00:00:12
Speaker 1: The band is back together here on the official Jets podcast. That means Bart Scott is here as always. Damian Woody in the house.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Damian, how you doing, man?
00:00:19
Speaker 3: I'm good, man. How you doing?
00:00:21
Speaker 2: Great. Health scare for you?
00:00:23
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:00:24
Speaker 1: We were following that on Instagram. How are you feeling now? What kind of message do you have.
00:00:28
Speaker 2: For your fan base?
00:00:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I'm feeling good. And, you know, like I would tell everyone, just make sure you get checked out on a regular basis. Don't forget to do that. And it definitely helped my case, and I would advise everybody to do that as well.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: Thank God he's in the house today.
00:00:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, man.
00:00:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:00:45
Speaker 4: So I'm walking up. Yeah, that's right. The old teammates. Yeah, I got my, what's this? This is my, no, this is my nine, right? My six.
00:00:53
Speaker 3: Six.
00:00:54
Speaker 4: Nine.
00:00:55
Speaker 2: Oh, we're playing hands on the clock here.
00:00:57
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: So week eight in the National Football League, Jets are looking ahead. Aaron Glenn said Sunday can't come soon enough. You probably echo those sentiments right now.
00:01:09
Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely. After what the team experienced on Sunday, the thing that you want to do is you want to be able to flush it and just try to rectify the situation, rectify that feeling. that I'm pretty sure not only the players but the coaches and everyone affiliated with the team have. So, you know, hoping to have a good week of preparation and go out there and play your best game.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: For the Jets, it's all about playing 60. We saw them have a second-half surge last week against the Dolphins, but the start is not what they wanted.
00:01:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. Defensively, you've got to pride yourself on being able to stop the run. That's what sets the table for everything. You just don't want to be behind early. You want to kind of get in the groove. You want to be able to negate teams' first 15 plays. Every team practices those first 15 plays with a script. You want to come back and match that aggressiveness and get them off the field so you can try and get ahead. I always love to come out on defense first because I thought it was the first opportunity if you get off the field. to kind of set the offense up on a short field, and then we have the other team playing from behind, which has advantaged us.
00:02:15
Speaker 1: What do you make of where the Jets are at offensively right now, if you go back to the game against the Dolphins, the 25 points were season high, but rightfully so, they felt like they left some out there.
00:02:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, there's a lot of positives. Obviously, you talked about Braylon Allen, you know, rushing for over 100 yards, Omar Cooper Jr., you know, rookie of this second consecutive 100-yard game. So there's some positive. There's no question about it. But you also got to look at it on the flip side, situational football. So much of the game of football is about situational football, whether you talk about short yardage, goal line, two-minute drill. If you're the Jets, those are the things that you got to continue to clean up because if you can clean up those things, you can become a more efficient offense.
00:03:00
Speaker 1: We're starting to see the entire band come back together, right? Because Ed and I, Mitchell back in the lineup, Omar Cooper has been a revelation here the last two games.
00:03:09
Speaker 4: I mean, he's been a beneficiary of teams, Dublin, Garrett, and he gets to one-on-one, and I think they're going to have to start realizing they've got to play more balanced too, like when you go against Jamar Chase and T. Higgins or when you go against teams like Puka Nakua and Devontae Adams. If you want to put one of your guys on the island, it's the responsibility of the quarterback. to find the one-on-one coverage in the matchups. And, you know, let's not give his flowers to Mason Taylor, who I thought had his best game as a pro, high-pointing the ball against his daddy's team, you know, and probably a team that he rooted for growing up, of course. And I thought he showed up and showed out. A couple of missed opportunities, but, man, when we needed a play, he made it for us. And he was an advantage as well. And that's what you want, right? So now it's like you have a good problem if you're Frank Wright, right? You got a Sadiq problem, right? How do I get him to touch us? You've got a Mason Taylor problem. How do you get him touches? You've got a Braylon Allen, and next week you'll have a Brees Hall problem. All good problems to have, but you've got to feed the mouths, and the ball goes where the defense dictates it goes, and you'll have a smooth, efficient offense where some days it's going to be one guy's time to cook and eat, and then the other time it's going to be other guys' time to cook and eat.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: Dee Wood, Cooper is the first player in over 40 seasons to record multiple games of 100 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown within their first season. three career games and the first ever to do so in consecutive games.
00:04:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's off to a fast start. Obviously, you know, this is a guy that, you know, that first game, that first catch, you know, he had the big catch and obviously got injured and went on IR. And sometimes when you have a, you know, player that young, a rookie, you know, coming back from those situations, you wonder if they're going to be able to pick up what they left off. And that's exactly what he's been able to do. is to really pick up where he left off at and being one of those explosive, run-after-the-catch type of players. That's what he was known for at the University of Indiana, and he's brought that to this Jets team.
00:05:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, we knew that he was really good with the yak, but he's catching the ball way down the field and then getting after it.
00:05:14
Speaker 4: Well, people forget that he was also a speedy guy, too. He played majority in the slot because that's where they want him to play, not because he had to. He could sometimes play the Z out there. I forgot the other guy. Surratt or somebody that they had out there. He was a more longer guy. It's not that Koop is a small guy at all.
00:05:31
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
00:05:32
Speaker 4: Kind of like a more muscular Jericho Cotri, in my opinion. Like he's a guy that can play in a slide, but that can go vertical too. Maybe got a little bit more top end speed than Jayco, but he's a guy that's reliable and he knows when he gets the ball in his hand, he's not an easy out. Meaning that like you see him fighting through tackles and you know, that's how he got injured on the first play of the season. And we could be talking about him, you know, with three games with 300 yards, I mean, 100 yards or more because he was one for 30. And, you know, you can't tell me that in that Tennessee game that he wouldn't be able to get another 100 there as well. So, you know, you got to start measuring him by quarters like you do babies, right, before they get years. He's 13 months, 14 months because, yeah, he's three games in, but technically he's only nine quarters.
00:06:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been an electric start.
00:06:20
Speaker 1: And speaking of electricity, seems like, the fan base has really gravitated towards him early.
00:06:26
Speaker 2: I was at the game, of course, on the sideline.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: And when he was making plays, man, he was charged and that stadium was jumping.
00:06:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's that type of electric type of player because, you know, he's the type of guy that, you know, that gets to yak, breaks tackles. You know, that's what this modern game is all about. You know, it's not about, you know, necessarily pushing the ball down the field, but getting the ball in your playmaker's hands and let them And let them make the long yardage. And that's the one thing that Omar Cooper Jr. has not only done on the collegiate level, but he's shown here on the pro level as well.
00:07:00
Speaker 1: You just mentioned the bounty of skill, position, talent the Jets have.
00:07:05
Speaker 4: Correct.
00:07:05
Speaker 1: So everybody's going to look at Garrett Wilson's stat line all the time in terms of how many times he's been targeted, how many catches he's had, and obviously defenses. What are you seeing from maybe opponents right now, what they're doing against him because he's such an elite receiver, and they know the Jets want to get.
00:07:23
Speaker 4: Him the ball. Well, one of the big plays that Cooper got was basically him and Garrett stacked with each other. Garrett went short. He went long on, I believe, the corner route, and he was able to make a big play, right? Both defenders came off and got the ball, came off of Garrett. Sometimes it's tough, right, because it can be frustrating, but that's the reason why teams are doing it. But we know that Garrett is a professional. He's going to make sure that he understands that, you know, that's what it is right now. And I'm sure he's going to champion, you know, those young guys that had big days. And I'm sure those young guys understand that we had big days because, you know, Garrett was tilting the field for us. And it's our obligation to make sure that if they're going to do that, we make a team pay for it.
00:08:07
Speaker 1: Don't you think ultimately this is going to create more space for Garrett, what these other guys are doing on the Jets offensively?
00:08:13
Speaker 3: Well, there's no question about it because as Omar Cooper Jr. continues to eat, then teams will adjust. They will see, like, okay, this young man is a playmaker, so what are we going to do to try to take him away? And then that's when, you know, Garrett will get his touches. That's when, you know, King and Sadiq will get his touches, you know, Mason Taylor, so on and so forth. So there's a lot of miles to feed in this offense, and, you know, I think what we want to see is, it all being put together. When it's all put together, then I think it'll be something special, and I think that's what they're building towards.
