I remember watching Sam Darnold highlight and thinking, people say he's good, so he must be good. Truth be told, I say that watching a lot of highlights as I am certainly no talent evaluator. Watching Zach Wilson is different. His ball placement, the plays he makes, his field awareness all jump out on the clips. The same goes for Elijah Moore. The moves he made on the field were so quick both defenders and me watching lost balance and were left in awe. Offense: Say what you will about our O-Line but it was better in 2020 than it was in 2019. It was better toward the end of 2020 than it was in the beginning of 2020. Even with 0 additions, our OL will be better in 2021. Add AVT, and now we have a stronger OL and now we have depth at guard. Add Moses and now we have depth at OT as well. Injuries are the #1 thing that derails a team and IMO having quality depth is just as important as having quality starters. As the OL goes, so does the run game. Top OLs typically produce top run offences. There is no such thing as a team with a good OL but a bad run game. We have the above mentioned aww inspiring Moore, we have a ever reliable Crowder, and we have a record holding WR in Davis who showed last year that he can be a damn good receiver if he has a competent QB throwing to him (sorry Mariota fans). Berrios and Cole add some depth to the WR room and as mentioned earlier, depth is important. Our TE room leaves a lot to be desired especially with reports Herndon isn't picking up the playbook but this system has given a few TEs career years. If our TE and FB are our weakest positional group on Offence, I'm totally OK with that. Defense: Our DL was a strength last year. Our run D was top 5.Our middle got even stronger with an additional year of experience and the addition of a healthy Sheldon Rankins, top 5 against the run is a given... top 3 is realistic. We finally added quality Edge rusher this off season, one in his prime and one still productive in his twilight. We also have developmental players from last year who have had some time to develop. We have an obnoxious amount of scheme flexibility with the amount of talent on this line. Imagine a big package of Lawson-Fatakusi-Williams-JFM or a speed package with Lawson-JFM-Williams-Curry. Our LB group took a huge leap from last year. Anyone who is sleeping on CJ is going get woke at the start of the season. We have a top MLB and a lot of questions/potential surrounding him. Are the 2 rookies picking up the defense as quickly as reported? Will Jarrad Davis live up to his potential with a more limited role. If they are, we once again have depth and versatility. Maybe a bigs group of Cashman-Mosley-Davis or a speed package with Nasirideen-Mosely-Sherwood. We can probably all agree; the secondary is the biggest question on defense this year. Our Safety spot is probably in good shape. Maye showed he has quality and versatility and Joyner has been a top safety thru the years. He struggled in Vegas when switched to slot corner but now that he's back to his natural position I'm confident he'll produce as he did in years past. With Ashtyn Davis along with Nasirdeen and Sherwood we also have depth in the middle. Our CB group is probably the biggest question on the team but I'm not ready to count them out. The more time a QB has in the pocket, the more time he has to pick apart the secondary. I don't think many QBs will have time in the pocket this year against the Jets. Bryce Hall missed the first part of the season recovering from a gruesome college injury but improved as the year went on. Hall and Guidry both had very high marks in zone coverage and we are moving to a zone coverage base D. I agree CB is a question but I'm not prepared to say it's trash. Guidry was undrafted so JD has shown quality corners can exist outside the first 3 rounds. Offensive strengths: Scheme, WR Possible strengths: QB, OL, RB Offensive weaknesses: TE, FB Defensive strengths: Scheme, DL, S Possible strengths: LB Possible weakness: CB Our Schedule: Carolina - Win Weak OL and we know how Darnold performs under pressure. Strong run game but run D is our strength. Decent Edge rushers but our OTs can handle them Weak secondary New England - Win The Patriots are a solid team but the 49ers crushed them 33-6 last year. Our HC, OC, and DC all lost to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. I think that coupled with it being our home opener, the Jets show what they are capable of. Denver - Win (for now) Denver is a team who is truly "1 player away". Unfortunately for them that 1 player is QB. Their IOL is also weak so unless they start the rookie Meinerz and he's doing well our DL should have a filed day. I'm glad we're playing them early in the season bc them getting Deshaun or Rodgers changes everything. Tennessee - Loss Tannehill is a tactician who can pick our secondary