Mike Goodson: A Welcome Shot In The Arm!

I know Vill mentioned this in his excellent daily flight connections, but this is something I'm very excited about. The return of Mike Goodson. His start as a Jet has been anything but positive. We don't need to go through the arrest again, he's served his suspension and now he is ready to help.

Goodson is available for Monday nights contest against the Falcons after serving his 4 game suspension.

Bilal Powell is doing a tremendous job, he has 292 yards on the season which is tied for the AFC lead with Arian Foster in Houston. He has 66 carries this season, so he is averaging around 16/17 carries per game. Which isn't a great deal. However when you consider that he took 110 reps the whole of last season and just 13 his rookie season, if he maintains this average, he is on course for between 250-280 carries this season. He will need to be spotted at times and I wouldn't be surprised if he started to slow down towards the end of the season, that's not uncommon. He could continue his current pace and separate himself as a top class, elite running back, lets hope so, but he could slow down.

Chris Ivory is battling a hamstring injury, and we all know how they can linger. He hasn't looked that explosive or powerful as a Jet, and even when "healthy", Bilal looked by far the superior back. So that leaves Alex Green, who will do a job, but isn't explosive.

Goodson has had fumble issues, however he has also run at 4.5 yards a click over his short career as well as 8.9 yards per reception. Now that isn't bad at all, he has had ball security issues but when he gets going, he can be hard to bring down and that average is highly respectable. When you consider he is also a threat out of the backfield to receiver, he is the perfect player to spot Bilal. I don't want to see Powell's carries diminish, in fact I'd like him to be between 20-25 carries a game, but when he does need a breather, I feel much more comfortable bringing in a talent like Goodson, than I was with Alex Green.

However running back is not where we need the shot in the arm, as you can see from Powell's performance. It's the kick return, he has returned 92 kicks for 2,009 yards, which is a 21.8 yard average, he has returned 56 of his punts for 20 yards or more and 6 of them for 40 yards or more. On the face of it, he doesn't return kicks that much better than Clyde Gates, Gates is returning kicks at an average of 19.8 yards with the Jets, however if you put the eye exam to the test, you will see he has a lot more capability to explode. At least in my opinion, so I hope he gets a chance to return kicks immediately. Too many times I've seen Gates slow down into contact this year, eliminating any chance of bursting through the challenges.

If Goodson can show he is the man to return kicks, Clyde Gates becomes expendable. His performances on the offensive side of the ball have been highly inconsistent, or consistently bad depending on your view point. This would allow us to bring in a receiver who is just asked to be a receiver.

I don't want Goodson to be pre-judged on what happened in May, I want him to be judged for his on-field performances. Lets hope he gives us the shot we so desperately need.Words can’t even express how excited I am, just being able to be back out there," Goodson said from the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center locker room Monday. "We just had a walkthrough, and to be back out there with my teammates and even just watching them go through a walkthrough, being able to be out there is cool."