John Butchko

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports The Jets are in Pittsburgh this weekend for a Week 4 game against the Steelers. Both teams are off to a 1-2 start. The winner of this game will feel better after a rough first three weeks. This is a chance for the Jets and the Steelers to get to 2-2. Only one can, though. The loser will be 1-3 and in a desperate situation (unless there is a tie which would leave both teams relatively unhappy at 1-2-1). On today’s podcast I break down what I think are the key points. Zach Wilson returns to the lineup. What are expectations? Does he need...

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports Confessions of a fan with some odd rituals when watching the Jets from home. We all have our own rituals for watching the New York Jets. While it’s fun going to a game at MetLife Stadium or on the road, football above any other sport is built for TV. It’s impossible to follow everything happening on the field at a given time. All of the camera angles and replays help you take in the game. I think my rituals are probably different from those of most others. Before the game If it’s a 1 p.m. game, I usually try to spend my morning...

Sam Greene-USA TODAY Sports Today is the weekly Crossover Thursday podcast. With the Jets in Pittsburgh ready to take on the Steelers, I join Chris Carter, the host of Locked On Steelers to break down Week 4 action between a pair of struggling teams. The Steelers are not getting great play at the quarterback position, and they have some offensive line questions. The Jets are obviously not playing great defense. They get their own quarterback, Zach Wilson, returning to the lineup this week, but they have a significant question mark at tackle. George Fant became the third...

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports The Jets are dealing with a difficult situation at tackle. George Fant was placed on injured reserve yesterday. Fant becomes the third Jets tackle to go to the injured list. This leaves Conor McDermott in line to start as Zach Wilson returns to the lineup. That is less than ideal. On today’s podcast we discuss the implications of the injury to Fant. There are no easy answers for the Jets. They have to try and figure out a way to make this work, though. After discussing Fant we move onto our weekly mailbag. As always, I thank those who...

Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK The Jets starting QB was injured in preseason Jets head coach Robert Saleh announced on Wednesday that Zach Wilson will make his first start of 2022 on Sunday at Pittsburgh against the Steelers. Coach Saleh has announced that QB Zach Wilson is medically cleared to play and if all goes well this week he will start Sunday. pic.twitter.com/Ct5YqtEKY3— New York Jets (@nyjets) September 28, 2022 Wilson suffered a knee injury in the preseason opener against the Eagles. The initial timeframe provided by the Jets...

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Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports There aren’t many guarantees in the NFL. One is opponents will force you to prove you have fixed a problem they spot on film. In Week 2 the Browns lined up for a third and goal play on the six. The Jets run a rather complex coverage. One way to think about it is the team starts the play in zone. Then as a receiver runs into somebody’s zone, that defender picks him up in man coverage. The Browns had three receivers to the left of their formation. Below is an approximation of the routes and the defenders who picked those players up. ...

Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports The Jets are 1-2 this season. There is no one reason for the early struggles. Some of it is due to injuries. Some of it is due to bad luck. Some of it is because the Jets have been playing Joe Flacco at quarterbacks. Among the contributors is the lack of performance from players the team signed in free agency. We have been seeing a lot of promising things from the rookie class of 2022. Unfortunately the additions made during free agency haven’t played up to expectations with the exception of DJ Reed. Rookies can’t be expected to do it...

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports The Jets are signing veteran tackle Mike Remmers to their practice squad according to Tom Pelissero. Veteran tackle Mike Remmers is signing to the #Jets practice squad and will be on their active roster in the next week or so once he's up to speed, per his agent @TesslerSports.— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 26, 2022 This comes one day after starting left tackle George Fant left the Jets’ loss to Cincinnati with an injury. The Jets are now down three tackles adding Fant’s injury to those suffered by Mekhi Becton and...

Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK Jets head coach Robert Saleh provided updates on several injured players Monday at his media availability. The most important update is on the condition of quarterback Zach Wilson. The Jets said a few weeks ago that Wilson’s earliest possible return was this week against Pittsburgh. The head coach wasn’t willing to provide any update today, however. Saleh with no update on Zach Wilson, saying it's up to Wilson's doctors to confirm his availability by clearing him in the next 24-36 hours. #Jets— Rich Cimini...

Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK The Jets lost yesterday to the Bengals. Let’s get to our anti-game balls. I also have a single game ball to give out. Anti-Game Balls Defensive Line: I feel like if you look at the overall numbers they don’t look terrible. The Jets got a fair amount of heat on Joe Burrow. Still there was something missing. The Bengals jumped out to an early lead, one they would never surrender, and controlled the trenches in those first phases of the game. The Jets failed to finish on a number of sack opportunities that turned into...

Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK After a thrilling win a week ago against the Cleveland Browns the Jets had a chance to get over .500 by beating the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday at MetLife Stadium. It did not happen. The Bengals beat the Jets 27-12. The performance on the New York side was ugly. Cincinnati dominated on both sides of the ball. The two score margin did not do justice to how much better the Bengals were than the Jets in this game. It is back to the drawing board for the Jets. On today’s podcast we break down the loss. Both the offense and the...

Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK The Jets were not able to build off their thrilling victory in Cleveland from last week. Today they fell 27-12 to the Cincinnati Bengals at MetLife Stadium to fall to 1-2 on the 2022 season. I think that score is a bit deceptive. Yes, it was a two score game. The Jets even drove deep into Cincinnati territory early in the fourth quarter down 15. Still it never felt like the team was truly within striking distance. Aside from kicker Greg Zuerlein, who connected on all four of his field goal attempts, it isn’t easy to find...

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports It is time for our weekly check in with SB Nation Reacts. Each week we ask Jets fans questions about the team and the NFL in general. Then we bring you the results. This time last week Jets fan confidence had fallen to 59%. A thrilling comeback victory in Cleveland did a lot to fix things. This week 89% of Jets fans who voted expressed confidence in the team’s direction. This is a higher rating than we had at the end of the preseason. You have to go back to start of training camp before Zach Wilson got hurt to find the last...

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson has earned the first award of his young career. The Ohio State product was named the Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Week for his performance Week 2 against the Cleveland Browns. .@nyjets WR @GarrettWilson_V has been voted as the @Pepsi Zero Sugar @NFL Rookie of Week 2: https://t.co/QwOX9Z2wql #ROTW— NFL345 (@NFL345) September 22, 2022 Wilson had 8 catches for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Jets’ last minute victory over Cleveland. The second touchdown was the game-winner. The Jets have been...