Wasn't able to do it last night. But now i am ready to give a long ass post on my full thoughts for the game. TNF is kind of weird but there are certainly things which can be taken out of it.
#1 Maye's worst pass tonight was actually a Hollins catch. Tells you about his night. Good decision making on his part all night. I said before the game after 3 straight games with an Int that was going to be the 're-focus' of the OC and him. Maye like all young players needs to have improvements and good habits constantly reinforced until they become second nature. He was becoming a bit too much of a risk taker and needs to pull it back in. This shows he has made that adjustment.
#1.5 Maye had a lot of really nice check downs and short passes this game. Nice to see him doing that. I know he doesn't want to be a check down Charlie. But I know a check down Tommy who won 6 rings. So it is nice to see him doing this more when the D makes deep passing harder.
#2 Wilson had maybe the best game of his career tonight. He will not be able to maul as a run blocker this year as he lacks the size and strength right now. But his pass blocking was fantastic. For a guy who was on a really really bad run for a while. This is hopefully the start of a great turn around for the rookie. Wilson getting right and looking like the long term future at his spot will go a long way towards our playoff run (nice to treat the playoffs as if they are a lock in November)
#3 Henderson didn't look amazing on the stat sheet in some respects, but had a great game. The OL didn't always get a ton of push or open huge holes, and the runs were pretty straight forward, nothing fancy. He did a lot of work after contact. And my favorite stat of the night for him (even more than his 3 TDs) 5 targets, 5 catches. At times they've gotten away from him as a pass catcher. They need to keep going to it.
#4 Williams is getting a lot of snaps out there but seems lost more than not. At these point there are 3 things I am looking for when it comes to him. His grasp of the scheme after the mini-bye. The Bye week. And hopefully the first round bye. He has a lot of time to get into the scheme without pressure of preparing for a game. Him, Maye and Josh need to all get together and get this figured out. Cause if it doesn't look right after all the time and he is out of place on his first target of the playoffs, it is time to bench him. Playoffs are not for learning how to run the scheme. They are for winning. So i am hopefully this time can be used well. Not saying i am giving up on him if it is not the case, but as things get more and more serious you need to start considering when to shut it down. Thankfully we got some tomato cans still on the schedule.
#5 Campbell is going to be a great locker room leader for years to come. I see him and Maye forming the long term heart of this offense. Also while he has had some ups and downs, he has faced some of the very best (including THE very best) pass rushers this year. In his rookie year he has seen everything the NFL has to offer. That can only forge the iron more!
#6 So we had 3 big drops today. The Jets had drops too, but who cares, they are the Jets. Just pointing out points and plays were left on the field. Which you expect on a TNF game. I suppose it is nice to get them out of the way. It is nice to be able to comment on how rare it is for this core. Not long ago we had the most drops in the NFL. Now a game like this sticks out like a sore thumb. The WRs aren't the best in the league, but they hold on to the damn ball! And that is often enough to get good results.
#7 Not worried about Milton at this point. He was borderline to come back and Vrabel rightly pumped the breaks on it. Hopefully him and everyone else get 100% of close to for next Sunday.
#8 Ponder with sacks in back to back weeks. We badly need DE help, and Ponder is starting to come on. Hopefully he builds on this momentum as the weather gets colder.
#9 Everyone and their mom hated this LB core early in the year. Then Spillane got it together, ad we figured he would. Then Elliss eventually began to figure it out. He went down, now Gibbens has stepped up to become a very solid consistent cog in the machine. Tavai and Mapu at times have made plays too. So i am going to posit a thought to you. Outside of DT... Is LB right now the deepest position on the team? As long as Spillane stays healthy I have faith they will figure it out. While it is an up-gradable spot next year... would you be THAT unhappy with Spillane/Elliss/Gibbens/Tavai if they play like this?
#10 Davis is the new whipping boy on D in the backfield. Someone has to be. It is hard to dump on the rookie Woodson even if he occasionally messes up cause he is just doing so much as a rookie well. Hawkins has turned it around and is looking solid. Gonzo is Gonzo and Jones is the fan favorite and as long as he is in the slot doing slot things he's really good. But let's give Davis some praise! He had a great day today. I want to see someone else besides me give him an Attaboy. Cause he has taken a more hate than he deserves.
#11 Special Teams (outside of the missed FG) did their job today vs a very good unit. And it actually had little to do with Schooler, who has honestly been disappointing to me this year. The unit as a whole didn't let the Jets get anything for free.
#12 If Tonga misses his TD catch in the playoffs, how sad are we all going to be. We've all talked about it. And we know they are saving it. He better bring it down.
#13 Pats with only 2 penalties tonight is fantastic. Hopefully this low penalty trend continues.
