Who Are Top TEN Players On New York #Jets? (BADLANDS)

Who Are Top TEN Players On New York #Jets? (BADLANDS)

What’s up everybody? Welcome back to your favorite New York Jets subscription podcast, Badlands. I’m your host, Joe Caparoso, joined as always by Connor Rogers. Early December Jets Dolphins Week podcast. We have a lot to cover. We have an ungodly amount of questions in the Discord. So many that I’m going to answer some, we’re going to answer some in the pod. I also made a random list that I’m going to surprise CR with. And we’re going to talk a little Jets Dolphins in the tape. CR, how we doing? How we feeling? Good, man. And uh I just keep saying this and I’m like I’m a little joking but also a little not. Three of five for the Jets right now. I think competitive in both the first half of the Patriots and Ravens games that they ultimately lost. You know who was it competitive against the Patriots last night? The New York Giants. The dream job for everybody. They really had a pulse last night. Forget competitive. And I I I don’t take a ton of pride in in saying this because I it’s we don’t enjoy when people are like, “Oh, that’s the Jets.” Like typical Jets or same old Jets. But man, the Giants on a Monday night football game had the laughing stock vibes of previous Jets teams. Like, it’s one thing to lose. It’s another when there’s just bodies on the floor and then your kicker smashes the nine iron right into the turf. An unbelievable play. Yeah, there’s really It had me thinking two things though, Joe. I’m not going to lie. Like, one, good lord, the Giants are just spiraling into being the laughing stock of the NFL, which even though it looks like they have a quarterback of the future, even that’s a storyline. Two though, Jets Pats December 28th, like the Patriots are out for blood right now for the one or Denver. I I you don’t you want to be careful judging these games too much at this point, but how the Jets show up or don’t show up against that New England team that’s gunning for it all. They’re second the Jets second to last game of the year, I it will say a lot to me in certain ways. I I’m It’s the most highly anticipated game to me on the rest of the schedule. I mean, listen, I’m crazy enough. If the Jets beat the Dolphins, get frisky in these Jaguars and Saints games, I might have to just go down there. Take the spoiler to me. Take the boy to his first game. If it’s it’s above 10 degrees, maybe I’ll figure it out. We’ll see. I Yeah, let me let me lay that. You just got my mind kind of spinning here. What do the Jets have to do in the next three weeks to make it so the the New England game crowd is at least like 65% fired up. Not not like playoffs on the line. Obviously, I’m not getting crazy here, but into the game kind of fan turnout. I think two or three. Three of three. I think it’s probably three of three because because just knowing the weather and the time of the year, I think it’s if you could be like, “Hey, they’re they’ve won four in a row now, right? They beat the Falcons, they beat the Dolphins, they beat the Jaguars, which was this big upset, and then they handled business against the Saints, which we know a lot of Jet fans are traveling down to New Orleans, the crazies. And it’s like, wow, the Jets won four in a row, and if they beat the Pats, Denver is going to be the one seed.” And now that means no buy. There’s a huge difference between the one and the two seed. Now, you know, for New England, that means home field throughout or maybe hosting Buffalo in round one, big difference. So, it’s a good point. You win three in a row or four in a row, I think all of a sudden there’s a lot of juice. Now, look, 68. Yeah. I mean, that’s a different kind of story. you know, can even if I think they beat um the Dolphins and they beat the Saints and they’re frisky against Jacksonville, maybe you get a little bit, but to have a winning streak like that going into the game and listen to us now, you know, because they’ve won three or five how how we’re talking about this hypothetical, but I I think it would be a fun crowd, fun environment because you could be a real spoiler then and then you’re very much funny enough like really like Detroit that one year where they were like one and 10 and they won their last like what like five or six games. It would actually be like an exact parallel where you were 0 and seven and all of a sudden you’re six and nine or something like that and you’re like you know what the Jets are six and two in their last eight games and that’s a better record than all of these other teams despite trading Quinnon Williams despite trading SGER despite Garrett Wilson being hurt. So, we’re going to learn a lot this weekend, man, because I started to say this on the postgame pod. The Jets have not been able to beat the Dolphins. And Aaron Glenn has to win division games. And it looks like the Dolphins are probably going to have McDaniel and Tua again next year. And that combination has absolutely owned the Jets. The Jets have not beat Tua yet, which is pathetic. And Aaron Glenn, part of his job is to win division games. It’s going to be hard as hell to beat the Patriots and Bills the next few years. You got to get your division wins against Miami. And they lost that. That was one of their worst moments of the season. How they lost to that Dolphins team. Darren Waller going over Sauce Gardner, Brilen Allen fumbling into the end zone. Their offense was a mess. That was at the Isaiah Williams game where he’s fumbling and catching punts at the one yard line before he rose from the ashes into prime Dante Hall. This is a great opportunity to show that they have really turned a corner. And the Dolphins, they’re five- seven, but they’ve won three games in a row. They kicked the out of Buffalo. They’re alive. They still think they’re playing for a playoff spot. You can end their season. You can win a home game, and you could show you could win a divisional game. And the Dolphins are meaningfully better right now than the Falcons in my mind. So, I don’t know. I mean, the Dolphins have more talent than the Jets still despite how they’re operating. What What do