LISTEN | Inside the Jets with TE Tyler Kroft (9/13)

Hosts Bart Scott and Dan Graca review the 2021 season opener at the Panthers, look ahead to the home opener against the division rival Patriots and check in with tight end Tyler Kroft.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for Inside the Jets presented by e Y
Building a Better Working World. No, here's Bart Scott and
Dan Grosso and we welcome into another season of Inside
the Jets presented by e Y Building a Better Working World.

(00:24):
Hello Jets fans, Dan Grosso pleased to be joined as always,
buy my pal Bart Scott for another season of Inside
the Jets. Bart, my buddy, my pal. I missed you.
How are you? I missed you? To my friend, the
season is on his way. We got football, it's nothing
to complain about, and we got an extra game to
play around with this year, which should be a lot
of fun. Here seventeen instead of sixteen, and it goes

(00:45):
fast because already one is in the books, and that's
what we're here to talk about. Of course. Jets open
the season in setback in Caroline against the Carolina Panthers yesterday.
Really a tail of two halves, right, I mean, they
dug themselves a whole the first two quarters, but made
some nice adjustments at how time, came back in quarters
three and four, got it to one possession, but just
ran out of time. Yeah, to your point, you know,

(01:06):
you talk about the continuity and the consistency. This is
the first time underneath a new system and live Bullets
were a team that you game planned for and a
team that has been game planning for you the entire
off season. And I thought early on they were a
little tight, a little rusty. Communication was lacking a little bit,
and it took them a while to get a handle
of what the Carolina Panthers was trying to do to them.

(01:26):
Once they did that, I think the defense played well,
you know, outside of a couple of bad injuries on
both sides of the ball, which limited you know, backups
are getting out there, which means that you have a
copy of a copy and you have a blown coverage
and miscommunication because maybe that person didn't get the reps
throughout the week. And you know, I thought outside of that,
they battled and they competed, and that's all you can

(01:49):
ask for. Now. We want to see them take the
next step and add the execution as I was disappointed
slightly in the running game because, you know, being a
player that has has gone against these type of you know,
running schemes and you know, from Mike Shanahan to Kyle
Shanahan to Gary Kubiak, I expect a lot more from

(02:09):
this system, and the Jets that they're going to be successful,
especially with a rookie quarterback, are going to have to
definitely get ahead of the sticks, and you do that
the easiest way by running the football. This is offensive
thrives on the running game. As you said there, that
Shanahan West Coast zone blocking scheme there with the run game,
you know, that really sets up a lot of what
they do offensively, and you know it was tough sledding

(02:31):
for them for much of the afternoon. They broke off
some nice runs late in the game, but maybe not
enough all through four quarters there. And you mentioned the
injury report. We'll get to that in just a little
bit here, because unfortunately it is a pretty lengthy list
of the walking wounded for the New York Jets here.
But the question I have for you is, and I'm thinking, Okay,
it's the first game of the season, first game where
everybody's playing sixty minutes. We have one less preseason game now,

(02:53):
and even the games that we do have, the regulars
really don't play that much anymore. So I'm curious, from
your standpoint, is a guy who did this when you
hit the ground running for real for that first game.
Is there some rust that you have to work off
from not seeing that much action in the month of August.
It's always some rush, right because timing right footwork. It's
like the little things and so things like taking a
step the wrong way, make sure you're not taking a

(03:14):
false step. That's why you have to be extremely disciplined
and understanding that this is a young team that really
don't have those ingrained habits that understand, Okay, this is
a short week, or hey, this is a fast week.
You know, this is a team that I don't have
a big history with. I don't go against the Carolina
pat This isn't a divisional opponent, you know. So I
have to do extra homework and I have to be

(03:35):
extra discipline because I don't know, like the subtle nuance.
I don't know, like what certain players doing their team
that's not their stars, right, because we always pay attention
to break down the stars. But just like those supplementary pieces,
those guys that are complementary pieces that may sneak up
on you just because you don't know. You know, now,
like when when you think about, you know, what happened

(03:55):
and one of the touchdowns that were giving up, you know,
to the backup, you know, you know safety, they came
in and replaced you know. I think red Wine right,
it was because it was almost as he didn't realize
or understand just how fast Robby Anderson was and he
didn't get out of his break early enough. Understanding so
little things like that, understanding your debt perception, understanding, Hey,

(04:17):
once this guy closes this cushion to probably three or
four yards, I probably need to open up and start
getting ready to run because it is a deep route
at the twelve yards. Both routes are defined about if
they're going deep, or if they're coming back, or if
it's a double move. Some miscommunication there on that play,
possibly with Marcus May, of course, the veteran safety trying
to break in a new partner. Because LaMarcus Joiner, who

(04:39):
started the game at safety next to Marcus May, he
was one of the walking wounded that we're gonna be
talking about it just a little bit here with the injuries,
but all eyes were gonna be centered on the quarterback
here in Zach Wilson making his regular season debut, JET
fans were pumped up to see how he was gonna
fair and you know what, he was under the rest
for much of the afternoon. He got sacked six times.
He was hit, you know, when the double digits more

(05:00):
so probably that I think any other quarterback in the
NFL in Week one. But yet he kept coming back
from more bart and when you saw the overall body
of work and he had the two touchdown passes in
the second half, I'll tell you there was a lot
there certainly that if you're a Jet fan, it got
excited by what the future holds. By just how he
performed in adverse situations. No, absolutely, right, Like this kid
showed that he had the toughness, and I don't want

(05:21):
him to have to put his toughness on display every week.
They have do a better job and making sure that
they protect him and keep him up right, because he's
not a big guy. Right. So that's why I said,
the importance to running the ball is really high, you know,
priority number one, because it sets up the play action,
sets up the boots and waggles. You know, he threw
one interception basically because Shack Thompson didn't bite on any

