Speaker 1: Welcome to the e A Podcast. Rik Gallen here joined
Speaker 1: by Bucky Brooks, who's an NFL media analyst. You can
Speaker 1: file Bucky on Twitter at Bucky Brooks and he's also
Speaker 1: the host Moved the Sticks podcasts along with Daniel Jeremiah.
Speaker 1: That's available on NFL dot Com, NFL now, iTunes, and YouTube. Bucky,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us. The first thing I
Speaker 1: want to ask you is if I would have told
Speaker 1: you in March the New York Jets would be nine
Speaker 1: and five with two games remaining, what would you have
Speaker 1: told me. I don't think that would be a pretty
Speaker 1: fair estimate or evaluation based on the talent that you
Speaker 1: had um On the Jet defensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: I think you definitely could see them making a playoff run,
Speaker 1: but the defensively the way I think the biggest surprise
Speaker 1: is how well the offense is played of late, with
Speaker 1: Ryan Paspatrick playing quarterback and Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker
Speaker 1: emerging as one of the job Why receiver deals in
Speaker 1: the LEAs you played receiver in this league. Why do
Speaker 1: Marshall and Decker work so well together as a tannem
Speaker 1: They're nice compliments to one another um. I think when
Speaker 1: you're building a wide receiver corps, you want to have
Speaker 1: different pieces of the puzzle, but it all comes together
Speaker 1: to make a perfect picture. And when I look at
Speaker 1: the Jets, particularly Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker, those guys
Speaker 1: are placed in roles that are very comfortable to their
Speaker 1: skill sets. And Brandon Marshall, you have a classic number
Speaker 1: one receiver, a guy that can deal with double teams.
Speaker 1: He's effective as a big body playmaker down the boundary,
Speaker 1: but also has the ability to be a factor in
Speaker 1: the red zone. Doesn't mind doing the dirty work working inside.
Speaker 1: So he is a nice number one receiver. And Eric Decker,
Speaker 1: you're finally getting him back in the number two role,
Speaker 1: the complimentary player on the back side of a dominant
Speaker 1: number one, a guy who was effected working between the hashes.
Speaker 1: But it's also a special talent down in the red zone.
Speaker 1: And so when you have two big buddy guys, because
Speaker 1: remember both of these guys are over six three, they
Speaker 1: are weapons in the red zone and it really makes
Speaker 1: it hard for the defense to key in on where
Speaker 1: the ball is going when you get inside of the chin.
Speaker 1: And I think because Ryan Fitzpatrick doesn't necessarily field that
Speaker 1: need to be tied to one of those guys in
Speaker 1: the red zone. It really makes the Jets offense more
Speaker 1: effective because they can be balanced, They can pick and
Speaker 1: choose who to go to based on the matchup in
Speaker 1: the situation. The Jets have definitely excelled in the red
Speaker 1: zone throughout the entire two thousand and fifteen season. How
Speaker 1: impressed have you been by Fitzpatrick the way he's gotten
Speaker 1: acclimated to his weapons so quickly because he did get
Speaker 1: traded here in March is eleven, season six NFL team
Speaker 1: and Bucky he's got twenty six touchdown passes and he's
Speaker 1: only four shy of setting the franchise record here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's a testament that not only Fitzpatrick being
Speaker 1: able to be um a quick study, but it's also
Speaker 1: a testament to change gay league and what he's been
Speaker 1: able to do with that offense. A lot of times
Speaker 1: when you have acquisition, being the draft or free agency,
Speaker 1: it's about how do you get that player to fit
Speaker 1: into your scheme. What chan Gailey has some familiarity obviously
Speaker 1: with Dispassion from their time together in Buffalo. What he's
Speaker 1: been able to do is build upon with Dispatrick does really,
Speaker 1: really well, which is why you're seeing a lot of
Speaker 1: empty for amazings, a lot of spread looks designed to
Speaker 1: clear the picture for the quarterback, and really it puts
Speaker 1: the owners on the quarterback to get the ball out
Speaker 1: of his hands quickly and the target the ideal matchup
Speaker 1: they're living in that uh tim personnel package, one back, pour,
Speaker 1: wide receivers in spread in the field and right Fispatrick
Speaker 1: is thriving. I think you have to tip your head
Speaker 1: off to chan Gaily for record as a very early
Speaker 1: in the year that Dad is Fitzpatrick's comfort zone and
Speaker 1: allowing him to play in his tweet spot. Throughout the season,
Speaker 1: his fence got better in the pocket. You think none
Speaker 1: you've seen him throughout his career. The book on him
Speaker 1: always was that he gets the ball out quickly. But
Speaker 1: what I've noticed overwatch him these fourteen games is that
Speaker 1: he's got a great feel when that rush is coming
Speaker 1: and when to step up and deliver. You know, you
Speaker 1: look back at the Dallas game on Saturday night, that
Speaker 1: throwing to Quincy and Nona when the Jets converted on
Speaker 1: a third and long fits new where the rush was
Speaker 1: coming from, and just at the last second, it seems
Speaker 1: like he can step up and fire. Yeah, a long
Speaker 1: time player better and he's seenalized in a lot of situations,
Speaker 1: understand um how to play the game from the pocket,
Speaker 1: and playing in the pocket is more of a feel
Speaker 1: than a visual team like. He feels the pressure roundhim.
