(by Ross Jacobs)
Bit of a nothing game. All backups and soon to be cut, bottom of the roster types. The Eagles did not look particularly fearsome, but they were still clearly better than the Jets across the board. Philly slowly built out a lead, and it was 19-3 heading into the 4th quarter. The Jets managed to score and convert for 2 to cut the lead then drove down the field again for a score and failed the second 2pt conversion, falling just a yard short. They got the ball back one more time but couldn’t convert, and the game ended on a whimper.
There’s really nothing useful to be gleaned here. Almost none of these players are going to play or matter much this year, but we’ll touch on a few of the more interesting ones.
Player Notes…
-- Kyle McCord…you are not the QB. It’s too bad, because McCord does have a few things going for him, but his accuracy was all over the place here, and his decision making was just abysmal. He looks like what you’d get if you crossed Mac Jones and Taylor Heinicke. And as I was writing this we just got news that McCord was released. No big surprise there. We’ll see if he can work out some of his issues and become a legit backup at some point, but he’s got a long ways to go.
-- Of the two Jets QBs that played, you’d rather have Brady Cook I guess. He played in control, ran the offense, threw accurate passes…your baseline cookie-cutter QB player, especially for defensive head coaches. That’s what they love. Adrian Martinez, by comparison, is far more aggressive and gets into trouble more. He can run a little, but he also throws passes directly at LBs he doesn’t see, so there’s that. He’ll be back to the UFL where he just won the championship last year.
-- Montrell Johnson got an extended look and showed pretty well. Not super explosive but has a little wiggle, nice vision, and ran very hard for his size. He’s not going to make the team, but I’ll bet he pops up somewhere eventually.
-- The Jets rolled out Kene Nwangwu and Lawrance Toafili at RB, and both looked pretty decent honestly. Toafili isn’t a very good athlete, but he was running with good vision and balance. Nwangwu though looked as fast and explosive as ever and he was hitting the hole with more decisiveness than I’ve ever seen. If he makes it as the 4th RB he could be very dangerous on kickoffs with the new rules.
-- The Jets also had a couple of receivers that played pretty well. Brandon Smith is just a nice, professional receiver. I think he might just barely make the cut after a very good training camp. And then Jamaal Pritchett, a UDFA from South Alabama was showing off his speed and agility on multiple plays. He had a nice college career and is showing he belongs.
-- Zack Kuntz got after this game and no wonder. He looked awful. Couldn’t get separation and couldn’t catch the ball when it hit him in the hands. He’s fallen hard since being a draft darling of a bunch of analysts that only looked at his athletic testing numbers.
-- John Metchie was fine. He looks like every generic WR ever. And Darius Cooper could barely get McCord to look his way, and when McCord did finally go to him he was spraying passes all over. I really wish we got more of a look at what he can do after that first preseason game.
-- None of the defensive players really did anything to get noticed other than former 1st rounder Lewis Cine making a diving interception. We’ll see if he can get his career back on track. He’s got all the athleticism but none of the instincts. *He was also just released by Philly.
