SB Nation - Bryan Thomas

Patriots 31 Jets 14: Bitter Revenge

John B — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:58:22 -0000

More photos » by Elise Amendola - AP

The slide continues. The Jets are 4-6 and now a Playoff longshot. The Patriots dominated them today, winning 31-14 in Foxborough. This is the kind of Jets-Pats game we've come to know and hate. If New England wanted to get revenge for Week 2 and make a statement, they sure did that. This one was ugly and uncompetitive from the start.

More after the jump.

The Bad:

Mark Sanchez: Another ugly day for the rookie. He looked confused and rattled by New England's pass rush all day on his way to an 8 of 21, 5 turnover affair. There were a lot of bad mistakes. He made bad reads, had some horribly inaccurate throws, and threw one interception off his wrong foot, against his body, and into coverage in the face of a heavy pass rush instead of just throwing it away. He just looked lost out there for most of this one. Unfortunately, days like this are part of having a rookie quarterback. The only way to learn is to make mistakes. With the season pretty much lost, I think all calls for his benching should end. At least the last 6 games can be used to get more time under his belt.

Braylon Edwards: Only a catch for 10 yards. He was silent and had a drop that ended a drive early. Who knows how that could have changed the complexion of the contest?

Defensive Approach: I haven't been very critical of the coaching staff, but the first half left a lot to be desired. The Jets played a base 4-3 and send the linemen. In such a scheme, there are three guys whose job is to generate a pass rush. The nose tackle, Sione Pouha, was there to draw a double team. The three responsible for the rush were ends Bryan Thomas and Calvin Pace. These guys were both considered first round busts because of their respective inabilities to rush the passer as 4-3 ends. Shaun Ellis played the under tackle. Remember how Herm Edwards tried to move him there early in his career and how ineffective he was? This scheme put guys in positions they are proven to not be adept at, although Ellis did have a good game. The only way to stop Tom Brady is to get pressure on him. I'm not sure I get why the Jets didn't come out with the apporach that worked so well in the first meeting, sending pressure from all angles.

There was also the time the Jets disguised a blitz, moved everybody to the line, sent 3, and left nobody deep. I tend to believe there's never a good time to rush 3, but the idea of doing that is to minimize the possibility of a big play. Moving everybody to the line and sending nobody is the worst of all worlds. There's little chance to generate a pass rush, and guys are out of position. Wes Welker had a long grab to set up a score.

Speaking of Welker, the Jets hung Drew Coleman out to dry. Coleman is the fifth best corner on the roster and hardly has any cover skills. He has no business playing man on Welker. Coleman was burned as often as any corner I've ever seen play in a single game. Welker had 15 receptions for 192 yards. Couldn't anybody else cover him? Was something wrong with Lito Sheppard?

Drew Coleman: I know he had no business playing on Welker, but I reiterate that was one of the worst performances of all time.

Kerry Rhodes: About the only time we heard his name, he was either missing a tackle or arriving late in coverage.

The Good:

Special Teams: A few weeks ago, we had people calling for Mike Westhoff to be fired. I don't think we'll see that today. There was a blocked punt that gave the Jets life in the second and David Clowney and Dwight Lowery both had returns in excess of 35 yards.

Darrelle Revis: Maybe Randy Moss will give him a little credit now. Revis quieted Moss again to the tune of 5 catches for 35 yards and several passes defensed. Even in the passes Moss caught, Revis was in perfect coverage, and he didn't do much after his receptions.

Thomas Jones: Quietly compiled another 100 yard game.

David Harris: Led the team with 14 tackles and was the one guy to make Welker pay for going over the middle.

Shaun Ellis: Had a pair of sacks.

Effort: I will give the Jets credit for not quitting in the second half like the Titans did in Foxborough a few weeks back. It was clear these guys battled until the end, and they even turned a 24-0 game into a competitive contest for a bit.

There's not really much else to say. The Pats were so dominant today it wasn't even funny. They made a statement about who the best team in the East really is. The Jets are probably playing out the string at this point.

Gholston, Actually Injured?

David_Wyatt — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:28:58 -0000

More photos » by Kevin Rivoli - AP

Browse more photos »

Scandal, pure speculation, and just something to mull over with your Sunday morning coffee.

Is Vernon Gholston actually injured?

