Jets close out the preseason with a 21-17 victory
The Jets finally closed out the preseason schedule with a 21-17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, the game didn’t have much, no starters on the Jets or Eagles side but it had HUGE implications for many involved.
Danny Woodhead and Matt Kroul are two players who all but assured themselves at spot on the 53 man roster, along with Mark Brunell, Santonio Holmes and Chauncy Washington led the offense to 21 points.
Kroul and CB Brian Jackson are two players on the defense who really stood out to me tonight, and really put a stamp on the preseason that could have earned them a job. Kroul had 2 sacks to lead the defense who played really well as a unit, CB Brian Jackson was all over the field batting down a few balls and forced a fumble. Jackson is trying to crack a secondary that right now isn’t all that deep with Darrelle Revis MIA, Jackson, the undrafted rookie from Oklahoma has outplayed Drew Coleman and Marquice Cole in each of the preseason games, and could find his way on the roster come tomorrow.
Im not going to go to deep into the game because lets be honest, its the 4th preseason game and there’s not much to it, but what i will do for you all is give you my FINAL 53 Man roster prediction and to quote the late great Michael Jackson, ” This is It!, I love you all” sorry lame i know, but in all seriousness, here we go.
QB- 3
Mark Sanchez, Mark Brunell, Kellen Clemens
RB- 4
Shonn Greene, LaDainian Tomlinson, Chauncy Washington, Joe McKnight
FB- 2
Tony Richardson, John Connor
TE- 3
Dustin Keller, Ben Hartsock, Jeff Cumberland
WR- 5
Braylon Edwards, Jerricho Cotchery, Brad Smith, David Clowney, Danny Woodhead WR/RB (S.Holmes suspended 4 games)
OL- 8
D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Matt Slauson, Nick Mangold, Brandon Moore, Damien Woody, Vladamir Ducasse, Robert Turner, Wayne Hunter
OFFENSE total 25
DL- 6
Shaun Ellis, Kris Jenkins, Sione Pouha, Mike DeVito, Matt Kroul, Vernon Gholston
LB- 8
Bryan Thomas, David Harris, Bart Scott, Jason Taylor, Kenwin Cummings, Jamaal Westerman, Calvin Pace (out week 1) Lance Laury
CB- 7
Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie, Kyle Wilson, Dwight Lowery, Brian Jackson, Drew Coleman, Marquice Cole
S- 4
Jim Leonhard, Brodney Pool, James Ihedigbo, Eric Smith
ST-3
Tanner Purdum, Nick Folk, Steve Weatherford
Total Defense/Special Teams – 28
Matthew Mulligan, Ty Steinkuhler, Donovan Warren, Emmanuel Cook, Jason Davis, Martin Tevaseu, Cory Reamer to Practice Squad.
I hope you enjoy, id love to hear what you think.
Quick Notes from Tuesday August 31.
Some quick notes from Rex’s presser this afternoon.
Jets have released QB Kevin O’Connell before today’s practice, insuring Kellen Clemens a roster spot, Rex said its mainly in part to the fact that the game plan for Baltimore will starting being instituted, and didn’t want O’Connell jumping ship to Baltimore to have them pick his brain. Also giving Kevin time to catch on elsewhere.
Kellen Clemens has taken a pay cut in order to remain a Jet, Rex said he would have traded Kellen to a team that offered him a starting gig, that opportunity didn’t come around, so he chose to stick around and compete for the backup job here, other then elsewhere.
As writen previously by Jon, Mark Sanchez will take the reigns as Offensive Cordinator for Thursday Nights game, Rex said hes done this in the past with players such as Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, gives them an idea on how tough it really is for the coaches, while being able to take part mentally in the last preseason game.
The Jets have signed former CFL Star LB Rickey Foley, Foley was with the Seahawks this summer and was waived this past Friday, as you may or may not know, Foley was with Rex Ryan and the Ravens in 2006, but only stuck around on the practice squad, chalk this up to seeing if anything works, prior to the addition of Adalius Thomas.
Some good news, Rex said Calvin Pace will DEFINITELY not need to be placed on the PUP list, and will not rule him out for the week 2 match up with the Patriots, Rex said the surgery was a major success and Pace is feeling good about his chances for week 2.
OF COURSE, in a bit of DARRELLE REVIS news, Dan Graziano of AOL Fanhouse wrote up a brief article in which he says through his source, that the Jets and Revis camp continue to talk. Take it for what its worth.
FINALLY, Rex went into GREAT detail on RB/WR/ST Danny Woodhead, Woodhead is a favorite of Rex and says the guy gives 150% every time he steps on the field, even went into saying they put him at WR and he ripped apart the defense, says there’s a few spots on the roster left for “Good Football Players” again all but assuring Danny Woodhead a roster spot.