Speaker 1: He understands whether the lanes are He also understands why
Speaker 1: the sight line or and part of the reason you're
Speaker 1: chain gailing, you like to open it up is because
Speaker 1: fits operate better when he can clearly see where the
Speaker 1: pressure is coming from and how to counteract that pressure.
Speaker 1: So I think what you're getting is an offensive play caller,
Speaker 1: a play designer that understands exactly what his quarterback comfortable joint,
Speaker 1: and he puts them in a situation that accentuates his
Speaker 1: strips and allows him to play the game very very
Speaker 1: quickly from the pocket. What do you think these wins
Speaker 1: the past to come back, specifically the Giants game and
Speaker 1: then most recently against Dallas even though they weren't down
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, What does that do? Uh, not
Speaker 1: down by a lot in the fourth quarter? What does
Speaker 1: that do for a team's confidence? Coming back late in games?
Speaker 1: Whenever you can win a game where you haven't played
Speaker 1: at your best, you feel confident because ultimately it is
Speaker 1: about finding a way to win. I know Todd Bowles
Speaker 1: has preached that, uh countless times throughout the off season
Speaker 1: and during the year. Let's win games. Let's find a
Speaker 1: way to win. There's no such thing as an ugly win.
Speaker 1: Even though things haven't gone according to plan the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, they found a way to get it done.
Speaker 1: And ultimately, you want to put enough wins and the
Speaker 1: win ledger to put you over the mark to go
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. That's what they've done. They'll need a
Speaker 1: better effort to close out to finish the way that
Speaker 1: they want to. But I think it's easy year to
Speaker 1: go in there and to correct those things when you
Speaker 1: won games as opposed when you lost Bucky. What stands
Speaker 1: out to you what the Jets are doing defensively and
Speaker 1: especially on third down, because they continue to come up
Speaker 1: with different looks and you're speaking about Todd Balls and
Speaker 1: Casey Rogers. Seems like they go to the lab each
Speaker 1: week and they're throng quarterbacks, different different things on third
Speaker 1: down and continue to get off the field. You have
Speaker 1: to tild you had to uh top Boles and Casey
Speaker 1: Rodgers for what they've been able to come up with
Speaker 1: from a scheme plan. This is a team that they
Speaker 1: aggressively come after the quarterback. They bring pressure from every angle.
Speaker 1: They put a lot of pressure on their dbs to
Speaker 1: hold up and because of that, you'll see it's on
Speaker 1: your Carmarti and de Real Reves give up a play
Speaker 1: because they love naked a lot in coverage. But by
Speaker 1: putting so much pressure on the quarterback, you're seeing the
Speaker 1: ball come out hurried. Sometimes it's arrants, tipps is deflected.
Speaker 1: Those ultimately lead to interceptions, and so when you think
Speaker 1: about it, I won't say that a turnovers against the
Speaker 1: Cowboys before interception. A lot of that came from pressure
Speaker 1: being in the face of the quarterback, forcing them off
Speaker 1: of this spot, forced them to throw from uncomfortable platforms.
Speaker 1: When your dvs are in the right position, they can
Speaker 1: make plays. The pressure and the coverage works together, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have a lot of success in key situations, and
Speaker 1: third down is one of the biggest situations that defense
Speaker 1: coaches focus on. What do you think about the play
Speaker 1: David Snacks Harrison playing the nose tackle He continually has
Speaker 1: stood out NFL's number one rush defense throughout the year.
