January 5, 2021 • 45 mins
Hosts Bart Scott and Dan Graca review the 2020 season, look ahead to to the future and check in with guard Greg Van Roten to discuss where the team is looking to go.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for Inside the Jets presented by e Y
Building a Better Working World. Now here's Bart Scott and
Dan Grosso and welcome into Inside the Jets presented by
e Y Building a Better Working World. Dan Grosso alongside
Bart Scott and Bart. This is it my Man end
(00:25):
of the road, last show of the season. You said
it all a what yeah, boys, the man style man
come to me. All great things come to an end.
And just happy that we're able to make it through
and that the guys did such a tremendous job and
NFL and all the protocol they did a good enough
job to keep everybody as safe as possible. And you know,
(00:46):
we're gonna have playoffs and we're gonna have a Super Bowl,
we're gonna have a draft, and hopefully we can get
back to normal and we can continue to have our
traditions that we're using the customed to dealing with when
it comes to our NFL schedule. Two fifty six games up,
two d fifty six games down. And for the New
York Jets, the sixteenth and final game was played on
Sunday in Foxborough. They lose to the Patriots. They finished
(01:08):
two and fourteen for the first time in the history
of their franchise with that exact same record. But really
the big news comes Sunday night when we find out
that Adam Gates was relieved of his duties as head
coach after two years. And I mean, Bart, everybody kind
of saw the writing on the wall. You figured that
this was going to be the outcome for him, and uh,
you know, just didn't get the results necessary over the
(01:28):
last two seasons. Well, you know, this is a results
of business, and you know, you know, the organization decided
to say, you know what, let's not double down on this,
Let's see what we can do where we can get
better at And everybody is always under evaluation, or rather
as coaches rather it's strength coaches rather as players. We're
all constantly being evaluated in the organization thought it was
(01:49):
best to move forward with someone else as the head coach. Um,
let's hope that you know, Joe Douglas and the team
gets it right this time, and hopefully we can get
somebody that can be around for a long time, that
can build this program to as a young team, to
have a lot of flexibility, a lot of cap space,
a lot of draft picks, and um, if you build
this thing right, they could be built with a foundation
that has sustainable success for the decades to come. Yeah.
(02:12):
And earlier on Monday, Christopher Johnson did a conference call
with the media, and you know, the question was asked
about the committee and this searching process, and it's gonna
be you know, himself and Joe Douglas and him mel Hi,
the team president, and you know, but Christopher also said, look,
Joe has been around the league, Joe is well respected.
Joe's voice is going to be the one to carry
(02:33):
the most weight in this search. So it is gonna
fall on the shoulders of the general manager here to
be able to find that next leader. And that's the
thing you've heard a lot too over the last couple
of days, right stress from the organization. A leader, a
CEO type, someone who's gonna embrand a culture here. That's
what they're looking for to be the next head coach
of this team. Yeah, because you know, some people want
(02:54):
to offensive guru defensive gurus. That's not what you need.
What you need is a leader of men. And then
you know, you can find guys that are exceptional at
you know, the offensive exit and those and the execution
the defensive extra and those. But if you can't lead
and inspire people to come to work and work hard
when they hurt injured, and play for each other and
not play for themselves, then you're gonna have a team
(03:15):
that's gonna always underperform and always come up quite short. Yeah,
But when you have a team that's willing to lay
it on the line for each other, a team that
to buy in, a team that has believed not only
even what they've been taught, but also in each other,
and they lay it on the line, then they can
punch above their their their their weight class, right, And
that's what you want. You want somebody that's gonna come
here and there's gonna be a force multiplier for the team,
(03:38):
you know, and make guys play better and develop and
teach and and and teach these guys only how to
be great football players, but how to be great men.
Because if you're a great men, if you have you know, um,
you know each other, you hold each other accountable, and
you have morals and you you have a philosophy, and
you have your wife is bigger than your what, then
you're gonna have a team that's built on success because
they're gonna build each other up, not tear each other down.
(04:00):
Everybody's gonna pull the rope the same direction, and that's
where the start. That's where the search really starts for me.
You know, people can talk about, hey, we want Eric
the enemy because he's been on any red staff and
that's the hot team. That may be. He may be
a great coach, but he may not be the great
coach for your organization. But you have to find specifically
who's good and who's built for this market, who's built
for this team, who's built for the task at hand.
(04:23):
Every situation in the NFL is different. You know, the
Atlanta job is much different from the Los Angeles Chargers job.
That job is much different from the Detroit Lions job.
You have to find who fits the mold of what
you want to do, what you have and how you
want to move forward, and who can take that vision
and who can and make it a reality. No, definitely,
(04:45):
And look, you have a little bit of competition because,
as you said, there's five other vacancies in the National
Football League right now, so there's gonna be a lot
of good candidates. There's gonna be candidates that are gonna
be interviewed. You know from from multiple teams, but it
is gonna be incumbent upon the organization to find the
right guy and well up right now. The fact of
the matter also is with the Jets part and the
last time this team made the postseason, you were on
(05:06):
the team back in two thousand attendant. That's the longest
drought in the National Football League right now in terms
of making the playoffs. So change is inevitable when you
go to and fourteen when you have season the Jets had,
I mean in a sport and in a business where changed,
as I said, happens each and every year. Regardless when
you have a disappointing campaign like the Jets had, you
knew there was gonna be roster turnover, probably some coaching
(05:28):
staff turnover. Shoot, maybe they're gonna have a different catch
up in the cafeteria, just that you know, find ways
to make things better than they were in Yeah, you've
always been evaluating every year you talk about most squads
have turnover. There Jets are gonna have a little bit
more because they decided to move on from some guys
that may have been good players, but their time didn't
(05:49):
match up with the time that the Jets thought that
they can be successful. Now you know, Joe Douglas also
has gonna have to do some deep dives on the
personnel that he has. He has to make a decision
on sum Donald, do you use that number two overall pick?
On bringing in another player in here? Do you want
to go out and get somebody that can push him
a little bit rather Jamis Winston, Cam Newton or anybody
that's a retread or also, you know, what are you
(06:11):
gonna do with Marcus May? You know, what are you
gonna do with Jordan Jenkins? You know, what are you
gonna do with Harry Amason? What're you gonna do with
some of the free agents or something like that, you know,
between restricted, unrestricted and whatnot. So there's a lot of guys,
as you said, and that's you know, that's part of
life in the NFL, right And what what moves are
you gonna make in free agency? You know, because what
you're doing free agency really affects what you're gonna do
(06:32):
in the draft. So it's all about you know, what's available.
It's about also identifying, I believe, who's going to be
your CEO and your CEO in the face of every
organization is always the head coach. And once you do that,
then you can say, okay, these are the players that
I need. You don't want to go out and start
making decisions and start bringing players in into the coach
the man that's gonna cook the meal. It's trying to say, hey,
(06:53):
these are the type of ingredients that I need, These
are the type of tangibles that I want out of
our players, and then start going forward that way. So
I think all attention right now has to be on
the head coach had head coaching search. A lot of
these head coaching candidates are currently on rosters and they
won't be available to to interview until they have a
bye week, until they lose. And you know, right now
(07:14):
it's you know, it's a lot of good opportunities out there,
and you look at you know five, I think six
may have come on. I don't know. You have Jacksonville,
you have Atlanta, you have the Jets, you have Yes,
six total is crazy because I mean, so would you
blink every time you look up it's a new update
to say, hey, this guy may be out of who
knows after what we witnessed yesterday in Philadelphia, if that
(07:37):
was enough, you know, of outrage for them to say,
you know what this guy is and the leader you
know this is, this is something that we don't stand for,
and that's a black guy. So we want to move forward.
And if they decided to say, you know what, Carson
Wentz is our guy, you know. So, I mean it's
a lot of things that's going on. That's what makes
the nfls intriguing. It's thirty two teams. Everybody has an opportunity.
Some guys think that they're closer than they are. Uh
(07:58):
some guys are farther away than what they think. And
then you know, you you go out and you make
these moves, right you know, you look at what Miami
did last year and going out and making all those transactions.
You know, it almost got them to a to a
playoff run and it fell short. But I mean that's
the team that you think that you're gonna have to
deal with within your division. You talk about the division
now that's being re sculpted, and what are the past
going to do as far as trying to you know,
(08:20):
figure out what they're gonna do with their quarterback situation.
All that all that effects, all that effects this division
because This division is young, and right now it looks
like the Buffalo Bills are in their window, and how
are you going to catch up and be able to
compete for the division first? Every team that I've ever
played on the goal was to win the division first,
and that can't be any different here for the Jets.