(05:41):
of the fakes because they had an established a run.
So it's hard to do play action when you had
no action in the running game. So you know, I
think they're gonna have to go back to the to
the drawing board figure out what they're doing against certain fronts,
because you know this week's opponent coming in is going
to break down that film and try and make Zach
Wilson struggle with the things that he to go with
and not give him opportunities to do what he does best,

(06:03):
which is run and throw off off schedule, off platform.
And these receivers have to do a better job making
sure that they catch the ball and make plays for
the young quarterback. I thought Alga Moore had some balls
that he would like back. Corey Davis, of course, has
a ball he would like back and listen, I want
to see more mems. MAM's getting one attempt for four

(06:24):
the yards is not enough. I understand he doesn't really
fit the traditional way or the traditional receiver in this
in this system. He's not a guy that's gonna make
you missing the phone bull. He's a long strider. He's
a guy that builds up speed. He's a guy that's
not going to give you that short area quickness. But
I tell you what, man, this guy is a baller,
and they have to find a way to get Zach

(06:46):
Zach Wilson a target that has a huge catch radius,
a guy that can also stretch the defense so that
he can work these intermediate routes. Because I think that
the the New England Pages when they come in, they're
gonna crowd the line of scrimmage. They're gonna abait him
into trying to beat him with his arm. They're gonna
try and put him ununto rest by trying to attack
the interior of this offensive line which struggled, and try

(07:07):
and get him off his spot and get him happy feet.
Denzel Mims just three reps, three snaps in that open
around Sunday against the Carolina Pandas, but like you said,
made that big catch in the fourth quarter a forty
yard or so. You know that the tools are there.
We saw the talent last season, and you hope that
he continues to maybe get a little bit more acclimated
to this system and maybe finds himself on the field
for more reps here. But the Jets wide receivers, they

(07:29):
do have some depth there, Coach Solo said earlier on Monday.
The Jamison Crowder, there's a good chance that he makes
a season debut in Week two against the Patriots there
for the home open er Keeling Coastal Day today. So
you do have some options to work with, which is
a good sign, Which is something that we haven't really
been able to say about this unit in years past,
bart talking about jet wide receivers, there is a lot
to work with this year. For if you're a Zach Wilson,

(07:51):
I mean you're talking about the depth, right, you have depth.
You have a lot of depth at the position. You
have a lot of options at the running back position.
You know, we gotta get Michael Carter in space. You know,
you got Tevin Coleman, right, you got Ty Johnson. You
know you gotta be able to to use those guys,
especially early in the season as guys are trying to
get in their conditioning, to get into shape to be
able to bounce back early on. It's more important, I believe,

(08:14):
to utilize your entire roster as everybody get acclimated, as
guys get used to cammeling high reps. You know, it's
usually takes to at least week three for you to
feel like you're in the tip top shape to be
able to run all day without getting tired. You know
this early in the season, right, it's all hands on deck, right,
we need everybody right because what happens, it's time. You know,
fatigue makes cowards of us, all right, and at some point,

(08:36):
you know you don't need to be a hero out
there trying to be afraid that, Hey, I'm gonna go
out here and I may make a mistake, or I
might go out here and come to the sideline in
my backup may have a great play Listen, you can't
be selfish right now if you if you're not tired,
If you're tired, you can't give it a hundred percent.
You need to tap out, come out, get rested, get
back in so that you can continue to be able

(08:58):
to wear your opponents down because they feel the heat
as well, you know. So you know the team that
gets in quicker shape, you know early on you can
win a couple of games because of high effort plays
that you know turns into turnovers or turn into big
plays just simply because you have you've been rested, and
you trusted your teammates. You're listening to inside the Jets
brought to you by Selective Insurance, be uniquely insured. Alright, Bart,

(09:19):
it's time for the run down the injury list. I've
been teasing it. We might as well let the fans
know exactly. It is a mass unit. Here McKay becked
in the left tackle. You saw him go down in
the heat, get carted off the field. He's gonna be
out minimum four to six weeks. With this good news,
those good news after what you thought initially when he
put his hands in his hand, his head in his

(09:39):
hands and put the tie over his face. You feared
the worst, which will be an a c L you know,
and maybe maybe he comes back and you know, it's
a new lease on life and he feels you know,
feels good. The fact that his season still can continue.
You know, I wish him with speedy recovery. But yeah,
that's that's a big one. If he needs surgery, it
will be a little bit longer than that. But minimum
you're looking at four to six there, and again we

(10:00):
talked about depth. It's good to have the veteran presence
at the tackle position. Because you saw George Fance slide
over to the left side. Morgan Moses stepped in and
man the right tackle position. You could do a lot
worse spark than having those two guys be your bookend
tackles until McKay Beckton comes back. So I think at
the very least the Jets are in good hands at
least the tackle position, given the experience that those two

(10:22):
guys have had in the NFL. Absolutely, I mean, I
think you hit the nail right on the head. The
fact that you have debt that you know, the gap
between your first you know, your first tackle and your
second tackle isn't as big as the gap has been
traditionally around here, you know, for the Jets. So you know,
you know, you know, fans no Beckton. He has his
strengths and weaknesses. You know Beckton has his as well.

