Sunday Morning Huddle: New York Jets Edition

Morning one and all, and welcome to the last Sunday without NFL football for a long time......man it feels good to say that.

It is that time again the huddle is here, so grab a cup of coffee and join me as we look at some issues, 90% Jets related and 10% just things on my mind.

I don't understand it Doctor, I just do not understand: I try not to worry too much about waiver wire pick-ups and late draft picks getting cut or waived but this one is a total head scratcher. There are players who have made the 53 man roster who showed a lot less than Antonio. It's no secret that he needs work in coverage, but his run stuffing ability was outstanding, he was extremely physical and he drifted to the ball quickly. Personally I thought he showed more than Josh Bush, but Bush plays as a better cover so I understand that. He played better than Trufant who somehow made the team despite getting beaten like a drum in almost every pre-season game. I just have a bad feeling he'll go elsewhere, a team patient enough to coach him up and then he will excel. I'm hoping he clears waivers and makes it onto the practise squad.

Team doctor is lonely, oh so lonely: Players are getting healthy and last time I checked only Eric Smith was doubtful for the first game so we should have the full roster to choose from. I expect players like Pouha to be limited somewhat after getting no pre-season action, and due to the emergence of Kenrick Ellis that is absolutely fine. It's important that Brandon Moore is going to be fit, with a couple of question marks on the line we need one of the best pass protection guards in the league. I'm not that upset about Eric Smith missing out, I've never been a massive fan and I like Landry, Bell, Bush and Allen oh no that's it.

Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman Dolphin fan: I briefly spoke to the guys over at the Phinsider last night about our two former Dolphin waiver wire pick-ups and it was 50-50. They spoke very highly of NT Isaako Aaitui saying that if we can carry him for one more year, we may really see the benefit. I don't mind adding a talented young player like Aaitui to learn from someone like Pouha. However they were not so positive about wide receiver Clyde Gates, I'll be honest and say I know nothing about this guy apart from he is fast, the message from the people that know him best......he's fast but he drops catches that a high school player should be bringing in. Once we picked up Aaitui, I was hoping that Damon Harrison would be waived which would have allowed us to keep Allen on the active roster, at least that's what I would have done.

Digging for Gold: I'm sure most of you guys saw that a few former Jets players were cut yesterday. These included Vernon Gholston (Shocker) and Kellen Clemens (Shocker) from the St Louis Rams, James Ihedigbo from the Patriots and Jamaal Westerman from the Miami Dolphins. There was a time when I thought Westerman was going to take that next step and turn into a valuable starter in the linebacker core, he just never got over that hurdle. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Jets make a run at Digs, a hard hitting safety who plays excellent special teams. Simple fact is that currently we have three healthy safeties only and one is a late round rookie, the other an oft injured hard hitter.....at least Bell has only missed one game the last four years, so he is relatively reliable.

10 Things, I think I Think:

• Replacement officials need to be replaced as soon as possible, ridiculous and comical some of the errors
• Manti Te'o from Notre Dame (Homer) is going to be the next great ILB.
• Commentators need to back up off Sanchez, who has handled this off-season with nothing but class
• The 2012 NYJ draft class should not be considered a failure just because we cut three of our selections
• I agree with ESPN's James Walker who said that Quinton Coples has the potential to win ROTY
• Yeremiah Bell with have an outstanding year, I'm talking 2009 Dolphins pro bowl type year.
• Now that college football is back, and the NFL is back next week....baseball no longer matters
• May not be a popular opinion but I think that DeMaurice Smith the NFLPA Executive Director is doing a great job.
• I don't like the new Kick-off and touchback rules in college football, I want returns!!
• The Jets will come out and put over 25 points on the Bills in week one, and Sanchez will complete 60%+ of his passes

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and someone thought I was beautiful."

Jets new LT Jason Smith on starting fresh with the New York Jets

"It's like starting a 3-D puzzle, and then someone coming over and knocking it down, You have to start the process all the way over again."

Stephen Hill on what turnovers do to the sap the life from a run orientated offense.

"I know there are high hopes for every team in the league, but I truly feel this will be the best team that I’ve had since I became coach of the Jets,"

Rex Ryan on the current Jets team assembled

A Moment In History

I was reading through my illustrated history of the NY Jets last night and came across a game that probably every Jets fan knows about, and as painful as it was for me.....well misery likes company. The game I'm talking about, well of course the fake spike game:

For those who don't know, the fake spike game was a game between our very own jets and the Miami Dolphins back on November 27th 1994. Current Seattle HC Pete Carroll was leading the 6-5 Jets against the 7-4 Dolphins led by Dan Marino.

Heading into the final quarter the Jets were out in front 24-14 and looking quite comfortable with Boomer Esiason moving the football and tight end Johnny Mitchell having a great game with two TD receptions.

With the score 24-21 and 30 seconds left on the clock, the Miami Dolphins went to their hurry up offense and Marino instructed his players to get to the line so they could spike the ball to stop the clock. Instead of spiking the ball, Marino took a two step drops, found Ingram in the end zone for the game winning touchdown. The Jets defence expecting a spike just stood around and watched it happen. Everyone apart from Marino and Ingram thought it was going to be a spike, even his offensive line didn't know as they snapped and just stood up.

Going into the fourth quarter the Jets looked like they would tie Miami for the AFC East lead and go on to do great things that year. Unfortunately the manner in which they lost affected their play the remainder of the year as they would lose their final four games and finish 6-10....Pete Carroll had gone before he had ever really arrived.

Last Thoughts

As a massive college football fan, this weekend has been superb. I watched my boys Notre Dame put a 50 burger up on Navy yesterday, then I watched Ohio (who looked very impressive) take down Penn State in their first game after the scandal. I watched a little Nebraska, caught some highlights of the Marshall/West Virginia game and now I'm sitting down to watch the Alabama v Michigan game having avoided the score all evening. Football is in the air, and the Jets are about to go to work. Don't let any of the naysayers get you down, yesterday on our facebook we had someone try and attack us for going 0-4 this pre-season and how that meant we couldn't win the East. Scott quickly stepped in and reminded them that the Bills and Dolphins also went 0-4 and the Patriots went 1-3....so someone has to win it right, why not us.

Thank You

I also just want to take this chance before the season starts to thank all our members for coming here and contributing on a daily basis, and to anyone who follows us on our twitter or facebook pages, or just mentions the site when speaking with friends. We have witnessed incredible growth over the last 18 months and it's because of the strong membership we have here. With us introducing video content shortly and some other features, I'm confident that we will continue to grow.

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I'll leave you all this fine Sunday morning with a video that will hopefully get you pumped.

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS