Jets head coach Adam Gase did not supply a will-not-dress list for announcement before tonight's preseason finale between the Jets and Philadelphia at MetLife Stadium, but suffice to say that, as has been the NFL custom since the early-to-mid 2000s, most of the Jets and Eagles starters will be watching from their bench areas as the second- and third-teamers fight it out between the white lines.
Gase did announce that several offensive players won't play — QB Sam Darnold, RB Le'Veon Bell and C Ryan Kalil. It would have been a great game sidebar if Darnold suited up and did battle with Josh McCown, the ageless team player who was Darnold's backup last season and this summer came out of retirement to help the Eagles' banged-up backup QBs behind starter Carson Wentz. But that is not to be.
What will be is that many Jets players will be battling to hold onto roster spots and perhaps even earn a starting spot at a thin position once general manager Joe Douglas, Gase and the Jets announce their final cuts to a 53-man roster on Friday and Saturday.
But even the Jets' "Final 53" won't be final after the Saturday 4 p.m. ET deadline for cuts, because Douglas and all his fellow GMs will be combing the waiver wire to put in claims for waived players for the following 24 hours. And the Jets, with the No. 3 priority in the league in making waiver claims, could add some new players to the roster in time to begin work next week toward getting ready to open the regular season Sept. 8 against the Bills at MetLife.
The Next Woodhead? Simms? Mosley?
Of the Jets who will dress, there is a golden opportunity for one or more of them to assemble an outstanding game that will not earn them any contract incentives but could well give them a head of steam to make the roster after the "final cuts" are announced Friday and Saturday and to go into the regular season with a head of steam.
Consider these Green & White stars in the 18 consecutive years that the Jets and Eagles have played in the final preseason game of summer:
■ In 2001 at Philly, John Hall hit the longest FG in Jets history, PS or RS, when he converted from 59 yards out with 7 seconds left in the first half. (Nick Folk hit a 58-yarder in '12, Jason Myers also hit from '58 last year, both also at Philly).
■ In 2004 Brooks Bollinger led the Jets from a 27-7 deficit to a 28-27 victory by engineering 3 touchdown drives in the final 5:14 to a 1-yard TD run by Ian Smart, a 4-yard TD pass to Terrence Stubbs and a 1-yard TD pass to Matt Dominquez, the last to Dominguez wrapping up a 12-play, 87-yard drive and coming with 8 seconds on the clock. Doug Brien's XP after that last TD provided the winning point.
■ In 2005 at Philly, S Rashad Washington returned a third-quarter interception of QB Mike McMahon 99 yards for a touchdown.
■ In 2007 rookie WR Chansi Stuckey added 47 receiving yards to 131 kick-return yards for a 178-yard APY game.
■ Also in 2007, DL C.J. Mosley recorded 3 sacks in the game, 2 of them coming on strip sacks and all of them coming on the same Eagles first-quarter possession.
■ Finally in 2007 Mike Nugent hit a 35-yd walkoff field goal at 0:00 to lift the Jets from an 11-10 deficit to a 13-11 win.
■ In 2008 RB Jesse Chatman had 93 rushing yards and 87 receiving yards plus 1 punt return yard for a 181-yard APY game.
■ In 2009 RB Danny Woodhead rushed for 158 yards and 2 TDs on 18 carries and added 10 receiving yards and 31 KOR yards for a 199-yard all-purpose game.
■ In 2013 QB Matt Simms completed 33 of 44 passes (both possible franchise preseason records) for 285 yards at MetLife Stadium.
Will Davis Webb or Luke Falk be this year's Simms? Will Trenton Cannon, Elijah McGuire or Aussie Valentine Holmes step up with a Woodhead kind of game? Can Frankie Luvu, Blake Cashman, James Burgess or Bronson Kaufusi amaze with a Mosley sack trifecta? This is the last game to do it against the other team's twos and threes. Beginning a week from Sunday it's the ones vs. the ones.
Green and White
The Jets are again wearing their new Gotham Green jerseys and Spotlight White pants, as they did for the first time in last Saturday night's preseason home opener against the Saints.
Tonight's referee is Craig Wrolstad, who's presided over six Jets regular-season games and one other preseason game since 2014. In fact, Wrolstad's` first game as an NFL referee was the Jets-Colts preseason opener in '14 and his first regular-season game as a ref was the Jets-Raiders opener four weeks later in '14.
This game will be streamed live on the New York Jets App and on newyorkjets.com.