(10:45):
But you can go in confident knowing that you have
somebody that's a veteran that knows that he understands the
job right by all means to protect you know, Zack Wilson.
And it allows Morgan Moses to go into his natural position.
That's great because he talks about the flexibility h of
f being able to play the right side and the
left side. And you hope that the depth that you

(11:06):
know that they built in the off season at the
wide receiver position will also helped the team as you
hope to get Kealing coldback, you hope to get Jameson
Crowder back. That gives you guys that can win in
a phone bull, Guys that can be a quarterback's best friend.
Uh guy. You know, guys that are inside that aren't outside,
that you can throw hot routes too, that you can
go bubble screens too, that it doesn't have to be

(11:28):
complicated to get the ball in their hands and let
them go to work. Now, on the defensive side of
the ball, we mentioned the safety position. LaMarcus Joiner, who
was in his first year as remember the New York Jets. Unfortunately,
his season didn't even make it through the first half.
He suffered a torn tricept injury. He's out for the season,
So Marcus May is gonna have to get used to
a new partner next to him, Ashton Davis, who was
the rookie last year. Of course, part he can't come

(11:50):
back still for a few more weeks. He's on that
short term, I are other guys are gonna have to
step up and after that secondary I mean, and that's
what that's where it really hurts you, right, because it's
about chemistry and it's about communication. And now that's just
gonna put moral Marcus Marcus May's plate. Also you see
early on right, you know, as the Jets linebacker Corp

(12:10):
trying to just in real time to a guy like
Christian McCaffrey that poses so many, you know, problems with
issues for opposing defenses nazardeen. You know, learning how to
play the position in real time in space for the
first time against the guy like Christian McCaffrey is a
tall task for anybody, But you know, C. J. Mosley

(12:30):
just gonna have to continue to do his best job
as far as being able to create pre snap awareness
for whoever is next to him, because you know that
anybody who's next to him are young players and they
may not see the formations and and be able to
understand what's happening to them by standing there. They need
somebody to to to to translate. And C. J. Mosley

(12:51):
is one of the best in the business in pre
snap awareness. It was good having impact out on the
field yesterday after missing all the last season. Of course,
Jamie and Sherwood, rookie linebacker who started yesterday along with
Blake Cashman, both suffered some injuries, they're gonna miss at
least a couple of weeks there. So, as you said,
revolving door on that defensive side of things, Barton, it's
look that defense has a lot of youth in it

(13:12):
to begin with, especially the corner position. We know that
right six of the seven corners on this team are
first and second year players. But it does provide a
valuable opportunity to gain valuable experience. You were in that
role once upon a time in your career. Somebody went down,
you stepped in. You never gave out the position. So
opportunity presents itself. Now let's see who's gonna take a
hold and grasp it. Absolutely, that's why you never complained, right,

(13:34):
You never complain because you're busy complaining you're not preparing.
You know when people talk about luck Lucas, when preparation
meets opportunity, and if you're not preparing that opportunity comes,
that's the worst feeling in the world. So like next
man up, right, you know, somebody's got to step up.
Somebody has an opportunity to have an opportunity, and what
better place to start than at home for your home

(13:55):
opener against the New England Patriots. Who's gonna bring in
a rookie quarterback as well. I'm tired of people talking about, oh, well,
the Patriots do this to rookie quarterbacks. Well, guess what.
The Patriots, for the first time in a long time,
have a rookie quarterback that looked good but only put
up sixteen points. So this Jets defense is gonna have
to step up and make sure that their rookie comes
out on top, not the other way around, no doubt

(14:18):
about it. And the Patriots left some points on the
field yesterday. They thought they were going in for a
go ahead scored late in that game, they fumbled it
and turned it over, so they were able to, unfortunately
for them, at least uh find a way to beat
the Miami Dolphins. You know they'll be reeling when they
walk into MetLife Stadium coming up on Sunday. Last injury,
we need to talk about Brandon Man the punter. We
saw him go down. He's down four to six weeks.

(14:38):
But my goodness, if there was an unsung hero in
that game yesterday, how about matt A. Mondola, the rookie
kicker who kicked and had the pun yesterday and he
averaged almost fifty yards a kick in six tries yesterday.
He really did an outstanding job. I mean when you
talk about next man up, sometimes, you know, when it
comes to the skill positions, you really don't say that, right,
because you talk about kickers. They're like marksman right there,

(15:01):
like archers, they're like ax stores right there, like golfers. Right,
it's precision. And for him to step in and you know,
it's bang bang, right, you're sitting there like, oh crap,
man is down, Oh wow, I'm punny. And for him
to just not even blink and not only just kick
the ball and fill the ball. Right, But we're talking

(15:21):
about some great punts flipping the field. Whenever you can
flip the field, it gives your defense a chance, right,
because you played the hidden yards, and the hidden yards
are a lot of times in the punt game, in
the kicking game, and I thought that they just did
a great job in winning, you know, the field position
battle from that standpoint, and you gotta tip your cap,
cap off to the kid. Man's gonna get back. But

(15:42):
until then, next man up, we have to try and
try and footprints and carry carry. One is only one
set of foot prints, and that's saying is then that's
one of your teammates carried you. That's see what the
just can do. And we hope to see a lot
of these injured players back on the fielding uniforms, certainly
sooner rather than later. When we return on Inside the Jets,
we will be joined by first year tight end Tyler Croft.

(16:02):
That's next, and this is Inside the Jets presented by
e Y Building a Better Working World. And welcome back
to Inside the Jets presented by e Y Building a
Better Working World, Dan Gross alongside Bart Scott. It's time
now for our player guest segment, which is also presented
by e Y Building a Better Working World. That we're
joined now by first year Jet tight end, just wrapped
up his first game in green and white on Sunday,

(16:24):
and that is the former Rutgers product. It's Tyler Croft, Tyler,
It's Dan Grosso, Bart Scott. Thanks for joining us on
Inside the Jets. How are you? I'm doing well. I
appreciate you guys having me on. What did you make
of your first game? Yesterday's a Jet? Yeah, I thought overall,
I think the team competed well. Uh. I think, uh,
we have some guys that are gonna fight to the
end every time, which is which is always something to

(16:45):
hang your hat on. I think we gotta go out
there and execute a little better across the board, But
overall I thought it was it was pretty good. Well,
speaking of the execution, you guys seem to play a
lot better in the second half. What adjustments did you
guys make it to have and how can you clean
up the mistakes? Uh, it's really getting into film and
understand what defense they're trying to do to us. And uh, yeah, coaches,

(17:09):
I think did a great job of you said halftime
adjustments and us just really clean enough footwork and technique. Well,
I don't think they did anything that was too out
of the ordinary, too crazy to throw us off. But
I just think communication across the board and just executing
each play in it now. And when you talk about communication,
that offensive line didn't spend a lot of time together
in the off season or in the preseason. Bara Tucker

(17:31):
mists a lot of time Becked ends up and down.
You know, how do you try and close the gap
by trying to get some chemistry. Are you guys meeting
together or you know, how do we kind of get
the communication issues that are amongst every team, especially early
in the season, that you guys trying jail and have
that non verbal communication. Yeah, it's the extra walkthroughs meeting time.