00:08:48
Speaker 4: But that's why you have to be better on converting on third down because you got to keep these drives going so you can get in the rhythm so everybody can get their touches so that you can see how teams are adjusting to certain formations and things like that. On the flip side, that's why you saw yesterday the Jets defense gave up, I think, a 12-play drive and a 15-play drive you know, that's directly hurting the offense because the offense can't get out there and get in the rhythm because they're sitting for a long time. Time of possession is important because teams know how good the offense is potentially and how much difficulty they possess. So they're trying to take the air out of the game by going on these long methodical drives. And, you know, it puts a lot of pressure on the offense to have to, you know, score immediately or fast. Like you saw, like when we went down 10 after the, I think the missed field goal, we had to come down and we scored with Taylor. But like, We had to be perfect. And that's a lot of pressure to be under. So we got to do a better job on the defense. I'm always going to speak as a defensive guy, being able to get off the field. And also on offense, we got to be able to convert third and short and be able so we can get more plays in.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: Mason Taylor, you mentioned him before.
00:09:57
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:09:58
Speaker 2: What can a game like that do? for his confidence?
00:10:02
Speaker 1: And now I watch him and say, wow, this guy could be a big-time red zone threat.
00:10:07
Speaker 4: I mean, we're all competitive, right? We're all competitive. So I'm sure he was chomping at the bit like, hey, I appreciate Sadiq. He's a teammate of mine's. but I can do some stuff too, right? That's the competitive juices because if a Cooper, you know, emerging depending on the strengths and weaknesses of opposing defenses, then you may be three-wise, right? So if you're three-wise, and that means only one tight end is on the field, you want to be able to also you got to make sure you're blocking well too because, you know, you want to stay balanced. So I think, you know, iron sharpens iron, and I think the emergence of Deke is just pushing Mason, right? to be the best version of himself because he knows if he doesn't get it done, if he has a lapse, that Sadiq's going to get those opportunities. So that's the competitive competition that we have. Right? Like, I remember, like, when we would go in and we put our blitz packages in on Thursday, he was like, yo, I only get two blitzes. I better do something with it so I can get more blitzes. If not, he going to get my blitz to Hedy Bow or he going to get my blitz to Eric Smith or he going to give it to Drew. So I better make sure that, hey, every time we call the bark blitz, you know, that, hey, we getting some productivity out of that thing or I'm going to be a guy that's a decoy.
00:11:17
Speaker 1: Geno's got to love that, though. Your tight end going up and high pointing the ball.
00:11:21
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:11:22
Speaker 2: And he.
00:11:23
Speaker 1: He presents such a problem for opponents because who are you going to choose to cover a guy like that with?
00:11:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why at the end of the day I've always said it's players over plays because it's about matchups. And when your quarterback trusts that you're going to go out there and make a play, that's tremendous. And yesterday we saw with Mason– Geno trusted him to go out there and make plays because it's not like he wasn't covered. Like, he was covered.
00:11:51
Speaker 4: That's right.
00:11:52
Speaker 3: But he just went out there and made a play over the defender.
00:11:54
Speaker 4: High point.
00:11:55
Speaker 3: And I think that, you know, that's the case for all these skilled position guys at the Jets. They have a bunch of talented skilled position guys, whether you're talking about Garrett, you know, Omar Cooper Jr., you know, Kenya Sadiq, you know, Mason. All those guys are capable of that on any given Sunday. Now it's just all about, you know, bringing it all together and just, you know, just putting it. I think if you put it out there on tape, boy, now the offense can take it to the next level.
00:12:22
Speaker 1: Braylon Allen, people were wondering what this offense was going to look like in the backfield when Brees Hall went down. Since week four, he's had the second most rushing yards in the National Football League.
00:12:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, he's been getting a lot of attempts, and he's been making, I think he averaged like six yards a carry yesterday. He's getting downhill, getting a shoulder square. I think Frank is starting to really figure out the type of runs that is best suited for his skill set. I think sometimes You know, he could be more of a gap scheme, power run guy, of course, downhill, shoulder square. And when Breeze gets in, sometimes it's that zone, you know, scheme as well. So, you know, I think, you know, Frank has a good feel about what type of runs Braylon feels comfortable with, what type of reads that he wants to read, and they're being more defined. And, you know, like with all things, the more attempts you get, the better you get and the better you understand. So he's getting a lot of attempts, so he's starting to really figure it out. And he's punishing guys as well. He's making a good name for himself and accosting himself very well.
00:13:19
Speaker 1: Damian, you're a line of scrimmage guy. What have you seen from the line in terms of Ron Block in the past few weeks and getting into a groove with Braylon?
00:13:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, there's a synergy that you're seeing right now with Braylon. You know, you don't put up those type of numbers without having a synergy between the line and the running back position. And so, you know, you're seeing guys getting– you know, body on the body, hands on the defenders, and moving and displacing people off the line of scrimmage. And so, you know, that's what you got to do. That's what you got to do in a running game. And to me, that is the key to offense. You know, I've always said the thing that kills drives in the National Football League, negative run plays, sacks, penalties. Okay? If you can stay away from those things, you're going to be able to convert third downs because you're going to put yourself in third down and manageable every time. And, you know, as long as the Jets can, if the Jets can continuously do those type of things with Braylon, whether it's Braylon Allen or Brees Hall when they come back, they got a chance to really be a really efficient offense.
00:14:21
Speaker 1: What do you make of where Geno's at right now? He did have three touchdown passes. The Jets were three of four in the red zone. But again, we're talking about maybe a couple missed opportunities where maybe they're scoring 35 points or 37 points.
00:14:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's just also, you know, this is a new offense for Geno. These are new players he's trying to get a chemistry with, trying to put in the microwave. I think he's doing a great job in protecting the ball, right? And now he's getting more efficient. I think, you know, when you think about, like, some of the missed opportunities, that's with anybody, right? You know, you talk about being able to see the field, the offensive line. It all starts with running the ball, right, and protection, right? We know if you protect Geno, that he's going to be a guy that can go through his progressions and do accurate football that's catchable for his teammates. And I think the more and more they get opportunities, the better and better they're going to get. And then they have to learn how to complement it, right? They have to learn how to complement it. I was excited to see Isaiah Davis yesterday, too.
00:15:24
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:15:24
Speaker 4: He's a big catcher on the backfield. Right, because he has a lot of bounce. He's a different runner. To me, he's like a mix between briefs. and Braylon at the same time. He's a better catcher of the football, and he's got live legs, and he's a big guy as well, right? So he's not a small guy, I would say that. He's like a 220 guy, like six feet put together. But if you can get him to ball in space too, that's a whole nother dynamic as well, as you want to try and take some carries off of guys to make sure that they're fresh. We remember how we ran Thomas Jones into the ground You know what I mean? Our first year and then Sean Green came in fresh.
00:16:00
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:16:00
Speaker 4: But it's because, you know, you guys brought Sean along slowly and then Sean was ready to take the majority of the load and he had fresher legs.
00:16:08
Speaker 1: Right.
00:16:08
Speaker 4: So we got to try and get to get us to deep water. And Braylon's been doing a good job. But after a while, it's a cost to diminish returns. Right. You want to start taking a couple of carries off, you know, to get them because it's a late bye week. So you want to take some carries off of him a little bit. But yeah, he's young. He don't got no scar tissue. You can kind of run him in the ground right now.
00:16:26
Speaker 2: That's a good point about the bye week. The Jets, you got to play 12 games before the bye.
00:16:29
Speaker 4: Right.
00:16:30
Speaker 2: Do you like that as a player?
00:16:32
Speaker 3: I mean, listen. You know, when the schedule comes out, what's the first thing you look for? You look for who's the first team you play in the bye week.
00:16:41
Speaker 1: Right.