apart. He has 2 of the best WR in the game and a top RB to keep our defense honest. Their OL is decent but not deep. This is a team I'd rather play later in the year when their forced to play a couple backups exposing Tannehill to more pressure. Their defense is nothing special so this could be a shootout. Atlanta - Win I think this could be another shootout. Ryan is the type of QB who could pick us apart.... if he has time. They have another weak OL with 0 depth. They can generate pressure up front but their secondary is trash. Our DC is going to take this game personally and tell our OC how to attack the Falcon's weaknesses New England - Loss Maybe they are playing Mac Jones at QB and we'll get a win but NE at it's core is too good to go 0-2 against any divisional opponent this year Cincinnati - Win I'm a lot higher on Cincinnati than most. They will have one of the most explosive offences in the league; the talent they have on their skill positions is without question. The weakest group they have is their IOL. Throw in a vengeance game for Lawson and Burrow is going to need to get the ball out in a hurry to use his weapons. If we manage to beat NE in the previous week, I can see this becoming a loss after an emotional victory the previous week. Indianapolis - Loss I believe Wentz is a QB who is as good as his OL allows. He's behind a good OL this year and in a system he's very familiar with. I don't fear the Colts D. They seem to have good power rushers but our beefy OL should be able to hold them off. This should be a fun game to watch Buffalo - Loss Allen is a top 5 QB in the league and Buffalo is looking to go to the Super Bowl but coming off 2 easy victories with Miami and Jags, they sleep on the 5-3 Jets. Miami - Win Tua can't throw the ball from his back Houston - Win Too many holes Philadelphia - Win Too many holes New Orleans - Win I fear neither Winston nor Hill Miami - Win Will Tua even be playing or is he on IR? Jacksonville - Win The moves they are making sounds like Karma has moved down south. RB in the 1st? No help for their QB? Tim Tebow?!? T.B. - Win I'm glad we're playing them this late in the season. With the #1 seed locked up, TB has TB12 and some other starters rest Buffalo - TBD Winner takes the division As a tribute to DWC, I've made this long drawn out post but unlike DWC I'm not going to argue with anyone who disagrees. I've made my points and I stand by them.
Nice breakdown. The one thing I see is that the probability of reeling off seven straight in the middle of a playoff race with essentially a brand new roster are slim to none. There's at least a game in there penciled in as a win that they'll lose when they shouldn't. Think Philly, one Miami game and definitely Tampa Bay even with the division locked up.
Love the write up King, my King I am optimistic. Darksiders be damned - except my boss Cman. This is the year Jets being relevant starts.
Good post. I'll address just the Zach aspect... from the few clips I saw I liked the way the ball left his hands with good spin. He also leads his receivers nicely. Sam looked like he was tossing water balloons... just horrible mechanics... but not bad for a linebacker...
With our depth that Key player would be Wilson and maybe Mosley. IMO we're too deep everywhere else to have the season derailed by a single injury.
I would say a bit optimistic, but jets fandom is always this time of year, even the last 5 years, where should not have been, because we had miserable teams, with last year, the most miserable team in franchise history. I will say I think the optimism is warranted this year, I think this team is going right direction and will be much better! The games will finally become fun to watch again! Being competitive is key, with some luck, never know. Playoffs could be possible. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think there is plenty to be optimistic about. JD seems to be building a solid roster around Wilson. Saleh did a good job as DC for SF and their players praised his leadership. Hopefully that carries over to being a HC. But I think the Jets are probably a year away from competing for a playoff spot and or division. Along with a new HC is a new coaching staff, new systems and schemes to learn. I guarantee that next year (2022) you will hear quotes from the players saying its so much easier now and everyone knows their job since they know what the coaching staff expects and the systems they run.
I have been watching some Wilson BYU film on YouTube, more I watch, the more I think he had the it factor. Never felt that way with Darnold, even I knew he had elite arm talent. I think there will be times where he struggles, but I bet by end of season, you will see growth, to the point he is light years ahead of where Darnold currently is. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