Over the past week or so, I have quietly been thinking this to myself, only when I branched out and shared this idea did I realise that I was not alone in my superstition of the Jets franchise and the mysterious injury that Vernon Gholston acquired prior to the Jacksonville game.

If we think back to the Miami game (shudders), we will remember that Rex took a lot of heat post performance for selecting Vernon Gholston ahead of a special teams player that maybe could of prevented one or both of the Ginn touchdowns.

Prior to the game against Jacksonville, in talking with some Jaguars fans, I made the comment that I would not be surprised if some 'injury' occurred to Gholston that would take the selection headache out of Rex Ryan's hands. The very next day we hear that Vernon Gholston had sustained a hamstring injury, and that he was out for the game against Jacksonville, sustained a hamstring injury in a team 'walk through'.

Now lets look back on a comment that Rex made when he first took over as head coach of the New York Jets

If he can't do it for me and for this team, he's never going to do it."

Here we are in week 10 of the NFL season, and Gholston has 11 tackles, 0 sacks, 0 INT, 0 FF, so if he hasn't been doing it for Rex perhaps the 'bust' label can be firmly applied and concluded. However maybe Rex is not ready for that yet, but realises that right now, his place in the team is hurting rather than helping the performance on Sunday.

However Rex also understands that presenting Gholston as a healthy scratch pretty much seals that comment, admitting that he is not doing it for him and not doing it for the team. Which back handedly also admits that Gholston can't do it anywhere

Simple solution is to present him as injured while we are still sniffing the play-offs, if we lose today, and our play-off hopes go down the drain, don't be surprised to see a miraculous recovery by Gholston next week.

The odd thing is, that when Gholston was playing and starting, he was actually starting to improve, however once Pace returned to the line-up and Gholston was demoted to the bench he again became invisible, much like the entire 2008 season.

However if we are not ready to admit failure, then perhaps down the stretch, it's more beneficial to this team to have Gholston start in place of Bryan Thomas, after all Thomas is hardly lighting the stat sheets up either, 20 tackles and one sack in 9 starts, compared to Gholston's 11 tackles and 0 sacks in 4 starts. If Vernon starts the other five games, I find it hard to believe as disappointing as he has been, that he would not of accumulated similar of not better stats to Thomas.

So what do you think?

1) Is Vernon Gholston actually injured, or is it a face saving move by the franchise?

2) If the play-off hopes go down the drain today in NE, should we start Gholston in place of Thomas?

New York Jets Run Defense vs. Buffalo Bills Run Offense

John B — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:00:29 -0000

More photos » by Hans Deryk - AP

Browse more photos »

Kris Jenkins dominated the Bills up front last November up in Orchard Park. Rex Ryan is probably going to let him loose again. Buffalo surely upgraded its center position over Melvin Preston and Duke Fowler by signing Geoff Hangartner. Jenkins probably has an edge against Hangartner, but I would anticipate seeing Jenkins lining up a lot against rookie guards Andy Levitre and Eric Wood. Jenkins shut down Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson last year in the first meeting. In the second game when Jenkins was banged up, the Bills ran all over the Jets. How Jenkins fares might be the most critical aspect of slowing down the run game.

With an inexperienced offensive line, I get the impression the Bills will be leery of letting Trent Edwards stand back with that pass rush too often. They'll want to keep the ball in the hands of their excellent running back duo, Lynch a hard runner between the tackles and the speedy Jackson. I think they will have a tough time blocking Jenkins without a double team which means they will have to beat David Harris and Bart Scott to run it inside. We'll probably see them challenge Bryan Thomas and Calvin Pace, both of whom struggled against the Dolphins, on the outside.

I still think this is a tall order for the Bills. They don't have the offensive line the Dolphins do capable of winning matchups on the same level. Again, the Jets are going to come out with a lot of intensity and be motivated to stop the run after last week's struggles.

Jets Are Angry Over Miami Loss

John B — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:43:57 -0000

as per Rod Boone:

Inside an ultraquiet Land Shark Stadium visitors' locker room, Bryan Thomas sat at his stall, staring blankly into space almost in bewilderment.

Like everyone else who was a part of the defensive debacle that surrendered 21 fourth-quarter points to the Dolphins, the Jets linebacker had an incredulous look, wondering just how they could've have squandered three fourth-quarter leads.

