The Jets are on the cusp of what, exactly!? | Jets vs. Bills Preview

Hello and welcome to Gangs All Here. As you notice, I'm your host, Ryan Sampson. That's our Jets beat writer, Brian Costello. But there's no Frankie Vittorini. No, Frankie's on his way to Aruba to get away from this Jets mess, Kaz. How you doing, buddy? Pedestrians in Aruba, beware. Right? I told him. He could crash into you on his motorbike. I said no scooters for you this weekend, man. We cannot have you coming banged up again. That was a sight last year when he came with all facial scarring and everything. Unbelievable. Him and traveling and motor vehicles, just not a good idea. But look, Kaz, as ugly as Frankie's crashes are, the Jets are just as ugly on the football field. Awwww. See what you did there. Yeah. Um, so look, I, I just listened to Glenn's presser. You guys just spoke to him a little bit ago. Um, it seems like they're getting healthy. They're getting Garrett Wilson back. Uh, what more can you say about the injuries and the players that they're, that are coming back this week against the bills? Yeah. Garrett has one more step to clear ride, but it's really just practicing today. Then he has to see the independent neurologist have to practice to make sure he's all clear, but it feels like it's a, just a formality. So the jets will have their, all their offensive weapons for the first time since week one. Series one, right? They lost Omar Cooper on that first series, and we haven't seen all of them since then. So that'll be interesting to see how that helps. Maybe they can score some touchdowns in the red zone with everybody. Well, they had them in the Raiders game, didn't they? They had everyone? No, Burris didn't play in the Raiders game. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, you're right. Wow, that's crazy that this is the first time since. Mm-hmm, yep. So, yeah, Burris missed a lot of time. Cooper missed time. Mitchell missed time. Garrett missed time. So, yeah, it's been a while. So yeah, and then on defense, Joseph Osai will be back. We'll see if he can help. Obviously, he's kind of been in and out of the lineup since time here, but he'll be back this week. So, yeah, a little bit healthier and tough task for our side to come back to have to chase down Josh Allen in this. And not only him, but James Cook in this entire Bill's rushing attack. We'll get into that in a little bit, because I want to start with the vibe check again for this team coming off that loss against the Chiefs. And after the trade deadline, which was very quiet other than Andre Cisco, what is the vibe check around the Jets right now? Yeah, I think there's frustration, right? You know, they need to win pretty bad. That being said, I mean, they're still playing ping pong in the middle of the locker room every day. You know, they go about their business. It's not like they're sitting around crying, but you can tell the frustration is high. They just need to win pretty desperately. And the schedule makers gave them Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen back-to-back. You know, they. They had the Dolphins and the Raiders back-to-back and didn't take advantage of it. So now this feels even worse with these teams playing, you know, such good offenses and good quarterbacks right in a row. But, you know, I don't. There was a lot of discussion about whether they quit, and we talked about that in the last episode. I really don't think they quit, but I think they were just bludgeoned by the Chiefs team in the second half, and I think they were just exhausted. But I'm curious to see how they look early in this game. Yeah, whenever you hear, even just if it's content creators or you guys talking about quit on this team, that's like a huge indictment on this coach, and that's the last thing that you need. If you're Aaron Glenn, who's trying to salvage whatever this season is, and when we hear him, now that you're a couple days removed from his comments the other day about how he feels that the Jets team are on the cusp, and I would ask you, Kaz, as the Jets beat writer who's been doing this for a while and has seen these type of pressures before, what were you making of what he said on the Jets are on the cusp? And that these games are really close. He gave us a story. That's what I was making of it as a beat writer. I was, I was getting, but yeah, look on the cusp. I understand why he feels that way. Like, they have played close before last week. They've been playing a lot of close games. They do have, we talk about it every week, there's all this potential on offense, you know, but the defense is bad, right? So the defense is not on the cusp of anything. And they're 2-7. I'm not sure what you can be on the cusp of, right? Like, what's the best-case scenario at this point? Um, I don't know. Six wins? It's like that would be going forward for the rest of the way. Okay. So what does that get you? So, yeah, I understand why he feels that way and he's got to be optimistic and stay positive. But I don't think the Jets are on the cusp this season, Ryan. I will say I think they. On the cusp isn't probably the phrasing I would use, but they have potential to be a better team in 2027 with what we've seen offensively and having three draft picks and having money to spend. If they can get the quarterback, which is a big if, and make some fixes on defense, this team can be improved next year. I agree with what you're saying, and I think that's where a lot of the sentiment is for Jets fans. From my takeaway from seeing him saying that, it feels very much like a coach trying to sell to the owner why he can still be the answer here as a head coach. And I get it. Like, that's, he's got to try to sell. In fairness, I asked the question, Ryan. Right, I know, yeah. He had to give the answer. Like, I asked him basically after the trade deadline, you know, what do they have? left to play for, because I know a lot of fans felt like they should trade Will McDonald or trade Geno Smith, trade Breece Hall, whatever, whoever it is, to get draft picks and move to the future. And so why does he feel