00:16:41
Speaker 3: And so when you get a late bye week, man, that sucks as a player. You know, like I would rather have a bye week earlier than later.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:16:48
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? But like having it, you know, you play 12 weeks before the bye.
00:16:51
Speaker 4: Broke down.
00:16:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, man.
00:16:53
Speaker 3: You're in a lot of.
00:16:54
Speaker 2: I didn't know if you wanted to get in some rhythm.
00:16:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're hurting, man. With a late bye week like that, man. So, yeah, that's, you know, again, as a player, that's like one of the first things you look for is when is the bye week.
00:17:07
Speaker 4: I always like my bye week like week nine, like midway point, so that I can go get refreshed and then come back for the get ready for the sprint. You know, the dash for the catch, what we call it. Well, you know what I mean? November, December is like when you decide, you know, are we going to the playoffs or are we not going to the playoffs?
00:17:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, well right now the Jets are going to just put their head down.
00:17:24
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, right now.
00:17:25
Speaker 3: You can't think about December. Like literally with this team, it's one meeting at a time, one practice at a time. One band, one song. And one game at a time. It's true though, isn't it? It is.
00:17:39
Speaker 4: It has to be.
00:17:41
Speaker 3: You know, when you're in the position that the team is in right now, you can't afford to look ahead. Like you can't afford to look ahead past a meeting, past a practice. Definitely not pass a game because that's the type of urgency that you've got to have as a collective.
00:17:59
Speaker 1: Jets Raiders this week. Two teams, I would say, who are desperate for a win. Las Vegas started off real hot, 3-0.
00:18:08
Speaker 4: Played tough. Yeah, they played tough. They're a tough out, right? And, you know, they have a mature quarterback in Kirk Cousins, but they may be making a decision when it's the right time to put, like, the rookie in. You have to be self-aware. If you're the Jets, you got to say, we may get Mendoza because they may think this is a soft landing. Let's make them regret that decision. So that's got to be the mindset. When he gets there, we know if you get Mendoza, it's going to be quick shots, athleticism, all that type of stuff. If you get Cousins... he's going to be methodical, right? He's going to be surgical.
00:18:44
Speaker 3: And you know where he's going to be in the pocket.
00:18:45
Speaker 4: Right, right. You got to be on your point. You know exactly where he's going to be, right? So you got to know like, okay, well, he's not necessarily a deer in headlights, but he's not a mobile guy that's going to be getting out and circling the defense like Willis did the previous week. So you got to be prepared for both. I'm sure they're not going to tell you who's playing or who's starting as late as possible. And you want to be ready. But at this point, You should be so pissed off as a team. It don't matter who you play. You just want them to show up.
00:19:13
Speaker 2: Do you change your game plan based on who is playing quarterback?
00:19:17
Speaker 4: Damn straight.
00:19:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
00:19:18
Speaker 2: So break it down for me.
00:19:20
Speaker 1: Let's play the Cousins card, and then let's go to Mendoza.
00:19:23
Speaker 3: Well, again, like with Kirk Cousins, you know where he's going to be in the pocket. Kirk Cousins is not a mobile quarterback. He's a very cerebral guy. He's a heady vet, been in this game a long time. you know, understands, you know, there's not anything that you're going to throw him that's going to throw him off. That's the type of guy Kirk Cousins is. With Fernando Mendoza, you know, this will be his first start. You know, listen, you know, there's a lot of things he hasn't seen, but he, a different animal than Kirk Cousins because he's more athletic. So technically there's more things that you can do with him from a play caller perspective. So, yeah, they're two totally different quarterbacks. They're both cerebral type guys. One guy has a lot less– experience in the National Football League.
00:20:09
Speaker 4: But it's the whole kiss thing. Keep it simple, stupid. When you think you're getting a guy like Mendoza, you know it's going to be three-step drops or shots, and then if the play break down, his first read isn't there, he's just going to take off. So now you may have to have a spy because you're going to get that Bo Nix effect where it break down, he's going to hurt you with his legs, so now you have to figure out, okay, how do I run enough coverages to kind of confuse him to make him panic? Or how do I create fake pressure, simulated pressure to make him get into checks. It's harder to do that with a guy like Cousins because, like you said, he's been there, done that, seen it all. You're not going to scare him off his point, but you do know where he's going to be as far as being able to try and heat him up. But you know if you try and heat him up, he's a guy that can get in the right play and get guys open. You don't know if Mendoza can make the checks. So he might have whatever play we call, run it. That may be his instructions from his coordinator. So you want to try and make him move around, make him think about it. I doubt if they ever turn his back to the, to the safety on play action. So if they want to get play action down the field, it's probably going to be boots and throwbacks or sprint passes where he's only reading half the field so that he doesn't have to go back and survey, survey like, Oh, well, where's Mika at? Okay. Mika lined up at the, at the linebacker, but now he's in the post, like, or now he's at the, now he's the over the top half safety, like what's going on. So like, they're going to keep it simple for him. Um, But it's going to start with Ashton Gentry, right, being physical, running down the field. And, you know, they got one of the best tight ends in the game when you talk about Bowers. Probably the best tight end in the game. Well, I feel like I've been on this run where I want to give unappreciated people, like, their flowers. So today somebody asked me that, who was, like, the best. And I went with Trey McBride.
00:21:56
Speaker 3: Trey McBride is a damn good football player as well. There's no question.
00:22:00
Speaker 4: All right.
00:22:01
Speaker 1: This is an interesting decision. His cousin's completing about 63% of his passes. He leads the National Football League with 16 touchdown passes. He just has the five interceptions. But maybe they are looking for a jolt.
00:22:14
Speaker 4: Well, they lost four in a row. I mean, he's the number one overall pick.
00:22:18
Speaker 3: At some point, he's got to play.
00:22:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's been there. You want to get him a good sample size because— You can tell Kirk Cousins, okay, this is the last ride, right? If we lose this, then we've lost five in a row, and the odds are we're not going to make it to the playoffs. So let's get the young guy some experience. We need you to be a great supporter of his and a mentor of his, and you know what you were brought here for. You knew eventually we were going to happen. It was up to you to hold us off.
00:22:46
Speaker 1: It feels like everything's on the table for them. Like he's saying, Bart, the four-game losing streak, you got Clint Kubiak saying, we're thinking about everything to fix our problems, how to fix our issues in the red zone, in the third quarter, personnel scheme, we've got to talk about all of it.
00:23:02
Speaker 3: Listen, that's coach speak for like, we might be pulling the trigger on the quarterback. Because everything starts with the quarterback. The only thing that keeps a veteran like Kirk Cousins You know, in this spot is winning football games. Once you start losing, all bets are off, and it's just only a matter of time before they insert the number one overall pick.
00:23:22
Speaker 4: Just ask Kurt Warner. He knows what it's about. All right.
00:23:26
Speaker 2: Give me the game plan. It was National Tight Ends Day.
00:23:30
Speaker 4: It was.
00:23:30
Speaker 1: Actually, last week, but this Sunday, there's going to be a lot of good tight ends on the field.
00:23:35
Speaker 2: Bowers is a leading receiver there.
00:23:37
Speaker 1: They throw the gentee out of the backfield, and they got Michael Mayer as well, Trey Tucker. has put up big numbers for them at the receiver position. I mean, he's a vertical threat. What do they have to do against Bowers to make sure that he's contained?
00:23:52
Speaker 4: Well, you know that he's going to get the ball in a multitude of ways, right? Drag routes, vertical routes. He can run the whole route tree. So he's not just a guy that's running seams or press outs or anything like that. You got to defend him in different ways. And also, you're going to bracket him. I mean, I would be... Surprise, or when I think about size, speed, I saw that Nashon Wright was up for the first time. He's a 6'4 long defender that has a huge defense radius. If you're going to go vertical or you're going to go man-to-man, maybe you consider bringing him in and matching him up with Bowers, especially if Bowers is detached from the line of scrimmage. If he's not, then you still play him off, but you hit him with the DN, you chuck him with the linebacker, and then whoever really has him takes him after that. you know what I mean, match-up zone, bracket him, stuff like that, depending on where he's lined up. It's a different type of technique and leverage that you use if he's displaced or split from the line of scrimmage. If he's in line, then you can line that DN up at a seven technique, basically head up on him and make him have to avoid and get hands on him a little bit. You know what I mean? And if you get hands on him with the DN, it turns into a natural U game. So you hit him, and that's going to make you not get up the field quickly, but you get your inside– tackle up, and then it just turns to a U game.