(17:52):
I know, Uh, we got a good veteran right side
of the line especially. I know we have some young
guys on the left. But between g VR go in
and we were talking about Moses earlier like that, we
got guys that can read defenses and really be loud
and echoing their calls, and uh, I know that they're
going to take command of that room and really kind
of put the onus on themselves. So it'll be cool

(18:14):
seeing whether we walk through more meat more meat as
a unit more so, we're all seeing everything the same way.
But I know we got stuff in the works to
kind of sort that out. Certainly, no team wants to
talk about moral victories, the final scores, the final score.
The objective is to win the game, of course, Tyler.
But the fact that you guys did play so well
after halftime, got yourself back into that football game on

(18:34):
side kick attempt there at the end to try to
even get one last possession. Do you take positives from
the way that game closed down, how you played in
the second half. Like you said, we always want to win.
I mean, it's it's it's not fun losing. We're here
to win the football game. We're here to win each week.
But yeah, I'm encouraged with how he came out on
the second half. I don't think anyone gave up or
took their foot off the gas, so to speak. Everyone

(18:56):
was rolling and we're fighting to the end. Like you said,
it came down to an onside kick that ultimately didn't get.
But I think that if we execute better earlier in
the game, we don't need to be in that situation
to begin with. And you guys got a young quarterback
in Zach Wilson. How do you guys get him come
from in a pocket? And what kind of conversations are
you having with him when he comes back to Hell
to kind of reinforce you know what you see as

(19:18):
you try and be his eyes as well. And how
do you guys establish this running game to try and
put your guys in more favorable downald distance and a
stay in the head of six is huge because when
we get backed up in third and long, the whole
playbooks open for the defense. They can kind of call
whatever they want so. I think ultimately it comes down
in communication and execution, like seeing everyone's on the same page,

(19:39):
seeing what they're bringing, whether they're bluff and coveragees to
the one side, trying to make his flip protections, just
recognizing that as a veteran unit, just trying to take
as much off of Zack's played as it can, because,
like you said, he's rookie quarterback and he loves the
pressure and wants to put it on himself. But we
got to do our best job trying to ease it
as much as we can. Talking to Tyler Croft here

(20:01):
on Inside the Jets presented by e Y Building a
better working World, yourself, Ryan Griffin, the tight end position. Collectively,
you guys made a contribution to that offense yesterday, Tyler,
you guys combined for six grabs. How do you think
the comfort level is right now, not just for yourself
but with the fellow tight ends about how they fit
into this offense moving forward. Yeah, I think there's a
good comfort level. I think everyone in the room recognizes

(20:23):
what their role is right now and how that's gonna
evolve and progress as the season goes. We'll see, but
Westco does a hell of a job at playing that
fullback role and he's he ain't scared to put his
face on anybody. Um and Griff and I think we
do a good job playing the tight end spot. And um,
he said, I'm excited to see how it evolves. And
I thought we made a pretty good contribution. I think

(20:43):
we left some stuff out there as a tight end
unit and myself too, So I don't know, it'll be
exciting to see it grow. You know, it's a tight
end You guys have a lot of input on a
lot of different areas where the special teams and you know,
offense of course, But when you think about it early on,
how was the conditioning because I know for me always
the first game of the season. You know, it is

(21:05):
when you're really going all out and you're trying to
make sure that you can keep your breath. But it's
hotness in the middle of the of the day, Carolina
was hot. What was it likeing? How do you feel
from a conditioning standpoint and how far do you have
to go? Yeah, I thought it overall, I was I
know my I don't want to speak for the other guys,
but I felt like my win was pretty good. Um,
that two minute drive at the end. I definitely getting

(21:26):
a little gas, but I mean I ain't coming off
the field with some time so but overall I thought
it was pretty good. Running down on punt. They have
me up on punt and kick return, like you said,
getting some special teams wraps along with I think about
forty plus snaps yesterday, So I don't know. Overall, I
thought my win was pretty good though. Conditioning what's tough yesterday,
guys being in that studio for a full, real regular

(21:48):
season game. Oh, are have to have to stay hydrated
for these regular season games, no doubt about that, though.
Have you thought about Tyler? Now? Looking ahead here? You
know the Panthers, it was an NFC opponent. Now up
next you got the New England Patriots. It's a division rival.
You got the home opener where fans have waited over
a year to come on and cheer this team in person.

(22:08):
If you thought a little bit about what that game
next Sunday is gonna be like for you, Yeah, we
know New England's gonna come with their bag of tricks
and they're gonna try and give us the whole roll.
Decks of coverages and fronts and they're gonna put a
lot on zax plate, so I know we're gonna have
to be locked in and like we talked about before,
that communication has got to be on point. You know what,
what is the typical Monday like for you? Right? Monday

(22:30):
is like the beginning to your all days, not really
a off day. But how do you guys operating around
the facility? Now you guys are gonna get together, is
it time to do the honey do list? At the
time to hang out with wife? It was the typical
money for kral uh, typical Monday. So today I got up,
came into some treatment, got try to get my legs
back under me from the game whatever, Nix and bruises.