like they can still achieve more? So he is answering a question, so I want to be fair. But yeah, I think he is making his case, but I also think he's kind of making it to the team as well, that he still believes in this team. Yeah, I guess I guess that's where I would go next here for you is... Because they didn't do much at the deadline and you had talked about it multiple times about how they're going to give this coach every and any chance to try to prove himself. Can you talk about the Will McDonald of it all too? You had put out the tweet about how there's a good offer out there on the table. Second round range, I was told. So I think, yeah. Yeah, I mean, look, the Will McDonald one is the puzzling one, right, of the whole trade deadline. I'm with them on not trading Geno. I don't think that would have been smart. Obviously, Breece, if you gave me a really good offer, I think I probably would have thought about trading Brees. I'm not trading Garrett. I can't remember if anyone else was discussed, but those are the big ones. Those are the big ones. Will McDonald is hard to figure out, Ryan. And I think... It's hard for anyone in this building right now to say this, right? Because they want to be respectful of Aaron Glenn. But in my read, this is about giving the next coach the possibility of having Will McDonald. Like, if they're a better team next year. Are they in games where they're winning in the fourth quarter? And when McDonald becomes a different player, if you're winning in the fourth quarter and he can tee off on the quarterback, like look what Kansas City's defense did to the Jets last week in the second half. It was bring the house, bring the house. George Karlaftis, Chris Jones. Like if you're winning, the pass rush looks different. And so maybe that, maybe the next head coach. He says, I don't want Will McDonald, and they can flip him before the draft for a pick, right? They can trade him in the offseason. So no one can say that right now, right? To be clear, this is me speculating. This isn't any Jets organization saying this because no one is talking like that right now. Everyone's respectful of Aaron Glenn. He still has the job. But I've got to think that's in the back of people's minds. Thank I also think there's a belief in this front office in Will McDonald. I think they see that he's an athletic freak, and they think he can do more. Thank To me, there's a disconnect between the front office and the coaching staff and how Will McDonald has been used this year because the front office has repeatedly turned down trades for him you going back to last year. you. And the coaching staff has just kind of reduced his role very as things went along. So, um... It's unexplainable why he's not playing then if that's where we're at, right? much. Because it can't be much worse if you put him on the field. I think Glenn keeps hinting at the run defense. He doesn't come out and say that, but I think they feel like Will's a liability against the run. You know, and I think Bari. They feel like he's better. Like, to me, David Bailey has been awesome. I think we've been unequivocal on this. I do think they could cut David Bailey's snaps back a little bit, and he could be even more awesome. Like, I'm worried he's going to hit a rookie wall at some point because he's playing 60 snaps a game. He's... He's going to get tired at some point, I think. Like, usually you see a heavier rotation there. So I don't think reducing his snaps a little bit is the worst thing in the world. I think of, like, a starting pitcher who's young, right? You might protect Jacob Mizorowski's innings so that he doesn't wear out by the end of the season. I kind of look at David Bailey a little bit like that. They're playing him a lot, so maybe Will gets some of David Bailey's snaps. Now, Osai's coming back. So does Will's, like, I'm very interested because Glenn put it out there the other day that Will's going to get more playing time. I don't understand how, because who's getting less playing time unless it's less, they do cut Bailey back a little bit, something like that. Yeah. And, and to go back to Glenn and how the front office might be lining this up for next year. Yeah, there's a lot of discourse cause amongst Jets fans on. I haven't noticed. Yeah, about that Aaron Glenn might actually be getting a year three here. Yeah, and this is him and the front office telling us because they didn't weren't active at the trade deadline and because they want to give him a full chance this year. It's like. Everyone needs to batten down the hatches a little bit. Glenn might be coming back for year three. Yeah, I understand that. I don't think we're there. Where I think we're at is it's November 13th today. No decision has to be made right now. I don't think Glenn's getting fired during the season. I think the final decision will come after the last game in Buffalo. Maybe something crazy happens between now and then to change my mind, but I think that's what's going to happen. So if you look at it like that. To me, this is the analogy I'd make, another baseball analogy for you. I think we're in the sixth inning right now of Aaron Glenn's time, and I think it's 10-0 he's losing. So in the sixth inning of a 10-0 game, you might turn it off, you might leave your seats and go home, think it's over, but in reality, there's a chance that that team that's losing by 10 runs can come back, and we've seen teams come back from 10 runs in the sixth inning. So it's possible. Is it likely? No, but it's possible. So I think from the Jets' perspective, and, like, they can't say it's over. Like, you can't just say, oh, it's over. Like, yeah, I know. I know what you saw in Kansas City. I know the Reds. Like, he's not coming back. Don't worry about it. They owe it to Aaron Glenn to just, he should finish the season. And can he pull off the miracle, come back down 10 runs in the sixth inning? But I don't think not trading everyone was like, oh, my God, that's it. He's definitely coming back next year. The Jets are in a different place right now than they were last year when they traded Quinn and