Ye from vetter Bill Sports and Spirits inside the Windham Hamilton's Park Hotel. It's Inside the Jets, brought to you by e Y Building a Better Working World and by M and T Bank, the official community bank of your New York Jets. No, here's Eric Allen and Eric coleman Welcome to Inside the Jets. Were broadcasting live from Vanderbilt Sports and Spirits inside the Windham Hamilton's Park Hotel. Eric
Allen joined alongside by my partner. We have found Eric coleman E. Thanks for showing up tonight back like I left something. Yeah, we missed you a couple of weeks ago. Later on, during this episode of Inside the Jets will be joined by Jets inside linebacker Neville Hewitt, who's had a really fine start to this season, but overall for the Green and White, a tough first quarter four games
through still one less. Yeah, it's been a unfortunate a series of unfortunate events for the Jets, you know, having the injuries that the injuries have decimated them, but the play hasn't been there, you know, I don't think it's been up to the expectations of the players or the organization. So they got some things to clean up, but there is relief coming a couple of guys coming off suspension.
Hopefully Sam Donald comes back, and hopefully we'll get C. JM B back in that connection, so that will be a great jump for this team. That was the news out of one Jets Drive today. Sam Donald, of course, took first team reps Wednesday and Thursday last week. The Jets hoped that he could have got in the lineup against the Philadelphia Eagles, unfortunately ruled out. Thursday night, Luke Falk made the start. The Jets went down to Philadelphia
and took a loss thirty one to six. Today, Adam Gates announced that Sam Donald will indeed get tests Tuesday, so we should know by the end of the day tomorrow whether Donald will make his second start of two thousand nineteen. Yeah, I mean, and that would be a big relief, not only for his physical presence, you know, throwing the football accurately on time, but just his presence
as a leader. You know, he's the leader of this team, and he's established himself as the leader, you know, from last season, going through the off season and to the start of this season. So it'll be big for the confidence of the team just having your your guy out there leading the troops. I would make the argument that most teams would be in the same boat the Jets find themselves in right now. You lose your quarterback after week one where he felt like he said, he didn't
feel like himself. He missed some plays out there in the field. With that being said, he's still completed one passes. Then he's diagnosed with model. He misses games two through four. During that game against the Buffalo Bills, that opener, you goun a double digit lead. C J. Mosley had a pick s in a fumble recovery. He went out with the groin injury. You lost your quarterback at the defense. Those are two guys that you just can't replace. Yeah,
I mean we're not sitting here making excuses for the team. Uh, that's just reality. That's reality. I mean, you lose your starting quarterback, you lose your backup quarterback, and then you lose some some key components on your team. These are guys who you paid a lot of money to. Uh. You you invested draft picks to to beat leaders or your team, to be playmakers for your team that you had counted on that that aren't here right now. So it's gonna leave a big void for the team to fill.
And unfortunately for the Jets, they play some tough teams and haven't been able to come up with the win in the first four games. And you just mentioned it before. Maybe the Jets will get a pair back from suspension this week in Chris Herndon, a tight end who developed a great rapport and connection with Sam Donald when they were both rookies in two thousand and eighteen. And Brandon Copeland, a guy who was slated to be one of your
outside start an outside linebackers when the season begin. Yeah, Brandon Copeland is a guy who had an excellent preseason. You know, he brings a spark, you know, off that edge. He you know, he's he's not the John Abraham, but he's physical. He does a great job against the run. He can get after the quarterback. Uh. And then you look at um, you look at Herndon, who's a speedy tight end, and look at the lack of production that we've had from that position since he's since he hasn't
been in. Yeah, and I think Ryan Griffin has done a good job, great job. He's done a great job as a blocker, and he'll continue to do a good job. But Herndon brings such a different, uh, just a different aspect of the game, uh to that offense. You know, he can spread the field vertically down the field. He's a mismatch for any safety or a linebacker who covers him and opens it up for the other receivers. So hopefully his presence will help spark the offense. Well, let's
talk about that right now. If the Jets do indeed get Sam Darnold back in the lineup and Chris Herndon against the Dallas Cowboys Sunday, and we're gonna talk about that matchup later on here tonight as you're listening to Inside the Jets on ESPN Radio and watching on New York Jets dot Com and the Jets app right now, how does that change things for defenses when they got to match up with the Jets in terms of what's
happening on the middle of the field. In the middle of the field, because the Jets gotta boost Sunday, the Marrius Thomas got back in the lineup, so that shifted Jamison Crowder back inside to the slot. But now if you add Herndon into the mix. What does it do to opposing defenses that, no, not only is Herndon, not only is crowd or a threat over the middle, but now you got Herndon as well well. It makes it tough.