(22:53):
Just trying to get some treatment on that. We had
a lift with Nicoline, our strength coach, which is more
of like a flow and run, just again trying to
get our legs and body back, and then we really
deep dove into the game and what we need to
execute better with communication and all those areas. And then
uh yeah, and then get a little time with mama,
get a little time afterwards to hang out and get

(23:15):
a little TLC. How about just coming back to the
area for you Tyler. You went to Rutgers, great institution,
by the way in New Jersey, one of the best.
I'm biased, of course, but what is it like kind
of having like a home coming here now back with
the Jets. Yeah, it's cool. I mean I had four
years at Cincinnati and then two with Buffalo, so I've
always kind of been in this Northeastern area. But coming

(23:37):
back to Jersey's fun. Man. I love the fans and
the passion they have in this area. I mean I
got a lot of it at Rutgers. It was fun
playing in front of them. So it seems pretty familiar
and it's kind of a it's a cool It's a
cool area to be into. I like being up here
in the Northeast. Now, you don't want to call weeks
or any week, especially early season, must win, but understand
how important it is to the fan base and how

(23:58):
important it is for you guys confidence to see yourselves
getting back at five hundreds. Like, what's this week like
for you? This is your first rivalry between the Jets
and the Patriots, but this is a big deal to
the fan base around here. How excited for you for
this week? And what can we expect? Yeah, I'm excited
to have the home opener and everything. Obviously, it's gonna
be a lot of fun play in front of them,

(24:19):
and it's been a while since we had MetLife packed
like this, Like you said, Uh, but I don't know.
I'm gonna try my best because I've been in this
league for a while now, to just try and keep
it like each week we're gonna try and handle each
one the same way. Obviously, each team is gonna give
their own set of challenges and we'll embrace it and
adapt how we have to. But uh, yeah, I just
try and keep calm, keep even keel, and take each

(24:42):
week as it comes. Do you do any fantasy football
type stuff? You have any leagues or anything like that.
I know you're a busy guy playing, but do you
get involved into that aspect of football? Yeah? I have one.
I have one team with a couple of my high
school buddies that we're still pretty good friends, and uh
we talked pretty regularly, So we gotta we have one
league on that now. Is that tough too, that they

(25:02):
pick your brain about? Maybe if they have some guys
on the Jets, maybe get some inside information. I mean,
are you willing to disclose some of those trade secrets
at all. They're keep them in to keep your your
own team better. Yeah, I keep that close to the chests.
That's yeah, they're not getting any inside info from me, Tyler.
I appreciate a couple of minutes, especially after a game
day here. I'm sure you want to go enjoy your

(25:23):
Monday day off, but we always appreciate you hopping on
and continued success the rest of the season here. I
think Jet fans are gonna be happy to see your
run out there in green and white each in every game.
I appreciate that. Thanks for having me, guys. Alright, So
that's Jets tight end Tyler Craft. Still a lot more
to do as we return on Inside the Jets presented
by e Y Building a Better Working World. And welcome

(25:45):
back to Inside the Jets presented by e Y Building
a Better Working World. Dan Grassa alongside Bart, Scott and Bart.
You know, you look at the performance of the defense yesterday,
the line. You know, going into the season, we were
really excited about the depth that that unit was going
to have. They suffered some losses along the way, of course,
Carl Lawson being the most notable. You know, Vinny Curry's

(26:05):
name also was a guy that you know, brought that
veteran presence. They're not gonna be part of the mix
this year, but if you looked at those how those
guys played yesterday, at least in the season opener, it
showed you that there's certainly some guys on that line
that can get after it. John Franklin Myers had a
big sack yesterday. He's a guy that's gonna take his
game to another level, you hope this year. It's a

(26:25):
lot of good pieces to work with. I think over
on that side of the ball, absolutely, and the strength
of that defense was the depth of that defensive line,
especially the interior pass rush. You know, Foley Folkasi is
really starting to develop as not just a run stopper,
but a guy that can also convert you know, run
into pass rush. You know, we know what Quinnin can
do as he continues to try and work back from

(26:47):
that injury. You know, Sheldon Rankins as well. You know.
But you know, I think you hit the nail on
the head when you talk about Franklin Myers, because this
is the guy that they stole two years ago from
the Rams, and they had high hopes for him and
the Rams had hopes woman. You know, finally he's starting
to live up to some of the promise that he's
shown as a young football player in this league, and

(27:07):
they're gonna need him. They're gonna need somebody to emerge
whenever the top dog goes down. Carl Lawson was having
a tremendous camp. You know, you lost him. It's unfortunate,
But if it's really gonna be next man up, you
have to step up and seize this opportunity, and you
have to have it from the front seven because you
have to protect that young back in who I think
did a good job outside of some communication issues. But

(27:28):
those communication issues are going to get tested even more
this week when you think about who's coming into town
and what they like to try and do and what
they like to try and make teams fight left handed.
They're gonna have to communicate. But if it's so much
better when you can get pressure by four and be
able to play complex coverages behind, you know, so it's
gonna be incomfident that this team continue, this unit continues

(27:49):
to come together and they figure out a way to
get pressure on the quarterback. Yeah. John Franklin Myers. Maybe
some fans forget this guy is a rookie. A few
years ago with the Rams, had a sack of Tom
Brady in the Super Bowl, So you know that he's
been on the big stage, can get it done in
big spots. And I think that the Jets are very,
very excited to be able to have an ascending player
like that to be part of this group. Here. You
mentioned the interior pass rush there guys like Sheldon Rankins,

(28:12):
Quinn and Williams fully fought Dukasi. I mean there is
some numbers to work with their for that unit and
fully getting the respect of his teammates. He was voted
one of the team captains earlier UH for this season,
and after yesterday's game bart he had a chance to
catch up with our team reporter Ethan Greenberg, now joined
by Jets defensive tackle fall aroundso Farokasi fully, the difference

(28:34):
between the first half and the second half on defense
was what, Um, we just had to go in and
make the corrections and I'll start executing all calls. Um.
You know, we've got some things to fix and some
things to build on. So um, coming into that second half,
you know, being able to just dive in onto details
is very important. You know. I just spoke to Justin

