Lessons From The 24-16 Loss

Good morning ☕🇨🇭

I’d certainly rather win games than lose them, but the scoreline was completely irrelevant on Friday night. The Bucs have a deeper team than the Jets and that was evident as we moved through the 3rd and 4th quarter, but there was plenty to like if you’re a fan of the Jets.

The good news is that we didn’t suffer any major injuries, which is the main positive you want to take away. Not every team was so lucky. Jamal Adams was carted off the field in Minnesota and the early prognosis on his knee injury is “not good”. The Titans lost TE Jaren Kanak and DE Jaylen Harrell to season ending injuries.

The Jets on the other hand are getting healthier. Last week Joseph Ossai was elevated from the practice squad and over the weekend it was revealed that T’Vondre Sweat had passed his physical, meaning he's also been elevated from the PUP and will start ramping up to join team activities.

I was a little surprised to see Aaron Glenn pull Cade so early in that game considering the importance of game reps for a rookie who may not see the field this year. But then again, it’s only week one and there are a couple more games where hopefully Cade can get a good half+ of football under his belt. That was dipping his toe in.

So let’s focus on a few positives to start things off.

With Geno Smith nursing an ankle injury, Cade Klubnik was given the start and he really didn’t disappoint.

He had two drives and led the Jets to 10 points, and while he didn’t put the ball in the end-zone himself he made two good throws on 3rd down to extend drives and while the pass to Garrett was a little high and wide, you give your receivers a chance to make a play on the ball, and the fact he had the confidence to let that go says a lot about his makeup. He also showed an ability to extend plays with his feet.

It’s worth mentioning that Cade has had 0 reps with the starters in camp, so this was completely new for him and while the playbook doesn’t change, each player has a certain way of doing things and getting to know the small tendencies really helps a QB find his rhythm.

“Just being able to maybe be in a really unique situation, a unique game, and put some drives together,” Klubnik said about being the starter. “That was fun, and you know I still made some mistakes out there. And being able to learn from those and respond from those quickly, and have my teammates kind of have my back whenever those did happen.

“That was good to see, and you know Josh Myers and Joe Tippmann and Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell and Breece Hall, like just the way that they kind of encouraged me pregame, in between drives, during the game, during drives, that that filled with me with a lot of confidence.”

Glenn was impressed with what he saw:

"I went right to Cade and told him that he would be the starter, which he was champing at the bit to be able to do, getting a chance to go with the ones [starters]. So, I thought he did a hell of a job, not getting a lot of rep with the ones. So, I give him a lot of credit for going out there and operating the way that he did."

"I mean, when we watched him in college, he was the same way," Glenn said. "Nothing changes. He has some moxie to him. He's very confident. He's confident in his arm. He's confident in his ability to elude and make plays with his feet, and his ability to be able to come out and operate with the first group the way he did, to me I thought was outstanding. So still some things that he has to learn, some mistakes that he made in the game. But listen, he's going to be quick to correct those."

I don’t think anyone helped his case more than Bamba on Friday night. The former BYU man had 3 pass defenses, got a knock to the head, left the game and then returned to get another pass defense. He was targeted 10 times and allowed only 4 catches into his coverage. It wasn’t perfect but he showcased his recovery speed and his length to impact the ball at the point of catch.

I still don’t know if there is room for Bamba on this roster, but I think he certainly made a good case to stick in the NFL, whether that’s on the 53, the practice squad or somewhere else.

"I think some of the younger DBs actually showed up, and he's the one that really stands out," Glenn said of Bamba, the undrafted free agent out of BYU. "He had some good plays on special teams, too. There were a couple of mistakes that he had, and I've got to make sure I say that. But for the most part, I thought he showed out tonight."

Austin McNamara and the punt coverage team did exactly what we expect them to do on Friday ans fortunately the kickers were perfect too.

"I've added some weight," McNamara said. "I feel explosive and I feel good. Dialed in the technique a little bit, so feeling ready for this year."

Isaiah Williams spoke about the difficulty in fielding McNamara’s punts:

“It’s literally one of the hardest things to do to be able to catch his punts consistently because it’s literally like a moon ball and it just hangs up there,” Williams said. “He has this one punt where it hangs up there, but then it comes down hard and you would think it’s going to fall one way and then at the last minute, it falls the opposite way.

“It’s some trickery.”

Cade York hit from 27 and 38 yards, Jason Sanders hit from 47 yards and converted the extra point.

Chris Banjo is a name to watch ahead of the HC cycle next year and the Jets kicking situation is muddled. It was a good start all around.

I wanted to highlight Cade Klubnik separately but the entire draft class looked good. Cade had two scoring drives, Omar Cooper got himself a 31 yard reception.

"It was just like a slow 5-yard out roll out pass, and I was the first read and just seeing that the corner bailed and went with the other receiver, I knew I had the leverage on the guy that was guarding me, so I knew I was going to get the ball," Cooper said. "But just making sure that I look the ball in and catch it, because you know, didn't want the nerves to get in or anything, so I just had to make sure I was ready for the opportunity."

Anez Cooper received the highest run-block grade of any offensive lineman and allowed 0 pressures in 20 pass blocking snaps. Darrell Jackson Jr was given a bad rin block grade but I'd need to go back and look at it again. When you add in some positive UDFA performances like Bamba and Sam Scott who while modest had pretty much all his production come after contact. David Bailey may not have had a sack but i thought he played well, he was doubled on nearly 50% of his pass rush snaps and still impacted the pocket.

“I love the fact that Braelon came back and he had the explosive run. Man, he is fully back,” Aaron Glenn said after his RB secured the only TD of the game for the Jets.

There has been plenty of talk this off-season around Davis potentially passing Allen on the depth chart, and there have even been rumours of potential trades, all fan and media driven of course.

“I guess the same thing we all saw. [Allen’s] ability to press the hole, put his foot in the ground, get vertical, and run away from people. So the speed that he has always had, now that’s really showed up, and it’s really good to see. I’m happy for him, I’m proud of him, and listen, we have all been looking for that player,” Glenn added.

• Anez Cooper, Garrett Wilson, Chukwuma Okorafor, Marquis Hayes and Joe Tippmann were graded as the five best offensive players.

• Marcelino McCrary-Ball, Mory Bamba, Mykal Walker, Azareye'h Thomas and Jordan Clark were graded as the five best defensive players.

• The Jets generated 10 pressures with Payton Page (2), Jack Heflin (2) leading the way. Mory Bamba added a pressure to his 4 pass defenses. Will McDonald generated the only sack of the game for the Jets.

• Courtland Ford was responsible for 2 of the sacks allowed with Kohl Levao tagged for the other. That's bad for them but good that the majority of pressures and sacks allowed came from people who are unlikely to see the 53 man roster.

• Bailey Zappe hurt his chances of sticking with 2 interceptions against just 6 pass completions. Cade Klubnik is very safe as the QB2 based on the performance of both Zappe and Cook.

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