You know, when you when you have your personnel matchups, you always want to match up the linebackers in secondary to the to the personnel of the offense. And with Herndon out there, he's a guy who can go inside and block, so you know, you can't bring an extra dB to cover him, so you have to keep a
linebacker out there. And when you do have that linebacker out there, you can split Herndon, put him out there on the island where he's very uncomfortable, and maybe convert a third down and four, maybe just convert some mismatch plays to keep the drive going and and help your offense continue those drives. What possibly could he also do for Bell Herndon's reinsertion into the lineup, but also Donald coming back there, because I know the Jets have had
struggles in protection so far this season. We know that, but Donald's a guy can make plays with his feet and when chaos is happening around him, we've seen him escape that pocket keep his eyes down the field. Yeah, I mean, he does an excellent job of throwing the ball on the run, breaking and wants to play breakdowns he can extend it. But also just having that confidence of being that starting quarterback understanding who's gonna be open.
You know, the main thing about a quarterback is anticipation, and when you have a young quarterback in there who hasn't seen, hasn't had the reps, hasn't been in there against number one defense, is it's hard for him to trust what he sees. And I think that's what you saw in times with Luke Falk. He's holding the football a little extra and that extra second is the is the world to a pass rush, to an offensive lineman
having a block. So I think Sam getting the ball out quick, being assertive with it, extending plays when it breaks down will help the offense quite a bit. And I think it's gonna help Levan Bell, who just has not had enough space out there. He is doing a tremendous job of producing yards after a contact, but you only can ask a guy to do so much. Yeah, I mean, he he's out there fighting every play, fighting for every yard, and you know you just have to
commend a guy who's given that effort. And you know it's tough because defenses are are inching, their safety is in closer. I know, if I'm playing safety against Levian Bell, against the third string quarterback, I'm gonna be lining up at instead of twelve yards, I'm lining up at nine, and I'm gonna just gonna exactly. I dare you to throw it deep, and if you beat the strowing it deep, then we'll take that. But we're not gonna let do your best player on your team beat us. And that's
what teams are doing. They're trying to take away Levy on Bill, no matter if it's in the run game of the past game, and making other players beat them. Inside the Jets is supported by M ANDT Bank, the official community bank of your New York Jets. Eric Allen here alongside Eric Coleman. We're gonna be joined by Jets linebacker Neville Hewitt. In our second segment Um the Jets Today.
Leonard Williams was on a conference call and said we had a players only meeting, and guys got up there and discussed that we're not pointing fingers at each other. Right now, here's a moment, a key moment I think for this team early in the season, because there's still three quarters of the season left in two thousand nineteen. This season, it's a marathon. They gotta stay together, they gotta stick together. And I like the message that we
heard from the guys today. Yeah, I think that's important for uh, you know, the veterans of the team to bring in the players have a players only meeting with no coaching uh no, you know, not having to worry about what someone's gonna think about you. Let get the issues off your chest. You know. I'm sure it probably got heated at times. Yes, it was a positive meeting, but there are probably some things that guys are frustrated about and you can get that off your chest with
your teammate. And I think that's very important to open those lines at communication. Let everyone know that we're in this together. You know, we may not be winning right now, but if we stick together as a unit, we're gonna be so much more dangerous than if we start pointing fingers at guys, because ultimately, you know, we win and
lose as a team. And about forty five seconds here, how frustrating it can it be for defender right now, when you know your offense, it's so difficult for them to move the football because they're not even sustaining drives, not all the third downs. It's three and out. It's tough, you know, it is very frustrating as a defense when you do your job, you get a three and out, you go sit down and grab your gatorade and can't even finish the cup. Because the punt team has to
go back out there. Uh. You know, it can get frustrating. But as a defense, you have so much to worry about in your own mind, so many assignments that you have to handle, that it's hard for you to focus on that, you know, during the game. All right, we're gonna come right back with just linebacker Neville Hewitt. You're listening to Inside the Jets on ESPN New York. Lines up the shotgun to the sievers left or to the right.