then Sauce. They have a lot of draft capital because of those trades. They don't need much more draft capital. They need players. And I think holding on to everyone except Will McDonald made a lot of sense. Will McDonald's the only one that's a little bit of a fly in the ointment in this thing. And to me, holding on to Will McDonald... Aaron Glenn clearly does not like Will McDonald as a player that much. I'm not saying, you know, so it's not, it's not about 2027. It's Aaron Glenn to me, right? Like I said, so I don't know why everyone is so, has been so crazy this week that, oh my God, he's coming back. I know Willie Colon said what he said and that seemed to trigger it, but I love Willie, but Willie doesn't work for the team. Bart does, Willie doesn't work for the team. So I don't think Willie was told by anyone, oh, he's coming back. I don't think anyone's made that decision, right? Like, I, they, why, they don't have to make that decision right now. So, they have, they, you know, Woody's still kicking it around. He still has eight more games to kick it around with. And, and I think if we're looking forward to cause, because the way Glenn and Muji have operated, it feels very much like a shared leadership role from them. If you're looking at this off season, it's, You could argue it is one of the most important off seasons in Jets history of this franchise, right? I know you laugh at that because it's like that every year, right? You say it every year, but I think you would even agree at this point with three first round picks again, it's back-to-back years. They're going to have probably close to a hundred million, depending on some cuts in the cap space this off season. And there is potential that we mentioned so many times on this podcast on the offensive side of the ball. Where does that power dynamic shift if it is going to be Aaron Glenn getting cut at the end of this year and what happens to Darren Muji in all this? Because I think that's something I think a lot of Jets fans have not talked enough about is, is he safe and is he going to be the one making most of these decisions in the offseason? I believe he's safe, Ryan. I do. I think when you're evaluating Muji, where I'm at, at least, is I've seen enough that I want to see some more. Right. I'm not convinced he's the guy by any means, but I've seen enough like he's made a lot of smart moves that I'm willing. I think I want to see what he can do with those picks. I want to see what he can do with that cap space. I want to see what he can do if he's making a head coaching hire. I also believe Woody Johnson is not going to want to go down the road of hiring a GM and a head coach again. And does he have to get Mike Tannenbaum involved? Does he have to hire a search firm? I don't think he wants to do that. If he just fires Aaron Glenn. He can say to Darren Muji, you do the coaching search, okay? You bring me three candidates or whatever number you want to pick for second interviews. I'll be in on the second interviews. You know, you can have whoever you want help you with the first interview. It was Robbie Payton or Rick Spielman, whoever you want. But you now list out and then bring it to me. That gives Darren Muji some job security, right? Like, I know that's not the best reason to keep him. Right. But if I'm sitting here evaluating objectively, there's no way Woody Johnson wants to do this the way he did it two years ago or the way he did it in 2015. This is going to be similar to 2021 when Joe Douglas hired Robert Saleh. And. From the Woody part of this all, right, he invested a lot of money in Aaron Glenn, right? You had talked about how expensive this contract was going to be. Yeah, it's going to be a big check to cut. That's also, I think, another reason why Jets fans are like, he might not be willing to admit that mistake and eat that kind of money. Yeah, I understand that. I don't think Woody Johnson's ever been cheap when it comes to his football team, right? You've seen him spend money. Uh, does he do some things in the margins, like cutting the food budget, which I know has been discussed lately? Yes, there's that kind of stuff. But, um, how much money is Woody Johnson losing when his stadium is half empty for half the season? Um, how much money is he losing, you know, when I go to, I go to Dick's Sporting Goods and the front of the store is all giant stuff. And you have to search to find the... And the Jets stuff's on clearance. It's not even going for actual market. Yeah. How much does it bother Woody Johnson that the press office of the governor of New York makes a Jets joke the other night? Did you see that one? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, so, yes, it's going to be a big check for Woody to cut. But I think there's other areas where Woody's losing money that a new coach, if he gets it... If the hire is one that excites fans, a new quarterback, there could be a lot of excitement going into 2027. There could be a lot of ticket sales. There could be a lot of jersey sales. He might be making some of that money back that he's spending on Aaron Glenn. I don't think Woody will not fire him because of the money. I get the concern. I get the concern completely. I think last year... He was definitely a factor. Right. But I think this year, I think he, you know, if he decides he's seen enough, he'll move on. Because that's three years he has to eat going for the rest of this contract, right? Glenn signed a five-year deal. Yeah, five-year contract. Right. It'll be about 30, probably, he gets about 12 years, $36 million in that area, maybe a little bit more. And I think you could, if you're Woody Johnson, you can take a look across the street at how the Giants have just rejuvenated their entire franchise, just by the excitement of a head coach hire that people... Yeah, and then Harbaugh's also delivered in the first night, notwithstanding, but for most of the season. There's just not a lot of John Harbaugh's out there. Well, Mike Tomlin's out there. I just don't see Mike Tomlin coming here. I hear you and Samini and everyone else saying you just don't see Tomlin