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Why The Jets Should Keep Eric Smith


Maxman

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There's no evidence to suggest Smith is any smarter, on the football field, than any of his NFL counterparts. The fact that he still can't grasp the concept of his key job, tackling, after all this time would actually suggest quite the opposite. The sooner this loser is off the team the better, be it as a starter or even just a backup.

Really? Because you know exactly what the coaches know of this player

I've heard Rex say Smith was the smartest player he has ever coached....and yes, he does lay the wood, which is not a bad thing

If it was up to you, you'd cut the entire team, and we'd start over from scratch...lol

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Ummm, no. Why dont you just tell me so I dont have to.

Thanks!

Ok Smith will be a backup but can start in an emergency, you want another Colin Baxter situation? It's easy to say I hate X,Y, Z player harder to find alternatives that work. For $600K I'm keeping Smith as insurance.

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Really? Because you know exactly what the coaches know of this player

I've heard Rex say Smith was the smartest player he has ever coached....and yes, he does lay the wood, which is not a bad thing

If it was up to you, you'd cut the entire team, and we'd start over from scratch...lol

Rex also said Smith was the first guy he wanted off the team when he showed up to the Jets, so there's that too.

And laying the wood is not a bad thing when you pick the right moments to use it to your advantage, it's not a good thing when you're flailing around every time, constantly missing tackles or getting called for personal fouls on a regular basis because of it. The guy is an absolutely awful tackler, and it's because he's completely incapable of properly wrapping up a guy... ever. That's not even mentioning the number of times he goes for the tackle instead of playing the ball, allowing the man he's supposed to be covering to make the catch despite his "laying the wood".

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Really? Because you know exactly what the coaches know of this player

I've heard Rex say Smith was the smartest player he has ever coached....and yes, he does lay the wood, which is not a bad thing

If it was up to you, you'd cut the entire team, and we'd start over from scratch...lol

Rex also said Smith was the first guy he wanted off the team when he showed up to the Jets, so there's that too.

And laying the wood is not a bad thing when you pick the right moments to use it to your advantage, it's not a good thing when you're flailing around every time, constantly missing tackles or getting called for personal fouls on a regular basis because of it. The guy is an absolutely awful tackler, and it's because he's completely incapable of properly wrapping up a guy... ever. That's not even mentioning the number of times he goes for the tackle instead of playing the ball, allowing the man he's supposed to be covering to make a catch he never should have, despite getting hit with one of Smith's all world "wood laying" tackles.

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Ok Smith will be a backup but can start in an emergency, you want another Colin Baxter situation? It's easy to say I hate X,Y, Z player harder to find alternatives that work. For $600K I'm keeping Smith as insurance.

Agreed. So who is starting over Smith?

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Ok Smith will be a backup but can start in an emergency, you want another Colin Baxter situation? It's easy to say I hate X,Y, Z player harder to find alternatives that work. For $600K I'm keeping Smith as insurance.

The difference seems to be your belief that Smith wasn't already the Colin Baxter of safeties before anyone knew who Colin Baxter was, that is outside of the difference in the amount of money and the draft pick wasted.

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Rex also said Smith was the first guy he wanted off the team when he showed up to the Jets, so there's that too.

And laying the wood is not a bad thing when you pick the right moments to use it to your advantage, it's not a good thing when you're flailing around every time, constantly missing tackles or getting called for personal fouls on a regular basis because of it. The guy is an absolutely awful tackler, and it's because he's completely incapable of properly wrapping up a guy... ever. That's not even mentioning the number of times he goes for the tackle instead of playing the ball, allowing the man he's supposed to be covering to make the catch despite his "laying the wood".

I'm sorry but the "bad tackler" moniker is false. Absolutely And completely. His liability is in coverage. Accepted and agreed. But saying he can't tackle and then watching him play what is basically a LB positionhalf the defensive snaps just flies in the face of reality. He will need to be replaced. But it isn't because of tackling. He's one of our top special teams players because he can tackle well. He also lead the entire team in tackles last season, which would be impossible if he missed tackles constantly. That would mean that he was making tons of tackles by accident or default (ie: no-one else around?). It would also mean that he is in position to make a tackle every play or close to it. This isn't the case. Smith can tackle and he can hit and he knows the defense. He just doesn't cover well. And that's a problem.

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Slauson's an average starting guard. Smith's a below-average starting safety.

meh. they are both average or below average. both are up gradable.

the difference is that when Slauson makes a mistake it's maybe a bad run or a sack. when Smith makes a mistake it's a 99 yard Victor Cruz TD. (and by the way I don't think that play was a mistake per se. It was a guy with a shredded knee trying (and failing) to run. He's actually not a bad athlete.

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Fighting about Eric Smith or Matt Slauson is dumb by the way. The Pats went to the Super Bowl with James Ihedibo starting at safety. the Jets had the number 1 defense in America in 2009 with Eric Smith at Safety.

these guys are pawns. if the Jets do anything next year it will be because of the QB not the LG or the S. every year the importance of the QB to winning grows. Right about now i'd say it's 90% QB 10% everyone else. and I'm being generous to everyone else.

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He "brings the wood every game" because after 6 years in the league he's still completely incapable of proper form tackling. He aimlessly heaves his body at players time and again, and because of that misses more tackles than any player on the team, by a wide margin. But hey, at least when he actually does connect it makes a cool sound, right? And the "very smart player" stuff is a load of horse sh*t. It's a crap excuse that people make for a player when they like him but he sucks a$$ on the field. It's the same load of crap we heard for years about ole Chadwick. There's no evidence to suggest Smith is any smarter, on the football field, than any of his NFL counterparts. The fact that he still can't grasp the concept of his key job, tackling, after all this time would actually suggest quite the opposite. The sooner this loser is off the team the better, be it as a starter or even just a backup.