00:25:09
Speaker 2: Raiders have been one-dimensional, Damian. They want to be able to run it. They haven't been able to do it. This is a game where.
00:25:17
Speaker 4: They're going to be encouraged. I mean, they look at it, the Jets are out in a hundred yards.
00:25:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, they're going to run what they run, do what they do. And they're going to look at the film, and they're going to see, oh, Miami Dolphins ran on this defense, so we're going to come into the game And that's what we're going to do. We're going to attempt to run the ball because that's the best way to help your quarterback is not be one-dimensional. So I expect, whether it's the Raiders or any team, to try to come in and run the football against the defense until they start proving otherwise that that's just not what's going to happen. So I think it's more about us than it is about the opposition. I think it's a mentality with our defense that, listen, at the end of the day, we can't have people running the ball on us because when the team is able to run the ball, it's a coordinator's dream. The whole playbook is open to them. First and foremost, you got to be able to stop the run. That's what you got to do.
00:26:21
Speaker 4: I mean, you talk about, I think as of late now, the average is going up to over 100. You're giving up 100 yards rushing a game. And it started with the New England game where we couldn't get off the field from closing out. That's kind of understanding what our fronts are, making sure that we're in our gaps, making sure our techniques are sound. You can't go outlaw. You can't go try and play hero ball and try and do other people's job. You got to do your job, understand your fits, and don't hesitate. And that starts on the practice field. I mean, you have to practice the same speed that you're going to play at because I need to know where you're going to be at and what the fit is supposed to be. depending on what type of run we get, right? Sometimes we always talk about setting the edge. Setting the edge ain't always about being outside the widest. You can be outside the widest, but if you keep getting pushed out, then that's not an edge. You're just expanding the borders, you know what I mean, so to speak. Sometimes you set the edge and you get cut off, but you get such penetration that the ball has to cut up. So you have to make sure that you're good on your techniques to kind of set the edge in a run game, but also to be able to stay square and not get washed down you know, in the interior side as well.
00:27:27
Speaker 1: What did the Jets do well defensively after halftime? Before the blitz beater, I'm talking about you had three possessions for Miami and two of them were three and outs. So they made some adjustments and they were getting off the field.
00:27:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, they held the fort. You know, they weren't getting pushed back. I think they took it personal. They probably got chewed out. inside of the locker room at halftime about what are we doing, you know, because they gave up 21 points in the first half to a team that hadn't led, you know, all season, right? So, like, you know, pride stepped up and, you know, understanding getting a vibe and a feel for, like, what Malik was trying to do. Like, they tried to get him with a quarterback draw a couple times, and I think we were prepared for it, made a big play. But, you know, we started kind of getting settled in in the type of runs that, you know, they were doing with Ali.
00:28:17
Speaker 3: The Raiders.
00:28:18
Speaker 1: Defensively, in this four-game losing streak, they've given up 30 points to each of their opponents. Also, one of the worst run defenses in the National Football League. If you're in that offensive.
00:28:31
Speaker 4: I'm taking that for granted because we just said that about the other team. What's the worst? 115 QBR rating against the pass.
00:28:39
Speaker 2: Understood.
00:28:40
Speaker 1: But if you're the Jets here, this should be a game where you should be able to get after them at the line of scrimmage.
00:28:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, from a statistical standpoint, that's what it's all about. And so now it's all about going out there and doing it now. The Jets have shown the ability to go out there and get after people and run the football, obviously with the numbers that Braylon Allen has put up over the last four games. There's no question about that. I think the thing that we need to see from the Jets offense is consistency, consistently doing that. meaning consistently staying ahead of the sticks. No penalties, no sacks, no negative run plays. Stay ahead of the sticks, convert third down. When this team gets in a rhythm offensively, they look like a pretty damn good unit, excuse my language, but they really do. And so that's what they got to do. It's just about consistency because they have too many weapons not to be able to be one of these teams that teams should fear on offense.
00:29:42
Speaker 4: I mean, I feel like if you're Frank Wright or if you are Aaron Glenn, you can go up to each guy. Sadiq, I've seen it. It's on tape. Mimble, I've seen it. It's on tape. You know, Fashion New, I've seen this on tape. Braylon, I've seen this on tape. Demario, I've seen this on tape. Sweat, I've seen this on tape. You know, Jackson, I've seen this on tape, right? You know, Stevenson, I've seen this on tape. I should be able to expect this now, right? Because you've shown me that you can do it. So now the expectation is that you do it, right? It's no more my bads or, you know, my bad, I'll get it next time or smacking your chest and stuff like that. No, we have no time for error. If we're going to take this seriously and salvage this season, it stops and starts right now. And what are you willing to do for about it? But I need you on your details. And I'm going to be very anal about how we practice. If I don't see what I need to see, then we starting this thing all over because this ain't, this ain't camp cream puff. We about to get it in.
00:30:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:30:45
Speaker 2: It can't be Sunday, right? It's got to be every right out there.
00:30:49
Speaker 4: Exactly. I understand. I'm going to take care of your body. I'm going to take care of your body. but we about to go out here, we about to push. How we gonna stop third and one? How we gonna pick up in third and one? Well, maybe I need to put my ones in ones. Y'all need to get some live reps during the week. And you know.
00:31:07
Speaker 3: How we gonna run our two minute drill?
00:31:08
Speaker 4: Exactly.
00:31:09
Speaker 3: Like, you know, sometimes, going good on good, getting those reps.
00:31:14
Speaker 4: You serve us and we serve you. I was never beyond looking at the look card and giving y'all a look. If somebody had a player that was similar to my skill set, like, hey man, we need a look. All right, bet. So if you got to service each other and some of the ones say, man, all right, practice squad two, sit down. I got this, right. I'm telling you, and I'm sure it was like this when you were in New England and when you were here as well, like, yo, We didn't make practice easy for each other. There wasn't no brother-in-laws on that thing. We came in, we got our work, and we got up out of there. You know what I'm saying? But we going to get that work. You know what I'm saying? We was coming down, short yardage goal line that Thursday day. It was real. You know what I mean? And when I was a backup guy and just running down on kickoff in Baltimore, It was like, yeah, you're going to get this real look, right? I'm coming down here. I'm coming down and you're going to have to deal with us. We took pride in being able to stop our offense. Then when they got there, man, this is easier than practice. It's memory. It's muscle memory, right? If you're in practice and it's short yards and when you guys hit in practice and y'all stop and y'all butt up, then naturally in your head sometimes your muscles are trained to stop on contact when you get it because you're used to easing up. But if you like to the ground and it's like, hey, I ain't giving up, then when you hit contact, even defensive or offensive, defensive guys' legs go dead too because you're just so used to butt up. Right now we can't butt up, brother. We got to, you know it up. I can't even say that, you know what I'm saying?
00:32:56
Speaker 2: He's talking your language right now.
00:32:58
Speaker 3: Oh, yes, it is. No, it's, listen, man, I've always said practice should be harder than the game. And when you're at this point in the season for the Jets, like, again, you know, every meeting counts, every practice count, every rep counts, and you got to carry it over. And ultimately you got to do it on, on the field on Sundays. Like, you know, it can't be one of those things where it's like, Oh man, we had a great week of practice. And then you didn't go out there and do it. No, it's gotta be, we had a, we had, we had a great week, great week of meetings, great week of practice. And then we, and then we carried it over on the, on the, on the playing field on Sunday and we executed and got it done. That's what this team needs to do. If they need to, carry it all the way through, not halfway, but all the way through from practice, meetings, and ultimately to the game, and then go out there and chase victory.
