else for us. We can play time of possession and rely on the defense to win it, or we can open up the downfield play action game. Fitz had a couple really nice throws, including a couple ropes outside the numbers and the beautiful deep touch pass to Decker. Even the downfield sideline throw to Evans was great, would have like to see him haul it in.
In fairness to the fans, he was not asked to play OLB yesterday, we wanted to see him on the line and used as a pass rusher, the CS did that and he was atrocious, I had already posted this elsewhere. I do still like him as a player also, but it could be he needs to to lose a little weight and gain some quickness.
If Stacey makes the team, I can see him taking plays from Powell. Stacey looks so much more explosive when he hits the hole, Powell looks so average, no quickness or breakaway speed. I do give Powell credit for his ability to pick up the blitz, he does that better than any of the jets current RB. JMO
I think Powell has looked very explosive through 3 preseason games. I came into camp wanting Stacy to be the 2nd stringer but Powell has won me over with his running style. He has a great combination of patience and decisiveness, good vision, burst and he's the best back we have at pass protection and probably receiving too. He's going to be a great guy to spell Ivory.
Harris whiffed on a few tackles out there, but the guy that worries me the most is Demario Davis. Me and you said before the LBs are either old and slow, we prob should add stupid to that as well because Davis - he hasn't done 1 good thing this preseason. This is his contract year as well. He might not come back. Oh and Decker returning punts? WTFFFFFFF
Stacey had some nice runs making something out of nothing, TD catch, great run on the 2 pt conversion, wouldn't be denied, IMO he has a higher upside than Powell, neither are close to Ivory, who's the man
Decker won't be returning punts in the reg season so I'm not worried about that. They only tried it because they wanna see if they have to give up a roster spot to Powell or not. But both guys kinda made that decision for them. to the OP.. how can you watch that game, have a list of studs and duds and not list Antonio Cromartie as a stud?