That’s it for news around Jet Land today, August 31′st, there will be plenty more, i can assure you!
Mark Sanchez to Call Plays for Jets Offense in Preseason Finale
Looks like Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez won’t exactly be completely getting the day off with the rest of the starters come Thursday night in the preseason finale versus the Eagles.
Although Rex Ryan already announced that none of the starters will even suit up in the final preseason game aside from left guard Matt Slauson, that doesn’t mean that Sanchez won’t have an important role.
Ryan announced today that Sanchez, who will be wearing a headset along with offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and Ryan himself, will get the opportunity to call offensive plays during the game.
The game will be nothing more than a mental tune-up for Sanchez, who will have Ryan and Schottenheimer in his ear all night, making sure he’s paying attention to what the defense is doing so he’ll be sharp for the season opener.
Honestly, I think this is a fantastic idea, not only to have Sanchez wearing a headset but for him to actually run the offense as an offensive coordinator. What better way to keep his head in the game without risk of injury in a meaningless game?
Ryan says he’s done something similar when he was in Baltimore, letting Ray Lewis and Ed Reed call the defense. As for what he hopes to see from Sanchez on Thursday night?
Ryan said, “I’m hoping that he sees the big picture and let him have at it.”
53 man roster predictions.
Today was a quiet day around Jet land, as Rex took to the podium for this daily press conference, he kept it sane, and didnt really cause much of a stir, mentioned the starters wouldn’t play on Thursday, the Jets final exhibition game in Philadelphia, besides for LG Matt Slauson.
Rex went on to mention a few injuries such as Kenwin Cummings who has a shoulder injury, Calvin Pace, who had surgery on his broken foot tonight, that will keep him sidelined up to as much as 6 weeks, and Brodney Pool, who banged up his knee in Friday’s game, and Damien Woody with a lower back injury, all but Pace are expected back two weeks from tonight, as the Jets open the regular season at the new Meadowlands stadium.
(more…)
Calvin Pace Out Four to Six Weeks with Broken Foot, Could Adalius Thomas Be on the Horizon?
The Jets suffered a bad break, literally, against the Redskins Friday night when a freak play left their top pass rusher with a broken foot that will require surgery.
Calvin Pace will have surgery on Monday to repair a broken right foot that he suffered when Washington Redskins tackle Stephon Heyer banged his helmet into the linebacker’s foot on an attempted cut block.
“It was supposed to be our last series. The tackle tried to cut-block me.” Pace said following the 16-11 loss, “His helmet hit the side of my foot. It hurt a little bit so they took me back to the X-ray room and it showed it was broken.”
“I guess I should have gotten my foot out of the way a little quicker,” he quipped.
Although it’s certain that he will miss the season opener against the Ravens, the Jets have not given an official timetable for when they expect the big linebacker to return.
“Hopefully, it will be somewhat of a speedy recovery,” said Pace, “I’ll probably definitely miss the first game. I think that’s safe to say. Beyond that, I don’t have any idea.”
League sources reportedly estimate the recovery to be a four-to-six week process, although the Jets say they’ll have a more accurate assessment of the situation following tomorrow’s surgery.
In the meantime, the Jets have reached out to free agent linebacker Adalius Thomas, a former Raven and Patriot who played seven seasons under Rex Ryan in Baltimore.
The 33-year-old Thomas has not garnered any significant interest since being released by the Patriots in April, and will likely be ticketed for a back-up role behind newly appointed starter Jason Taylor and Bryan Thomas.
In the meantime, Ryan has also hinted that Vernon Gholston will take snaps at outside linebacker as well as defensive end, and he’ll likely be another option at rush linebacker behind Thomas, Taylor and Jamaal Westerman.
Last year, Pace missed the first four games serving a suspension for a tainted supplement, yet he still let the Jets with eight sacks.
“I’m still upbeat, I really am,” Pace said. “Stuff happens in football. I’ll say this: It’s better to get injured playing rather than having to sit out four games because of a silly mistake as far as supplements.”
The Jets went 3-1 in those four games in 2009, albeit with Darrelle Revis on the field. Not having Revis along with the injury to Pace could cause the stout Jets defense to sputter a bit in the opening month.
The schedule won’t do them any favors either, as they host Baltimore and New England to start the season before heading to Miami in week three. They get a break in heading to Buffalo in week four before hosting Brett Favre and the Vikings in week five.
Like last year, the Jets will need Pace to be a big addition midway through the season if they have any shot at returning to the playoffs and making some noise in January.