Doc he goes to trust, brows it right hand. It's intercepted right through the hands of Bolden Jamal Adams One's left. He's got a convoy to the thirties. Ten five touchdowns. Welcome back to Inside the Jets. We are broadcasting live at Vanderbilt sports and spirits inside to win them Hamilton's Park Hotel. Our player guest segment is presented by M and T Bank, the official community bank of your New
York Jets. Let's bring in now and unlikely big time contributor for the New York Jets in two thousand nineteen. Linebacker for you, Itt, Thanks for having me. How you doing, man, I'm good. No, but we just heard uh a pick six from Jamal Anams actually against the New England Patriots. But you guys were down in Philadelphia yesterday. I thought the defense gave this team an opportunity to win the game. This was a Philadelphia Eagles team that, at average twenty
seven and a half points per contest. The defense held them the seventeen points. Also an Eagles team that led the National Football League in terms of third down efficiency fifty six point one percent. After allowing those three third down conversions, I believe there were two other next ten. When you guys went back to one Jets drive today, what did the film reveal? Um? We just cleaned up
the little things. Um we know the defense we've been playing well, and um we just really all year, our our plan has deen and just clean up the little things and will we could be even better than we look. And each week is is just little details here and there, you know, somebody hopping out of a gap or something like that, or me not doing something I was supposed to do, you know, so and and some of the mistakes is my fault, you know. But um, it's just
a lot of things. It's just really little things that we can clean up on defense and and it's going to get clean and um, we're gonna be even better. So so never I want to go back to the beginning of the season. Obviously, you prepared yourself to be the starting linebacker. You know, that's something that's an opportunity that we all you know, wait for. But Avery Williamson goes down, then you're like, Okay, it's gonna be c J. And I he's a veteran, he's been doing it at
a high level for a long time. And then c J goes down. How did that transformation? How did that transform your responsibility as a linebacker from being a guy next to c J to being like d Man calling the plays, running the show. Yeah, I think our coaching staff did a really good job on the preseason. When um, they started moving some guys around and making us learn UM two to three different positions, and I end up having to play it in a few games. One in
Atlanta during the preseason. UM played played it against the Giants in the preseason. So when the CJ went down, all know how to do was know that I was the MIC and I was able to go into that position. And it's just you know, any position, if you're not practicing it, you're not going to be as good until you start getting more reps. So every game I've I've
gotten better and I'm getting more comfortable at it. What do you think about the run fits you guys all the Eagles, I think to less than three yards per carry. You were all over the field, leading the team in terms of tackles with ten. Yeah. I think they shot me a few. Yeah yeah, yeah. Uh. You gotta get up and celebrate after every tackle, so they give you
the credit, that's what they say. So what do you what do you think about the way you would handle the run game, because this is an Eagles team that rushed for nearly two hundred yards against the Packers. Yeah, I think we we take pride in and stopping the on and any good defense, You know, you have to stop to run and make um make a team one dimensions and forced them to throw the ball. And I think that's something we we probably ourselves on and each
week that's our goal. We're gonna try to stop you from winding the ball and you're going We're gonna see what you get with your quarterback and do what do you think about the way you guys respond And you took that early punch again like you did in New England, But the Patriots scored on three consecutive drives to start the game. You started up bleeding, you stopped the bleeding
after giving up the initial touchdown. You settled down for the rest of the first half until right it then Yeah, I think, Um, one thing we're starting to continue to work on is it's starting off fast and once we um, once we we figured that out, how we can once the defense come out in that first series, you know, calm down and and and get back to our fundamentals and get off the field that first drive, it's gonna
be hard, really hard to score on us. So when you when you guys go back in the film room or the defensive meeting room, Uh, is it a situation where you have your third string quarter back in Are you talking to yourselves like, listen, we need everybody to be on point this week because we have a guy in here who hasn't done it. Uh, you know, we're probably gonna have to play a lot better than we will normally play. Is there a lot of pressure having
that situation? Um? Well, we we we don't really worry about what the offense have going on. Um we we know the situation. But as a defense, we're always trying to force turnovers. You know, we're big on forcing turnovers, being physical, and you know, whenever a team playoffs, they know they have to come play no matter what our situation is on the other side of the ball, they
have to deal with our defense. So, um, you know, we try to go out to the ball and we're emphasizing and then we're trying to get even more just to even give our offense even more chances, you know, to score. Inside the Jets is presented by e Y Building a Better Working World, Eric Ellen with Eric Coleman,
and we're joined by Jets linebacker or Novel. Here at fourth and five in the first quarter, what was happening in terms of that pass rush look like a little stunner, a little game for you, and you got a clear shot at once. Yeah. Yeah, whenever they send me, if I have like a two way a go or something on the lineman, I'm probably gonna get there. Um, And we had the stunt going and I came around and just almost had the sack. Phone one. He got it,
He got it off. I mean, he's a big quarterback and he's he's pretty good at getting rid of the ball when people get you've been getting to the quarterback. Had a sack of Baker Mayfield in Week two, You had the interception in Week one against the Buffalo Bills. So what is this experience going to do for your long term? Like Eric mentioned, you started out is okay. I know I want to be a special team's contributor. I know I'm gonna provide depth. I want to start.
