Jets rookie duo relishes chance to face Brady and Gronkowski

[Gas2No99]

Jets rookie duo relishes chance to face Brady and Gronkowski

By Roger Rubin

October 12, 2017 | 11:44pm

As if there weren’t enough on the plates of a couple of rookies facing their team’s biggest rival in a game for first place, Sunday’s game against the Patriots will have an extra dynamic for the Jets’ dynamic safeties, Marcus Maye and Jamal Adams. They’ll be trying to stop someone they consider a legend.

New England quarterback Tom Brady has been one of the game’s best players for as long as they’ve been aware of the NFL.

“I’ve been watching him all my life,” Maye said, smiling and shaking his head.

“It’ll be the opportunity of a lifetime,” Adams said.

And as if that weren’t daunting enough, Brady will have back his favorite weapon in tight end Rob Gronkowski. The 6-foot-6, 265-pound matchup nightmare missed the Patriots’ win over the Buccaneers last Sunday because of a leg injury that has been reported as alternately a groin injury and a thigh contusion (like the Patriots would tell anyone). He was a limited participant in New England’s practice Thursday and is expected to play.

“Is he too big for a safety? Is he too strong and too fast for a linebacker?” defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers said. “And when you give him a lot of attention, you leave a lot guys one-on-one.”

Adams called Gronkowski “a future Hall of Famer,” and Maye labeled the assignment of containing him “a really big challenge.”

“You’ve got one of the best tight ends in the game that you’re going up against,” Maye said. “He does it all. … He’s big and physical. He has a great catch radius.”

“He’s going to stretch the field because he can run all the routes,” Adams said. “We definitely got to get after him.”

There’s a strong possibility that Adams will have an especially big role in trying to slow Brady-to-Gronkowski. Rodgers said: “What we liked about him coming out [of college] is that we thought he could match up with tight ends. … Jamal might have to cover him. Linebackers might have to cover him. Everybody may have to have a hand in it.”

This season, Brady has thrown 11 touchdowns with only one interception and leads the NFL in passing yards with 1,702. The 40-year-old has the Pats third in scoring and first in yards per game (419).

“The guy is like Father Time. He’s unbelievable,” Rodgers said. “Watch him on tape and it’s amazing what he is still able to do.”

In the four games he has played, Gronkowski has caught 20 passes for 318 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Adams, the club’s first-round pick, is fourth on the team in tackles with 25. Maye, the second-round pick, has 23 tackles and made his first interception in last weekend’s win over the Browns. Rodger said “we all talk about Jamal, but Marcus has been doing a really good job.”

Rodgers was asked about how the rookies might react to the challenge of facing New England this first time.

“For those guys, it’s just the next game. These guys are going into their sixth NFL game and just doing what we asked them,” he said. “They’ve got to be sharp. It’s not going to be an easy task. They know it and they’re up for the challenge.”

“This is my first opportunity to go against them,” Maye said. “It has to be just another game. It just happens to be against Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. You have to be ready for it.”

[RutgersJetFan]

Finally a legit test for these two. This is usually the type of game that the Pats hang 40 on the Jets and bring us back down to Earth, but who knows. It's so hard to gage anything about this pass defense because they have looked decent against 3 of the worst passing attacks in the league. We probably lose this one, but it would be a nice consolation prize if at the very least Adams and Maye look good.

[AFJF]

Since I've never seen a defensive player who is capable of stopping Gronk, unless he's injured, I don't see either of the rookie safeties becoming the first.

Good luck, fellas.

[Charlie Brown]

2 hours ago, AFJF said:

Since I've never seen a defensive player who is capable of stopping Gronk, unless he's injured, I don't see either of the rookie safeties becoming the first.

Good luck, fellas.

This 100%!!!!!

I am a Jets fan through and through but I have to admit it I love Gronkowski; I love his throw back name and game, and love that he is just a tough old fashioned football player and I was truly concerned for him when I saw him go down in a game.   

Watch the guy play as big and strong as he is, he is never dirty or cheap when he very easily could be.  Gronk is simply good for the game of football and the NFL IMO. 

[Lupz27]

3 hours ago, AFJF said:

Since I've never seen a defensive player who is capable of stopping Gronk, unless he's injured, I don't see either of the rookie safeties becoming the first.

Good luck, fellas.

One guy did a pretty good job vs Gronk, shame he didn't do much else for the Jets, Antonio Allen.

[The Crusher]

[AFJF]

28 minutes ago, Lupz27 said:

One guy did a pretty good job vs Gronk, shame he didn't do much else for the Jets, Antonio Allen.

That one game is so overhyped IMO.

Gronk put up good numbers against Allen, but it felt like Allen did a great job because Brady was off target to Gronk a ton.  IIRC, that was Gronk’s first game back after an injury and he and Brady clearly weren’t in the same page.  I wanna’ say he still had over 70 yds that day.

Allen may have made a play or two, but Gronk was still productive despite the layoff.