The Jets' defense has talked big since the beginning of training camp, fueling hype they were already on their way to becoming the Baltimore Ravens North. However, 60 minutes of atrocious defense in their mind-numbing, 31-27 last-second loss to Miami with millions tuned in on "Monday Night Football" quelled that bravado - for now.

Defensively, the Jets were downright offensive.

"Man, I'm just disappointed," Thomas said. "As a defense, we let our offense down. They were out there scoring points, moving the ball, getting us out of jams left and right. We have to get off the field as a defense. I just feel like that was embarrassing out there."

We're reaching an early critical moment for this football team. The Jets have hit their first rough patch this season. Every year you see teams get off to great starts that sputter once they hit adversity. Their next opponent, the Buffalo Bills, did just that a year ago. With games against the hapless Bills and Raiders on the horizon, this team has a chance to get healthy really fast. You hope they use this as motivation.

Do you think the loss was a bump in the road or the start of a year unwinding?

One-One, Lets Move On

David_Wyatt — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:51:45 -0000

More photos » by Lynne Sladky - AP

Browse more photos »

For me the two losses have come as a result of one bad game from the offence and one bad game from the defence, so we are all square now, all tied, let's move on and put some good performances together.

First of all credit where it is due, Miami played their game, they neutralized our strengths and highlighted out weaknesses and I can't say enough for the game planning and execution of the Dolphins, they ran right at us, and said lets see if you can stop it, and quite frankly we couldn't.

I'm a fan of kicking off to start the game, especially when you have as much confidence in your defence as Rex does, but the tone was set on that very first drive and after that some might of thought that it was going to be a very long night, which it certainly was

More after the jump:

First of all I just want to say that it was great to see some of the Dolphins fans get over here last night and be gracious in victory. We had had some problems during the week, but over 95% who visited here last night came in good spirits, didn't try to wind anyone up, and we managed to have a good civil post game chat, so credit there.

Now onto the biggest loser from last night. Calvin Pace. I know it was his first game back but at points I was muttering under my breath, 'Gholston would of made that tackle' in a system that forces the run getting pressure on the QB is not that important, Pace went hard to the outside and he was pushed out of the play.

Gholston might not be flashy and I know he is the popular scapegoat when it comes to disappointment, however he holds his position, he is too strong to be pushed anywhere. If the run goes to the outside he has the speed, and he keeps gaps closed. I know a lot of people don't see much from Gholston, but just because his name is not being read by the scorer doesn't mean that he isn't doing anything.

Another reason why I'm particular annoyed at Pace this morning is for the comments that he made:

Calvin Pace on Henne: "Against a second-year clown quarterback, we didn’t affect him enough. I guess you have to give him credit. The defense lost the game today."

On the Wildcat: "I can’t respect that stuff, all that Wildcat. We’re in the N.F.L. Don’t come here with that nonsense."

Who are you talking about Calvin, that 'clown' who just beat you, the wild cat is a system, you knew it was coming, you knew they were going to run with it, so why are you complaining about it? Don't talk like that just because you were not prepared for it and couldn't stop it. You have been out 4 games for violating the leagues illegal substance policy, and your going to come back, put in a performance like that and then bitch about it, grow up and take some responsibility.

Revis had one of his worst games as a Jet last night, he got beat on that deep pattern but he was also giving up yards in front of him. Nobody likes Revis more than I do, but nearly everytime there was a completed pass, number 24 was standing one yard off the play, he made some nice tackles but his overall play left a lot to be desired and maybe it was Gruden's curse of calling him the best shut down corner in the league.

Bart Scott was worse, he again made some nice tackles, but it looked like he was completely clueless in coverage, several times he took bad angles to the ball, and that included one on the last drive. He didn't seem as vocal as he usually is and I guess that can be expected when you are playing as poorly as he was.

Story of the night for me was the tackling, I understand that Ronnie and Ricky are pretty hard to bring down, but we were missing tackles left, right and centre, and I don't want to continue to pick on Pace but on that first drive I think he missed two. Bryan Thomas, David Harris, Sean Ellis, everyone was responsible last night.

Now lets get to reasons why we should be optimisitc:

Bottom line is that we are still top of the division, the Patriots are not looking that strong and we now go onto a run of games that has us at home to the Bills, down against Oakland and then back up home for the return trip of Miami. All three of those games are winnable, obviously the toughest being against Miami. So sitting at 6-2 after those three games is a real possibility.