Speaker 1: And even though that mcfannon got free for over a
Speaker 1: hundred the other night, I thought Harrison was phenomenal. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a dominant player. Anytime you can control the middle.
Speaker 1: I was tard a long time ago from defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: that when you build your defense, you want to build
Speaker 1: a strong right down the middle. Uh your defensive tag
Speaker 1: as you might lineback and you say these they need
Speaker 1: to be dominant players forced everything to run to the
Speaker 1: boundaries and snacks. You have a guy that can control
Speaker 1: the middle of the field, it can it forces opponents
Speaker 1: to put two blockers on him. That allows your linebacks
Speaker 1: to run and chase uninstructed to the ball. And so
Speaker 1: when you see him able to play on the other
Speaker 1: side of the line of experiment to create penetration and
Speaker 1: force running back to titter fast stop defeat. It allows
Speaker 1: the rest of the defense to kind of build a
Speaker 1: wall around them. That's what we're seeing from the Jets
Speaker 1: run defense. Look, Todd Bowles is emphasizing stop the run
Speaker 1: on early downs. Put him in a long yardage on
Speaker 1: second to third down. You have a tremendous amount of
Speaker 1: success because now you're forcing the team to play one dimensional.
Speaker 1: Snacks is a big part of that one dimensional effect
Speaker 1: because he can stop the run by himself and allows
Speaker 1: others to feast off his work. Bucky Easier said than done.
Speaker 1: But what's the blueprint for the Jets this weekend as
Speaker 1: the host of New England Patriots? You know it's it's
Speaker 1: it's really forcing tom Brady to be uncomfortable. And if
Speaker 1: you can get to tom Brady rushing four and being
Speaker 1: able to drop seven, that's your best bet. You want
Speaker 1: to make some pressure. But what you have to do
Speaker 1: you have to get to him and you have to
Speaker 1: get hits on tom Brady. Tom Brady's like any other quarterback.
Speaker 1: Once they get hit, they change. It quickens the clock
Speaker 1: in the head. The ball comes out not as accurately
Speaker 1: as it normally does. So it's really important that they
Speaker 1: generate a rush. Sheldon Richardson has to be big, Mohammed Wilkinson,
Speaker 1: they have to be big upfront. If they can win
Speaker 1: their one on one matchup, then get into the backfield,
Speaker 1: they can disrupt the timing of the passing game and
Speaker 1: then the real reeves in the junker. Antonio Camarty have
Speaker 1: to lock down those guys on the outside, and then
Speaker 1: you have to find a way to deal with Grenkowski
Speaker 1: because he's the alternate mismatch on the passing game. What
Speaker 1: about on the other side of the ball. I think
Speaker 1: this is one of the better Patriot defense is that
Speaker 1: we've seen over the past decade. Yeah, they have a young,
Speaker 1: intriguing defense Chandler Jones, Rob Nikovic, Ball Sheer just playing well.
Speaker 1: Their front seven is probably one of the best ones
Speaker 1: they've had since there. Hey, they win, they won three
Speaker 1: out of four Super Bowls. You have to be able
Speaker 1: to protect those guys because I do think they're still
Speaker 1: vulnerable in the back end. Malcolm Butler has played great,
Speaker 1: but I still believe that he can be Um got
Speaker 1: in a situation where he's matched up with an elite
Speaker 1: receiver and Brandon Marshall. However, they elect to the Capital's mismatches.
Speaker 1: You gotta for Texas Patrick enough so you can allow
Speaker 1: him to get to those guys. Typically, what the Patriots
Speaker 1: want to do is they're going to double team you're
Speaker 1: best guy and forced you to find someone else to win.
Speaker 1: Eric Decker has to wear the big sombrero this week.
Speaker 1: He has to be the guy that wins the matchup
Speaker 1: because ultimately he could be the one page to one
Speaker 1: on one. If he wins, then the jeff have a
Speaker 1: lot of big opportunity have success in their passing in
Speaker 1: How do you think this is gonna play out over
Speaker 1: these final two weeks? The Jets are sitting here at
Speaker 1: nine o five, Pittsburgh nine five, Kansas City nine five,
Speaker 1: and the Broncos are ton of four, albeit the leaders
Speaker 1: the f C West, but Kansas City is right at
Speaker 1: their heels. Yeah, Kansas City is ready to heal and difference.