(28:56):
Hardy and he said that he feels like the team
beat itself. Would you agree with that sentiment? And I
believe that we have. We did beat ourselves, and I
think that comes down to details. So I think once
we all come back in together we watched the film,
we got some things to work on, you know what
I mean, We've got a lot of things to build on.
Those details are very important. Obviously, this is the first
game after a long offseason and exciting offseason. How do

(29:19):
you make sure that you take this in stride and
you keep getting better. You take the things that you
need to work on, utilize them and execute them. And
you know, we everybody knows the name of the game
in this league is the details. You know what I'm saying.
Execution is the very the most important thing. So and
that's how we'll take that and grow from them. The
offense shut out in the first half, puts up two

(29:41):
touchdowns in the second half. What did you see from
your rookie quarterback today? Um, listen, like, there are some
things that once again that I feel like we must
grow on as a team, as a collective offense, defense,
special teams. There's some good things that we did out day,
and I find those are the things we can build
on right and once we all get it all together
with Jail to o it, I have confidence in this

(30:01):
team will have a lot of success. Fully, let me
wrap up with this. I'm obviously not in that team
meeting room after the game. What was the mood of
the team right now? We're not happy that we lost.
No one ever is happy that we lost. You know,
we got twenty four hours to get over grievances because
we have another great opponent coming in. So as as
upset as we are, we better hurry up and turn

(30:23):
around to get encouraged because New England's coming in and
they have another great opponent that we have to face. Awesome,
Fully appreciate the time, Thank you, thank you, appreciate it
all right, thanks to Ethan and thanks to fully Bart.
Let me ask you, because they closed out talking about
the New England Patriots for the home opener in week
number two, and we're not minimizing anybody and taking anybody
for granted, you don't do that in this league. But

(30:43):
as a defensive player, can you speak for the guys
on that side of the ball. And do you think
that there may be looking forward to going up against
a rookie quarterback in Mac Jones, a guy who doesn't
have as much experience as let's say, some of the
other qbs in this league. Absolutely, just like the pages
are licking their chops right, and hey, we got a
rookie quarterback coming in. We can show him some things
that he's never seen before, you know, things that we

(31:05):
haven't put on film. And we're gonna make it difficult
for him because we're gonna play with his eyes, the
rotation of the safeties, guys moving around, guys having great
pre snap disguise and not really giving the answers to
the test, like a guy like Mac and Cheese, and
also like a guy like Zach Wilson. So it's gonna
be who's gonna protect their rookie quarterback the best? How
do you protect the rookie quarterback by running the ball,

(31:27):
making plays for him, and not putting him in adverse situations.
It's gonna be important that you flip the field if
you're gonna put pressure on them. You know, I was
encouraged by the fact that when you think about two
of the jets um touchdown drives. There were plays and
and in in series is of ten and eight, right,
which means that they had to work themselves down. There
wasn't some busted coverage where they had a big play.

(31:50):
They had to go down and they had to play
the sticks that the stamp ahead of the sticks. And
you hope that they can make sure that they can
sustain drives. The fact that it wasn't a lot of
laundry out there is a something that they can build
off of. It wasn't a lot of penalties out there,
and I know, so some of the sacks you might
have want to hold somebody a little bit or something.
Ma I mean, let's let's keep them off our rookie quarterback.
But I'm all in all, I felt like they were

(32:11):
disciplined poise. But you know, early in the season, everybody's
trying to figure out how to handle communication issues and problems.
You hope that you can handle those issues and clean
those things up while you're winning. You don't want to
be having a little you know, figure out all these
communication issues as you're losing. So this week rather you
know it won't be perfect again, right, But I want

(32:31):
to see a team that scrappy and finds a way
to win the football game. Fully alluded to that cleaning
some things up, but also as a defensive player, I'm
taking it upon myself to make sure that how to
protect you know, this rookie quarterback, not let him have
to get in the shootout, feel like he has to
do more than what he needs to do. He has
to press. They say, listen, it's a good thing. Some

(32:51):
of the best throws that rookie quarterback and some of
the best throws that I saw yesterday was quarterbacks making
great decisions not to put their offense or put their defense,
and bad situations by forcing balls when the play was
a dead play, throw the ball away. Live to fight
another dial. You always can make the Otse jardage up,
but you don't want to be facing second and twenty.

(33:12):
You don't want to be facing you know, third and fifteen,
where defensive coordinators can lick them to lick their chops
and and and really attack your quarterback and put them
in a bad spot. Remember, Jets fans, you can watch
Inside the Jets through the Jets app presented by Fubo
Sports Book. Go to the app store or Google Play
right now in search Official New York Jets. Speaking of
the Jets rookie quarterback part, let's hear a little bit

(33:33):
of Zack Wilson from after Sunday's game as he caught
up with Bob Schusan. All right, damn, thanks very much.
All right, Zach, So kind of a tale of two
halves in this game today, not only for your team,
but even maybe for yourself. How do you assess what
happened in the first half, maybe some adjustments and the
improvement in the second half. Give me the kind of
the wide angle lens of the way you're gonna look

(33:54):
at this game. Yeah, it's interesting. I really, I really
feel like it's just execution, you know, the little details.
Even first half, I felt like we were right there, um,
you know, really closely just doing something special. And I
think you he's got a hone in on our on
our little details, take advantage of our opportunities and um,
and just execute from the beginning. What do you think
you personally will build off of the most of that

(34:15):
second half performance and kind of knocking on the door
there and maybe being on the verge of pulling off
that comeback. Yeah, it really it's just understanding that no
matter what happens, you're always in the game and you've
got to be able to, you know, if I through
the adversity make plays even when you know you you've
made a couple of mistakes in the past or um,
you know, early in the game and maybe things are