00:33:54
Speaker 2: You guys executed again today inside the studio. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 1: The band is back together here on the official Jets podcast. That means Bart Scott is here as always. Damian Woody in the house.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Damian, how you doing, man?
00:00:19
Speaker 3: I'm good, man. How you doing?
00:00:21
Speaker 2: Great. Health scare for you?
00:00:23
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:00:24
Speaker 1: We were following that on Instagram. How are you feeling now? What kind of message do you have.
00:00:28
Speaker 2: For your fan base?
00:00:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I'm feeling good. And, you know, like I would tell everyone, just make sure you get checked out on a regular basis. Don't forget to do that. And it definitely helped my case, and I would advise everybody to do that as well.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: Thank God he's in the house today.
00:00:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, man.
00:00:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:00:45
Speaker 4: So I'm walking up. Yeah, that's right. The old teammates. Yeah, I got my, what's this? This is my, no, this is my nine, right? My six.
00:00:53
Speaker 3: Six.
00:00:54
Speaker 4: Nine.
00:00:55
Speaker 2: Oh, we're playing hands on the clock here.
00:00:57
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: So week eight in the National Football League, Jets are looking ahead. Aaron Glenn said Sunday can't come soon enough. You probably echo those sentiments right now.
00:01:09
Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely. After what the team experienced on Sunday, the thing that you want to do is you want to be able to flush it and just try to rectify the situation, rectify that feeling. that I'm pretty sure not only the players but the coaches and everyone affiliated with the team have. So, you know, hoping to have a good week of preparation and go out there and play your best game.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: For the Jets, it's all about playing 60. We saw them have a second-half surge last week against the Dolphins, but the start is not what they wanted.
00:01:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. Defensively, you've got to pride yourself on being able to stop the run. That's what sets the table for everything. You just don't want to be behind early. You want to kind of get in the groove. You want to be able to negate teams' first 15 plays. Every team practices those first 15 plays with a script. You want to come back and match that aggressiveness and get them off the field so you can try and get ahead. I always love to come out on defense first because I thought it was the first opportunity if you get off the field. to kind of set the offense up on a short field, and then we have the other team playing from behind, which has advantaged us.
00:02:15
Speaker 1: What do you make of where the Jets are at offensively right now, if you go back to the game against the Dolphins, the 25 points were season high, but rightfully so, they felt like they left some out there.
00:02:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, there's a lot of positives. Obviously, you talked about Braylon Allen, you know, rushing for over 100 yards, Omar Cooper Jr., you know, rookie of this second consecutive 100-yard game. So there's some positive. There's no question about it. But you also got to look at it on the flip side, situational football. So much of the game of football is about situational football, whether you talk about short yardage, goal line, two-minute drill. If you're the Jets, those are the things that you got to continue to clean up because if you can clean up those things, you can become a more efficient offense.
00:03:00
Speaker 1: We're starting to see the entire band come back together, right? Because Ed and I, Mitchell back in the lineup, Omar Cooper has been a revelation here the last two games.
00:03:09
Speaker 4: I mean, he's been a beneficiary of teams, Dublin, Garrett, and he gets to one-on-one, and I think they're going to have to start realizing they've got to play more balanced too, like when you go against Jamar Chase and T. Higgins or when you go against teams like Puka Nakua and Devontae Adams. If you want to put one of your guys on the island, it's the responsibility of the quarterback. to find the one-on-one coverage in the matchups. And, you know, let's not give his flowers to Mason Taylor, who I thought had his best game as a pro, high-pointing the ball against his daddy's team, you know, and probably a team that he rooted for growing up, of course. And I thought he showed up and showed out. A couple of missed opportunities, but, man, when we needed a play, he made it for us. And he was an advantage as well. And that's what you want, right? So now it's like you have a good problem if you're Frank Wright, right? You got a Sadiq problem, right? How do I get him to touch us? You've got a Mason Taylor problem. How do you get him touches? You've got a Braylon Allen, and next week you'll have a Brees Hall problem. All good problems to have, but you've got to feed the mouths, and the ball goes where the defense dictates it goes, and you'll have a smooth, efficient offense where some days it's going to be one guy's time to cook and eat, and then the other time it's going to be other guys' time to cook and eat.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: Dee Wood, Cooper is the first player in over 40 seasons to record multiple games of 100 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown within their first season. three career games and the first ever to do so in consecutive games.
00:04:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's off to a fast start. Obviously, you know, this is a guy that, you know, that first game, that first catch, you know, he had the big catch and obviously got injured and went on IR. And sometimes when you have a, you know, player that young, a rookie, you know, coming back from those situations, you wonder if they're going to be able to pick up what they left off. And that's exactly what he's been able to do. is to really pick up where he left off at and being one of those explosive, run-after-the-catch type of players. That's what he was known for at the University of Indiana, and he's brought that to this Jets team.
00:05:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, we knew that he was really good with the yak, but he's catching the ball way down the field and then getting after it.
00:05:14
Speaker 4: Well, people forget that he was also a speedy guy, too. He played majority in the slot because that's where they want him to play, not because he had to. He could sometimes play the Z out there. I forgot the other guy. Surratt or somebody that they had out there. He was a more longer guy. It's not that Koop is a small guy at all.
00:05:31
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
00:05:32
Speaker 4: Kind of like a more muscular Jericho Cotri, in my opinion. Like he's a guy that can play in a slide, but that can go vertical too. Maybe got a little bit more top end speed than Jayco, but he's a guy that's reliable and he knows when he gets the ball in his hand, he's not an easy out. Meaning that like you see him fighting through tackles and you know, that's how he got injured on the first play of the season. And we could be talking about him, you know, with three games with 300 yards, I mean, 100 yards or more because he was one for 30. And, you know, you can't tell me that in that Tennessee game that he wouldn't be able to get another 100 there as well. So, you know, you got to start measuring him by quarters like you do babies, right, before they get years. He's 13 months, 14 months because, yeah, he's three games in, but technically he's only nine quarters.
00:06:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been an electric start.
00:06:20
Speaker 1: And speaking of electricity, seems like, the fan base has really gravitated towards him early.
00:06:26
Speaker 2: I was at the game, of course, on the sideline.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: And when he was making plays, man, he was charged and that stadium was jumping.
00:06:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's that type of electric type of player because, you know, he's the type of guy that, you know, that gets to yak, breaks tackles. You know, that's what this modern game is all about. You know, it's not about, you know, necessarily pushing the ball down the field, but getting the ball in your playmaker's hands and let them And let them make the long yardage. And that's the one thing that Omar Cooper Jr. has not only done on the collegiate level, but he's shown here on the pro level as well.
00:07:00
Speaker 1: You just mentioned the bounty of skill, position, talent the Jets have.
00:07:05
Speaker 4: Correct.
00:07:05
Speaker 1: So everybody's going to look at Garrett Wilson's stat line all the time in terms of how many times he's been targeted, how many catches he's had, and obviously defenses. What are you seeing from maybe opponents right now, what they're doing against him because he's such an elite receiver, and they know the Jets want to get.
00:07:23
Speaker 4: Him the ball. Well, one of the big plays that Cooper got was basically him and Garrett stacked with each other. Garrett went short. He went long on, I believe, the corner route, and he was able to make a big play, right? Both defenders came off and got the ball, came off of Garrett. Sometimes it's tough, right, because it can be frustrating, but that's the reason why teams are doing it. But we know that Garrett is a professional. He's going to make sure that he understands that, you know, that's what it is right now. And I'm sure he's going to champion, you know, those young guys that had big days. And I'm sure those young guys understand that we had big days because, you know, Garrett was tilting the field for us. And it's our obligation to make sure that if they're going to do that, we make a team pay for it.
00:08:07
Speaker 1: Don't you think ultimately this is going to create more space for Garrett, what these other guys are doing on the Jets offensively?
00:08:13
Speaker 3: Well, there's no question about it because as Omar Cooper Jr. continues to eat, then teams will adjust. They will see, like, okay, this young man is a playmaker, so what are we going to do to try to take him away? And then that's when, you know, Garrett will get his touches. That's when, you know, King and Sadiq will get his touches, you know, Mason Taylor, so on and so forth. So there's a lot of miles to feed in this offense, and, you know, I think what we want to see is, it all being put together. When it's all put together, then I think it'll be something special, and I think that's what they're building towards.