But if my numbers called, I'll be ready. And sure enough, every Williamson goes down with the torn a c L and Mosley goes out, and not only did you have to change position, but you are the quarterback of this defense right now. Yeah, this is this is like an opportunity I've been preparing for it for like two years now. Like when I was in Miami. I started the year we went to the playoffs. Um, I started in bass defense and then when I got injured, I got cut.
So it was like a whole It was a it was a learning process for me, and I just just kept grinding and grinding and got the opportunity here and then then with all the injuries, it's like the same thing that happened to me. It just flipped and I ended up working out for me to where I end up having the opportunity to show how good I really am. And um, I'm just you know, weekend week out, I'm
trying to help this team win. The good thing too, Eric, as we we talked to Nevill right now, is that he played a Marshal and he did had the experience. Think about cross training. You played well and Mike and Marshall as well. Yeah, I did. When I got to Marshall, I was I went to Georgian Military College first, and then once I transfer the Marshall, they moved me the linebacker and my coach having I was playing will and then he moved me to Mike and then so it
was three of us. So he was rotating. So I was playing Mike and Will in the game, so I'm doing the same thing now. It's crazy had life works. So so never can you talk about your your defensive coordinator Greg Williams obviously legendary defensive coach, very big personality. What is it like going out there and is it different than playing for other coordinators? Because I feel like I would want to go out there and just just run through a wall for Greg Williams? Is it something similar?
It's cool because I grew up. I grew up in um said with Spring Maryland, So I grew up watching him when he was coaching with the Redskin, So like actually being able to play for him now and actually he hied coaches as cool, so like as a player and just the stuff that he's like realistic, you know, and and and he's like he's old school and he's gonna get the best out of all of us, and he pushes us in. You know, some days you might be tired and you can't feel bad for yourself playing
for Greg. You know what I'm saying. He gets the best out of you. So is it really it's cool experience? Quarterback Sam Donald said on the Michael k show earlier today on ESPN Radio that you guys had a players only meeting today where you kind of clear the air. What was said that you can tell us obviously you're not gonna be able to tell us everything but the but the tone of that meeting and how important was
that to have that? Now, well, you gotta know that this team is we got a new head coach, you offensive you know, you offensive playable system for the offense. We've got a new defensive staff and its just and we got new players, you know what I'm saying. So
it's one of those things. It's not our first time having one of those, but it's one of those things where we all just get the coaches out of the room and just have a conversation with each other and really jail And that's pretty much what we were doing in there, just if you have something to say said and you know at the end of the day that we all got to be on the same page. How important is that to maintain the perspective Because I've talked
to you about this before. You just mentioned that experience in Miami. You started one and four a couple of years ago, and you guys found yourself in the playoffs. Yeah, I mean that that's you. You don't see that, especially on this level, Like you have a team meeting, but like the stuff that we're doing here, we're not far off from being a really good team. And then the day we we have growing pains here and there, but we're not far off from where we need to be. Okay,
let's look ahead, Dallas Cowboys Sunday. I know you're probably jumping into the film because you're all over it right now. You gotta be what kind of challenge will it be defended against? Seek Elliott? Um, I'm still warming up on him right now, but I think you know, I hear a lot about them, heard a lot about them about him, and um, you know, he's one of the better backs in this league. So um, I'm hungry like he hungry.
So so never you know, when I when I was playing, say the back, when I play safety, playing against a heavy running team, it was always fun for me, Like you know, playing against Buffalo when Marshawn Lynch was there, or the Steelers with Jerome Bettes, it was like, all right, I'm gonna have to typen up my chinz trap. It's gonna be a fun game. Do you look at it like that as a linebacker, like this is such a passing league down when you get to play a running team,
is it something that you look forward to every time? Everything? Just like even like playing against the Eagles, whenever a team want to run the ball, as a linebacker or a defensive lineman, you you should. If you're not excited about that game, something's wrong with you. You're probably playing the wrong position, you know, understanding, Like this week, I'm
very excited. And you know they say they had one to better um offensive line in the end the game, and you know what I'm saying, have not the best. So yeah, we're off for the challenge. Yeah, listen, metluck is gonna be rock and it's a four start. Like you mentioned before, you guys are gonna be up for the challenge. That's the number one offense in the National Football League. Got Dak Prescott, Zeke Elliott, of course, Marii
Cooper and company. But Nevill you deserve arrest. So thanks for coming by here on inside the Jets and we're gonna come right back. You are listening Inside the Jets on ESPN New York talking the shotgun. Four receivers takes the snap. Five man rush, what's over the middle, crows high and it is tipped up and on the town. It's intercepted, picked off by Rodney McCloud. He runs right to the forty five, breaks a tackle at the fifty, gets hit hard, got the Jet forty two and goes