(08:41):
So how do you build your team to defeat and
to win your division. It starts with the head coach,
and it starts with the draft. It starts with creatorcy,
It starts with figuring out which one of these guys
that played has you know, earned the right not to
be on the back end of the rosing, that could
be on the front end of the roster. I love
what Batham did and how he finished the season. I
(09:02):
think he showed a lot of promise of guys who
we all know that when Quinny Williams is is played, well,
how do we get this team healthy. How do we
figure out how to how to build these guys up
so we don't have as many injuries as we've had,
How do we develop Milt? There's so many things yesterday
that was that was a side of relief yesterday when
we saw Mackay go down in the game and then
(09:24):
he was able to get off and walk off of
as his own power. And you know, we didn't hear
anything today that there was anything serious, but that was
the last thing you wanted your stub left tackle to possibly,
you know, be undergoing some sort of a rehab in
his first off season as a pro. That was, you know,
like I said, thankfully, something that we don't have to
deal with, right. I mean, I think the biggest growth,
you know, for any player always comes from year one
(09:45):
a year two, because just thinking all these young men
had the most difficult tasks of any rookie class in
the history of the sport. They basically had to learn
mentally and not have the physical rip to kind of
make it muscle memory that had to go out every
day and to do zoom call things that nobody had
ever did before developed technology, learned technology, learn how to
learn on the board. And we all know that everybody
(10:06):
is not that type of learner. Some people are are
physical learning, they're not visual learners. And they had to
do that. And you know, so I commend these young guys.
I think it's gonna be a breath of fresh air.
These guys get to come out and hopefully do it.
You know. Hopefully, you know, by the time you know,
O T A s come back around after the draft,
we'll be able to have a regular off season. We'll
be able to have a modified off season where guys
(10:28):
can get in and they can spend time with their coaches,
they can be taught, they can sit in the classroom,
they can be around their teammates. You know, as since
vaccine continues to spread and people are getting more access
to it, eventually it's going to come to the athletes
and to people that you know that that that place sports,
you know, whether it's collegiate or high school, and you know,
(10:48):
people can feel like they can be in the same
room with each other, that they can lean on each other,
that they can push each other, they can sweat on
each other and not know that they can be and
know that they can be okay. So you know that
I think these young guys are going to get it
because they've done the hard park. They've done it as
hard as you can do it. So what are they
gonna do now that they're able to be taught, They're
able to get that that that face to face type
(11:08):
of experience, and Betton is going to be able to
get in football shape. You know, we we watched Quinny
Williams last year come back with a different body once
he realized what the NFL was all about. I think
when you look at Beckton, he's gonna come back and
he's going to figure out how not to get deemed
up so much, how not to be in and out
of the line up as much so he can continue
to be a dominant player for US. Sustainable along with
(11:29):
sustainable um pairs of time where we don't have to
worry bout him going down, whether it was the pack,
whether it was an ankle, whether it's you know, whatever
happened this week inside the Jets is supported by bet
MGM Place your Football Parlay's props and Futures bets at
ben MGM Sports all season long. Head coach, of course,
getting that right is important. Then when you talk about
the personnel, you got to figure out the quarterback situation here.
(11:52):
And Christopher Johnson was asked earlier today about Sam Donald
and he said, personally, he hopes that Sam Donald is
back with the team, is able to have this great
career as a member of the New York Jets. Like
everybody envisioned a couple of years ago, but he also
stressed that the decision ultimately on Sam is going to
be made by Joe Douglas and whoever the new head
coach is going to be. And well, the number two pick,
(12:14):
like you said, it does present a wide array of
possibilities for Joe Douglas and what he could do whether
you make the pick, and as you said, you could
trade down, acquire more picks and still get yourself a
very good player. Because you know, you're talking about a
two and four team football team, a team that has
a lot of holes. I think that there needs to
be a large infusion of talent on this football team
to be able to turn around. I don't think one
(12:36):
guy or two guys is gonna make that happen. But
with the draft serving as a foundation, bart, I think
that the one thing you can draw back on if
you're a Jet fan is what Joe Douglas did this
pass spring when talking about his first draft. Because I
know one season does not make a career, but by
and large, the rookies that we saw from the class,
(12:56):
those guys did some nice things and look to have
some promise based on what we saw on the field
this year. Yeah, they're only going to get better, right
And you know they had the opportunities and you see
Frank Gore, you know, got a sixteen thousand yards and
Ty Johnson was able to get some opportunities. But you
look at guys they bash me. Look at Frank and
Myers that I think really flash. You know, late in
the season, Nathan Sheppard, you know, I know he's not
(13:18):
a new guy, but you know he's been around for
three years. He's he's flashed a lot. You know, you
look at Fadakasi and what he was able to do.
You know, I know a lot of those um you
know a lot of people are frustrated with the with
the fifteen yard penalties, but you know those are good
good you know, to me, those are good football moves
that start right on that because I mean the one
yesterday was in a week before. I mean, Cam Newton
(13:43):
six five, he's actually taller than you. He may be
just as strong as you, and you gotta get him
down and you don't do that forcibly and then try
and not be able to land on him after worst.