Mark Sanchez rebounded from a disappointing game, he wasn't perfect by any means, a couple of times he threw where he thought the receivers were going to be and they broke off in a different direction. I don't know who was in the wrong there because I haven't seen the plays, but that needs to be worked on.

We are keeping it close and not using Keller, we need to use that mis-match in the middle of the field more. Several times he was lined up with a linebacker last night and I like that match-up but Mark threw it over to the sideline and forced the ball. If we can start getting Keller into the game more then we could have one of the best air attacks in the game.

Braylon Edwards is that guy we have been looking for since Keyshawn IMO, he is fast and tall, strong before and after the catch. He made two terrific catches and was a nuisance all night. Remember that he and Mark had just a few days to get on the same page.

Leon Washington looks dangerous, Thomas Jones does not. We need to get Greene more involved in the offence and increase Leon's touches to more of a feature number one back, and then give Jones and Greene the hard yards. Getting a little tired of seeing Jones run on first down and gain a yard or so.

Disappointing loss for sure, but don't loose faith just yet, we are a lot better than what we showed last night.

Rex Ryan Press Conference Note- 10/09/09

David_Wyatt — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:38:31 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Browse more photos »

Ok so I'm just going to dive straight into the notes from the conference:

Donald Strickland and Jerricho Cotchery did not practise today. Cotchery's hamstring is still bothering him, but Ryan definitely not ruling him out. However he is not 100%
Kerry Rhodes (knee), Lito Sheppard (quad), Damien Woody (foot), David Clowney (personal reason), all were limited
Larry Izzo (hamstring), Jim Leonhard (knee), Bryan Thomas (wrist) were all full participation.
It's a possibility that Cotchery doesn't play, but he expects him to play
Bad games are going to happen, has been pleased with Mark Sanchez's performance so far this week. Just going out and being himself. Not going to be perfect the rest of the season. Will bounce back and Mark is ready to bounce back
Calvin Pace is all over the place, embarrassing his team mates like he always does.
Happy with the offensive line, need give opponents credit. Opponents are putting a lot of guys in the box trying to stop the run, hoping that he can pop a couple. Dolphins not given up a run of 20+ yards. Looking forward to the match-up.
Thinks that Braylon will help spread the field and help the run. When Edwards is covered he is open.
Jay Feeley is a pro, outstanding kicker. Not easy to kick in the Meadowlands but the conditions don't bother him.
When asked how Edwards looked he said no comment, except he is a decent receiver.
Had to give up a lot for Edwards, two really good players that he admires a lot. Had to be a special player to trade those guys. Thought it was a good opportunity and commented on how good a job Mike Tannenbaum does.
This game counts a game and a half. Huge game, were not coming in tip-toeing, coming in with the maximum effort to win this game. Going to give them everything we have.
Game is not about revenge or anything else, it's about whatever it takes to win a game. Got to beat the division rivals. About as big a game as it gets.
All three backs are 25 touch capable, but we are looking to do what's in the best interest of winning, if that means running it 45 times a game then that's what we will do.
Shonn Greene is 100% back and healthy.
Going to try and get Leon Washington the football. Get him as involved as possible he is one of the biggest explosiveness.
Can't remember there being too many 3-4's when he came in the league. People switched because the best teams were running a 3-4, but teams will play a defence that fits there players.
Wilcat is a 'pain in the tail'. Takes time and preparation. Have to be prepared, takes practise time, they may or may not run it. He's not flinching about the prospect of facing it, and the message is that we will be ready.

Wasn't a very long conference, around 10 minutes or so, and not a great deal was covered, I guess the important note to come out of it all was the injury status of the players.

Post Game Information

David_Wyatt — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:15:22 -0000

More photos » by Bill Feig - AP

Browse more photos »

John has taken care of the game in quite some detail, so won't go back over it, tough loss obviously, but if you would of said you will go 3-1 after the first four games of the season before we started, I would of taken it with no hesitation.

A few members of the Saints defence had some words for Mark Sanchez after a game in which he looked like the rookie he is

Darren Sharper on if Sanchez was staring down receivers:

"I don’t want to say that he eyed his receivers. At certain times, all quarterbacks know where they are going with the football. When he has two receivers on one side and a tight end on the other, you can kind of figure out where he is going to throw the football. He actually did a great job of trying to not look off, but you can use reverse psychology when they try to look you off and then go the opposite way."

