The New York Jets held their annual green and white scrimmage today. After today it’s clear that the team may need more than 53 players on the active roster it seems, because every other play involves someone getting hurt. Maybe it’s what they put in the water or something, but this team just can’t stay healthy. Besides that, there were a ton of good and bad things all together.
After seeing what the Jets writers Connor Hughes and Rich Cimini noticed at practice, the offense looked very sloppy at the beginning but picked it up in the second half. Per Cimini; Darnold went 11-for-17 in the second half with two touchdowns, a solid way to finish the second half of the game which is what you want to see but the most alarming is how you start. Darnold did miss on a couple throws to wide open receivers and while it’s very alarming, we need to realize that the receiver group can’t stay on the field.
Perriman, Mims, Cager, and Smith did not practice due to an injury, Darnold is essentially working with someone different every practice. It wasn’t all bad though as both Braxton Berrios and Chris Hogan had a good scrimmage as per Connor Hughes. Both of them have been making the most of the injury problems, and continued today with a pair of touchdowns.
After having a problem with being sidelined during practice, Le’Veon Bell was working with both the first and second team offenses as Gase was rotating all three backs. Bell had a pretty nice day in both run and pass with a pair of touchdowns and rookie La’Mical Perine also had a solid day before getting hurt with a bad ankle.
The defense overall had a really good day from what I gathered as they put pressure on the offense. The secondary looked better with the exception of a couple broken down plays but a much better performance nonetheless. They will be the focal point during the season, they don’t have any big names but the depth is better than what it was last year. Linebacker Avery Williamson surprisingly was working with the second team today, which is alarming but I’m sure the jets are trying to bring him back slowly.
The kicking competition was won by Sam Ficken today as he made all of his field goals and rookie Brett Maher went 2-4. We were hoping that Maher was going to run away with this competition but it just hasn’t been the case as he had been inconsistent.
My final thoughts on this scrimmage is that the Jets need to find a way to keep their players healthy. They can’t expect to compete this year when half of their starters are on the injured reserve. The offense is making some strides but still need work and the defense looks very solid.