Diner morning news: mailbag day

I've got a pro shop theory for you: Gholston's old jersey is marked down because he changed his number.

The mailbag column is wonderful, is there any chance that it will become a regular feature?

Just thought you would find this amusing. At the Jets shop, Vernon Gholston replica jerseys are now marked off 50% to $40, while the Mike Nugent jersey still goes for $80. Are you officially a bust when your jersey sells for half the price of a kicker who is no longer on the team?

http://www.jetsshop.com/jets/home.php?cat=351&sort=orderby&sort_direction=0&show=all

Aten: I've got a pro shop theory for you: Gholston's old jersey is marked down because he changed his number.

Owned by Aten: http://www.nfl.com/players/vernongholston/profile?id=GHO395377

Backed up by: http://www.newyorkjets.com/team/player/1335-vernon-gholston

however Mr Lombardi's sunday articles are a staple for me & i really really enjoy your writing overall

I didn't realize Gholston's number had changed. But to be fair, I haven't seen much of Gholston this year (and not for lack of trying!).

Still, it says something that they are not even bothering to sell his #50 jersey. Also note, the Jonathon Vilma jersey (a Week 4 opponent, by the way), is only 10 bucks less. Demand is still high for good players (and their jerseys).

Overall,

this is not a bad feature. I know I'll receive more solid analysis from you after the Broncos improve to 3-0 and take complete control in the AFC West after the Dolphins pummel the Chargers.

On an unserious note: Aten just owned Lombardi's theory. LOL! It still doesn't take from me liking most of his analysis, but funny misfire.

Serious:
Matt Light is a solid tackle and one thing that has irked me a great deal lately (or since the Giants-Pats SB) is the criticism directed towards NE's line. They deserve some criticism but people - even the better analysts - have mostly missed the fact that the Patriots throw more than other teams, and more importantly that they are in 3-5 wide receiver sets more than anyone. These linemen get less help because apparently, and maybe falsely, Belichick presumes that they don't need that much help. They are left alone and for the better part have done a good job. They had a great 2007 until the Super Bowl, but how many O lines can we recall being able to protect against that fierce Giants rotation? Also, last year the poopooing continued because Matt Cassell was getting sacked a lot, but in my opinion this was mostly Cassell's fault.

Wow mike. U just can't let the gholston thing go. Must kill you that
this is all u have on the jets at the moment. Must kill you more
that five minutes of research and you would have learned he changes his number
Lets hope you give the same amount of bust attention to matt cassel as it looks like
he surely will be one.

Sorry about your patriots. Must be terrible for you not being able to bellicheck worship

"You can’t fool New York sport fans"

Sure you can. Look at the hyperventilation over the Jets.

Agreed on Russel, he's been most terrible, you cannot even begin to discuss the reads because the launch mechanics are not a constant.

For quicks, square him up, he's so big he should able to shove the ball into place if need be. Just limit a defender's ability to see which way he goes with it by keeping him square to the field.

Add a step to the wideout's footwork so the plays time up better on his slower release. That means you reverse their stance so the outside foot leads and they go off an even or fourth step count for three step routes,etc.

He should not have to wind up either, his pump fakes should consist of opening his hands, no full barrel fakes because it takes too long for a reset. Keep the ball above the shoulders, nose of the back half to passing hand pointed down. Open the passing cradle with the off hand and hitch step to reset it. The entire fake is being redundant because they should not be able to close on your arm strength anyways when you trigger a pass.

So, shave the pump fake in half, from its start, sell it with the shoulders instead of the passing arm and reset with a hitch step so the timing matches back on an even step count. Deep speed outs should really time up well with that, so should the flag route. Suddenly you can sell an out and up with the shoulder fake to freeze people watching you and flag the route past them.

The outside lead stance lets you fake step against press coverage to time the route back to the count. Consider taking an entire step off his set up point so four step drops find five step depth and timing to them. Trying to shave down the last step in a drop from under center may be a reach so eliminate it so that he really put something on the initial read. If it is a quick the shaved step keeps him square to reduce the break signal on his dropback. For what is lost on some quicks you should gain back on double routes, which is the number one way to attack pattern read coverages that are so prevalent today.

That is where some of Russel's best success on longer completions comes from, double routes with inverted release and speed out cuts on top of the play. The under guys are reading the initial release and the top players are switching their zone drops so the double move is creating stress on the top two coverage layers. The speed release is separating from the person tasked with closing the route and the initial inside or outside
release is eliminating the squeeze defender. They're getting some huge throwing windows between the second and third levels when wall defenders read the release key wrong.

Time to make those throws right, or take the eight yard pass in front of them when they get into sponge cover mode.
He's got a huge offensive line in place, he's got several speedy clear out types for blue routes, he's got a deep backfield armed with speed specialists and power backs, a great target at tight end as well. This as close one can get to the Aikman equation for controlling the line and tempo while employing vertical strain on the top of a defense.

Establish the mechanics needed, develop a sense of urgency.

Another theory... The guy walking with the matching luggage is on good terms with his wife.
Tila Tequila, isn't packing Merriman's bags saying she's going to miss him.

Russell is a bust, plain and simple. It's a bit different than being able to develop into a quarterback though. He's not accurate soon enough to make it with the Raiders as a starter now. He has all the physical attributes to be a good qb. Now the question is, will he be able to keep the ego in check and continue to work hard despite going through some tough times. JaMarcus is now a long term project. Does he have the intelligence, mental toughness and will power? We'll learn in a couple years.

B-You beat me to it. That's the first thing I thought of too. The wife buys, and packs, the matching luggage and you want to cut him for it?

Cecil Man that was funny. Jets fans have reached new levels of 2nd week euphoria-Rex Ryan has brought trash talking and confidence...confidence breeds confidence which breeds more trash talking...which brings on more confidence and more trash talking...which breeds over confidence and the big Annual Jet Fall.

Lay low my Gotham brothers. My God it's week 2 and you won a div game at home. That's what any decent team is supposed to do.

If Gholston were playing well then his old number would be a collector addition and more people would want it. An elitist thing.

I would say the I've never seen a guy with the disposition of Sanchez. The guy is so confident and smooth, but he manages to pull it off without coming across as arrogant. It will be interesting to see if his game grows into his ultra cool persona. He could be the next great gate, or another colossal Jets tease, and I'll be interested to see what his future holds.