(34:35):
going but you just have to keep you know, going
to going to the um you know, moving on and
just um, you gotta make plays in big time moments.
How about your relationship materializing on the field. But with
Corey Davis, I mean, obviously it seems like the work
that you guys put in and training, camping in the
preseason that that's a noticeable combination. That chemistry seems to

(34:56):
be there. Yeah, he's a great player, you know, and
he's someone I definitely look for obviously, especially in some
of those crunchtime moments. Um. Uh, you know, we're just
gonna keep getting better as a team though you know,
he's you know, been in the league for a while
so obviously knows what he's doing. Um, you know, the
team wise, we just got keep being better, alright, Zack,
thanks a lot for the time. We appreciate it. Look

(35:17):
forward to next week. Yeah, thanks, I know other I
mean Bart, Look, you know he took a beating in
that game yesterday, took a lot of hits. We know that.
And obviously, as a football player, your job is to
play to the whistle and to play to the very end.
And he just kept coming at them and he kept
making the throws and he kept hanging in there. And
that strength, that resiliency, that resolved, that goes a long

(35:40):
way towards ensuring you're gonna potentially have a nice, long
career and a successful career at that. And for a
first step, I think that that was a lot to
get excited for if you're a Jet fan. From Zach Wilson,
I mean, for me, if is what he's been, you know,
displaying a weekend and week out, and that's poise, right, poise.
You want your young quarterback to be mature beyond his years.
You want him to understand the grand scheme of the

(36:02):
you know, in the big picture, understand that he has
to be better, that this team has to be better.
And you can't get behind the sticks in this game.
You have to play it the right way to understand
situational football, and it's about doing the little things all
the little things add up to the difference between losing
in his league and winning in his league. The margin
for Era is small. You know. It's you know, it's
about not beating yourself. It's about learning from your mistakes.

(36:25):
And he's gonna have to lean on some of these
young veterans like Corey Davis to come through for him.
When he puts the ball up there, he gives you
that fifty fifty ball. You know, your young rookie success,
you know, is probably based on if you can make
a play for him and if he can develop that
trust when you talk about that trust of throwing the
ball blindly up there, even when your guys cover saying, hey,

(36:45):
my guy's gonna make a play for me, or he's
gonna knock the ball down, he's not gonna give give
the opposing team an interception. And that's what you have
to develop. You have to do it in a short
period of time because listen, you can't fall behind the
sticks in this division. Right. The Buffalo Bills lost the
Patriots laws, right, you have to make sure the Miami
Dolphins won, Right, So everybody's chasing the Miami Dolphins. Who

(37:08):
is a is A is a tremendous foe as an opponent,
got a team that was tenant six. I don't think
we talk about them enough. And you can't take games
for granted. You can't take plays for granted. If you're
if you're the Jets. I want to put on the
film and I want to say this is what a
Jet plays like, right listen, is that you are what
you put on film, and it Jets has some things

(37:28):
to clean up because they're gonna be attacked from the
interior part of the line. That's a veteran group on
the right side. You know we talk about from center
to right guard to right tackle. I need those guys
to be better. And you know, division games are always important.
Of course, this is one coming up against New England Patriots,
the only division game the Jets have the first four
or five weeks of the season, so certainly the urgency

(37:49):
is even greater to go out there and make sure
that you get the w there. When we come back
on Inside the Jets, we'll go around the NFL and
take a look at some of the Week one outcomes.
Dan Grossel part Scott with you on Inside the Jets
presented by e Y. Building a Better Working World and
welcome back to Inside the Jets presented by e Y
Building a Better Working World, Dan Grasso alongside Bart Scott

(38:09):
and Jets fans. If you're coming to Sunday's home opener
and MetLife Stadium, arrive early and be at the gates
at least one hour prior to kick off to avoid lines.
Before you get to the stadium, be sure to download
your mobile tickets to your phone via the Jets app
presented by Fubo Sports Book. iPhone users can add their
tickets to their mobile wallets. For more information, visit n
Y Jets dot com slash Mobile Ticketing. So one week

(38:31):
in the book's Bart in this season, it's here, full
slate of games, a lot of surprising results. Which one
caught your ride the most Yesterday? I'll tell you what
is new faces, new will gets, new starting quarterbacks. I
can't really call this first guy a new quarterback in
a new place because he was there last year, but
he took a gap year. I think the biggest surprise

(38:52):
was the fact that Jamie's Winston outside a a run
a k A out ship. I mean, I mean, you
talk about five touchdown passes and I don't know man,
Mike pett not being there on the defensive side of
the ball, you know, Joe Berry over there. That green
Bay defense looked lost. We know that they have a

(39:13):
lot of talent over there, but I don't believe that
they're you know that you think about the Saints at
thirty five points better than the green Bay Packers. Maybe
some of these distractions in the off season, a a
Ryan wanted to host Jeopardy, you know, coming around with
the Stevens a good ponytail. I don't know what's been
going on, man, but that was a horrible performance. And
it sounds like a round was throwing, you know, the floor,

(39:35):
the floor underneath the bus. When he talks about not
running the football, throwing into cover two. They anticipated blitz
and and and and the Saints did a great job
coming out with a different game plan. I wasn't used
to seeing Aaron Rodgers makes those type of mistakes. You
talk about two interceptions, you know, throwing the ball without
his feet on the ground, jumping up in the air,

(39:56):
throwing errand passes. Maybe maybe you know, this is the
where the green Bay Packers, you know, really have to
fight for this division because that was not a good
performance on Week one. But great job by Jameis Winston.
Horbor job by the Green Bay Packers. But you know
they all bottles back. But guess what, it's home coming
for them this week. They got the Lions that exactly,

(40:16):
You know that that that that will push aside any
bad performance they have when you see that team on
your schedule potentially. But you know, just one thing on
the Saints again, you think about adversity. Remember where that
game was played yesterday, Jacksonville, in Jacksonville, and there was
just as many Packer fans, if not more, then there
were Saints fans. So give New Orleans a heck of
a lot of credit for winning that game, much less