you need to see and what are you expecting from this matchup? Because this has killed the Jets in recent years. I feel like three different times they’ve won a couple games and then just got their head lpped off by two and Miami. So, what what are you looking for on Sunday at Metife? Yeah, the Dolphins defense has started to have a pulse as well, which is really important to note because I feel like our lasting memory of them from the Jets lens is just, you know, say what you want about how the game went, but that opening drive where the Jets were like, “Hey, let’s punch you in the face, try to stop us.” And the Jets just kept punching and punching and punching. And then the fumble down in the red area, you know, ruined everything. But it was that was becoming a trend with the Dolphins where they were getting pushed around. And I think recently they haven’t been getting pushed around as much anymore. They’ve kind of reverted back to being a little bit of a punchier defense. Not great, right? But punchier. And then they have limitations this time of year in the pass game because of Tua. I mean, Tua’s stats last week, and I’ll pull up the exact number. uh I read Monday morning with Sims, but he was really really good in the first quarter and then essentially the Dolphins did nothing through the air the rest of the game. Devon Achan is an absolute menace because he’s one of those guys where you miss him once and then you blink and he’s 12 yards down the field. He’s got gamebreaking speed. He’s excellent in the pass game. He kind of aids the quarterback in that way. But this is still one of those games where like I not to hold on to cliches, but cliches are cliches for a reason. It’s Tua outdoors in the Northeast in December, right? Going to be cold and miserable. No doubt. Cold cold and miserable man. Driving to work today and leaving work today, it was just freezing rain. Couldn’t see anything. Couldn’t feel anything. Not pleasant. We’ll see what it’s like on Sunday. But the reality is, and this is weird to say because like you said Joe, the Jets oddly never beat Tua, but this is a scenario where like he he kind of turns into a pumpkin a little bit. The problem is you worry about a chance speed against the Jets defense. And it’s weird to say I don’t know if I really worry about the Jets offense. You just wonder what the ceiling of their offense is. It’s nice that the Jets offense finally has a floor. Yep. where Tyrod’s adequate in the pass game even when there’s not a lot of room. Bree is grinding out some runs. They are trying to throw to Bree more. It didn’t really work as well against the Falcons because the Falcons kind of sniffed it out. But and the pass bros been really really good as well. And so back to the uh the old the old Tua stat line that I was just infatuated with this last week. Tua in the first quarter was five for seven for 83 yards and then so he was he was excellent and efficient in the first quarter throwing the ball. The next three quarters of the game he was seven to 16 for 74 yards threw a pick and was sacked twice. Zack Wilson hours that that is literally like McCarthy’s Zack Wilson. Um, so for the Jets defense that’s been really pluckucky and you especially the DBs, it’s been surprising. you know, this is an opportunity, but to keep it real with you, what worries me, and this always worries me, McDaniel is really good at not only skimming up the run game, but those simple playaction boots that just the Jets linebackers, I I’ve noticed a little bit of a renaissance of now defending Sherwood. And yeah, I think he’s been better against the run. And this is a unit problem, not just a Jets problem. The Jets are awful defending the middle of the field. They get fooled. Kyle Pittz, it’s the funny thing is it doesn’t matter who it is. Whatever tight end is on the on the other team just has a day. The most basic boot concept wide open every time. Every time. Think of the tight end performances that have that have play. I think the only team really truly worse on a week-by-eek basis against the tight end has been the Bengals this year. And the reality is Darren Waller’s back and the Dolphins like throwing to him whatever’s left of him and they’ll make it easy for Tua and for some reason the Jets have just been getting you know kind of fooled in the middle of the field by these. So I think it’s a really really tight game in terms of who has the advantage and who doesn’t. This is a much better version of the Jets, but it’s a much better version of the Dolphins. And you you have to give credit to their coaching staff for that because I really do give the coaching staff credit for that. Uh, and keeping the buy in there as well. But I mean, there is a world where Tyler, you don’t get to say this about the Jets very often, but it feels like when they’ve won some games this year or been in games this year, you can say it. The Jets could have the better quarterback this weekend. They could. It’s not that they necessarily will, but you could say there’s an outcome where they do. And that’s where the difference in this game could lie. Stay healthy, Uncle Tyrod. He he threw it back a little bit with the scrambling in that game. Like he reminded me in a bad way of 2015 Tyrod destroying the Jets playoff hopes where he was moving around. But when he has that element of his game and look the deep ball, like it’s not all the way back, but he got it there to Mitchell. And if they could throw that a couple times a game, it certainly makes life a lot easier for Bree Hall and how they want to play offense. Think of the pass interference they drew. Yes. Yes. I mean, look, and he’s not he’s not shy about attacking down the field, which is nice to see. And Mitchell’s the perfect receiver for that. And I expect Meti to have a bounceback game. I’m sure he caught 9,000 balls on the Jugs machine after how last week went. And that happens sometimes, right? He’s also adjusting to playing in that weather in that stadium. And now, let’s see how he bounces back with it. So, here’s the list I put together. The 10 best Jets right now. I want to strongly caveat that this is right now. This is the three