Gang Green's small step forward

 The Jets are still a bad team.

Zach Wilson looks like a rookie.

Robert Saleh looked like he has only been a defensive coordinator in his NFL team.

Mekhi Becton got hurt again.

With all the money spent in the offseason, the Jets offense still has one weapon.

Mike LaFleur didn’t do much to help his quarterback or his offense against a defense that finished middle of the road in both rushing (20th) and passing (18th) last year.

However, a small step was taken yesterday.

Zach Wilson did look like a rookie, but he made plays that Jets fans haven’t seen in their lifetime. He showed the talent that the Jets saw in him to draft him second overall. Wilson didn’t play great, but he played well enough. Well enough to give gang green and their fanbase hope for the future.  Corey Davis, Wilson’s only offensive weapon at the moment, played like a number one receiver—catching two touchdowns while finishing with 97 yards receiving.

The defense showed signs at different parts of the game that Saleh has begun to make a small impact on a defensive unit that was among the worst in the league a season ago.

Gang Green is far from being a world beater but in week one this team looked immensely better than they looked all of last year. Even in just one week, the coaching switch looks like it worked. Saleh put it perfectly in his post-game presser, “[we’re] a team that’s got resolve.” After two years of having a statue stand-in as a head football coach both on the sidelines and in the media room after the game, Saleh is a breath of fresh air. Saleh in one week looks like he gets it.

This game was supposed to be Sam Darnold’s revenge game, and it was, but the Jets didn’t roll over like a dog, like they did for the entire of the Adam Gase era. Darnold, like Wilson, showed the talent that the Jets saw in him four years ago. This is what happens when you put a good offense around a good quarterback. Darnold is not going to win an MVP in his career but he’s a good quarterback. Yes, Christian McCaffrey helps a ton, but Carolina has a good collection of weapons around Darnold and will be frisky for the rest of the year. With that, it was a one score game in the 4th quarter. When was the last time you remember the Jets being down less than a touchdown with three minutes to go in the game?  Or when was the last time the Jets had the lesser amount of penalty yards in a game? The answer to both of those questions is it’s been a long time.

I’m not one for moral victories, but in Week One of the millionth rebuild the level of play and the snippets of great play give the Jets faithful HOPE! Even if next week Belichick kicks the Jets rear end.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 2023 Offseason is Brian Cashman's Biggest Test Yet

Image
   Now that the World Series is over five days from now the offseason begins. With that in mind, this is the biggest offseason that Brian Cashman will have in his 25-year tenure as Yankee General Manager. For the first time since 2016 the Bronx Bombers watched the postseason from their couches, and they earned that right. Amazingly, this team finished over .500, although not that far above that mark. This iteration of the Bronx Bombers finish with the same record as that 2016 team—but the feeling with this squad feels different. Following the 2016 season, there was hope of the two power bats that would usher in the “Baby Bombers,” and in that offseason, the farm system was rated in the Top 10 in all of baseball. There was almost certainty that Brian Cashman would put a championship team around Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, and Luis Severino that would be a title contender for years to come. There was hope. And that hope almost turned into reality. Almost. But, that was then
Read more

The Question going into the Trade Deadline for the New York Yankees

  There is a crossroads in the Bronx in between River and 161 st Street right now. As New York Yankee Manager Aaron Boone likes to put it “[the season] is right in front of them.” The second half of the season is for the taking. As we move into the dog days of summer the Bronx Bombers are nine games out of the division and now a game and a half out of the AL Wild Card race following a disappointing first series in Colorado. With that, the historic starting Tampa Bay Rays have cooled off, going 3-7 before the break while showing signs of being mortal. Baltimore, who has been keeping pace with Tampa, didn’t look like a Superpower when they split against the Yankees two series before the break. The AL East is still a Spartan Training Facility with every team above .500, the Orioles holding the first Wild Card spot, and the “struggling” Boston Red Sox tied the Yankees in the Wild Card race. And unlike Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, help is not on the way. Aaron Judge’s toe is still a m
Read more

The Answer for the Mets

  As Yogi Berra would say “it’s déjà vu all over again.” Buck Showalter is an all too familiar place. The 67-year-old manager has taken a time machine back to 2012. No, he is not managing in Baltimore anymore, however that’s what it feels like the end of Showalter’s Oriole tenure in Queens right now. The Mets simply can’t get out of their own way. With Pete Alonso likely headed to the Injured List, the Mets scored 10 runs last night in Atlanta. 10 runs on the heels of back-to-back gut-wrenching losses at the hands of the team that has foiled the Mets for the better part of almost three decades, the Atlanta Braves. 10 runs with their hired ace, Justin Verlander, who was looking to put together good starts consecutively for the first time all season. The Mets looked like they were about to exercise some demons in Atlanta last night, and then, the other shoe dropped. It wasn’t good enough. Again. Last night, I wrote that the Mets season was on the line with Verlander toeing the slab. Well
Read more