[Lupz27]

2 minutes ago, AFJF said:

That one game is so overhyped IMO.

Gronk put up good numbers against Allen, but it felt like Allen did a great job because Brady was off target to Gronk a ton.  IIRC, that was Gronk’s first game back after an injury and he and Brady clearly weren’t in the same page.  I wanna’ say he still had over 70 yds that day.

Allen may have made a play or two, but Gronk was still productive despite the layoff.

Pick 6 to start the 2nd half jumping a route intended for Gronk which changed the whole game, and helped the Jets make a comeback to win in OT.

[Jetster]

Be careful what you ask for boys. Gronk scares the hell out of me. I hope he's not 100%.

[jamesr]

Even if you can slow Gronk down, it's a victory - stopping him is unrealistic, but limiting him is not.

[Warfish]

If Gronk plays (as as bad as his health is, that's always questionable, that dude will be a total mess when his career ends), I'd wager he goes for 150+ yards and 3 scores vs our vaunted young safeties.

Maybe then folks will realize a safety is never worth that high a pick in the draft, much less back to back 1st and 2nd round picks.

I'm really hoping for a win, but the combo of disappointing Wilk/Williams providing no real pash rush, and a D-backfield as young (safeties) or a s sh*t (CB's) as ours is a recipe for a blowout.

I hope I'm wrong for a change.

The key to winning is to hit Brady, early and often.  Fail to do that, he's going to shred us.

[AFJF]

1 hour ago, Lupz27 said:

Pick 6 to start the 2nd half jumping a route intended for Gronk which changed the whole game, and helped the Jets make a comeback to win in OT.

Right.  He jumped a route and made a play on Brady’s pass, but he certainly didn’t “shut Gronk down” as so many have said over the years.

[greenwichjetfan]

14 minutes ago, AFJF said:

Right.  He jumped a route and made a play on Brady’s pass, but he certainly didn’t “shut Gronk down” as so many have said over the years.

Most of Gronk's 114 yards that day came against LBs. As overrated as Adams turned out to be, he very much did shut him down on that given Sunday.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1820126-how-antonio-allens-was-able-to-contain-rob-gronkowski

[ASH1962]

Gronk, no Gronk, we are not even going to be competitive in this game unless we can figure out how to pressure the QB. If he has more than 5 seconds to stand in the pocket and find open receivers they will lay between 45-60 on us. I don't care who plays safety. We know from years of this, the only way to beat them is to beat up the QB and we have zero pass rush.

[AFJF]

26 minutes ago, greenwichjetfan said:

Most of Gronk's 114 yards that day came against LBs. As overrated as Adams turned out to be, he very much did shut him down on that given Sunday.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1820126-how-antonio-allens-was-able-to-contain-rob-gronkowski

Biggest thing that shut Gronk down that day was lack of reps with Brady.

If AA could shut down Gronk, somebody in the AFCE would pay him $3 mil a year to play twice a season.

[The Crusher]

Missing scenes from Nightmare on Elm street. 

 

Sleepy Girl about to get eviserated: "Can't wait to see Freddy tonight. "

Sleepy Dude about to get eviscerated: "Me either. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

[greenwichjetfan]

2 hours ago, AFJF said:

Biggest thing that shut Gronk down that day was lack of reps with Brady.

If AA could shut down Gronk, somebody in the AFCE would pay him $3 mil a year to play twice a season.

False. Gronk wasn't shut down in the overall game. 8 catches and 114 yards means he was plenty in sync with Brady. However, most of it came against our LBs that day. When Allen matched up with him, Gronk in fact struggled mightily. The link I posted proves it with statistics, visuals, and actual pictures from the game.

The reason no one paid Allen any money is because they saw him play a bunch of times against Gronk but was never able to replicate the success he had that one day. On that given Sunday, Allen did in fact shut Gronk down.

[AFJF]

50 minutes ago, greenwichjetfan said:

False. Gronk wasn't shut down in the overall game. 8 catches and 114 yards means he was plenty in sync with Brady. However, most of it came against our LBs that day. When Allen matched up with him, Gronk in fact struggled mightily. The link I posted proves it with statistics, visuals, and actual pictures from the game.

The reason no one paid Allen any money is because they saw him play a bunch of times against Gronk but was never able to replicate the success he had that one day. On that given Sunday, Allen did in fact shut Gronk down.

He had 8 Cathes on how many targets?  IIRC it was something like 17.

[BigO]

12 hours ago, RutgersJetFan said:

Finally a legit test for these two. This is usually the type of game that the Pats hang 40 on the Jets and bring us back down to Earth, but who knows. It's so hard to gage anything about this pass defense because they have looked decent against 3 of the worst passing attacks in the league. We probably lose this one, but it would be a nice consolation prize if at the very least Adams and Maye look good.

I think we should have drafted a couple more safeties last draft....just for good measure. 