happening. So I saw something interesting yesterday. My guys, Evan and Tiki, over there on the fan. And Evan said he keeps he's he had hope after Tomlin said the other day, you know, he hasn't crossed that bridge and comes to it or whatever. And Tiki kept saying he's not coming here. And then Tiki, when he was kind of pressed on it, says, well, I'm speaking from Rondell. Ronde Barber played for Tomlin in Tampa Bay. So. I think Tiki knows what he's talking about when he says it. I just, I can't see it right. Like, I think he's going to have, for one, if he wants, for one, I don't know if he's going to want to coach. He seems to be pretty good at the TV thing. The TV thing is a nice gig for these coaches. It's a lot less work, and the money's not that much different. I'm sure he's getting paid a lot of money by NBC. And then if he does want to coach, I think there's going to be a line at his door. Um, yeah. Yes, the Jets could pay more money than everyone else, I guess. But I'd be shocked if that happened. And I think if he has his pick, he's not going to pick the Jets. So I think that's where, and I know that we're going a lot of off-season talk, but this should be, you would think, a desirable job just because of the potential on that offensive side of the ball. You get to pick your own quarterback in this upcoming draft. You have $100 million to spend. But what is your sense? Do you think that this is actually a desirable job to be a Jets head coach? I think, yes, there's 32 of them. It's a desirable job. It's a desirable job, but you've got to look at who Mike Tomlin is. He's a guy who coached. 18 years as a head coach. He knows everyone in the league. These guys, when you're a head coach, now you're in meetings that you're never in as an assistant coach. When I mean meetings, you're meeting with owners and GMs. You're at these league meetings every year. You get to know everybody. The Johnsons don't have the cachet as owners. As like the Mara, like John Mara, right? What Harbaugh kind of said repeatedly, like he wanted to coach the Giants, like the Giants excited him. It was the Giants. He got excited about working with John Mara. I don't think that's going to happen for the Jets. And Tomlin has a history. If Tampa Bay moves on from Todd Bowles, he has a history in Tampa Bay. The Washington owner seems to have a good reputation as a young, up-and-coming owner. You have Jaden Daniels there. If they move on from Dan Quinn, we don't know what the openings are going to be. So it's tough to say right now comparing the Jets to other things. But I do think if he wants to coach, he's going to have options. I just don't know who's going to whisper in his ear that you're really, yeah, that's the place you want to go. You want to work for Woody Johnson. Maybe it happens, but I'm just skeptical. Cause it's funny how, like, this season... It doesn't mean they can't get a good head coach, though, right? I want to be clear. They can't get a good head coach. I just think if you're looking at the bell of the ball, who can pick anyone he wants to dance with, he's not picking the Jets. That's tough to hear, but also at the same time, like you said, it's got to be the right coach for this job. They've got to be able to handle you guys in the media. They've got to be able to handle the criticism. They've got to be able to handle Woody Johnson as an owner and sharing a stadium with the Giants. All of it comes with it. It's, man, man, man, man. The thing to stay right in your head on is they have to deal with the baggage here. And I think that's something every coach comes here and underestimates because they're not part of it. And I thought Aaron Glenn would have a better understanding of it. 16 years of no playoffs, I'm pushing it to 16. It carries this weight here with the fan base and with the media. I saw Aaron Rodgers one time got frustrated with it. He was like, why are you talking about whatever it was at that point, 14 years? He's like, I've been here for, I played 12 games for this team. But it comes quick when the losing starts. The talk of the drought starts, and it weighs, it weighs, it weighs. I'd be very interested in Sean McDermott with that reason in mind, Ryan, because he went to Buffalo when they were in the same boat. I get it. I get it, but I'm just saying. I know that's a very popular name, and it's going to be again this offseason just because he has experience. The Jets might be scared from hiring another rookie head coach, but I think in today's NFL, you have to also take into account where he came from and where a lot of his success came from. Josh Allen is arguably the best player in the NFL. I don't want to call him a Josh Allen merchant. He wasn't when he got there, though, right? He had Tyrod Taylor, made the playoffs with Tyrod Taylor. He did. He did. First year. He ended the drought in Buffalo. Buffalo's drought was longer than the Jets right now. I just don't love the idea of hiring Sean McDermott to be the... To be the bridge to this next part of the franchise where you're going to be drafting your next franchise quarterback, you hope, and you want to develop him and put him in the right spot. But didn't he do that in Buffalo? Josh Allen you could argue a lot of his talent development came from Brian Dayball and Joe Brady. Okay, but who hired Brian Dayball and Joe Brady? It was Sean McDermott, no doubt. He's got a, who's. He's not bringing those guys in. Okay, but who's to say he can't hire a good offensive coordinator that can develop the quarterback here? I just think he's done it right. Like, I think everything else is pretty much a projection. Yeah. Who, you know, Tomlin didn't develop any quarterbacks. No, I know. But Tomlin also won a Super Bowl, unlike Sean McDermott. He did. Yeah. But that was a long time ago. He did. But you want to talk about staying competitive every year and the crap that Tomlin put up with compared to McDermott, who arguably had the greatest... They were in the playoffs. I mean, I think if you went to Pittsburgh and ask people about my time when the Steelers fans were grumpy about him losing the