Dreary afternoon out here at rain-soaked Weeb Ewbank Hall, where the Jets are moving on despite their miserable 1-8 record. Seven more games to go before Jets fans can truly start thinking about whichever high draft pick they’ll be chasing come April.
The rainy, raw, dark backdrop to today’s practice couldn’t have been more fitting: Here were the 1-8 Jets slogging through the afternoon practice outdoors (not inside the practice bubble, which has become more of a monument than a working facility), hitting tackling dummies, doing tackling and ball skill drills, working on special teams, etc.
And for what? To try to get to 2-8.
The 7-2 Steelers, one of the hottest, best teams in the NFL, are next on the Jets’ plate and this, to be quite honest, is not a good matchup for the Jets.
The Steelers’ strengths are built to exploit the Jets’ weaknesses. The Steelers’ defense is tops across the board in the NFL. The Jets, with Kellen Clemens making his third NFL start and Thomas Jones and the running game MIA, are limited offensively.
The Jets’ defense cannot stop the run. The Steelers own one of the most potent rushing attacks in the league.
The Jets’ best chance at making any noise Sunday is with their terrific kick return game. This might be the one area where the Steelers have anything resembling a weakness.
David Bowens told me that every team has a weakness, even the Steelers, and that the Jets just have to get through the Steelers’ strengths to get to those weaknesses.
Why do I have the feeling I’m going to be walking out to my car outside of Giants Stadium Sunday long after the game is over and I still won’t have seen those Steelers’ weaknesses exploited by the Jets.
Oh well, at least I have a good tailgate party to go to before the game. Word from my weekly crew is they just bought a Winnebago for the tailgate upgrade. And, I hear they’re deep frying a turkey.