WR dept. : Brandon Marshall ~ ~ ~

[kelly]

Appreciating the Underappreciated: In Praise of Brandon Marshall

Taking things for granted is inevitably followed by a heart-sinking realization. You reach into the bag for another handful of chips and find only crumbs. Your city faithfully cheers on an NFL team every autumn Sunday until, poof, it’s gone. And sooner than you expect, you’ll be experiencing football without Jets receiver Brandon Marshall — even more reason to stop overlooking one of the most consistent pass-catchers of the last decade, who has opened the season in prime form.

AFC East teams have dominated this season’s conversation thanks to New England’s barrage after the Tom Brady un-suspension, Buffalo’s feistiness under Rex Ryan, and Miami’s complete collapse. Meanwhile, New York is quietly 3-1 and the top wild-card team in the conference. The Jets defense has been as viselike as expected and may tighten further with Sheldon Richardson returning from suspension after last week’s bye. But the team’s only reliable offensive weapons are bruising running back Chris Ivory and Marshall, whose 400 receiving yards are more than the rest of the Jets wide receivers combined. Marshall has been everything the Jets wanted, even if his career is no longer as sexy as the young talents who captivate with unrivaled athleticism and unbelievable potential.Part of the reason we don’t think of Marshall more highly is that he has bounced around the league, never building up enough cachet with any one franchise to win the hearts of a fan base in the way Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, and Reggie Wayne did. Players aren’t often traded without some underlying issues, and Marshall has now worn out his welcome in Denver, Miami, and Chicago. In addition to locker room drama, he was arrested twice for domestic violence and once for a domestic dispute while playing for the Broncos.¹ He has also been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and has since become a mental health advocate.

Last year’s failed Percy Harvin experiment, however, didn’t prevent the Jets from bringing in another unwanted receiver to provide help alongside Eric Decker. They traded for Marshall in a busy offseason that also featured the free-agent returns of cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, along with the arrival of first-round defensive end Leonard Williams.The Jets were certainly attracted to Marshall because he has produced at every stop. Since entering the league in 2006, he is second in targets, third in receptions, and fifth in receiving yards and is tied for fourth in receiving touchdowns. If you instead start counting from 2007 — excising a rookie season he spent backing up Javon Walker and the underrated Rod Smith — Marshall is first in targets, second in receptions and receiving yards, and fourth in receiving touchdowns.

There is already a Hall of Fame logjam at wide receiver, and it won’t get significantly better even after Terrell Owens and Randy Moss inevitably don gold jackets, but Marshall at least deserves to be in the conversation for Canton. He’s rarely (if ever) thought of as an all-time great because he has usually been in the league’s second tier of receivers,² but he deserves more credit for how long he’s spent time in that second tier: Marshall has five 100-plus-catch seasons, tied for the most in NFL history, and recently had a stretch of seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons that ended last year.

That metronomic success has continued with the Jets this season:

• Week 1 vs. Browns: nine targets, six receptions, 62 yards, one touchdown
• Week 2 at Colts: 10 targets, seven receptions, 101 yards, one touchdown
• Week 3 vs. Eagles: 14 targets, 10 receptions, 109 yards, one touchdown
• Week 4 vs. Dolphins (in London): 11 targets, seven receptions, 128 yards

Those performances place Marshall among the league’s top 10 in each category on a per-game basis. He has always used his 6-foot-4, 230-pound frame to box out defenders on slants and sideline comebacks, and this season, he’s converted 10 of his 14 third-down targets into first downs, the best percentage among the 38 players with at least 10 such targets. He doesn’t rely on speed but has the shiftiness (plus a stiff-arm like a cobra strike) to make the first defender miss, and his three touchdown receptions each demonstrate a facet of his all-around athleticism: Marshall used his height to pluck the ball over Browns cornerback Joe Haden’s outstretched arm on a goal-line fade, his strength to bully through two Colts defenders despite defensive holding, and his wide catch radius to snag a throw against the Eagles.

This shouldn’t be taken for granted. Athletes age like they’re strapped into the water torture device in The Princess Bride: The process is tolerable at first, but things get uncomfortable and the situation becomes dire. Then the floodgates open and your career is “mostly dead.” That point of no return is unique to each NFL position — running backs have notoriously short careers, while quarterbacks can play into their late thirties — but historical precedent suggests that wide receivers fade before turning 35. By then, the marginal gains of any veteran savvy are outweighed by the 0-to-60 acceleration of a younger alternative. It’s no longer enough to know precisely where to cut off a route or how much pressure can be applied during a push-off without being penalized.