00:08:48
Speaker 4: But that's why you have to be better on converting on third down because you got to keep these drives going so you can get in the rhythm so everybody can get their touches so that you can see how teams are adjusting to certain formations and things like that. On the flip side, that's why you saw yesterday the Jets defense gave up, I think, a 12-play drive and a 15-play drive you know, that's directly hurting the offense because the offense can't get out there and get in the rhythm because they're sitting for a long time. Time of possession is important because teams know how good the offense is potentially and how much difficulty they possess. So they're trying to take the air out of the game by going on these long methodical drives. And, you know, it puts a lot of pressure on the offense to have to, you know, score immediately or fast. Like you saw, like when we went down 10 after the, I think the missed field goal, we had to come down and we scored with Taylor. But like, We had to be perfect. And that's a lot of pressure to be under. So we got to do a better job on the defense. I'm always going to speak as a defensive guy, being able to get off the field. And also on offense, we got to be able to convert third and short and be able so we can get more plays in.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: Mason Taylor, you mentioned him before.
00:09:57
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:09:58
Speaker 2: What can a game like that do? for his confidence?
00:10:02
Speaker 1: And now I watch him and say, wow, this guy could be a big-time red zone threat.
00:10:07
Speaker 4: I mean, we're all competitive, right? We're all competitive. So I'm sure he was chomping at the bit like, hey, I appreciate Sadiq. He's a teammate of mine's. but I can do some stuff too, right? That's the competitive juices because if a Cooper, you know, emerging depending on the strengths and weaknesses of opposing defenses, then you may be three-wise, right? So if you're three-wise, and that means only one tight end is on the field, you want to be able to also you got to make sure you're blocking well too because, you know, you want to stay balanced. So I think, you know, iron sharpens iron, and I think the emergence of Deke is just pushing Mason, right? to be the best version of himself because he knows if he doesn't get it done, if he has a lapse, that Sadiq's going to get those opportunities. So that's the competitive competition that we have. Right? Like, I remember, like, when we would go in and we put our blitz packages in on Thursday, he was like, yo, I only get two blitzes. I better do something with it so I can get more blitzes. If not, he going to get my blitz to Hedy Bow or he going to get my blitz to Eric Smith or he going to give it to Drew. So I better make sure that, hey, every time we call the bark blitz, you know, that, hey, we getting some productivity out of that thing or I'm going to be a guy that's a decoy.
00:11:17
Speaker 1: Geno's got to love that, though. Your tight end going up and high pointing the ball.
00:11:21
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:11:22
Speaker 2: And he.
00:11:23
Speaker 1: He presents such a problem for opponents because who are you going to choose to cover a guy like that with?
00:11:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why at the end of the day I've always said it's players over plays because it's about matchups. And when your quarterback trusts that you're going to go out there and make a play, that's tremendous. And yesterday we saw with Mason– Geno trusted him to go out there and make plays because it's not like he wasn't covered. Like, he was covered.
00:11:51
Speaker 4: That's right.
00:11:52
Speaker 3: But he just went out there and made a play over the defender.
00:11:54
Speaker 4: High point.
00:11:55
Speaker 3: And I think that, you know, that's the case for all these skilled position guys at the Jets. They have a bunch of talented skilled position guys, whether you're talking about Garrett, you know, Omar Cooper Jr., you know, Kenya Sadiq, you know, Mason. All those guys are capable of that on any given Sunday. Now it's just all about, you know, bringing it all together and just, you know, just putting it. I think if you put it out there on tape, boy, now the offense can take it to the next level.
00:12:22
Speaker 1: Braylon Allen, people were wondering what this offense was going to look like in the backfield when Brees Hall went down. Since week four, he's had the second most rushing yards in the National Football League.
00:12:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, he's been getting a lot of attempts, and he's been making, I think he averaged like six yards a carry yesterday. He's getting downhill, getting a shoulder square. I think Frank is starting to really figure out the type of runs that is best suited for his skill set. I think sometimes You know, he could be more of a gap scheme, power run guy, of course, downhill, shoulder square. And when Breeze gets in, sometimes it's that zone, you know, scheme as well. So, you know, I think, you know, Frank has a good feel about what type of runs Braylon feels comfortable with, what type of reads that he wants to read, and they're being more defined. And, you know, like with all things, the more attempts you get, the better you get and the better you understand. So he's getting a lot of attempts, so he's starting to really figure it out. And he's punishing guys as well. He's making a good name for himself and accosting himself very well.
00:13:19
Speaker 1: Damian, you're a line of scrimmage guy. What have you seen from the line in terms of Ron Block in the past few weeks and getting into a groove with Braylon?
00:13:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, there's a synergy that you're seeing right now with Braylon. You know, you don't put up those type of numbers without having a synergy between the line and the running back position. And so, you know, you're seeing guys getting– you know, body on the body, hands on the defenders, and moving and displacing people off the line of scrimmage. And so, you know, that's what you got to do. That's what you got to do in a running game. And to me, that is the key to offense. You know, I've always said the thing that kills drives in the National Football League, negative run plays, sacks, penalties. Okay? If you can stay away from those things, you're going to be able to convert third downs because you're going to put yourself in third down and manageable every time. And, you know, as long as the Jets can, if the Jets can continuously do those type of things with Braylon, whether it's Braylon Allen or Brees Hall when they come back, they got a chance to really be a really efficient offense.
00:14:21
Speaker 1: What do you make of where Geno's at right now? He did have three touchdown passes. The Jets were three of four in the red zone. But again, we're talking about maybe a couple missed opportunities where maybe they're scoring 35 points or 37 points.
00:14:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's just also, you know, this is a new offense for Geno. These are new players he's trying to get a chemistry with, trying to put in the microwave. I think he's doing a great job in protecting the ball, right? And now he's getting more efficient. I think, you know, when you think about, like, some of the missed opportunities, that's with anybody, right? You know, you talk about being able to see the field, the offensive line. It all starts with running the ball, right, and protection, right? We know if you protect Geno, that he's going to be a guy that can go through his progressions and do accurate football that's catchable for his teammates. And I think the more and more they get opportunities, the better and better they're going to get. And then they have to learn how to complement it, right? They have to learn how to complement it. I was excited to see Isaiah Davis yesterday, too.
00:15:24
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:15:24
Speaker 4: He's a big catcher on the backfield. Right, because he has a lot of bounce. He's a different runner. To me, he's like a mix between briefs. and Braylon at the same time. He's a better catcher of the football, and he's got live legs, and he's a big guy as well, right? So he's not a small guy, I would say that. He's like a 220 guy, like six feet put together. But if you can get him to ball in space too, that's a whole nother dynamic as well, as you want to try and take some carries off of guys to make sure that they're fresh. We remember how we ran Thomas Jones into the ground You know what I mean? Our first year and then Sean Green came in fresh.
00:16:00
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:16:00
Speaker 4: But it's because, you know, you guys brought Sean along slowly and then Sean was ready to take the majority of the load and he had fresher legs.
00:16:08
Speaker 1: Right.
00:16:08
Speaker 4: So we got to try and get to get us to deep water. And Braylon's been doing a good job. But after a while, it's a cost to diminish returns. Right. You want to start taking a couple of carries off, you know, to get them because it's a late bye week. So you want to take some carries off of him a little bit. But yeah, he's young. He don't got no scar tissue. You can kind of run him in the ground right now.
00:16:26
Speaker 2: That's a good point about the bye week. The Jets, you got to play 12 games before the bye.
00:16:29
Speaker 4: Right.
00:16:30
Speaker 2: Do you like that as a player?
00:16:32
Speaker 3: I mean, listen. You know, when the schedule comes out, what's the first thing you look for? You look for who's the first team you play in the bye week.
00:16:41
Speaker 1: Right.