That's just the part of doing business. He'll learn, you know,
maybe that he'll start falling and putting them on top
of him, um or something like that instead of you know,
bending them over. He'll he'll pull him to the side
and try and do it that way. But you know
a lot of these guys showed a lot of promise,
(14:04):
man I like how you know the team really rallied
him and ascended, and you know we're gonna get guys
coming back, you know, Marcus May that's gonna be a
negotiation that we're gonna keep our eyes on. But it's
just so many good players that are going to be
available because of the pandemic. It's not going to be
a lot of teams that's going to be able to
protect players that normally would be protected because they don't
(14:26):
have the funds to spend that luxury tax money because
it was no concession, because it was no parking, because
it was no PSL. You know. So the Jets are
in a great position where they have a lot of money.
They're gonna be attractive destination, and it's up to Joe
to make it even more attractive destination when he's able
to get some of these guys in the building and
show everything that that facility has to offer and also
(14:46):
give them a front a first hand experience about what
it's like to work for the Johnson I'm kind of
curious here, you know, because again we go back to
the head coaching search, and that's gonna be the first
thing on the list to do. And you played for
three head coaches. You never played for a head coach
straight from college. He did play for two guys though,
who it was their first head coaching opportunity with John
Harbor and Rex Ryan. That was their first time, you know,
(15:09):
as head coaches there. But if you can put yourself
back in the locker room, let's just say, because you know,
it's not like we're speculating here or anything, but if
the possibility were to arise that Joe Douglas decides to
pluck a head coach from the college ranks and select him,
how does a professional athlete of veteran embrace a guy
coming from the college ranks who maybe never coached in
(15:31):
the NFL before. Well, we just want to know, you
know what, what, what are your answers to the courtions
that we're gonna have And you're not gonna get those
those questions as a as a player, do you get there?
You want to make sure that that the guy that
comes in um is honest. I want to make sure
that he's a leader of men. And you want to
see what type of staff you can put together. You
know the most important part I think with the Judge
(15:52):
need more than anything, they need a coach that as
a teacher. I need somebody that's going to help them,
you know, get their football accumate. Who's going to put
enough teachers around him? You you know that you take
we tip our hats off in this time to Joe
Judge with what he was able to do. But he
was able to bring in guys that were teachers, you know.
You know, whether it was Jason Garrett or whether it
(16:13):
was these are all guys that these are guys that
were teachers, you know, whether em the offensive line guru
that he brought in from New England. You have to
find somebody that you know, and you never know who
people know, and you know until you hire, until you
bring him in and you see what type of staff
they can put together. You know, I don't want any
arranged marriages because those things never work, you know, So
(16:35):
you don't want somebody coming in. I don't want somebody
coming in and says, hey, you have to take this coach. Now.
I know the special Jame coach here has done a
tremendous job. So maybe that's one exception. But as far
as offensive defense, you gotta bring people that they feel
like they can trust in the foxhold. Y'all know a
couple of years ago when Matt Rule wanted to get
his own uh coaching staff. So these are things that
are going to be concerned of some guys because they're
(16:56):
gonna want to make sure it say, hey, we only
may we may only get one by the the apple
as being a head coach will make sure that we
are able to to have the people that we feel
comfortable working with. And that's a process that's something that
Joe Douglas is gonna have considered. You know. I see
if Joe Douglas lanes or something his favorite places, his
favorite designations rather Chicago, whether it's you know, Philadelphia, whether
(17:17):
it's Baltimore. You have wink Markdale sitting out there. It's
a lot of good coaches around here, but it's not
about you getting a good one. It's about you getting
the right one. I think right one for you and
the right one that that can lead tame this organization.
You hit it right on the head. You know, the
right coach for the New York Jets might not be
the right coach for the Detroit Lions, and vice versa.
So I think that was a great point that you
made a little bit earlier on. When we come back
(17:38):
on this edition of Inside the Jets, will be joined
by the right Guard for the Green and White, Greg
Van wrote in the Long Island Native joining us next,
It's Inside the Jets presented by e Y Building a
Better Working World, And welcome back to Inside the Jets.
Dan Grossi here with you on the season finale edition
of our program, and it's time now for our player
Guests segment, which is also brought to you by e
(17:59):
Y Building a Better Working World. Were placed to be
joined by a local product who just wrapped up his
first season in Green and white. It is the right
Guard for the New York Jets, Greg Van Roten is
nice enough to join us here on the program. Greg's
Dan Grassa, thanks for joining us here and Inside the Jets.