and nine Jets going to play the Miami Dolphins. This are these are the 10 best players currently on their team. So it doesn’t include Garrett Wilson because he’s hurt. I’m not going to include the special teams because of course Nick Falcon Williams would be one and two and Stiggers might be three. Um no specials. Um right. And the punter. So I think it’s it was interesting trying to put this together and just kind of wrapping your head where the Jets are from a roster construction standpoint. I’ll go like three or four at a time and let you react to it. And you’re not going to order them. It’s just No, no, they’re ordered. They’re ordered one. They’re ordered one through 10. And I tried I tried to have limited recency bias just because if someone had a bad quarter or a bad game last game, not to like factor too much. Number one, Bree Hall. I say right now he’s their best all-around football player at the moment. Um I think that’s very fair. Number two, and I know he had a couple bad reps. I say Armanu. I would have maybe had him at number one if that Falcons game didn’t happen, but I have him at number two. Number three is where I’m going to surprise some people. I don’t know if you are. I think I I think I can get it. Go ahead. But if I’m putting it just in this season and who plays what who’s played at a high level the last 12 games, it’s Brandon Stevens I have at number three right now. That’s not what I was going to say. Hey, I’m just in the vacuum of this season since the Bills game, he has been by most grading metrics and even by the eye it test one of the best quarterbacks in football. Defensively, I mean, I have other guys defensively on this list, but who’s been more consistent and who’s he’s just been a good starting quarterback and the Jets don’t have a lot on offense. So, I have Stevens at three and then I have Joe Tipman at four. So, react to my top four. Hey, I thought Titman was going to be three when you said people will be surprised because Titman’s film has been except awesome this year. Exceptional. Uh you almost wonder if he’s been so good that like he might get an extension this summer. He’s got to he’s got to stay at guard. He’s got to stay. They from everything I have heard, they have zero plans to ever play him at center again unless it was an emergency. So I think I’d have them flipped. But I really like that you gave Stevens love there. And I think, you know, people could say what they want about us and our takes and all that. We there’s no denying like we call out the GM and the coach when things are bad and we give them praise when on things they were right about. And the Stevens contract right now is getting a little bit of a resurgence. It’s still it still surprises me that he got that deal in terms of the home market. But if he plays at the level he’s been playing at the last month, that’s number two corner money and that’s exactly what he is. So that’s something that’s trending upwards for Glenn and Muji for sure. Uh they really needed that on a week that Aryan Smith was inactive and looks like the worst receiver on the team. I kind of agree with Mig’s take that he very well may not catch another pass here again because it’s getting crowded fast. Yeah, Isaiah Williams took his job is easy and I think that’s the easiest way to summarize it which they clearly love. Yeah. And he’s making plays when given the opportunity. Um also crazy that Stevens is better here than with the Ravens. Like you don’t see that often. No, you don’t. That’s a that’s a you really tip your cap to Glenn. Yeah, because Glenn, we talk about calling cards with coaches all the time and it’s one of the reasons you and I have been a little frustrated that he just lets Wilks, you know, run a defense that underperformed for a while. Another calling card for Glenn has to be developing and coaching DBs. And I think we often gave Todd BS credit for that. It felt like BS Bowl’s former NFL DB as well. I think it’s something that should be a big strength of Glenn’s. And to Glenn’s credit, it looks like a big strength of Glenn’s because they’ve gotten more out of Stevens, Brownley, Aar Thomas, and Malachi Moore have already had a rookie like moments, positive moments. Um, so yes, it’s and you got to give Mushi and Glenn a little credit as well this early in their tenure. You can kill them for the mistakes, but you also praise them for feels like maybe they’re slowly admitting the Aryan Smith mistake already and found his replacement on the scrap heap. That’s these are once again like little positive things. Yeah. Yeah. It’s not easy to make that kind of pivot that quickly and we’ve seen previous regimes just hold on and hold on and hold on. The good regimes that’s what they do. Like when Roseman misses or whoever you want to say misses, they try to be proactive about, you know, being uh competent with their asset management of it, but also fixing the mistake. Absolutely. All right. Number five, uh another recent addition, Harrison Phillips. Number six, Olu Fashion. So, we’re in the trenches a lot. Number seven, Jawan Briggs, who’s got over three sacks, five tackles for a loss, and just makes a big play every game. Uh, and then number eight, I have Mason Taylor. So, that’s my next group because Taylor, I’m giving him a little bit of a curve because he’s 21. He’s an every down tight end. He catches everything thrown at him. Now, his yards per catch are comically low. That to me is a function more of how they’re using him. It’s not like he’s missing opportunities down the field. the quarterbacks are missing him down the field sometimes. He’s going to have, I don’t know, 53, 55 catches as a rookie in a really bad offense with really bad quarterback play as a 21-year-old. He’s a competent enough blocker where it’s not something that we’re like, “Oh my god, this guy’s a huge liability.” Uh and then for the rest of the group, Olu’s come

Joe and Connor break down Jets vs Dolphins, review Joe’s list of the top ten players currently on the team and close by answering your Discord questions on Tyrod Taylor and disappointing seasons from WMD and JJ…

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