playoffs every year. Look what his quarterback situation was the last five years of his career there in Pittsburgh. It was a horrendous version of Ben Roethlisberger. He had to deal with the crap of Antonio Brown that no one had any idea. And after that... I compare that to Sean McDermott, who you could say arguably had the worst collapse in playoff history. And mind you, I'd be praying for an opportunity as a Jets fan to even be in the playoffs in that spot. I'm But I just, it would rub me the wrong way if you go another defensive minded head coach, cause I understand that argument. I do. sorry. I think, in my mind, the scale right now is experience versus offense of mind, right? I see the arguments for both. You see what these young offensive coaches have done with Liam Cohen and Ben Johnson. Thank you so much, Alison. Kubiak even with the Raiders had success this year. You see how quickly they can turn things around. Now Trevor Lawrence and Caleb Williams have helped in Jacksonville and Chicago, but they didn't have success with other coaches. So I understand that argument. But I also do feel like there is something to being not learning on the job. And every coach the Jets have had here has been learning on the job other than Adam Gase in recent years has been, you know, it's been their first time as a head coach. So I see the size of both. I don't know which one I fall on yet, Ryan. I have two months to decide, but I think that's the argument between those two. Unless they bring him back. They're not bringing him back. Just, just, just... It's going to take a miracle, like I said. He's down 10-0 in the sixth inning. 5-21 as head coach of the New York Jets. 2-7 to start this year. I think there's some wins coming up here too, Kaz, if you really want to get into it, because I think this is the next part of the discussion, how this schedule plays out the rest of this year. After the Buffalo game, again, There's no cupcakes in the NFL, but the Chargers are the Jets, but especially for the Jets, but the Chargers are a very winnable game considering the state that they're in right now. And the Dolphins lost their starting quarterback to IR. Yeah. And, and I just wonder cause if he reels, the Cardinals are playing Carson Beck. It's it's, there are three winnable games right there where I'm all of a sudden looking from a two win team to a five win team. Yeah. Does that affect at all? Any of this going down the line? What have I said since the summer, Ryan? How does it look? How does it look? Yep. If you beat Carson Beck and Kyle McCord and a Chargers team that's winless, that doesn't really change my opinion, right? I don't think it's going to move the needle for Woody Johnson either. You beat the Bills on Sunday? Okay. Now we're talking. You beat the Bills on Sunday, then you win those games, and then you pick off the Patriots or the Vikings? At the end of the season, if they're playing everybody, if they're healthy and they're playing for the playoffs, now there's a discussion. Now you've hit some home runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning, and we're talking more. But I think it has to be that. The scenario you're laying out, if they just beat these teams with third-string quarterbacks, what does that mean? I mean, you know. All right. Let's talk about this game cause the, the bills are seven and one that are coming to MetLife. Their fans love to travel. Do you expect this to be a loud Buffalo bills crowd here at MetLife? I saw something the other day. That's the highest ticket price of the season, which is insane. So yeah, I do expect it to be quite, you know, I think they're going to be singing shout after touchdowns, right? And I think it's going to be, it's going to be a Buffalo crowd. I mean, if the Raiders travel, Which is a team that's been down for a very long time. What are the Bills going to do? You know, a team that's winning a lot. And I'm going to guess there's probably a lot of Bills fans who live. somewhere between New York City and Buffalo that this is probably an easier trip for them than going to Buffalo. Yeah, and part of that's also going to affect the offensive line, which we'll get into here in a second. But I just want to make this note that Joe Brady and the Bills are 4-0 on the road this year. They have not lost on the road. That was a very impressive win against the Vikings in Minnesota last week. It is a short week for the Bills, I will say that. Coming to play the Jets, does that play a factor at all, you think, in this upcoming game? I do think it plays a factor, right? I had a coach one time tell me the worst scheduling thing in their mind was a road game on Monday night followed by a road game on Sunday. A road game, yeah. They said that's just such a horrendous turnaround for the team. Now, flying from Buffalo to Newark. Minnesota to Buffalo and then New York. Minnesota's a decent trip, but Buffalo to Newark is a hop, skip, and a jump. It's not too bad, but you're still not sleeping at home. It still affects your schedule. So I do think it's a factor in this game. I know we'll make our picks later or whenever, but I think you have to factor that in. Now let's talk about this Jets offensive line. They have given up 28 sacks this year, five last week alone, Kaz. Buffalo has the co-NFL sack leader in Greg Rousseau. Yeah. Can the Jets keep Geno upright in this upcoming matchup against this Bills defensive front? Man, Rousseau is impressive, right? Yeah. Just watching some Bills games here, like, whew. He seems to be unlocked by Jim Leonard. Like, Rousseau has always been a guy, like, he knew his name because he was a high draft pick, and he'd have his moments, but holy crap, now he's a dude. So I think that's going to be a great matchup to watch, him and Membu. I'm going to guess he's going to get a sack. I think if they can limit it to one, you're happy. Yeah, and Kaz, I don't know if you saw this stat. Geno leads the league in terms of pressure to sack conversion rate, meaning the time that he is pressured, he is converting those into sacks or taking sacks, I should say. He is leading the league