00:16:41
Speaker 3: And so when you get a late bye week, man, that sucks as a player. You know, like I would rather have a bye week earlier than later.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:16:48
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? But like having it, you know, you play 12 weeks before the bye.
00:16:51
Speaker 4: Broke down.
00:16:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, man.
00:16:53
Speaker 3: You're in a lot of.
00:16:54
Speaker 2: I didn't know if you wanted to get in some rhythm.
00:16:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're hurting, man. With a late bye week like that, man. So, yeah, that's, you know, again, as a player, that's like one of the first things you look for is when is the bye week.
00:17:07
Speaker 4: I always like my bye week like week nine, like midway point, so that I can go get refreshed and then come back for the get ready for the sprint. You know, the dash for the catch, what we call it. Well, you know what I mean? November, December is like when you decide, you know, are we going to the playoffs or are we not going to the playoffs?
00:17:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, well right now the Jets are going to just put their head down.
00:17:24
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, right now.
00:17:25
Speaker 3: You can't think about December. Like literally with this team, it's one meeting at a time, one practice at a time. One band, one song. And one game at a time. It's true though, isn't it? It is.
00:17:39
Speaker 4: It has to be.
00:17:41
Speaker 3: You know, when you're in the position that the team is in right now, you can't afford to look ahead. Like you can't afford to look ahead past a meeting, past a practice. Definitely not pass a game because that's the type of urgency that you've got to have as a collective.
00:17:59
Speaker 1: Jets Raiders this week. Two teams, I would say, who are desperate for a win. Las Vegas started off real hot, 3-0.
00:18:08
Speaker 4: Played tough. Yeah, they played tough. They're a tough out, right? And, you know, they have a mature quarterback in Kirk Cousins, but they may be making a decision when it's the right time to put, like, the rookie in. You have to be self-aware. If you're the Jets, you got to say, we may get Mendoza because they may think this is a soft landing. Let's make them regret that decision. So that's got to be the mindset. When he gets there, we know if you get Mendoza, it's going to be quick shots, athleticism, all that type of stuff. If you get Cousins... he's going to be methodical, right? He's going to be surgical.
00:18:44
Speaker 3: And you know where he's going to be in the pocket.
00:18:45
Speaker 4: Right, right. You got to be on your point. You know exactly where he's going to be, right? So you got to know like, okay, well, he's not necessarily a deer in headlights, but he's not a mobile guy that's going to be getting out and circling the defense like Willis did the previous week. So you got to be prepared for both. I'm sure they're not going to tell you who's playing or who's starting as late as possible. And you want to be ready. But at this point, You should be so pissed off as a team. It don't matter who you play. You just want them to show up.
00:19:13
Speaker 2: Do you change your game plan based on who is playing quarterback?
00:19:17
Speaker 4: Damn straight.
00:19:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
00:19:18
Speaker 2: So break it down for me.
00:19:20
Speaker 1: Let's play the Cousins card, and then let's go to Mendoza.
00:19:23
Speaker 3: Well, again, like with Kirk Cousins, you know where he's going to be in the pocket. Kirk Cousins is not a mobile quarterback. He's a very cerebral guy. He's a heady vet, been in this game a long time. you know, understands, you know, there's not anything that you're going to throw him that's going to throw him off. That's the type of guy Kirk Cousins is. With Fernando Mendoza, you know, this will be his first start. You know, listen, you know, there's a lot of things he hasn't seen, but he, a different animal than Kirk Cousins because he's more athletic. So technically there's more things that you can do with him from a play caller perspective. So, yeah, they're two totally different quarterbacks. They're both cerebral type guys. One guy has a lot less– experience in the National Football League.
00:20:09
Speaker 4: But it's the whole kiss thing. Keep it simple, stupid. When you think you're getting a guy like Mendoza, you know it's going to be three-step drops or shots, and then if the play break down, his first read isn't there, he's just going to take off. So now you may have to have a spy because you're going to get that Bo Nix effect where it break down, he's going to hurt you with his legs, so now you have to figure out, okay, how do I run enough coverages to kind of confuse him to make him panic? Or how do I create fake pressure, simulated pressure to make him get into checks. It's harder to do that with a guy like Cousins because, like you said, he's been there, done that, seen it all. You're not going to scare him off his point, but you do know where he's going to be as far as being able to try and heat him up. But you know if you try and heat him up, he's a guy that can get in the right play and get guys open. You don't know if Mendoza can make the checks. So he might have whatever play we call, run it. That may be his instructions from his coordinator. So you want to try and make him move around, make him think about it. I doubt if they ever turn his back to the, to the safety on play action. So if they want to get play action down the field, it's probably going to be boots and throwbacks or sprint passes where he's only reading half the field so that he doesn't have to go back and survey, survey like, Oh, well, where's Mika at? Okay. Mika lined up at the, at the linebacker, but now he's in the post, like, or now he's at the, now he's the over the top half safety, like what's going on. So like, they're going to keep it simple for him. Um, But it's going to start with Ashton Gentry, right, being physical, running down the field. And, you know, they got one of the best tight ends in the game when you talk about Bowers. Probably the best tight end in the game. Well, I feel like I've been on this run where I want to give unappreciated people, like, their flowers. So today somebody asked me that, who was, like, the best. And I went with Trey McBride.
00:21:56
Speaker 3: Trey McBride is a damn good football player as well. There's no question.
00:22:00
Speaker 4: All right.
00:22:01
Speaker 1: This is an interesting decision. His cousin's completing about 63% of his passes. He leads the National Football League with 16 touchdown passes. He just has the five interceptions. But maybe they are looking for a jolt.
00:22:14
Speaker 4: Well, they lost four in a row. I mean, he's the number one overall pick.
00:22:18
Speaker 3: At some point, he's got to play.
00:22:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's been there. You want to get him a good sample size because— You can tell Kirk Cousins, okay, this is the last ride, right? If we lose this, then we've lost five in a row, and the odds are we're not going to make it to the playoffs. So let's get the young guy some experience. We need you to be a great supporter of his and a mentor of his, and you know what you were brought here for. You knew eventually we were going to happen. It was up to you to hold us off.
00:22:46
Speaker 1: It feels like everything's on the table for them. Like he's saying, Bart, the four-game losing streak, you got Clint Kubiak saying, we're thinking about everything to fix our problems, how to fix our issues in the red zone, in the third quarter, personnel scheme, we've got to talk about all of it.
00:23:02
Speaker 3: Listen, that's coach speak for like, we might be pulling the trigger on the quarterback. Because everything starts with the quarterback. The only thing that keeps a veteran like Kirk Cousins You know, in this spot is winning football games. Once you start losing, all bets are off, and it's just only a matter of time before they insert the number one overall pick.
00:23:22
Speaker 4: Just ask Kurt Warner. He knows what it's about. All right.
00:23:26
Speaker 2: Give me the game plan. It was National Tight Ends Day.
00:23:30
Speaker 4: It was.
00:23:30
Speaker 1: Actually, last week, but this Sunday, there's going to be a lot of good tight ends on the field.
00:23:35
Speaker 2: Bowers is a leading receiver there.
00:23:37
Speaker 1: They throw the gentee out of the backfield, and they got Michael Mayer as well, Trey Tucker. has put up big numbers for them at the receiver position. I mean, he's a vertical threat. What do they have to do against Bowers to make sure that he's contained?
00:23:52
Speaker 4: Well, you know that he's going to get the ball in a multitude of ways, right? Drag routes, vertical routes. He can run the whole route tree. So he's not just a guy that's running seams or press outs or anything like that. You got to defend him in different ways. And also, you're going to bracket him. I mean, I would be... Surprise, or when I think about size, speed, I saw that Nashon Wright was up for the first time. He's a 6'4 long defender that has a huge defense radius. If you're going to go vertical or you're going to go man-to-man, maybe you consider bringing him in and matching him up with Bowers, especially if Bowers is detached from the line of scrimmage. If he's not, then you still play him off, but you hit him with the DN, you chuck him with the linebacker, and then whoever really has him takes him after that. you know what I mean, match-up zone, bracket him, stuff like that, depending on where he's lined up. It's a different type of technique and leverage that you use if he's displaced or split from the line of scrimmage. If he's in line, then you can line that DN up at a seven technique, basically head up on him and make him have to avoid and get hands on him a little bit. You know what I mean? And if you get hands on him with the DN, it turns into a natural U game. So you hit him, and that's going to make you not get up the field quickly, but you get your inside– tackle up, and then it just turns to a U game.