Corroborating evidence can be found across the NFL this season. Andre Johnson was a nonfactor with the Colts before his revenge game on Thursday Night Football last week; Roddy White has eight catches for 115 yards in five games; and Reggie Wayne and Wes Welker³ aren’t even in the league anymore. There are exceptions to any rule — Larry Fitzgerald has reinvented himself by moving into the slot, and 36-year-old Steve Smith Sr. is simply not bound by rules — but Marshall’s role as a no. 1 receiver will likely come to a close within the next few seasons, even if he hasn’t yet lost a full step. It’s the ultimate reality of a physically demanding sport, the effects of which Marshall had been blessed to avoid before two broken ribs and a collapsed lung prematurely ended his 2014 season.

So appreciate what we have while it’s still here. Nobody could have expected greatness when Marshall was selected in the fourth round of the 2006 draft, one pick after Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski. But for the past eight-plus seasons, Marshall has been a steady target, consistently moving the chains and winning jump balls. His weakness is concentration — since his career started, he leads the league in drops by a large margin and has fumbled the most times of any receiver, including this year’s lateral to nowhere — but like many of the game’s greatest receivers, Marshall has been forced to carry the offensive burden. Want another reason to root for Marshall? The quarterbacks who have thrown him touchdown passes are Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton, Matt Moore, Chad Henne, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh McCown, Jason Campbell, and Jake Plummer.

Frankly, it’s incredible Marshall has reached 10,000 career receiving yards with that group, and it also helps explain why he’s never made the playoffs. To break that Takeo Spikes–like streak this season, he’ll need to do without a premier quarterback once again: Fitzpatrick has been his usual ho-hum self. Then again, taking things into his own hands is nothing new for Marshall, whose 21-catch game in Denver is still an NFL record.⁴

When Marshall snagged catch no. 21 over the middle, it was fourth-and-18 and Denver trailed with less than two minutes remaining. Unable to break a tackle, he lateraled to a trailing offensive lineman, who gained additional yardage but still came up short of the first down. Marshall walked despondently toward the sideline, the loss all but official, before a visible aha moment. As he hopped back toward the line judge to retrieve his record-setting souvenir, it became clear that, sometimes, even Brandon Marshall can forget how good he actually is.

>       http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nfl-brandon-marshall-new-york-jets/

[kelly]

You might've noticed that the Jets used rookie wide receiver Devin Smith, their second-round draft pick, as a gunner on punt coverage three weeks ago. 

It happened in Smith's debut, a loss to the Eagles on Sept. 27, after he missed the first two games while recovering from broken ribs. Smith broke his ribs very early in training camp and missed essentially the entire preseason.But in the Jets' next (and most recent) game, against Miami in London, they didn't use Smith as a gunner. They won't do it Sunday against Washington.Even though Smith was a successful gunner at Ohio State, thriving as a gunner in the NFL is a different sort of challenge, as Jets special teams coordinator Bobby April explained Thursday. 

"The biggest thing for Devin is, his injury set him back, because the types of things he needed to train for, in terms of being a gunner, he didn't get the opportunity to do," April said. "He is a tremendous gunner. The way the college deal is set up, generally those guys are single blocked. Where a guy has got to make the big transition into the NFL is they're usually double teamed [as a gunner]. That's a whole different animal there. So all the training and drilling of facing and beating two guys, he was never exposed to.

"I watched all his film at Ohio State. I don't remember him ever being double teamed. Why they wouldn't double team him, that's their problem. But they spread the guys all over. He was the widest. And he went down there and made a ton of plays. We're trying to wean him into facing doubles. Not only did he miss training camp, but he also missed all the preseason games. So I think it set him back from that type of thing.

"I don't think he's deteriorated. I just think he's still climbing the mountain to get to a level that a lot of guys have gotten to, because of their practice and because of their drill work that they've done. And he's a rookie, too. He was in there in the Eagle game, and we did replace him, because I think he just needs a little more time to get acclimated. I think he's going to be really good. I've got high hopes for him, and will no matter what." 

Cornerbacks Darrin Walls and Buster Skrine likely will be the gunners against Washington, based on what April said Thursday. Walls is on track to return from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for the past three games. He last played in the opener against the Browns.The Jets have struggled in punt coverage this season. They rank last in the NFL in average punt return yardage allowed. 