amongst all quarterbacks in the NFL. And this again, and this goes to, I think, a lot of the deeper discussion about this Jets offense, right? About, hey, there's a lot of potential. Geno's, you know, he's got to develop these younger players. Guys are getting open. If you've seen that one as well, where the Jets have three of the leading separation amongst the NFL. So again, if guys are getting open and the offensive line is giving you protection and there's just too much time happening and Geno's still taking those sacks because he doesn't have the escapability that he might have had as a younger quarterback, I guess that's where I would ask you about the evaluation of him this year. Is it the numbers may be lying or skewed for him? He's such a tough evaluation. Let me ask you this question. Who, who do you think right now at mid season is the team MVP for the jets? Yeah. Oh, that's a great question. Cause I would probably say it's between Braille and Allen and maybe Membu. I think Gino's in the conversation. You don't, I, I, I don't, I really don't. I mean, compared to the quarterback play we've seen, this is so much better than, than Fields. Rodgers came on late in that year, played well late, but early he looked terrible in 2024. And obviously before that, you had Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle and everything else. That would make a case for Geno as team MVP. There are two in teams, so team MVP is all relative here, right? Last year a punt returner won it. But he's a tough evaluation. I do think his immobility kills him with the sacks. I also think he's not great against the Blitz. I don't have numbers in front of me, so maybe there's numbers that will tell me I'm wrong. But for me just watching it, I thought they really heated him up last week in the second half in Kansas City. And I thought he looked rushed. He just looked like he was kind of rushing through everything. Thank I did notice the Jets don't lead the league in sacks, but they lead the league in sacks. Yardage lost by sacks. Oh, yeah. It kind of looks like he's going backwards all the time. And, like, you know, now part of the conversation this week with Josh Allen is how hard he is to bring down, how he's going to escape the pocket you. if they let him. You don't have that with Geno. So I understand that's a ding on him. I do think there's a lot of things Geno's done well this season. Um, he's a very, very weird evaluation though, Ron, because I'm always, I've always felt like quarterbacks either hide your warts or they expose your warts with how they play. Yep. Geno, not like that. Geno does both. And it's a, it's a, he's, it's been a strange season to watch. Uh, in terms of where Geno ranks versus the blitz, uh, there's some, some key numbers here. I'll start off with completion percentage is actually really good. Uh, he's fifth in the NFL in completion percentage when he's blitzed as a quarterback, uh, only behind Jared Goff, Caleb Williams, Brock Purdy, and Joe Burrow. So that speaks to what you're saying of, Hey, you know, is he, you would say an MVP of this team in terms of total QBR when he's, uh, blitzed, he is currently 19th in the NFL amongst qualified quarterbacks, uh, out of 32. And then in terms of, you know, maybe sacks that he's taken as when he's blitzed right now, Geno, and I just want to make sure I got this right. He's third in the NFL with 28 sacks right behind Justin Herbert and Deshaun Watson when they're blitzed. Yeah. So completion percentage, I feel like is he just a lot of times he's not throwing it when he's getting, he's getting sacked. So I don't know if that, yeah, he's. To me, I think you can pressure him. I think he's just, he's not great when he's under pressure. And I don't think he's pulling the trigger nearly enough either to cause. And I think that maybe that's something that's playing into. I don't want to throw as many interceptions this year compared to years prior. Yeah. I think I've said this before on here. I, um, If you watch Geno's media availabilities, there's not much there. He doesn't say much. He speaks a lot of cliches. The one honest moment I feel like we saw this year was when some media asked him about the sacks last year. He snapped, like, you haven't watched the film. So, like, or the interceptions, rather. You know, he said, you haven't watched the film. And clearly, the interceptions, that number bothered him in Vegas last year that he led the league. And that was kind of what everyone talked about. So yeah, I think there's been a concerted effort not to throw interceptions this season. And I think with the defense and how poorly it's played for the Jets, I think Geno, like, there has to be a point here, a breaking point where you have to say, I have to cut it loose. Guys are open. He does it at times, right? He does it at times. You see it, like, he cuts it open. But I think there's more. I thought against the Raiders, against the Raiders, right? That was the game. I thought he was... Throwing it downfield, I thought he was cutting it loose a little bit more. The Raiders' defense is awful, right? It is. There was opportunities. Yeah, I think the Chiefs' defense just, like I said, I think they sped him up. He had the one deep shot to Adonai that was clearly a good design shot play on the first play of the series that Adonai dropped. Yep. He had another go-route to Adonai down the sideline in the first half that he overthrew. They tried the flea flicker. Yep. Um, that was covered with a two man route concept with Isaiah Williams and Omar Cooper. Don't really love that concept. If I'm Frank Reich also, I'm just begging him like. Did you see the Kenyan Sadiq deep over that he caught one of the few passes or I think it was the only pass that he caught last week? