McKnight Not Sitting On His Hands, Could Be Active

Joe McKnight has come under a lot of criticism since being drafted by the Jets in the 4th round of the 2010 NFL draft. Fumbling issues in pre-season led to the USC product not being active for the first three weeks of the season and that has brought on intense scrutiny from players and media alike, some of whom have already passed judgement and handed down the sentence of failure.

However behind the scenes Joe has quietly been impressing the coaching staff. He has not fumbled since the Philadelphia game and helped the team prepare for the wildcat last week against Miami. Rex spoke of Joe's improvement and the possibility that he could make his regular season debut this weekend against the Bills

"He's really coming," Ryan said today. "There's no doubt he's coming. He may be active this week."

"I think he's a talent," Ryan said. "I think he's got that kind of ability. Obviously I never trusted him to make him active initially because of the fumbling, but as far as talent, I think he's got more talent than a lot of guys we probably already talked about. It's just a matter of him doing it."

I think you all know how much faith I have in Joe McKnight. I'm glad we sat him for a few weeks, especially against the top opponents. With all due respect, if you want to bring on a rookie who has had a shaky start to his career, you'd rather it be against a team like Buffalo than a team like Baltimore or Miami.

He won't get a ton of touches, and might not even be active this week. Maybe he is active but just works on specials, however with the media so quick to point out, highlight and scream from the top of mountains about every single negative aspect to his time with the Jets so far, it's important to highlight some of the positives.

If we need him, I have confidence he'll do a job for us. He's coming along, we are in the privileged situation where we can afford to let him sit and learn, don't follow the masses, the beat and be quick to judge.