We can't get on Mark Sanchez too much but he does need to look off his receivers, especially in the red zone where he stared down Keller. He will learn from this but Sharper is a hell of a player, and you need to be clever with the ball which Sanchez wasn't yesterday.

Can read a lot more after the jump

Jonathan Vilma on Sanchez:

"We saw that he looked at his receivers and that’s almost natural for a rookie," Vilma said. "That’s what they’re going to do. Obviously they’ll get better as they keep going."

During Rex Ryan's news conference he touched on a few things, but one of the ones that I want to bring to you is his opinion on the offensive line, a unit that for the third straight week, under-performed:

"Sometimes it didn’t even look like it was the offensive line. They had some free runners at our quarterback. They did a good job studying tape and recognizing some of those things. They did a nice job of the pressures. They had some free runners on our quarterback as well. Don’t blame that on the offensive line all total. Once we see film, I’m sure our guys will agree that we can play better in a lot of phases of this game."

I don't like to put the blame on individuals but for as much as Mark Sanchez has to take that one, the offensive line really needs to step there game up and start producing. They were actually very poor in my opinion, didn't do a good job of picking the blitz up at all. Not sure if you guys saw the Steelers/Chargers game last night, but that Steelers offensive line was just tremendous. You can't just look at the sack total with that unit because a lot of the sacks come as a result of Big Ben holding the ball far too long.

However before you get too down, look at Sanchez's comments, he knows immediately where he went wrong and I'm sure he is already working to improve, when asked to comment on the pick 6 to Sharper, Sanchez said:

"That’s a classic rookie quarterback looking at his receiver. Sharper read me the entire way. He saw my eyes and I threw it right to him. There’s absolutely no excuse for that. It was a poor decision and a poor use of my eyes."

Bart Scott showed that the team is 100% behind Sanchez, and realises that it's just one game and that it was unlikely we were going to go 16-0, so now we just have to go 15-1:

"We are behind that kid (Sanchez) 100 percent. There’s no need for panic. We are not going to go off course. You will not find this team getting off the bandwagon. We believe in our scheme and we believe in each other."

"Honestly I thought we were going to come in here and leave with a victory and then go undefeated. Today the Saints were the better team. So now we will leave this game, learn from the experience and try and go 15- 1.

"I thought our defense played enough to win. I’m not going to make a big deal and criticize what happened. It happened and now we have to regroup. We have a big divisional game next week, on a Monday night, on the road, in Miami, and that’s what we have to get ready for now. Give the Saints credit, they were the better team today."

Rex Ryan had some good things to say about what was for me, the big bright spot on the day and that was the inclusion of Shonn Greene. I have been calling and waiting for him to get some action, and when he did he looked good doing it. Didn't realise that he tweaked the ankle, but hopefully it's not too serious and he is ready to go next Monday which in my opinion is a very important game, lose that one to Miami and were 3-2 and the division is split wide open again:

"This kid is a good running back. He’s got some explosiveness. I just thought that we wanted him to get in the game last week. We were able to get him in there today. I thought he did some nice things for us. He kind of tweaked that ankle a little bit later in the game, but I thought he did some nice things. We have three backs that can run that we’re going to play. It’s good to see that we played all three, because I think this kid has a chance. He’s a good back. Obviously, we have two Pro Bowl backs, but I think this kid can play. You’re never going to find out until you throw him in there."

Dan Leberfeld noted that Damien Woody was wearing a brace as he left the dome yesterday:

New Orleans - Jets right tackle Damien Woody hurt his right ankle in the second half of the Jets loss to the Saints. He never came back in the game. He was seen leaving the Superdome limping on the ankle and with a brace on it. It's unknown whether he will miss any games, but if he does, the Jets have a pretty good backup right tackle in Wayne Hunter.

Some people seem to like Hunter, but put a speedy pass rusher on him and I'm afraid Mark Sanchez might need a ambulance standing by, I still remember him giving up at least 2 sacks in the pre-season. One great thing about Woody is that he has excellent foot work, he has a excellent shuffle to the outside, Hunter always struck me as being heavy footed, using his upper body power trying to blow everyone backwards, sometimes in a pass situation you just need to cut off the direct route and divert the rusher away instead of trying to run through him. We will have to wait and see on the Woody injury, but it doesn't sound very good.