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That to me, Kaz, feels like something, like when I watch Isaiah Likely, a lot of stuff's underneath, but then he can do things where you get him the ball in space over the middle and he can take it to the house. Sadiq has not been used like that at all this year. And it just feels like that's part of the offense where Geno and Frank can get more to the middle of the field that way. I also would argue that they haven't used Sadiq enough in the red zone. You know, when you're looking at this red zone stuff, like to me, I've been a broken record on this, tight ends, tight ends, tight ends, tight, like they are the greatest weapon in the red zone that you've got. Because they end up in mismatches. There's linebackers on the field. They're in short-yardage situations a lot of times. They load up on defensive linemen. There aren't DBs on the field. Extra DBs, I should say. And the linebacker ends up, and I just don't understand. Like, you've got this freak-of-a tight end. Use him. Like you're saying, use him in the red zone. You know, there's one football like, oh, that's such a, you know what? That's such a cliche as well. Well, I also, I watch every game and you watch, I mean, Travis Kelsey's catching the ball behind the line of scrimmage and getting touchdowns. Like they use the other teams know how to use their personnel. And that's where it comes down to coaching to the potential that you have there. Use the potential and put them in the right spots. It's unfortunately like how this coaching staff has just not been able to capitalize on that. And I will say this too, cause into your point. Mason Taylor had two Randy Moss-like catches against the Dolphins, and now it's been nothing. Zippo. Haven't targeted him in the red zone. It's like you can't forget about things like that. And I know that's like you said. There's only one ball to go around. It's like, okay, but if something works to what you're saying, why not keep going back to that? Well, it's so weird, Ryan. Sadiq has the big game in Detroit. I believe he had zero catches the next week in Chicago. Oh, yeah. Cooper has two big games. Then he had zero catches against the Raiders. AD has a huge game. He has zero catches against the Chiefs. They threw him seven times. Seven times. He dropped a couple. This isn't fully accurate, but it's a weird thing where you have these guys having these monster games, and then the following week, goose eggs. It's so strange. It is. It really is. Yeah. I'll give you another one, too, Ryan. This is defensive. Just a thought I had watching. Did you watch the Bills-Vikings game? I did. Andrew Van Ginkel is a guy. That's the guy the Jets need to find in free agency, right? Like, I get it. You can't get. T.J. Watt in free agency, right? You're not going to get impact players in free agency. But Van Ginkel, all that guy does is make plays. Every time I watch him play football, he's making a play. He's running the ball. He's knocking the ball out of the goal line. He's smacking the ---- out of James Cook on a hit. I mean, he just laid people out, man. But remember, he had the interception on Rodgers in London a few years ago. When he was at the Dolphins, he tortured the Jets all the time. Like, That's the guy. Like, if I'm Mugier and I'm Tom, like, go find me that. Who is this guy that's available in free agency? Like, the Jets have... They never find a player like that. Yeah, like, maybe in the... Bailey, obviously, is an impact player, but he's the number two pick in the draft. I'm talking about, find me a guy in free agency that can impact the game. Like, that's... It's hard to articulate what you're looking for. That's what I'm looking for. Holy crap, that guy just makes plays. I was just thinking about watching Monday. It's a fair critique, guys. Let's talk about this Jets defense going up against this Bills rushing attack. We'll The Bills love running the football with James Cook. We know how good Josh Allen is on the ground scrambling as well or even on design runs. be And the Jets' offense, they are one of the bottom 10 in the run defense right now. right The pass defense is top five, but the rush defense is bottom 10. Is that really going to be the formula you think for Buffalo, just keep grounding and pounding the ball against the Jets' defense? back. Well, last week, Andy Reid didn't do it in the first half, and I don't understand why. I think someone whispered in his ear at halftime, like, Kenneth Walker might be able to run through this defense and they came out and plowed. So, yeah, I think they haven't been shy about running James Cook. He's up there in carries, right, like in the league. So I think you're going to go heavy on him. Josh, you'll see Josh Allen running. I think this Jets defense is going to have a tough time slowing the Bills offense down. For sure. We've seen the players like Minka Fitzpatrick and Demario Davis, guys who you want to be leaders on this team, just have not been living up to snuff on the play part. Maybe they're still doing the leadership part. I'm sure they are. They're being very vocal. You need those guys to come through, especially in a matchup like this, where they need to have like an Andrew Van Ginkel type play where it's like, Oh, okay. Like that was nice. And Josh Allen turns the ball over. Like there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, He did get an interception this week, right? Should, could, would. I mean, they only have one this year. I mean, we saw Jordan Whitehead intercept them three times one year, right? So he's thrown interceptions against the Jets. He's thrown, I think, six this year. He throws the ball up. We saw it against Minnesota. He threw that one in the end zone. Murphy made a nice play on. Yeah, My biggest concern defensively right now, Ryan, is the interior defensive line. And in fairness to them, they are banged up. No Devondre Sweat, no David Onyemata. yeah, Harrison Phillips is playing on one leg, which you could argue maybe he shouldn't be playing right now. You've got Daryl Jackson, who wasn't supposed to have this big a role. He's got a huge role. And then you're playing Peyton Page. yeah. And Juwan Briggs is taking a huge step back this year. Juwan Briggs is taking a step back because he's playing a lot, right? That's why he's taking a step back. He's playing too much. Thank you very much. So that part is like they could be in trouble. Now, the Bills have