First confirmation I’ve seen today that Zach will practice fully today and is in line to start on Sunday. Will is connected but he’s obviously not AS connected as others nor is he a party of the organization. Will wait to get some more confirmation or hear something officially before believing Zach will start on Sunday. Good thing is the Jets practice at Noon Eastern today (about 2 hours from now) so we’ll know for sure very soon.
You do realize Tomlin will send the house on the left side most of the game right.. If Zach starts, he better be mobile as his blindside will have a lot of traffic. It might be prudent to let Flacco start against Blitzburg. I just have a bad feeling about Zach getting smashed not seeing oncoming rushers.
No pressure, Zach. Seriously, I hope we don't bury him and this whole franchise if doesn't light it up on Sunday (or anoint him the savior if he does). Here's to hoping he stays healthy and we can see how this team looks as the year goes on Oh, and get McDermott help at LT this week... Sounds like Brown, Remmers and Ogbuhei won't be ready to start
Perfect. The evaluation process starts Sunday, finally something to look forward too. Run the ball and chip the edges with the TEs and backs. Ball out quick.
One thing that hasn't gone our way this season is gadget plays. Almost everytime we try a Jet sweep, end around, etc., its been a loss.
The line cannot be worse than what Zach had last year. The line did not practice together before the 1st game with Becton and AVT hurt during camp. The line was awful for the first 4 or so games. When Zach finally got back Fant got injured, McGovern got injured, Moses got injured, even LDT and AVT missed time. Chrebet said it best when he said how do you judge Zach when he was running for his life every game. As bad as it looks now at LT this is the likely the best OL Zach has played under. Not to mention he has much better weapons with Wilson, Conklin and Hall added plus he will get MC, Moore and Davis who also missed substantial time with him last year. Essentially he gets an almost entire new and improved offense and the defense is much better than last year. There may be issues and a learning curve but there are a lot less excuses this year for ZW. He has the tools to succeed. Let the season finally begin! Only 4 days to opening day!!!
You give me hope Noam, you give me hope. As you know, hope is a dangerous thing, a very dangerous thing.
It's a fair point but this is something Zach, LaFleur, and even Saleh will have to deal with every week. Every team is going to gameplan against perceived weaknesses and strengths. This week, our primary weakness just happens to be a lot more obvious than it normally would be. With that though, my hope is that LaFleur realizes this and develops this week's gameplan knowing that the offense this week will have to be predicated on establishing the run, short-intermediate passes, and putting Conklin, CJ, or the RB on the left side to give McDermott some help.
For once, I fully agree with Rich. No need to wait for a "safe landing spot" with Zach. Injuries happen in the NFL. If Zach pans out and becomes successful, there will be many weeks where the OL or the skill guys are down a man or two. It's unavoidable. Plus, Zach is a former #2 overall pick. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, he'll be able to elevate the team. I seriously doubt that will be this week due to many factors but he needs to learn how to play and win in sub-optimal situations. Finally, like I said in the reply above, this gives LaFleur a chance to tailor the gameplan for this week, knowing what Pittsburgh will try to attack and find creative ways to mitigate the damage. We'll find out some answers on Sunday.
NO pressure Zack! (But unless you put up 400 yrds, 4TDs, and 0 ints and a big W we're trading you Monday morning for draft picks!)
Hope and expectations can be both awful things to have. My advice as a fan of a young rebuilding team is to avoid living in the moment as the up and down swings will make you dizzy and look for positive long term trends. Think of it like investing money long term in a normal bull stock market. Stop driving yourself crazy by looking at your holdings every second and hold on for long term gains. I wish I could tell you everything will be ok long term with the Jets but turning around a losing culture is so hard. So much adversity and so many unexpected negative things happen. But we have a really strong core of young players with potential and there is a chance we could turn that corner. There is something to be excited about here. We are light years ahead of where we were at the end of 2020. Enjoy the good things and watch the young players develop. Let's see where we are and how this team is trending by the end of the season. Hopefully things are pointing up at that point. If that's not the case well then we should be angry.