down there. Welcome back to Inside the Jets, Eric Allen and Eric Coleman here at Vanderbilt Sports and Spirits inside the Windham Hamilton's Park Hotel. Inside the Jets is presented by e Y Building a Better Working World. We were just joined in our last segment by linebacker Novil Hewitt. He's made great strides this year, no doubt about it. And people are like, why do you why do you tell him to get some rust? Well, the guy played every defensive snap team and he plays on punt team,
so he's not coming off the field too much. And this is a guy who throughout most of his career was a reserve and and now he's the guy and he's calling the quarterback signal. He's he's a signal caller on defense. He's out there every single play. That could change when C. J. Mosley comes in, but he'll just shift over and he remains a starter, will be the
week side linebacker. Yeah, I mean, I mean, And the way he's playing right now, he's really setting himself up for a nice career, uh, you know, to establish himself as a starting linebacker in this league, to prove that he can go out there every play and perform in pass coverage, running, you know, gets the run. He's leading the team and tackles right now, doing a heck of
a job. And this defense is playing well. They have some plays out there that they wish they could have back, I'm sure, but overall, this defensive unit is playing good football. I gotta be honest with you. If you're a Jets fan and you see Mosley go out in Week one and you see Devin Singletary taking advantage of some of those big, gaping holes, you're probably like, we're in big
time trouble run from a run defense perspective. But the Jets, if you look at their numbers through the first five weeks in the NFL season, they're one of the better rush defense is in the league without mostly Yeah, I mean, I mean, and that's coaching, you know, first of all, I mean, it's effort by the players. They're doing a fantastic job up front of dominating the line of scrimmage.
But when you see, you know, you're starting linebacker go out and in that same game there's some big runs going through and then the next week that the run game gets gets stopped. Those coaches are coaching up those young linebackers to to correct their fits. Let's play team defense like Neville was talking about. You know, make sure everyone stays in their gap, keep that gap integrity. Everybody do your job and you can get that run stop.
What does Greg Williams do in terms of him scheming things that make it so hard on an offense because everybody talks, we know he's got an attacking style. I know he sends pressure a lot, but talking in terms of disguising, well, you know, the disguising is a huge part of a defense. You know, as a as a player in the secondary, as a linebacker, you always you never want the quarterback to understand what defense you're in before before the snap, you want him to start figuring
out what defense that you're in. While he's dropping back. Why the past rush is going you know is rushing on him and you know now you show a cover two shell. Last second, when the ball snap, you drop down to cover one because now all those routes change. There's a route to beat every single coverage, and if he doesn't know what coverage you're in, it's gonna be hard for him to adjust while he's backing up. And you add into that a defensive line who can get
after the quarterback. You add into that some blitzing packages that are unknown to the to the offensive line, and you create some big place And those guys who play under Greg Williams dent buy in. You just heard from Neville about he's an old school coach. They like being coached up by a guy like him. I would love to for Greg Williams. You know, I got a chance
to play for some great coordinators in my day. My last one I played for was gun Through Cunningham Rest in Peace and one of those old school, just violent coaches that just wanted you to just hit as hard as you can, run as fast as you can. You can tell when he gets angry because he's gonna start dialing up the blitzes and makes it fun. You know, it makes playing defense fun. And when I see this Jets team, they may be losing some games and maybe down to the score. But Jamal Adams is having fun.
But that's gonna bring up what you're talking about fun. I'm in the press box yesterday. I'm watching Jamal's the third one. He makes a hull of a play on Carson Wentz pass intended for Dallas Goddard, and then they come up with the fourth Downd stuff and Jamal's dancing like it's a Saturday night, as he should be. You know what, There's so much that goes into making a play in the NFL. You know, there's the in the off season, you're working on your footwork, your speed to
get that that much faster. And during the season you're you're looking at scheme, you're looking at technique to understand and how this team is gonna attack you. And then you put it all together and go make a big play. There's no better feeling than making a big play. I don't care what the score is, I don't care who you're playing. If you make a play in the NFL, you should celebrate and pat yourself on the bat. Yeah, listen, um,
just rewards members, don't forget to enter code. Play p L A Y in your jet rewards portal during the show to earn a hundred points. H. I was just gonna say that if you had told me before Sunday that you're gonna go into Philadelphia and just give up seventeen points and they're only going to convert on five of their thirteen third downs, You're also gonna get a special teams take away deep inside the opponent's territory, I would have said, sign me off, because they gave you
a chance to win it. Yeah, I mean in this defense, and the special teams unit hasn't played phenomenal, uh you know during out during this season. Uh, you know, they they have had to go above and beyond what they would normally do to win these games. And unfortunately, offensively, they just haven't found a way to get it clicking.
