Thank you. I've been a Jets fan for 40 years. We have so many great fans but I seriously doubt any outsider visiting this site would ever mistake us for being the most knowledgeable fan base in the NFL.
Playing 3-4 OLB is entirely different than a 4-3 d end in college. We have to watch what kind of progress he makes as the year goes on. And I thought he was ok today. Put it this way, everyone was terrified that Houston would run right at him all day long. Well, if they did, they did not gain a whole lot of yardage on the ground.
I've been a Jets fans for 40 years too - although just barely. I don't get the negativity torwards VG. He is a Jet w/alot of potential & talent and he is a hard working player who has been consistently improving under Coach Ryan. I think this team could be pretty good and who knows they could just get a little lucky and surprise a few experts. For that to happen we need VG and all our guys to play hard and improve every week. This week they were underdogs but they played great and they won, next week they will be underdogs again but they have the chance to beat the pats. I like this coach and this team better than any Coach or team we've had since the Parcells era. Lets support these guys and not try to knock them down especially when they just played a good game.
And notice, there was not a whole lot of tackles, period. The Jets controlled the ball most of the game. So good job VG!
This defense is a lot like the Ravens D where everyone was flying around and they had creative ways of redirecting the ball carrier to Ray Lewis. In the Jets D the objective now is to get the ball carrier to go either Scott or Harris... mostly Harris. No one on the D needs to have amazing stats, they just need to do their job, which everyone including Gholston did. Sacks would be nice but with the development out of Gholston, it wouldn't be a surprise if they didn't start coming later in the season. Also, to the argument that players drafted that high are supposed to be able to start right away - I agree that they're supposed to start right away, but I disagree with the fact that those drafted that high and can't start right away are automatically a bust. Look at Calvin Pace, he was a high draft pick and everyone thought he was a bust with Arizona. He took forever to develop but now that he has he's an absolute beast that people think we can't live without. Let's give Gholston some time to develop and not kick his ass out the door because he didn't mean draft spot expectations. If we lose Gholston the way Arizona lost Pace we might be losing a potentially great player later on.
I just want to point something out. A lot of the VG haters think he's a bust even though he only played ST in his first season. However, these SAME PEOPLE think Brett Ratliff and David Clowney are future Hall of Famers because of 1 or 2 preseason plays. I'm just sayin.....
Different expectations for Clowney and ratliff. Those are no name guys who showed us something. Gholston was a top pick so people expect him to produce right away. I agree, I think people go too crazy over unknonw guys in preseason and are too quick to label guys busts but to be fair Gholston hadn't shown us anything. He definitely took a positive step yesterday though.
Jamaal Westerman will take Gholston's spot before season's end. The man has better instincts than Gholston and apparently a better feel for the game. I'm not saying Gholston should be cut YET, but if we're gonna play the best players, you'd have to put Westerman ahead of Vern as of today.
I thought Gholston was pretty effective in run defense yesterday, helping to close a lot of gaps and he chased down Slaton on an outside run while fighting off a block - I think that was his TFL. People expecting him to be Calvin Pace are the ones bitching right now. He also applied some pretty good pressure. He's still not as aggressive as I want him to be, but in the rotations he was given, he wasn't the bum I expected to see on the field. He's BABY-STEPPIN quite nicely so far. I want to see more next week.
He needs to use his arms like Jenkins. Gholston looks like he is ready to dance and make friends sometimes, while Jenkins smacks you down with a hammer arm to the head.
He still has so much trouble shedding blocks, he doesn't use his hands for anything but gripping a jersey. Barely any moves at all.
I know that they're moving Westerman around, but he's primarily an MLB not an OLB like Gholston, so the comparisons are probably not warranted.
Gholston had 3 solo tackles, one of which was for a loss. That's pretty good. Westerman, our Rutgers boy, had a sack. They both had a good game, as did the rest of the defense. Our team stopped the run, Revis blanketed their best receiver, and we blitz like crazy driving the QB crazy. We don't have anything to complain about -- not this week
Thought he played the same position as Vern. Nice to have Westerman as an viable option though..:wink:
I paid VERY close to Gholston...and what I was very shocked to see...was the amount of DOUBLE teams he commanded...or at the very least, double teams that were sent his way. In fact, go back and look at the tape and that tackle for loss was him playing off a double team. I was very pleasantly surprised at his play. He is playing within the system and taking what he gets. If he continues to play this way and progress he may stay on my Jets team. lol lol Peace!! The Mezz
the thing people forget is Calvin Pace was regarded as a monumental bust for 4 years in Arizona. i keep reiterating slow progress, or no progress? ill take slow progress, plus hes showing flashes now. and until he can consistently do that, hes pushing the pocket well. and hes getting better at gap containment. i think people need to get over the whole whos starting thing. because we will be rotating our front 7 all season. thats just the way the system is. i see alot of blanket statements about how he sucks cause of no sacks, or how hes getting run at. well im sure half of the playcalls his responsibility is to hold his gap and force the ball opposite of the playside call. which hes finally starting to do. anyways, next week will be an even bigger test. but I dont see the pats OL respecting VG much. and im going to laugh when he gets a free release and gives Brady the same hit he gave David Carr. then everyone will circle jerk about it and pretend theyve supported the guy the whole time. either that or the response will be, "finally you fuck, earn your money." or he could have another solid but unspectacular and people will never be happy. rant over