(40:37):
in lopsided fashion, which they ended up doing. There. One
of the team in the a f C so we
didn't really talk about yet tonight, and that's the Buffalo Bills.
This is a team that a lot of people are
picking even go to a super Bowl. And the Pittsburgh Steelers,
who so many wanted to write off that Ben is
done too many different faces on the offensive line. You
know what, they went up to Buffalo yesterday and they

(40:57):
punched that Bill's team in the mouth. Tell you what man,
and I never doubt that Pittsburgh Steelers their brand name.
Much like General Mills, much like Quaker, This is a
team that listen. You can always count on consistent effort
in no excuses. Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season.
They were in a barn burner, a physical game last year.
People want to talk about Ben Roethlisberger in the offense

(41:19):
really faltering when they were eleven and oh they only
won one more game, you know, to to end close
out of the season. But I would argue to say,
maybe the loss of Bush, maybe the loss of t J.
Watt was the bigger reason why they couldn't dominate on defense,
because Ben Roethlisberger got a couple of you know, data boys,
and some help from his defense and his special teams.
When you talk about what was the turning point in

(41:41):
that game, is j J is t J. Watt getting
get yeah to your block, plunning, t J. Watt getting
to Josh Allen getting the ball out two sacks without
even playing in the preseason. Man, pay that dude again. Absolutely,
and the Steelers, like I agree with you a percent,
don't sleep on that team at all. They were thirteen
and oh to start the season last ye there, they
must have been doing something right. Plus you're throwing naj Harris.

(42:02):
That's gonna add a boost that running game as we
move forward through the season. Here another good one in
the a f C yesterday. How about Kansas City and
Cleveland where the Browns. That was a playoff rematch from
last year. Both these teams have high hopes. Browns thought
that they were in position yesterday they took a pretty
significant leaded arrowhead, but that other team had number fifteen,
and when you have number fifteen on your team, the

(42:22):
game is never over. And just an amazing performance he
had down the stretch pulling out that victory and attention
to details right, because you look at what happens right,
just the little things. You know, you have a muff
punt right, and you have a blown covers Tyreek Hill,
you know, seventy five yard bomb. You know, Mahomes putting
it up well over. Only his guy can get it.
And that's the difference, right. You know, we talked about
what the differences from going from good to great. Right,

(42:45):
we know that Cleveland is good, but I think that
this Mahomes has proved that him and his team are great.
Eleven and oh and the month of September. He's never
lost a game in the month of September. He hasn't
lost mini games, but definitely in September can usually kind
of right up that win and the in the in
the win column. You know, this week's second week, they're
gonna have a tough test. It seems like they're just

(43:07):
gonna get all their a f C UM North opponents
out the way because they got the Baltimore Ravens coming in.
You know, coming off a short week that ought to
be interesting, but this is gonna be the difference because
when you think about that division, the an f C North,
you know, the Stillers are gonna be tough, the Ravens
are gonna be tough, the Cleveland Browns are gonna be tough.
And Cincinnati should that they're not any pushovers by beating

(43:27):
Minnesota with a young, talented Joe Burrow with a great
receiving corps. So when you talk about you got opportunities
to win games, if you're the Cleveland Browns, then you
have to win those type of games to rescipe for success.
It's always to win all your home games and split
with the good teams. There below five hundred and beating
one of the good teams. They're gonna have to try
and get that one back by winning the game, and

(43:48):
they're not supposed to win if they have any hopes
and going and represent the an f C in the
Super Bowl. But absolutely to try and win the division,
no doubt about it. That was a tough one. Necessary.
We got about a minute or so left. Let's real quick,
zero win on that game in Foxborough yesterday because it'll
be the Jets next opponent, the Patriots. They drop a
one point decision to the Dolphins. Give Miami a lot
of credit, you know, to It wasn't out of this world,

(44:10):
but all three phases came together. They got that big
turnover at the end to preserve the lead. Dolphins aren't
gonna be any pushovers again this year under Brian Flores. Definitely,
not Absolutely, This is a very well coached team. They've
been building and getting talent on his team to the top.
You know, outside cornerbacks, when you think about uh, you
think about Jones, you think about the Xavier Howard. But

(44:31):
I thought the rookie Mac and Cheese did a good
job and recognizing coverages, moving the ball, moving to defense
this and he may be a rookie, but he plays
well within the system. The Jets are gonna have their handsful.
They have to make him look like the inexperienced player,
not vice versa. Yeah, no doubt about that. And you know,
we might as well just mention one of the rookie
quarterback yesterday, Trevor Lawrence, the number one overall pick all,

(44:53):
the hype not exactly the introduction to the NFL that
Urban Meyer wanted. My goodness. You know that was a
tough afternoon for them in Houston against the Texas team
which everybody just ruled out completely this year. Absolutely, it's
a lot of guys on that team that has a
lot of pride to have been successful in his league.
You think about mark Ingram that was with the Ravens,
Tyrod Taylor. You think about Brandon Cooks, who's probably if

(45:15):
you had him on your fantasy team, you love him today. Right,
this is what is a team that's not gonna lay down.
And Trevor Lawrence really didn't see the field very well.
The old Tampa two. Everybody knows about Lovey knows that
cornerback sinks off if he has something to flat. He
plays high to low. You know, this is something that
you know, Trevor Lawrence is gonna have to remember and listen,
first time he's ever lost a regular season game in
his life. I mean, um, you went to Jacksonville. Get

(45:37):
used to it. Bart. That's all the time we have
for this week. This was a good first show in
the books, and we'll do it again next week to
recap the Jet home open ever against New England Patriots.
A good job, my friend. Man, it's gonna be exciting,
you know. I can't wait to see next week. Man,
it's gonna be fun. Absolutely. He's Bart Scott. I'm Dan Grassa.
Thanks as always for joining us on Inside the Jets
presented by e Y Building a better working World. So long, everybody,