Bob Wischusen has been the radio play-by-play voice of the New York Jets for 18 years. Beginning this week and lasting all season, Bob will share thoughts pertaining to the Green & White in a weekly column - "Wischusen's Point of View".
1. Jets Defense
The Jets defense improved as the game went on in New England. And this is not about moral victories, but if there is one moral victory that the Jets can take out of these first three losses, it's that the Jets defense, in at least two of them, did everything you could ever ask them to do to keep them in the game if not outright win the game for them. So in each of the first two weeks, the Jets defense did everything you could have hoped they would do to keep them in a position where they could win. And the last two weeks they've done it without C.J. Mosley, without Quinnen Williams, without Jordan Jenkins. Coming up after the bye, if there's a reason for optimism if they can stay healthy, they can keep every game close and give the offense a chance to finally get into a rhythm and start winning some.
2. Bye Week
When the Jet's schedule first came out, I was like everyone else. I saw a bye week after their third game and said to myself, "What a waste of the bye week, what team needs a rest that early in the season." Well after watching them play without eight starters and down to their third string player at football's most important position over these last two weeks, the bye couldn't come at a better time for the Jets. The only time so far this season that we've seen the Jets completely whole, they were winning 16 to nothing against the Bills at home. The offense hadn't even gotten clicking yet. The Jets will be getting some players back after the bye. So the bye week in the end, ironically enough, couldn't come at a better time.
3. Young Players
Make no mistake, this is still very much about this season for the New York Jets. They want to come out of the bye week, get their starters back, get their quarterback back and try to find a way to win a game in Philadelphia. Having said that, one silver lining to losing all these players is a front office that's never gone through a draft for the Jets before, has never conducted a free agency period for the Jets and is now getting a long chance to look at players. So guys in the linebacker corps like Harvey Langi and Blake Cashman are getting significant playing time and giving Joe Douglas a great look at what they can do. The Jets will be very excited to get players like Jordan Jenkins and C.J. Mosley back on the field when they resume their season after the bye week. But a big part of life in the NFL is not just thinking about this year, it's thinking about future as well.