Speaker 1: They have a tough schedule finishing out. They played Incinnati
Speaker 1: on Monday night. That could be a tough game, particularly Broncos.
Speaker 1: While we started, even though Ajan mccarroon started for the Bengals,
Speaker 1: the Broncos got ahold of their water. I think with
Speaker 1: the other games Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Kansas City, I think
Speaker 1: it's the easiest role if you get into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: You know, the Jets, you have the work cut off
Speaker 1: because they have to face the patient. They have to
Speaker 1: do with the patients. I think to deal with the
Speaker 1: bills again, right, yeah, you yeah, you're right. The Jets
Speaker 1: yea and So when you think about those two games,
Speaker 1: like the Patriots are tough in itself, but then dealing
Speaker 1: with the Rex Ryan in fact, even though they're out
Speaker 1: the playoffs, you know, it's a personal game, and because
Speaker 1: they don't have anything to quote unquote play for, they're
Speaker 1: going to throw caution into the win. I think the
Speaker 1: Jets have to take care of business and hope that
Speaker 1: the Broncos going to slide so they get back to
Speaker 1: her into the playoffs, because I think the Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaker 1: are going to find a way to get in. So
Speaker 1: I think the team that I'm looking for if I'm
Speaker 1: the Jets, I'm looking at the Broncos to see if
Speaker 1: they can hold on. Yeah, and that would be fascinating
Speaker 1: just looking at their schedule. The Jets have the Patriots
Speaker 1: this weekend, and then they're at Buffalo to close the season.
Speaker 1: The Steelers, who had that seventeen point comeback victory over
Speaker 1: the Broncos Sunday, finished at Baltimore, team who struggle throughout
Speaker 1: the season, then at Cleveland another divisional batter battle. Kansas
Speaker 1: City's got Cleveland at home, and then they host Oakland Raiders,
Speaker 1: and then finally, like you mentioned, Bucky Denver's got that
Speaker 1: tough matchup with Cincinnati, and then they host the San
Speaker 1: Diego Chargers in the final week of the season, So
Speaker 1: that's Cincinnati Denver matchup out Mile High this weekend could
Speaker 1: have a lot of playoff implications, obviously, not only wild
Speaker 1: card implications, but um seating implications as far as that one, two,
Speaker 1: and three spots in the FC. Yeah. Absolutely, it's a
Speaker 1: big game. And it's a big game because the Broncos
Speaker 1: have less some games come to slip and so they
Speaker 1: put themselves in a very vulnerable position. And with Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of been made of the backup
Speaker 1: quarterback and can't they get it doing ag I've always
Speaker 1: been a huge fan of a j McCarry. I think
Speaker 1: he's actually get fit. This offense reminds me of the
Speaker 1: offense that he played in in Alabama where he had
Speaker 1: a lot of weapons around them. He only has to
Speaker 1: act as the bus dropper and so their defense playing,
Speaker 1: I think they can probably knock off them, and I
Speaker 1: think it makes it tough for them to get into
Speaker 1: the playoffs. I think to lose like the half and
Speaker 1: that would be something because that would mean the Jets
Speaker 1: would be in a position to control their own destiny.
Speaker 1: But Todd balls, As you know, Bucky, He's got these
Speaker 1: guys focused on the Patriots. They've concentrated on the task
Speaker 1: at hand each and every week. That's not gonna change
Speaker 1: this week. Holand pressed, have you been by Balls this year?
Speaker 1: You know, I've been impressed. But I've known top for
Speaker 1: a long time. When I was playing for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers, he was in an area, he was on
Speaker 1: the road. Always looked up to him based on how
Speaker 1: he was able to go from scouting to the coach.
Speaker 1: He want the morehouse with Doug Williams, continues to kind
Speaker 1: of make his way of the rank. The one thing
Speaker 1: that I knew about side that Todd was going to
Speaker 1: be ready for the job. He had great mentors Joe Gills,
Speaker 1: Bill Parcel, some of the other guys that he worked for.
Speaker 1: He had the opportunity to act as an interim coach
Speaker 1: during his time in Miami and everywhere that he has gone.
Speaker 1: He's commanded the respect of his players and ultimately, the
Speaker 1: NFL is about getting players to buy into what the
Speaker 1: plan is, getting them to follow what you have your
Speaker 1: vision for your program to be, and hold him accountable.