>   http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/10/why_jets_stopped_using_devin_smith_on_punt_coverag.html#incart_river

[kelly]

Here's a look at some of the top rumors for Friday, Oct. 16  :

~ ~ Head coach Todd Bowles is looking for more out of the New York Jets' wideouts, according to Seth Walder of the New York Daily News. The one-two combination of Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker is the most dynamic duo they have had in some time, but Bowles needs another wideout to step up. “Going forward, we’re going to need a third and fourth option,” Bowles said Thursday. “And probably a fifth option, if we want to get to where we need to be.” Walder calls rookie receiver Devin Smith the most likely Jet to answer the call from his coach. Despite his big-play potential, the second-round pick has managed just five catches for 53 yards this season. Smith told reporters, including the New York Post's Brian Costello, that he is itching to making a big play. “I want it to happen just because I want to make a big play.

That’s what I came here for,” Smith said. “That’s what I do. I’m just looking forward to us connecting and me helping the team in any way I can.” Smith has been working his way back to full speed after missing the first two games of his career with broken ribs and is still dealing with adjusting to the NFL. According to NJ.com's Darryl Slater, the rookie was removed from the Jets' punt coverage team due to his inexperience fighting through double teams as a gunner. Despite struggling with the nuances of the NFL, Smith's athletic ability makes him a deep threat in New York's offense and a player to watch as the season unfolds.

rest of above article :

> http://espn.go.com/blog/nfl/rumors/post/_/id/29035/nfl-rumors-roundup-116

 

 

[Larz]

he is not the QB. why would we discuss him ?

[kelly]

Rich Cimini ESPN Staff Writer 

To replace WR Quincy Enunwa (suspended), the Jets are planning to sign WR Kenbrell Thompkins from their practice squad, a source confirmed. (NFL Network first reported.) He's also insurance in case Chris Owusu isn't ready to return from a three-game knee injury. Thompkins is a former Patriot; the Jets face the Patriots this week.

>   http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/newyork-jets

[kelly]

 -- Everybody knows the name of Malcolm Butler, the New England Patriots' Super Bowl hero. That wasn't the case last Oct. 26, when he saw mop-up duty in a blowout win over the Chicago Bears. He played only 15 snaps, but he broke up two passes and made an impression on one of the Bears' receivers, Brandon Marshall."He came in and did a great job vs. Alshon [Jeffery] on a couple of plays in that game," Marshall said Friday. "I was a little shocked. I was like, 'This kid can play a little bit.' I overlooked him when he was standing in front of me. He made a few plays and I'm like, 'This kid can be special.'"

Nobody knew about Butler until the Super Bowl, when he clinched the Patriots' victory by intercepting Russell Wilson 's pass at the goal line in the final seconds. Because of offseason upheaval -- the Patriots said goodbye to Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner -- Butler has become the Patriots' No. 1 cornerback. He plays both sides in their defense, so you'll probably see many Butler-Marshall matchups when the New York Jets meet the Patriots on Sunday.

"He's feisty," Marshall said. "He reminds me a lot of Buster [Skrine]. It's going to be tough to make plays on him. He has tremendous makeup speed, and he competes. He's tough."

Maybe so, but he's still a former undrafted player from West Alabama. Statistically, Butler isn't having a great year. He already has allowed four touchdown passes and a 119 passer rating, according to Pro Football Focus. If he covers Marshall, the Patriots probably will roll coverage to his side, providing deep help. If it's single coverage -- Butler vs. Marshall -- the Jets would be very happy.

>        http://espn.go.com/blog/newyork-jets/post/_/id/55301/brandon-marshall-shocked-first-time-he-faced-patriots-cb-malcolm-butler

[joewilly12]

Best WR in the NFL 

[kelly]

wr dept.  -

— The Jets on Sunday will play their seventh game of the season, in Oakland. At just shy of the season's midpoint, it looks like this could be a lost rookie year for wide receiver Devin Smith, the Jets' second-round draft pick.But it's far too early to label Smith a bust. He has plenty of time to move past his rookie struggles, even if that doesn't happen until next season.Maybe he will contribute something as a situational complementary receiver later this season, though time is running out for him. 

Smith missed the first two games while returning from broken ribs and a punctured lung — an injury he sustained during training camp's second practice. In the four games since, Smith has six catches for 60 yards and zero touchdowns. In the past three games combined, he has three catches for 21 yards.And he might not play in Oakland, because of an ankle injury he sustained during Wednesday's practice. He did not practice Thursday, and instead wore a protective walking boot on his right foot while riding a stationary bike. 

It is unclear how much time Smith will miss. But even when he's 100 percent healthy again, he has a long way to go with learning the Jets' offense, according to coordinator Chan Gailey. "He's struggled integrating into the whole system," Gailey said. "It's been a longer process than I think any of us thought it would be. He's just got a lot to learn and a lot to work on. He's got talent. We obviously all see that. If he'll just keep working, things will happen good for him in the future." 