You know. You try to feed the ball to levy On, you try to spread the love around the offense, but it's just not jelling in this all because it's not all because because I'm sure there's some other you know, some receivers can run some better routes. Offensive line, they could probably do a better job of protecting, but you know, the quarterback got it, has to get the ball out it's a it's a team unit, and everybody works hand
in hand. Adam Gates told me before this season started that it's gonna take three or four games to know what my team's identity is. I would say, now, after four games, you can't possibly know what your team is. You can't, well, you know what you got on defense, know what you got on special teams, um offensively, I mean, there's so many components missing. And when you take the quarterback out, and I keep harping on it because it's the truth. You know, your quarterback is the most important
position on the field. He makes the most money, You invest the most money protecting him. If he's out of the game, then it makes it tough for your offense to go. And I think, you know, and I'm not saying that when you plug Sam Donald and everything's gonna be fixed, but it's gonna help tremendously. He's gonna help with you know, the get the most out of every player. The calm. I think you'll see more football, better football, you'll see more points on the board, and uh, you'll
get more competitive. Yeah, And it's hard to take a deep dive into the offense in terms of your analysis when you know that Luke fall is. He might make one more start depending on what happens with the tests Tuesday and whether Sam Donald gets clearance or not. But the bottom line is you really can't look at this offense and give it a grade or nowhere it's going until Donald plays any plays for multiple games. You can't tell me what this Jets offenses by just looking at
what happened against the Buffalo Bills. Who oh, by the way, have yeah? I mean? And then you know, to Luke fawks credit. You know, the first game that he played, he was activated all practice squad on Friday. Then he goes in there and starts the game. The next week he plays against the Patriots. You know, it doesn't have a good showing, but that's a great defensive, one of the best Patriot defensive we've seen in a long time. And then you know he Sam Donald takes all the
first team reps last week. Falk finds out on Friday that he's going to be the starter, and that's just not enough, especially for a young quarterback who hasn't done enough. He needs a full week of preparation to even have a chance, and to play against an aggressive defense like Philadelphia, who is coached by Jim Schwartz, who I played for. All he cares about is getting to the quarterback. He doesn't care about the draw, doesn't care about the screen.
He wants those defensive linemen get into the quarterback. And to play against that kind of pressure as a quarterback who's got one day of preparation is a tough thing to ask. I do think the frustrating aspect for not only people watching at home, but over across the street the facility is sometimes the pressure is getting home when they are just rushing for Yeah, but you know a lot of that is in the offensive line's fault, you know.
For for a quarterback who hasn't seen a lot of different coverages, he's trying not to make a mistake, and you can't win trying not to lose, you know, trying not to throw an interception. You have to take the fight to the defense. You have to anticipate those throws you have to throw the receiver's open, and it's hard to get a feel for that when you don't get the reps. You don't have the experience or the confidence,
uh that Sam Donald has. These are great points when you're talking about a young quarterback who's just made is second start in the National Football League. You're emphasizing not making a mistake. So maybe sometimes your eyes should be going through the progressions or maybe you should be seeing something and instead maybe you're looking at something else. Yeah, I mean, it's all about anticipation. And as I mentioned earlier,
you know, there's a route to beat every coverage. So if they're in cover two, then you're gonna run a certain route and there's there's gonna be an area of the field that's open. But excuse me, Detroit, Philadelphia did a great job of disguising coverage. They have some veterans, have a veteran secondary led by Malcolm Jenkins, even though they were banged up in at the cornerback, but they're
still moving around making things confusing. Then you add to the fact, you know, Luke fowks on his back quite a bit. You know, it doesn't make it easy. You know, it's it's a it's a tough thing to ask and it was frustrating to watch. You know, you and I were both there at the game. You know, the all the air, you know, the Philadelphia fans were hyped, the crowd was hyped. Uh. You know, if you're a Jet fan.