had injuries on the offensive line. They didn't have their right guard and right tackle last week. Dion Dawkins, who, you know, right tackle really good. So, um. Did they get them back? I don't know. Or was it left tackle? It was left tackle, Dion Dawkins. He was out last week, yeah. Left tackle, left guard, right? Anderson's left guard. Yeah, I said right. But yeah, they were out last week. They've been limited in practice this week. So I'm not sure. I haven't seen yet if Joe Brady is giving his press conference or giving an update on availability. Bill's offense, they're averaging 32 points per game, 386 yards per game. That's the NFL best. And then in terms of the Jets, like I said, 128 yards on the ground. They're allowing for rushing. It's 26th in the NFL. Kenneth Walker went for 102. And let's go to over-unders because Cos was not pretty last week. For his over-unders. Cos was one and three. Frankie was two and two. And I was three and one last week. Putting us on this season. I'm making money. Cos is 13 and 22. Frankie is 12 and 19. And now I am 21 and 14 plus seven units on the season. Let's do some over-unders. I got a couple extras because there's a lot of players here, Kaz. So let's start with Geno Smith. I got him at 217 and a half pass yards. What say you? Over. I agree with you. I think he's actually going to have a decent day on the air in the air in terms of yardage with Garrett Wilson back again, Mitchell, Omar Cooper. You got the full complement of weapons here, Josh Allen. They have him at 235 and a half pass yards. Kaz, what say you? Tough, because I think they're going to run the ball a lot. I'll go under. I'm going to go under as well. Frankie had the over on that one, by the way, Garrett Wilson, 60 and a half receiving yards, returning back from the concussion. Under, there's only one football. Oh, I'll go over just so I can try and, you know, widen. Oh, yeah, just rub it in. Yes, James Cook, this is the big one. my Now, we said Kenneth Walker. If there's the over-under, there's like 185 and a half or something. It's 91 and a half rush yards for James Cook. God. That's what it was for Walker last week. Walker was 90 and a half. Yeah. I'll go over. I will go over as well. Hammer that. That's an easy over for this Jets defense. Breece Hall, 54 and a half rushing yards. You go first, Ryan. I'm going to go over. I think he's actually going to break off one for like 30 yards, and that'll be more than half of that. I'll go over as well. I think it's going to be barely over, though. Okay. Okay. Um, And then just real quick, before we do predictions, Frankie did give his predictions here. He said, quote, we gave up 28 to Miami, 38 to the Raiders, 35 to Kansas City Chiefs. This isn't going to go on for a long time, Ryan, is it? No, it's not. Now it'll be 40-0, and David Bailey gets a sack in this game 100%. He's got Bills 40, Jets 17. That's a blowout, guys. That's a blowout. I'll take it away, my friend. So I do not think it's going to be a blowout, Ryan. I think this is going to be a close football game. I think the Jets are going to be on the cusp of winning this game. I think they are going to be leading in the second half. Leading in the second half? Leading in the second half. How? I think your hopes are going to be up. The Bills fans in the stadium are going to be upset. And then the Bills will find a way. Josh Allen will find a way. Bills 33, Jets 30. Wow, that's a close one, guys. I agree with you. I think it's going to be a close game in the first half, but I think in the second half is, again, we'll see a repeat of Kansas City. I think there's something to the short week, Rob. I really do. Yeah, I can see it. Especially the travel aspect of it. Go to the road games. I think what you're highlighting, too, the fact the Jets have the full complement of weapons, do not be shocked if they run the ball well against Bill's defense. Bill's defense isn't great. They've got Rousseau's playing great. You know, but they're not great overall. I think the Jets will put some points up in the first half, but then I think, again, in the second half, the Bills are going to say, why aren't we feeding the ball to James Cook a bunch? Let's do that. And I think that's where he takes off. I have the Bills winning this one. You got 33-30. I'll go Bills 35, Jets 24. I think they win by double digits still. Okay. So they cover. They cover. That's a show, guys. Um, I appreciate you hopping on here, even though some other people want to go and run off to some people going to Aruba, you know, some of us are still working right. Can I give a quick shout out to a Jets fan? I met. Yeah. So I, I, it's still too much information here. I'm an old guy right here. I had to get a colonoscopy yesterday. It's not pleasant. You've had back-to-back weeks with the DMV and the colonoscopy. It's been a rough November for your old friend, Kaz, here. I'm But as I was getting ready, the anesthesiologist, Dr. Sud, starting big Jets fan, Ryan, was very concerned about the offensive line, very concerned about Aaron Glenn. I'm laying on the hospital bed in my gown, to getting ready for my procedure. speak As I'm going under, all I'm hearing about is complaints about Jarvis Brownlee now. and the Jets offensive line. And, you know, you have thoughts when you're in a hospital bed. This might be it, right? This might be it. The last words I'm going to hear is how bad Jarvis Brownlee is at Nick. You can't escape the Jets. You can't escape them. Not even under anesthesiology, you can't even escape them. It would be a fitting end for my life if those are the last things I hear is about the Jets' offensive line and Jarvis Brownlee. The Jets killed Carl. The Jets killed Kyle. I don't know if you've seen that episode. Yes. So Jets fans are everywhere, and I, you know. I appreciate Dr. Sue taking care of me. I came through it. Okay. I'm all right. Good. Jarvis Brownlee is still here too. Unbelievable. Cause that's an episode. That's a great way to end it. I appreciate you, man. We're looking forward to your coverage throughout the weekend and we'll catch up with you next week, man.