Smith's progress was hampered by him missing essentially all of camp and preseason. He also missed a three-day June minicamp, due to the birth of his daughter. All along, Smith and the Jets knew he had a lot of learning to do. All rookies face a learning curve. That's turned out to be especially true for Smith. There are several factors at play here, including the time he missed in the spring and (more significantly) during camp practices and preseason games. Gailey is also asking Smith to do very different things than he did at Ohio State. 

In particular, Gailey's offense has Smith run different routes than he ran at Ohio State, where Smith established himself as one of the most dangerous deep threats in this year's NFL Draft."He's got a lot of work about reading coverages and reading leverage of man coverage, and all those little intricate things, about where to stop your motion so that you get the running pick," Gailey said. "All those kind of things are important, and he just hasn't ever had to do that. So he's still working on all that stuff." 

After missing so much time due to his broken ribs, Smith is trying to catch up. 

"That set him back more than anything," said Jets coach Todd Bowles. "He missed about four or five weeks with the injury. That sets you back a great deal right there. Then when you come back, training camp plays and game situation plays are completely different. It would take him a while. But he'll be OK." Now that Smith has this ankle injury, there's no telling when he'll be back on the field again. His latest game experience didn't go so well. He and receiver Brandon Marshall had a miscommunication about alignment on the final play of Sunday's loss at the Patriots. That resulted in Marshall false starting, and the game ending. A verbal dispute between the two players followed, though they later made up. But that's not nearly as big of a deal as Smith's overall progress. When a rookie misses training camp, it's tough for him to make up ground during the year. In New England, Smith was targeted twice. He made one catch for 7 yards. 

"If you really think about it, he might be close to being at the end of training camp right now," Gailey said of how much Smith has actually practiced. "So he's got some work to do. And you don't get the [practice] reps that you got in training camp. You probably get half the number of reps [during the season]. I think you'd have to give him the benefit of the doubt, that he's going to get it eventually. If he'll continue to work at it, he'll be fine." But unfortunately for Smith — and partly due to injuries outside his control — he might need to wait until 2016 for his work to pay off. 

>     http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/10/is_2015_a_lost_rookie_season_for_jets_receiver_dev.html#incart_river

[kelly]

Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey isn’t a Devin Smith fan just yet.

Gailey gave a surprisingly downbeat assessment of the rookie wide receiver Thursday, making it clear the team doesn’t expect a big contribution from the Ohio State product anytime soon.“He’s struggled integrating into the whole system,” Gailey said. “He did certain things in college that were in their system, and getting involved in the whole system [with the Jets] — it’s been a longer process than any of us thought it would be.“He’s just got a lot to learn and a lot to work on to this point,” Gailey added. “He’s got talent. We obviously all see that. If he’ll just keep working, things will happen good for him in the future. But he’s just got to keep working.”

Smith, a star in college with his speed and big-play ability, barely has been a factor with the Jets since they made him the 37th overall pick in last spring’s NFL draft.Smith’s biggest obstacle so far has been injuries. He missed time in the offseason program for family reasons, then suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung on the second day of training camp. Now, he is slowed by an ankle problem that appears likely to keep him out Sunday against the Raiders.

As a result, Smith has just six catches for 60 yards in his first four games as a pro, despite being targeted 17 times with passes from Ryan Fitzpatrick.“If you really think about it, he might be close to the end of training camp right now [because of the injuries and absences], so he’s got some work to do,” Gailey said.

Two other problems for Smith are that Ohio State’s system didn’t call for him to learn defenses or concern himself with the entire offense, in stark contrast to the Jets.“He’s got a lot of work to do about reading coverages and reading [the details] of man coverage,” Gailey said. “All those things are important, and he’s just never had to do that.”But as dour as Gailey and the Jets are about Smith, it’s not as if they already have given up on him.

“You have to give him the benefit of the doubt that he’s going to get it eventually,” Gailey said.

rest of above article :

>    http://nypost.com/2015/10/30/why-chan-gailey-is-lukewarm-on-jets-wr-devin-smith/

[kelly]

wr dept. ~ ~

Eric Decker has been a surprising touchdown machine during his NFL career. He is fifth among wide receivers in the NFL in touchdowns since he entered the league in 2010 with 43.

The top five contains some pretty big names: Dez Bryant (56), Calvin Johnson (56), Jordy Nelson (45) and teammate Brandon Marshall (44).

“Yeah, I’m a product of Peyton Manning, so it’s all because of Peyton,” Decker said sarcastically this week.

That was the knock on Decker when he signed a five-year, $36 million deal with the Jets in 2014. People wondered if he could thrive away from Manning, but he has been good for the Jets. He has a team-leading five touchdowns this season and has formed a strong duo with Marshall.