Speaker 1: He has done that, and I think we have seen
Speaker 1: that even though he's not demonstrave on the sideline, we
Speaker 1: understand what we hear the Jets players taught. There's a
Speaker 1: level of accountability that he holds them too. So outside
Speaker 1: of being a great tactician and a schemer, he is
Speaker 1: an outstanding guy in terms of building those relationships and
Speaker 1: ultimately that is what gets you to go to the
Speaker 1: next level. I've been impressed with the job that he's done,
Speaker 1: and I think they really put together a solid foundation
Speaker 1: to be a good team for a while. And speaking
Speaker 1: of the foundation, how about what Mike mccagnet pulled off
Speaker 1: in March by acquiring Brandon Marshall via trade late round
Speaker 1: pick and then coming back what mid round pick, I
Speaker 1: should say, and then coming back the next day and
Speaker 1: landing Ryan Fitzpatrick for a late conditional pick, And how
Speaker 1: big those guys have been for not only this offense
Speaker 1: but the entire team here in two thousand fifteen. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's really understanding what you're bringing in and
Speaker 1: understanding the personality that you're bringing into the wrong and
Speaker 1: also understanding the current state of the locker room that
Speaker 1: you had. I think with both situations Ty Bows and
Speaker 1: Mike mccavinin they understood what they were bringing to the
Speaker 1: locker room. Obviously, Ty Bows knew Brandon Marshall from his
Speaker 1: time in Miami when Bows was their head coach. He
Speaker 1: had an opportunity to really get close in person with Brandon,
Speaker 1: so he understood what made him tick. He understood how
Speaker 1: he was fit in that locker room and it would
Speaker 1: be a good dynamic. With Ryan Fitzpatrick being in Houston,
Speaker 1: Mike m kennon had a way to He had the
Speaker 1: opportunity to watch him every day and practice how he
Speaker 1: handed himself as a pro, and whether he could accept
Speaker 1: being the starter or the backup. Because remember some really expected,
Speaker 1: most of us expect the kind of geno to be
Speaker 1: in the mix to be the starting quarterback, So you
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure you had a veteran that could
Speaker 1: play that role at the backup or also be the starter.
Speaker 1: Because he had that intimate knowledge, he knew that Fitzpatrick
Speaker 1: was the right guy for the job because he could
Speaker 1: thrive in either role. Now, last one here, Bucky. Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick enters this week with three thousand four yards, passing
Speaker 1: Chris Ivory at nine hundred fifty one yards rushing and
Speaker 1: Eric Decker at nine hundred thirty yards receiving. With all
Speaker 1: that being said and Marshall already on his way to
Speaker 1: and beyond, it's conceivable that the Jets could finish with
Speaker 1: a four thousand yard passer, a thousand thousand yard Russia
Speaker 1: and to a thousand yards receivers. That's something else. There
Speaker 1: is something else. I think that's something that no one
Speaker 1: necessarily expected, because as when you have a defensive uh
Speaker 1: minded guy got from a defensive back line as your
Speaker 1: head coach, you expect a team that's kind of a
Speaker 1: ground and pale team, a team that really leans on
Speaker 1: the defense to do everything. But what I'm saying from
Speaker 1: the Jets is a team that is a little more
Speaker 1: dynamic on offense and most expected, they spread the ball around,
Speaker 1: they thought around the yard, but they also retained the
Speaker 1: physicality and toughness while leaning on the running game with
Speaker 1: Chris Ivory, and Ivory has been the right guy for
Speaker 1: the job because he's a grinder, not necessarily flashy, but
Speaker 1: he gets it done. If he gets a fell in yours.
Speaker 1: With this Patrick having four thousand and two thousand yard receivers,
Speaker 1: that offense is difficult to prepare for and it really
Speaker 1: gives a lot of people problems, particularly if they're able
Speaker 1: to get their way into the playoffs. Well, Jets fans
Speaker 1: are hoping that is the case. This Jets team with
Speaker 1: two wins would get to eleven and five and then
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens from there. But big task ahead
Speaker 1: against the New England Patriots. Bucky Brooks tremendous analysis will
Speaker 1: be following you all over the place on all those
Speaker 1: NFL media platforms and you can follow him at at
Speaker 1: Bookie Bucky Brooks. Thanks Buddy, Hey, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: having me on me