It was like, after the first couple of series, it was like, oh, man, well, how do you how do you prevent that feeling on the sideline because you have such a fascinating perspective because you've been on that sideline before. Because now we've seen the last three weeks, Cleveland's up thirteen nothing in the second quarter. New England's up twenty to nothing in the first quarter, Philly's up fourteen nothing
before people have gotten back from buying their popcorn. Stay in your lane, you got everybody has to stay in the lane. If I'm on defense and the offense isn't playing, well, guess what. That's not my responsibility. That's out of my control. While all I can do is handle my job. I can be where I'm supposed to be. I can make the plays that I'm supposed to make within the defense. I'm not gonna go, you know, cover somebody else's job trying to make a play and then I'm gonna leave
mine open and give up a big play. Everyone has to do their job. There's a role for every player and every and I don't care if you're on offensive defense, you have to stick to your job and be where you're supposed to be and be accountable to the man next year. Yeah, And the Jets did start a pair of new starters at offensive line. Along that offensive line, left guard Alice Lewis, who's had some starting experience in the National Football League. He took the place with Collecchio,
assembly who's banged up with the shoulder. And then you started to doga your third round pick from USC who was taking the spot of an interactive Brandon Shell. So to your five offensive linemen against Philadelphia team looking to get after the quarterback, we're new, We're new upfront. Oh yeah,
and it's always tough. You talk about the offensive line, you talk about the chemistry that that that that bond that you have to have, that unspoken communication that you have to have in a crazy atmosphere like Philadelphia, And when you're throwing somebody new, it's like, wait, you know, we're on the same page. And if we're not on the same page, then there's gonna that's gonna be a lot of big plays that we're giving up. That's what
That's what Lewis said today. We gotta communicate, butter, Yeah, I mean in the secondary. We had a saying is, you know, as long as you communicate, as long as if we're all wrong, and we're all wrong together, then we're all right. We'll get through the down. We're all playing the same coverage, but we can't have one guy playing cover two the other guy playing playing Cover four
over here. And that's when you start to get those big plays where there's a free runner running down the running of the field wide open and nobody's around him because that communication isn't there. How much do you think this is hurting c J. Molesley right now? Because he came from a winning program in Baltimore. He signed a lucle ritive contract in the off season. He was brought here to turn the tide. And this guy, his d n A says winner. Oh yeah, it has to be
tough for he. Uh, Sam Donald, Quincy, all these guys are competitors, they're they're winners, and for c J. His presence is still felt. You know, you you watching Neville go out there and play. He's out there busting heads. Uh. You know, every player, every linebacker out there, they playing with the mentality. The whole defense is playing with a certain mentality and just because c J isn't out there
doesn't mean his presence can't be felt. But I'm sure it's killing him that to sit there and watch his his teammates, watch his dogs go out there and not not get the winds, not being able to contribute. You know, if you're gonna get beat, I want to get beat with you. You know what I mean. I don't want you guys just to be out there without me leading, leading away. Do you think I crazy? My sense is here in between weeks eight weeks fourteen, the Jets are
gonna get a few wins. They're gonna get some talent back, and I think by the end of the season they could be it. They could become a team that, you know what, we don't want to play the squad after Dallas in New England. Two very difficulty uh games coming up, no doubt about it, and we're gonna break down the Cowboys matchup coming up. You're at Jacksonville teams two and three. Right now, I know they have a tough defense. But
then you're in Miami that's a winless team. You're home to the Giants, a team that's rebuilding on fly two and three. Washington Redskins. They just made a coaching change, um as Kell Hants takes over there. They're owing five the Raiders three and two right now, but then at Cincinnati on five, and then you complete that little stretch
with a trip with a home game against Miami. Who. Yeah, I mean there's gonna be some opportunities, but but ultimately, you know, if you're if you're going out there and playing, you can't worry about who you're playing. You have to worry about your job and not making mistakes, not beating yourself. And I think that once his team starts to gain that confidence, you start to win a game, you start to score on the end of a drive, you start
to pick up that momentum and that confidence. And once this team has some more confidence and they understand that they can go out there and compete with anybody, I think they're gonna be dangerous. I think we're gonna take a deep dive into this player's only meeting because I wanted to get your reactions on that. Coming up. Also, we have to explore the matchup that awaits the Jets Sunday at MetLife Stadium the Dallas Cowboys, who look like
world beaters. Those first three weeks now have taken a couple of losses the last two, so they'll be desperate for victory as well. So more coming up. You are listening to Inside the Jets on ESPN New York Block. Edwards comes on to punt by Clement deep to receive and over and kicked to the far side left will bounce inside the thirty and Clement touches it and the Jets get after it. In about the twenty yard lock, there's a loose ball inside the twenty to the Jets recover.
They did. The Eagles touched the ball for some reason. Clement went after it instead of letting it bounce. Trenton Kennon the gunner was there and it looked like Cannon got the recovery. Remember, Jets fans, You can stream Inside the Jets live through the Jets app presented by mt Bank. Go to the app store or Google Play Now and search Official New York Jets. Eric Allen alongside Eric Coleman at Vanderbilt's Sports and spirits inside to Windham Hamilton's Park.