LOL. Prepare to be followed around, trolled, and called an idiot for months by a grown man now.

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Read the article again, Smith as a backup.

Read the article again.

Thank you for reading the article, people on Facebook just read the title and flip out.

Advice for you to ignore... If you're going to write for a website that's an open forum, you need to develop some thicker skin, and quick.

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I'm sorry but the "bad tackler" moniker is false. Absolutely And completely. His liability is in coverage. Accepted and agreed. But saying he can't tackle and then watching him play what is basically a LB positionhalf the defensive snaps just flies in the face of reality. He will need to be replaced. But it isn't because of tackling. He's one of our top special teams players because he can tackle well. He also lead the entire team in tackles last season, which would be impossible if he missed tackles constantly. That would mean that he was making tons of tackles by accident or default (ie: no-one else around?). It would also mean that he is in position to make a tackle every play or close to it. This isn't the case. Smith can tackle and he can hit and he knows the defense. He just doesn't cover well. And that's a problem.

See, I think it couldn't possibly be more the exact opposite. Outside of his "smarts", the one thing he's always been credited with for years is his tackling ability. I think there's hardly any sort of general moniker that's developed that he's been unfairly given in regards to his tackling, if anything he's generally been praised beyond excess for something he's frankly not very good at. His tackling form and technique is borderline horrendous, which is why he often gets credited for his "big hits" because he far too often just flings his body around. Just take a close look and see how many times this guy ends up laying on the ground, completely untouched with a face full of dirt because he whiffed on another guy who he failed to properly cover in the first place.

None of that is to say he can never make a tackle, but making an assumption based on nothing but pure volume is extremely flawed, and is probably more flawed for tackles than any other stat in football. If anything, his number of tackles tells you the frequency with which opposing offenses identified him as the defense's weakest link, and attacked him. Sure he still gets his tackles, because even the NFL's worst defenders are going to tackle more often than they miss, but that doesn't mean Smith's frequency of missed tackles still isn't alarmingly high. And I won't dispute his one area of strength, which is special teams, but one has nothing to do with the other, as laying a hit on a guy who you are charging at full speed for 40 yards is hardly close to the same thing as properly breaking down and making an open field tackle one on one, which can be one of the simplest, yet most important things in all of defensive football.

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Like play safety?

You know how I look at it? We were about top 5-10 in yards allowed to tight ends. Why? Cause Eric Smith sucks? Yeah, absolutely. But also consider the position he was put in: 1) our pass rush is poor, so we have to send extra rushers, 2) he's left all alone on a TE, 3) your WR's are covered by Revis and Cromartie, the best corner in the league and maybe a top 20 corner.

We would need one of the best safeties in the league to deal with that situation...

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Safety is a big problem, sounds like Leonhard won't be in camp and I wonder if management will make him a free agent priority. Not sure lack of options is the most compelling argument for Eric Smith to stay, unless its for less money and in a redefined role. Tyvon Branch from the Raiders would be a great fit, but costly. Thomas Decoud, not as good but with the Jets corners would have limited single coverage responsibility, where he struggles. May not be a priority for the Falcons to keep so can save some money. Dashon Goldson will most likely get the 49ers franchise tag, but he is the best of the lot. Last is a flyer on injured Laron Landry could be worth it. One year deal with incentives for playing time, super cheap no risk.

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Put some 10-20 lbs on him and make him a situational linebacker.

He should be nowhere near a play where his job is to stop (or to help stop) people from catching footballs. It's really not his thing.

The only thing I would agree with - and I would do so reluctantly because of the present roster - is to keep him until replacement(s) are here.

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Was our safety play worse than average? I thought so. Were QB's more likely to pick on Leonard & Smith because of Revis & Cromartie? Our LBs, despite two ints from Harris were of little help in coverage. Does anyone remember either Revis or Cromartie coming up to help safeties on tackles?

Some Jets coach last year defended Smith by saying Smith was the kind of player he would start his team with....Can't remember who the guy was but hope neither Smith nor that coach are with the Jets this season.

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watchin the playoffs last season, a TON of teams have trouble covering TE's in this modern NFL.

yeah, the jets get killed there, but I think it is more of a function that teams really don't want to go at revis or cro very often, so they get picked on

the jets should keep smith, but should try to make sure he is the 3rd guy on the depth chart

and this may be sacrilidge around here, but I'm done with jimmy. great story, can't stay healthy

I would have to think we can run rex's defense after 3 years of it without him

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watchin the playoffs last season, a TON of teams have trouble covering TE's in this modern NFL.

yeah, the jets get killed there, but I think it is more of a function that teams really don't want to go at revis or cro very often, so they get picked on

the jets should keep smith, but should try to make sure he is the 3rd guy on the depth chart

and this may be sacrilidge around here, but I'm done with jimmy. great story, can't stay healthy

I would have to think we can run rex's defense after 3 years of it without him

Not to defend Eric Smith but your 100% correct TE's have become monsters and theres plenty of talent in the league at the position now to give teams fits in the middle of the field.

Last year seemed to be the break out year for this style of offense and teams will copy cat that this comming year so things could get even worse in the middle of the field for the Jets and most teams in the NFL. Very few teams are equiped to handle a TE with a LB or a Safety especially guys like Gronk and Graham who are near impossible to cover. Whitten is a beast as well and there seems to be more emerging Like Pettigrew Finley and Hernandez. The Jets will have to deal with Both Gronk and Hernandez 2 times a year and our current guys just dont match up

Smith should be a career back up and ST guy . You can drag his a$$ in for the occasional blitz on defense or as a hybrid type LB when Rex loads up the secondary but thats about it

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