[BigO]

4 hours ago, ASH1962 said:

Gronk, no Gronk, we are not even going to be competitive in this game unless we can figure out how to pressure the QB. If he has more than 5 seconds to stand in the pocket and find open receivers they will lay between 45-60 on us. I don't care who plays safety. We know from years of this, the only way to beat them is to beat up the QB and we have zero pass rush.

Right. So the strategy should be to play 11 safeties.  Its not like we don't have 11 safeties. Put them to use! 

[greenwichjetfan]

1 hour ago, AFJF said:

He had 8 Cathes on how many targets?  IIRC it was something like 17.

Exactly. AA says you're welcome.

[Freemanm]

Well, we all know that KC Rodgers will come up with a brilliant game plan against the Patriots (yeah right)

[Patriot Killa]

12 hours ago, Warfish said:

If Gronk plays (as as bad as his health is, that's always questionable, that dude will be a total mess when his career ends), I'd wager he goes for 150+ yards and 3 scores vs our vaunted young safeties.

Maybe then folks will realize a safety is never worth that high a pick in the draft, much less back to back 1st and 2nd round picks.

I'm really hoping for a win, but the combo of disappointing Wilk/Williams providing no real pash rush, and a D-backfield as young (safeties) or a s sh*t (CB's) as ours is a recipe for a blowout.

I hope I'm wrong for a change.

The key to winning is to hit Brady, early and often.  Fail to do that, he's going to shred us.

Dunno. The pass rush has showed up in some of these games. If Ealy is healthy he will certainly help. We meee our corners to be solid and we need to send Skrine in on blitzes a little more often than usual to give the big guys help and Brady something extra to worry about..that cannot be excuted if the corners don't hold. BIG game for the defense as a whole but more for the secondary than anything because if they do their jobs..the pass rush might have that extra time to make something happen. Point blank this defense needs to have its best game of the season so far to pull this off..and that offense CANNOT stall out or make mistakes. Drive it down the field and at least hang 20+ up. Don't care what you have to do...dink and dunk..take long shots...their defense is the weakness..Bowles and Morton HAVE to attack that side of the ball in order to properly accommodate for if the defense slips. You can't let the Patriots breathe. We know this. Once they are up by two scores and McCown isn't taking advantage of that pitiful defense..games done.

[ARodJetsFan]

18 hours ago, AFJF said:

That one game is so overhyped IMO.

Gronk put up good numbers against Allen, but it felt like Allen did a great job because Brady was off target to Gronk a ton.  IIRC, that was Gronk’s first game back after an injury and he and Brady clearly weren’t in the same page.  I wanna’ say he still had over 70 yds that day.

Allen may have made a play or two, but Gronk was still productive despite the layoff.

Quote

Pick 6 to start the 2nd half jumping a route intended for Gronk which changed the whole game, and helped the Jets make a comeback to win in OT.

Sounds to me like your more concerned with being on Gronk's jock then remembering what actually occurred during the game.

Allen did a pretty good job against Gronk in that game and as another poster said, most of Gronk's catches and yardage came against our LB'ers in that game.

Lupz27 is dead on about Allen's pick 6 - that was a game-changing impact play.

 

[MDL_JET]

On 10/13/2017 at 4:12 AM, AFJF said:

Since I've never seen a defensive player who is capable of stopping Gronk, unless he's injured, I don't see either of the rookie safeties becoming the first.

Good luck, fellas.

That won't stop the onslaught of bashing that will occur after the game, if and when Adams or Maye give up big plays/a TD by Gronk. 

[TuscanyTile2]

On 10/13/2017 at 4:12 AM, AFJF said:

Since I've never seen a defensive player who is capable of stopping Gronk, unless he's injured, I don't see either of the rookie safeties becoming the first.

Good luck, fellas.

It's not like Adams was able to stop David Njoku last week btw.  (though Njoku is admittedly an absolute beast).

[AFJF]

16 minutes ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

It's not like Adams was able to stop David Njoku last week btw.  (though Njoku is admittedly an absolute beast).

Njoku also should have been flagged on the TD. Got up close to Adams, put one hand on each of his shoulders and shoved him away mid-route.  Easy OPI call that wasn't made.

[AFJF]

20 minutes ago, MDL_JET said:

That won't stop the onslaught of bashing that will occur after the game, if and when Adams or Maye give up big plays/a TD by Gronk. 

Oh, I'm well aware of that.  Mac's picks are busts if the're not in Canton by week three.

Idzik's picks?  Too early to say.

[sciond]

well  no matter what happens tomorrow we will get a feel for these guys skill level

but stop Gronk?

if healthy probably not as he is that good

[Jetster]

1 hour ago, sciond said:

well  no matter what happens tomorrow we will get a feel for these guys skill level

but stop Gronk?

if healthy probably not as he is that good

I'm shocked Gronk hasn't retired. 3 back surgeries, a few others, he's gonna look 30 & walk like an 80 year old. He's funny as hell & damn I wished the Jets had drafted him, he could find all kinds of things to do if he retired, he's advertising gold.