I don't understand the 3rd and one pass calls, on both those drives we were moving the ball on the ground well, we knew that the Saints were getting to Sanchez. On the first one on first and second down we had recorded rushed of 6 yards and 3 yards, and on the 2nd pass call on 3rd and one, we had just had a 7 yard run by Leon. I like Schotty, he is a good coordinator, however in a hostile environment with your rookie QB on the ropes you don't tell him to come out swinging. You put the guard up force the offensive line to do there work give it to Jones behind Richardson and let them get that yard, buy some time and then love to fight another day. Very poor calls by Schotty, was a case of trying to be too clever when all that was required was a little smash mouth football.

Got to give credit to a few players on defence, Bryan Thomas firstly, thought he had a excellent game. Revis and Harris of course. On the other side big Jenks made a huge mistake with the offside on 4th and one, we had been stopping them all game, you knew the hard count was coming. Coleman, not a starter in this league by any means, takes bad routes to the ball. All in all 10-10 without the turnovers, and holding this offence to 10 points is a big thing for this defence. Who should be getting Sheppard back next week as well as Calvin Pace which is just a excellent feeling to have.

We found it tough in the big easy, but we will be back, next up some fish!

The Jets Who's Who Injury Report

David_Wyatt — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:20:06 -0000

More photos » by Nick Wass - AP

New York Jets cornerback Lito Sheppard breaks up a pass intended for Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Kelley Washington

Browse more photos »

Do you think the fines handed down by the NFL to the Jets surrounding the whole Brett Favre injury incident had any type of effect. It certainly didn't effect us financially but looking over the injury report from today it seems that if you even dared mutter about any type of injury you were heading to the list, just to be careful of course.

First of all lets get to the two big ones that I'm sure you have all heard about by now, I only just heard because I only just got home but was very disappointed.

Donald Strickland and Lito Sheppard have both been listed as out for Sunday's clash with the Titans. While Strickland's comes as no surprise to me, I thought Lito would be at worst a game time decision. What this means is that Lowery will move over to the 2nd corner position and Drew Coleman..........*waits for the collective groans to fade* will take over from Strickland's nickel position.

Outside of these two there really is only one doubt, and that comes in the form of 7th round 2009 draft choice OG Matt Slauson who is nursing a ankle injury and is listed as questionable for Sunday after being limited in practise today.

Here are the other names that you will find on the injury report who participated fully in practise today and listed as probable for Sunday, in fact nearly all of them are guaranteed for Sunday.

Kellen Clemens (Elbow), Kris Jenkins (Back), Jim Leonhard (Knee), Dwight Lowery (Ankle), Nick Mangold (Toes), Sione Pouha (Ankle), Mark Sanchez (Knee), Bryan Thomas (Ankle), Jamaal Westerman (Quad), Damien Woody (Shoulder), Wallace Wright (Hamstring).

Looking at the list alone is enough to make you break into a sweat, fortunately we know that the majority really are not an issue. However we are certain now that if we are to go 3-0 on the season, we will have to do it missing key contributors in the secondary.

Opening Day Roster

John B — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:03:11 -0000

by Bill Kostroun - AP

Danny Woodhead making the team is probably the biggest roster news.

View full size photo »

QB: Mark Sanchez, Kellen Clemens, Erik Ainge
RB: Thomas Jones, Leon Washington, Shonn Greene, Danny Woodhead
FB: Tony Richardson
WR: Jerricho Cotchery, Chansi Stuckey, David Clowney, Brad Smith, Wallace Wright
TE: Dustin Keller, Ben Hartsock
C: Nick Mangold
OG: Alan Faneca, Brandon Moore, Matt Slauson
OT: D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Damien Woody, Michael Kracalik, Wayne Hunter, Robert Turner
DE: Shaun Ellis, Marques Douglas, Ropati Pitoitua, Mike DeVito
DT: Kris Jenkins, Sione Pouha, Howard Green
LB: Bryan Thomas, David Harris, Bart Scott, Jamaal Westerman, Calvin Pace, Vernon Gholston, Brandon Renkart, Larry Izzo, Jason Trusnik, Marques Murrell
CB: Darrelle Revis, Lito Sheppard, Dwight Lowery, Donald Strickland, Drew Coleman, Marquice Cole, Ahmad Carroll
S: Kerry Rhodes, Jim Leonhard, Eric Smith, James Ihedigbo
PK: Jay Feely
P: Reggie Hodges
LS: James Dearth