Um listen. Sometimes you gotta get breaks, and again Jet's got a break on special teams where Philadelphia messed up in terms of fielding that punt, but you gotta be there two pounds on your opportunities and Trent and Cannon once yeah, and you know, Trent and Cannon Gate gave great effort on that play and he was in the right place at the right time. And uh, you know, it's a credit to him. He's been showing up on special teams a lot, whether it be in the return game,
covering punts. He's very active and it's great to see a player like that get rewarded with the big place. So what do you think about the play call from Adam Case following that, he goes to a pistol formation. Time Montgomery lines up behind Luke Falk little play action to Levian Bell and everybody goes right over pursuit. They're thinking the pitch is gonna go to Time Montgomery and here calls Vincent Smith, who's active for his first for the first time as a jet. I thought that was
a great play called little misdirection, fake option reverse. Uh, it was exactly what was needed, you know, And that's the creativity I think everyone's been looking for for Coach Gaze, because you know he you know, he has the weapons. You know, you know, he has the players to go out there and execute those plays, but it's all about you know, getting guys healthy, getting put in the right situations, capitalizing off turnovers. And I thought they did a great job.
But there it is. You just said it. He being put in the right situation. I think Gay has this if you followed his career at all in Miami, He's got a lot of things dialed up, especially inside that red zone where he can get really creative. And that was an example of it. Oh yeah, I mean and once his offense gets going, once the momentum starts going, they you know, start having nice drives and uh, they can start breaking tendencies. I think that's when you're gonna
start seeing the special plays. You start seeing the big place from Levan in time Montgomery, uh, and start to see just feature different players. And um, I'm excited to see that playbook start to open up once Sam Donald gets back, because I'm sure that's what's been holding things back. Listen, you haven't been playing for a couple of years, but you're still in very good shape. But I tried to
keep myself in shape. I don't look quite like you with the arms, but I will say that I kind of got into the end zone, I think on that one because Leveon Bell was leading the way. The cornerback wanted no part of him. Lebian said, follow me. I'm taking you to that. And that's what it takes sometimes,
that unselfish play from your stars. I mean, you talk about the best player on the field and he's out there blocking cornerbacks, you know, down the field where he doesn't even know if the play is gonna make it to him. Excellent block by Lebian. Unselfish, unselfish football. That's how you win the game. If Donald does indeed come back against the Cowboys on Sunday at MetLife, that's sure gonna add a lot of drama. It's gonna give the
crowd a big time boost. What do you anticipate from the Jets offensively with four under center, Well, you know, I think they'll take more vertical shots down the field. I think they'll you'll see him converting more third downs and moving the chains a little bit and being more efficient. But they've got a tough opponent against them, you know, de Marcus Lawrence, Layton vander esh On the other side, Jalen Smith uh is a pretty good front seven over
there in Dallas, and they're playing good football. So I think if Sam plays, you know, he'll be up for the challenge. I know lady On will be up for the challenge because every time he gets the ball, he's trying to score, trying to break, you know, a thousand tackles to get three yards. So it's um, it's gonna be competitive games. What's the trademark of a Rod Marionelli coach defense? Rod marion Nelly, Um, Tampa two plays a lot of Tampa two defense. Uh, you know some zone blitz.
Is he likes those athletic outside linebackers who can just read the quarterback's eyes. You know, that's what you think back to Derek Brooks and Hardy nick Sin they got a lot of interceptions even Ryande Barber off of reading the quarterback underneath coverage. Uh, just just moving on a chain together. So it's gonna take a lot of manipulation
from the quarterback. They're gonna have some some schemes Herndon being in the middle of that defense because the middle of the line, in the middle linebacker closes the middle of the field and Tampa two. So it's gonna be Herndon versus Layton vander ash or Jalon Smith, whoever it is. But but that's gonna be a great matchup. On the other side of the ball, Cowboys of getting themselves into trouble with some turnovers, but boy, they can move the football.
They had like five d sixty total yards against the Green Bay Packers trying to come back. Um, then about forty five seconds. What do you gotta do if you're Greg Williams to contain this Cowboys offensive? Obviously starts with Zeke Elliott, but Dak Prescott, he's got some weapons on the outside, and Mary Cooper just had two yards receiving. Absolutely, it's tough. It's a tough test, but it has to
start with stopping the run. You cannot let the Dallas Cowboys run the football on you, because now that opens up a can of worms for your defense has play action shots. Uh, Jason Witten, Uh, Michael Gallup. You know there's so many receivers out there. But if you stop that run, you stuff Zeke up, it's gonna make it difficult. You're gonna put all the pressure on Dak Prescott. And finally you feel good about the Jets cleaner in there today.
Oh yeah, I feel great about it. It's always great to get everything off your chest, let it be known. Have that team on the players only meeting. I thought that. I think that's gonna help them out. That's all for us this week from Vanderbilt Sports and Spirits. Thanks for listening to Inside the Jets.