Decker admitted he was even surprised by how his numbers stack up.

“That’s pretty cool. That’s a lot of touchdowns,” he said.

Decker said touchdowns are the statistic he puts the most emphasis on.“I’ve surprised myself a little bit. Stats, they come and go every year, but touchdowns are so important,” Decker said. “They’re game changers. It’s one of the more important stats offensively. So it’s pretty neat.”

Decker has caught touchdowns from six different quarterbacks: Manning (24), Geno Smith (5), Tim Tebow (5), Ryan Fitzpatrick (4), Kyle Orton (4) and Michael Vick (1).

rest of above article :

>    http://nypost.com/2015/11/07/how-eric-decker-proved-hes-not-a-product-of-peyton-manning/

[kelly]

Jets WR Has Made Opponents Pay in Single Coverage Situations

video..

> http://www.newyorkjets.com/videos/videos/Film-Review-Brandon-Marshall/e2475e0c-c3fa-46d8-adfd-a2cea93c4389

[FidelioJet]

Does it say how many key drops he has?

[kelly]

Does it say how many key drops he has?

they're still adding those up...

 

[kelly]

-- Brandon Marshall feels the New York Jets are at a critical point in their season.

At 5-4, the Jets can make a move toward the playoffs or suffer another setback and lose at Houston.

In order to make sure the Jets avoid losing for the fourth time in five games, Marshall says he has to make more plays."For me, just looking at myself in the mirror, I have to play better," the big-play receiver said. "It's as simple as that. I haven't been consistent. One game I make a big play. The next game I make a bonehead mistake or drop a ball at a crucial moment. Playmakers have to make plays."Through nine games, Marshall has 57 receptions for 753 yards and six touchdowns, almost surpassing last season's totals of 61 receptions for 721 yards and eight touchdowns in 13 games with the Bears. But Marshall also has already matched his career-high of two lost fumbles in a season."I truly believe in the way I am going to approach the rest of the season, my play is going to be the difference," Marshall said. "Whether it is one play or 10 plays, it is going to be the difference in all the games. I want to make the tough play. If we do that, it will put our offense in a better position and help defense and special teams."

Marshall said despite the fact that the Jets have lost three of four games entering Sunday, the locker room's energy is building upward.

"I was talking to (wide receivers coach Karl) Dorrell today and (Eric Decker) and a few others and it feels like there's start of a crescendo going on in our locker room," Marshall said. "That is a good feeling to have. I have been on a lot of losing teams as you all know and the interesting thing is, when you are in a situation like this, you lose three out of your last four, some would say this is a make or break (run) and you have guys with their heads down and a lot of coaches are nasty, not smiling and putting more pressure on the players. And the players have their heads down, lack of confidence.

"But that is not happening in here."

Marshall says the Jets know what's at stake and that they've maintained the same attitude and approach despite the highs and lows of this season."From my experience, these are usually the times when a team can fold or take that step and make something out of their season," Marshall said. "We know where we are at when you look at the AFC and we know where we want to be at the end of the season.""I have been in plenty of buildings where we didn't have a chance because we weren't together and it was nasty," he added. "And we don't have that here. You look at the locker room and there is no difference from today to after losing to Buffalo to when we won two in a row at the beginning of the season. That is what you want. Now it is just time to put it together."

>    http://espn.go.com/blog/newyork-jets/post/_/id/56248/brandon-marshall-i-have-to-play-better

[kelly]

-- A look at the New York Jets players who were “up” and those who were “down” in Sunday's 24-17 loss to the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium  :

~ ~  DOWN

~ ~  Devin Smith, wide receiver: Another week, another killer mistake. Late in the third quarter, with the Jets down by 14 points, Smith dropped what should've been a 46-yard touchdown. It was an over-the-shoulder catch, which is supposed to be his forte. His ability to track the deep ball is one of the main reasons why they drafted him in the second round out of Ohio State. Bowles is running out of patience, saying, "Rookies have to stop being rookies. They need to grow up. They get paid like everybody else and they have to start acting like they're not in college anymore." For the mild-mannered Bowles, that's scathing. A week ago, Smith fumbled a kickoff that was returned for a touchdown. They made a mistake by dressing Smith over Kenbrell Thompkins, a more accomplished receiver.

Brandon Marshall, receiver: He scored on a 21-yard reception, but it wasn't a good game for the Jets' No. 1 receiver. For the second week in a row, he dropped a long pass. He dropped two, actually. There was the one-handed, alligator-arm attempt on a slant route. His drop total is up to seven.

rest of above article  :

>    http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/56385/bilal-powell-up-ryan-fitzpatrick-darrelle-revis-down-in-jets-loss