Thoughts:

Danny Woodhead fans, celebrate. Your man is on the roster. Readers here could probably sense I was back and forth. In the end, I think keeping him was the right call if for no other reason than the game he played against the Eagles. He showed an ability to make plays and an aggressive and elusive running style. I get it was against backups, but his speed and athleticism are real. It's good to find a spot for a guy like this. From Chadron State to the NFL, an incredible story. We may have the next Chrebet on our hands.

I also notice the lack of blockers on the roster, two tight ends and one fullback. I said early today I was fine with it. My guess is Brian Schottenheimer used his influence here. The Jets used a lot of Robert Turner and Wayne Hunter at tight end last season. With a defensive head coach, he has bigger influence, and it looks like he used it.

Two players on the above roster will be gone. The first will be out when Shaun Ellis comes back in Week 2 and the second when Calvin Pace's suspension is over Week 5. Michael Kracalik, Ropati Pitoitua, Brandon Renkart, Drew Coleman, and Marquice Cole are the early favorites. Kracalik and Pitoitua may have only made the roster because they play Pace's and Ellis' positions respectively, and the team needs extra depth. Kracalik is one of five tackles on the roster. The two other backups are the aforementioned Hunter and Turner, who figure to be important cogs in power sets and have experience lining up at tight end. Cole and Coleman are in danger with seven corners, Revis, Sheppard, Strickland, and Lowery the top guys and Carroll a special teams ace.

Three questions for the Rams vs. the Jets: #1 Watching the linebackers

VanRam — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:08:30 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

St. Louis Rams quarterback Marc Bulger has his work cut out for him against a tough group of Jets linebackers. Can his line keep him on his feet? Can he make accurate passes like the old Bulger?

Browse more photos »

Figuring out what to watch for in a preseason game, beyond the usual position battles, is always kind of tough since you're going to see around 80 players for each team on the field throughout all four quarters of play. It's always the bottom fourth of the roster always ends up looking great on the stat sheet too, or so it seems. Anyway, all that aside, I have three big questions on my mind as I watch the St. Louis Rams take on the New York Jets tomorrow night. The first question is:

How well do the Rams play against the Jets elite group of linebackers

Sure, Kris Jenkins will sit this one out and that helps both the run and pass protection immensely as Jenkins is a one man wrecking crew capable of destroying pockets and stuffing runners with regularity. Jenkins or not, the Jets have an impressive group of linebackers with Calvin Pace and Bryan Thomas on the outside and David Harris and Bart Scott on the inside. That won't exactly make running easy, at least not for the first quarter or so that those guys play. Alex Barron and the other Rams tackles face a tall order keeping Bulger on his feet against those OLBs.

Stating the obvious, the offensive line and other blockers brought in this year, like FB Mike Karney and TE Billy Bajema, will have to be sharp. Besides that, this is a good early test for the West Coast offense. The Jets will be looking for the Rams to test their offensive line and the Steven Jackson-oriented offense. This gives Pat Shurmur a great way to start using the passing play pages of his West Coast offense, using those short, quick drops from the QB to makes throws to TEs and WRs behind the defensive front. The quick part of this will be key too, since Rex Ryan runs an aggressive defense that won't sit idle once the snap is made.

Players to keep an eye on (aside from, you know, everyone):

Keenan Burton - He's the man of hour with Avery on the sidelines. Touted for his physical style of play and ability to make catches in the crowded middle, he'll get a chance to shine against some great defenders.

Marc Bulger - How well does he know the playbook? Bulger and his receivers will have to work quick to make passes against the Jets rush and keep the field open for Steven Jackson.

Alex Barron - Is he ready for the blindside? We'll know soon enough because the Jets will be sending some fearsome OLBs against the passer.

Daniel Fells and the other TEs - These guys are going to matched up against the Jets linebacker all night, and they'll be expected to make catches. Fells is out for the team's third TE roster spot. He's looked good in the offseason after impressing down the stretch last year.

I'll post the other two questions after lunch.