00:25:09
Speaker 2: Raiders have been one-dimensional, Damian. They want to be able to run it. They haven't been able to do it. This is a game where.
00:25:17
Speaker 4: They're going to be encouraged. I mean, they look at it, the Jets are out in a hundred yards.
00:25:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, they're going to run what they run, do what they do. And they're going to look at the film, and they're going to see, oh, Miami Dolphins ran on this defense, so we're going to come into the game And that's what we're going to do. We're going to attempt to run the ball because that's the best way to help your quarterback is not be one-dimensional. So I expect, whether it's the Raiders or any team, to try to come in and run the football against the defense until they start proving otherwise that that's just not what's going to happen. So I think it's more about us than it is about the opposition. I think it's a mentality with our defense that, listen, at the end of the day, we can't have people running the ball on us because when the team is able to run the ball, it's a coordinator's dream. The whole playbook is open to them. First and foremost, you got to be able to stop the run. That's what you got to do.
00:26:21
Speaker 4: I mean, you talk about, I think as of late now, the average is going up to over 100. You're giving up 100 yards rushing a game. And it started with the New England game where we couldn't get off the field from closing out. That's kind of understanding what our fronts are, making sure that we're in our gaps, making sure our techniques are sound. You can't go outlaw. You can't go try and play hero ball and try and do other people's job. You got to do your job, understand your fits, and don't hesitate. And that starts on the practice field. I mean, you have to practice the same speed that you're going to play at because I need to know where you're going to be at and what the fit is supposed to be. depending on what type of run we get, right? Sometimes we always talk about setting the edge. Setting the edge ain't always about being outside the widest. You can be outside the widest, but if you keep getting pushed out, then that's not an edge. You're just expanding the borders, you know what I mean, so to speak. Sometimes you set the edge and you get cut off, but you get such penetration that the ball has to cut up. So you have to make sure that you're good on your techniques to kind of set the edge in a run game, but also to be able to stay square and not get washed down you know, in the interior side as well.
00:27:27
Speaker 1: What did the Jets do well defensively after halftime? Before the blitz beater, I'm talking about you had three possessions for Miami and two of them were three and outs. So they made some adjustments and they were getting off the field.
00:27:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, they held the fort. You know, they weren't getting pushed back. I think they took it personal. They probably got chewed out. inside of the locker room at halftime about what are we doing, you know, because they gave up 21 points in the first half to a team that hadn't led, you know, all season, right? So, like, you know, pride stepped up and, you know, understanding getting a vibe and a feel for, like, what Malik was trying to do. Like, they tried to get him with a quarterback draw a couple times, and I think we were prepared for it, made a big play. But, you know, we started kind of getting settled in in the type of runs that, you know, they were doing with Ali.
00:28:17
Speaker 3: The Raiders.
00:28:18
Speaker 1: Defensively, in this four-game losing streak, they've given up 30 points to each of their opponents. Also, one of the worst run defenses in the National Football League. If you're in that offensive.
00:28:31
Speaker 4: I'm taking that for granted because we just said that about the other team. What's the worst? 115 QBR rating against the pass.
00:28:39
Speaker 2: Understood.
00:28:40
Speaker 1: But if you're the Jets here, this should be a game where you should be able to get after them at the line of scrimmage.
00:28:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, from a statistical standpoint, that's what it's all about. And so now it's all about going out there and doing it now. The Jets have shown the ability to go out there and get after people and run the football, obviously with the numbers that Braylon Allen has put up over the last four games. There's no question about that. I think the thing that we need to see from the Jets offense is consistency, consistently doing that. meaning consistently staying ahead of the sticks. No penalties, no sacks, no negative run plays. Stay ahead of the sticks, convert third down. When this team gets in a rhythm offensively, they look like a pretty damn good unit, excuse my language, but they really do. And so that's what they got to do. It's just about consistency because they have too many weapons not to be able to be one of these teams that teams should fear on offense.
00:29:42
Speaker 4: I mean, I feel like if you're Frank Wright or if you are Aaron Glenn, you can go up to each guy. Sadiq, I've seen it. It's on tape. Mimble, I've seen it. It's on tape. You know, Fashion New, I've seen this on tape. Braylon, I've seen this on tape. Demario, I've seen this on tape. Sweat, I've seen this on tape. You know, Jackson, I've seen this on tape, right? You know, Stevenson, I've seen this on tape. I should be able to expect this now, right? Because you've shown me that you can do it. So now the expectation is that you do it, right? It's no more my bads or, you know, my bad, I'll get it next time or smacking your chest and stuff like that. No, we have no time for error. If we're going to take this seriously and salvage this season, it stops and starts right now. And what are you willing to do for about it? But I need you on your details. And I'm going to be very anal about how we practice. If I don't see what I need to see, then we starting this thing all over because this ain't, this ain't camp cream puff. We about to get it in.
00:30:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:30:45
Speaker 2: It can't be Sunday, right? It's got to be every right out there.
00:30:49
Speaker 4: Exactly. I understand. I'm going to take care of your body. I'm going to take care of your body. but we about to go out here, we about to push. How we gonna stop third and one? How we gonna pick up in third and one? Well, maybe I need to put my ones in ones. Y'all need to get some live reps during the week. And you know.
00:31:07
Speaker 3: How we gonna run our two minute drill?
00:31:08
Speaker 4: Exactly.
00:31:09
Speaker 3: Like, you know, sometimes, going good on good, getting those reps.
00:31:14
Speaker 4: You serve us and we serve you. I was never beyond looking at the look card and giving y'all a look. If somebody had a player that was similar to my skill set, like, hey man, we need a look. All right, bet. So if you got to service each other and some of the ones say, man, all right, practice squad two, sit down. I got this, right. I'm telling you, and I'm sure it was like this when you were in New England and when you were here as well, like, yo, We didn't make practice easy for each other. There wasn't no brother-in-laws on that thing. We came in, we got our work, and we got up out of there. You know what I'm saying? But we going to get that work. You know what I'm saying? We was coming down, short yardage goal line that Thursday day. It was real. You know what I mean? And when I was a backup guy and just running down on kickoff in Baltimore, It was like, yeah, you're going to get this real look, right? I'm coming down here. I'm coming down and you're going to have to deal with us. We took pride in being able to stop our offense. Then when they got there, man, this is easier than practice. It's memory. It's muscle memory, right? If you're in practice and it's short yards and when you guys hit in practice and y'all stop and y'all butt up, then naturally in your head sometimes your muscles are trained to stop on contact when you get it because you're used to easing up. But if you like to the ground and it's like, hey, I ain't giving up, then when you hit contact, even defensive or offensive, defensive guys' legs go dead too because you're just so used to butt up. Right now we can't butt up, brother. We got to, you know it up. I can't even say that, you know what I'm saying?
00:32:56
Speaker 2: He's talking your language right now.
00:32:58
Speaker 3: Oh, yes, it is. No, it's, listen, man, I've always said practice should be harder than the game. And when you're at this point in the season for the Jets, like, again, you know, every meeting counts, every practice count, every rep counts, and you got to carry it over. And ultimately you got to do it on, on the field on Sundays. Like, you know, it can't be one of those things where it's like, Oh man, we had a great week of practice. And then you didn't go out there and do it. No, it's gotta be, we had a, we had, we had a great week, great week of meetings, great week of practice. And then we, and then we carried it over on the, on the, on the playing field on Sunday and we executed and got it done. That's what this team needs to do. If they need to, carry it all the way through, not halfway, but all the way through from practice, meetings, and ultimately to the game, and then go out there and chase victory.
00:33:54
Speaker 2: You guys executed again today inside the studio. We'll see you next week.
