Tips To Improve The Jets This Season

  One bit of good news today (Thursday) is that Bryce Petty returned to practice. Jet fans who have been calling for him will have to be patient. It will take anywhere from 2-4 weeks for him to get into game shape.

 Probably a thousand tips can be made to improve the Jets this season but for better or for worse, below is my list of 11 suggestions.

1.Give More Touches To Bilal Powell

A couple of fumbles aside, when he gets the ball either running or as a pass receiver, good things seem to happen. He knows how to hit the hole. He knows how to wait for his blockers on a pass play.  He has really good instincts and is underrated as a football player.

2. Play OL Wesley Johnson More

Listed as a back-up center, Johnson has done a more than admirable job when he is in the game. He has had a couple of untimely penalties but seems durable and versatile playing multiple positions on the offensive line.

    3. Play WR Charone Peake More

This late round draft pick continues to impress me every game. Jalin Marshall and Robby Anderson are listed ahead of him.  I love both of their talent, but both have questionable hands. Peake seems to be making more and more positive plays.

   4. Keep Enunwa In The Slot

It is tempting to split out our most consistent player but his value is his fierce route running in traffic and his blocking. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

   

  5. Pass More To TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins

As he gets more comfortable with the offense, the Jets should pass to this talented tight end who is a playmaker. He lacks blocking ability but can be the player we all wanted Jace Amaro to become.

  6. Fitzpatrick Needs To Drop Back Deeper in the Pocket

I’m no quarterback coach but even with Fitz’s lack of talent, the amount of tipped, blocked and misdirected passes coming from him is out of whack. If dropping back 1 ½ steps more can help cure it, then have him do it. Even some of his completions have been tipped at the line of scrimmage.

 7. Play A Pure 3-4 On Defense

I would put Leonard Williams at nose guard and keep Mo and Richardson at defensive ends. The 4-3 or 4-3 hybrid is not working. And dropping Richardson into pass coverage is a waste.

8. Take David Harris Out In Passing Situations

It hurts me to say this. Harris is one of my 10 favorite all time Jets but his coverage skills are killing the defense. Play him on sure running plays but on 2^nd and 10 or 3^rd and 15, get him out. We need more speed in at linebacker.

9. Jordan Jenkins Must Stay On The Field

He has made mistakes but watch how #48 moves to the ball. He is a fierce hitter and will get better as he gets more reps.

10. Play Rontez Miles & Juston Burris More

Both players look like they can play. Miles has improved from last year and Burris is sporadic but can improve. By the way take a close look at Juston Burris’ arm span. They are incredibly long.

11. Get A New Person To Challenge

I don’t know who is giving Todd Bowles information from upstairs but this person has got to be replaced. We need another person in charge of challenges. A clock management coach would help also (not Dick Curl please!).
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What The Jet Scribes Are Saying

Rich Cimini, ESPN

Wilkerson has come under fire for the first time in his career. He's coming off a 12-sack season and his first Pro Bowl selection, which helped him land a five-year, $86 million contract in July. He opened the season with 1.5 sacks against the Cincinnati Bengals, but he has gone four straight games without a sack.

"I'm not about to make excuses," Wilkerson said. "We all have to play better."

Indeed, the Jets have managed only five sacks since exploding with seven sacks in the opener. At the same time, the pass defense has struggled. They've allowed eight touchdown passes in the last two games, and now they go on the road to face Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald and the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night.

"It's getting thrown over our heads, we have to pressure, we have to get sacks, we have to play better defense," Wilkerson said.

________________________________________________________________________Manish Mehta, NY Daily News

The power of positive thinking is a wonderful thing, but the Jets got another punch to the gut Wednesday in what is fast becoming a lost season.

Eric Decker’s fate became official: He’s out for the year.

The news that the veteran wide receiver will require season-ending surgery to repair a partially torn rotator cuff wasn’t exactly a surprising development for an organization that had braced for this brutal conclusion weeks ago, but it still stings.

Decker’s loss is a severe blow for a desperate team on the precipice of freefall. The cold, harsh truth in this next-man-up culture is that the next man up won’t be able to replicate Decker’s impact.

 “You can’t replace him with one guy,” Ryan Fitzpatrick said Wednesday.

The Jets are screwed. More specifically, Fitzpatrick is screwed.

Decker was Fitzpatrick’s money man, his go-to guy and BFF in crunch time. He is irreplaceable for myriad reasons.

Fitzpatrick leaned on Decker on third downs and in the red zone. He leaned on him in tense moments. He leaned on him when it mattered most.

Brian Costello, NY Post

Jets coach Todd Bowles returns to the desert this week to face the Cardinals, the team he served as defensive coordinator during the 2013-14 seasons before coming to the Jets.

“It’s no different,” Bowles said of playing his former team. “We need to win a ballgame. We’re trying to win a ballgame. It just happens to be Arizona. I know a lot of people over there, a lot of good friends. We’ll shake hands after the game. During the game, we’re going to try to kill them and they’re going to try to kill us.”

Bowles is particularly close with Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, who coached him at Temple in the 1980s when Arians was the head coach there. Bowles said he and Arians will see each other after the game, but there won’t be any conversation this week.

Bowles does not think there is an advantage because of familiarity for either side.

“It’s not an advantage one way or the other. It’s been two years now almost,” Bowles said. “Just because you know the personnel doesn’t mean anything is going to get done one way or the other whether they know me or I know them. We’ve just got to go out and play our game.”