How are you? Thanks for having me? I'm I'm good.
You know the season's finally over and looking forward to
(18:22):
healthy off season. Now it's only been you know, about
twenty four hours or so since you guys left that
field in Foxboro after the Patriots game. There, have you
had a chance to kind of process everything that you've
been through for the last four months or do you
think that that's still coming over the next few days
or weeks. It's still coming. I mean, the end of
the season is always something that's very um sudden. You know,
(18:46):
you're in this routine, you're grinding day in and out,
and then all of a sudden, you know, schedules over,
there's nothing to prepare for next week, and everyone kind
of goes their separate ways. So it's uh, pretty you know,
sad in that regard, um, but it's exciting that you know,
you get to look forward to another off season to
(19:06):
train and then you get to see what happens with
free agency and this year with us, you know, coaching search,
and you know there's gonna be the draft and all that,
and then we get right back to it. So I
guess it's the the sadness of one season ending with
the excitement of what's on the horizon, you know, And
you mentioned the coaching search, right. Adam Gates was relieved
of his duties last night by the team. And you know,
(19:30):
when you kind of put a PostScript on this season,
the fact that there was a coaching change, does that
influence the outlook anyway or the other about you know,
everything that you guys just went through. Uh No, I mean,
it's just like I said, it's exciting to see what's
gonna happen or they're going to bring in and you
know where you fit in that scheme or in their vision.
(19:53):
So you hope to be a part of it going
you know forward, Um, you trust and what Joe Douglas
is trying to build here, and you just want to
add value as a as a player and as a
veteran um specifically. Yeah, it's never a pleasant time, of course,
right Greg. Whenever you have a coach and change at
the end of the season, there's families involved, and you know,
(20:13):
from a human story and his human standpoint, it's difficult, certainly,
But you being a player and changes evident in the
National Football League, right it's a part of the fabric.
Last year when you were with the Carolina Panthers, you
also experience a coaching change when they got rid of
Ron Rivera. Doesn't make it any different, does where you
kind of prepared for something like this dealing with it
now that you've been through this now two years in
(20:35):
a row. Yeah, I mean, I guess, um, last year
with Ron was my first experience, um, because they did
it towards the end of the season. We still had
a couple of games leapt so that was very strange
because you know, he was relieved of his duties. You
have an interim head coach, um, and this the whole
feel of the team changes there. You know, this year, Um,
(20:57):
the writing was on the wall obviously for Adam, and
when it finally did end, it is very sad. Like
you said, from the human element. You know, the guy's livelihood,
his job and it's over. And you know he's someone
that believed in me and brought me to this team.
So I'm grateful for that and hopefully I can you know,
stay here and like I said, add value to the team. Um.
(21:20):
But you know, it's the NFL. It is a brutal
game and it's a brutal business because if you're not producing,
you will be replaced. That goes from the top down.
You know, GMS coaches and especially players. Year over year,
there's lots of roster turnover across the league, and the
only thing that's consistent really is the colors of the
uniforms because you saw last year in free agency you've
(21:41):
got guys who had been in one jersey for two
decades like Tom Brady, and all of a sudden, he's
in Tampa Bay. So it's, uh, it's definitely wild in
that regard. You know, earlier today, you guys had an
in person meeting with the team with Joe Douglas and
Christopher Johnson. What was conveyed in that setting to you guys,
(22:01):
You know, it's just a quick little post mortem on
the season and how much they appreciated, you know, the
effort that the players put in day in and day
out to you know, get our first couple of wins,
and going forward, you know what they're looking for specifically,
um in the players and the type of guys are
(22:21):
going to continue to bring in and the coaches that
they're gonna you know, bring in to right the ship.
Um So it's more you know, forward looking than you know,
looking back, because everyone knows what happened this year, so
they will they'll figure that all out and then we'll
see what happens with the coaching staff that they bring
in a head coach and go from there. You know,
(22:42):
you and I were talking a little bit before we
started the interview, and and and you had said that, Okay,
the record, despite it being two and fourteen, you wouldn't
know it by the way you guys practice day in
and day out. So when you look back and try
to make sense of you know, how things got to
where they did. Um, you know, is it one thing
in particular as you can put your finger on, is
to why the results weren't there on game days even
(23:05):
though you guys really went out there on the practice
field and gave it your all each and every day.
That's never one thing, um, as to why you don't
win a game. Sometimes you're just playing a better opponent. Um.
Sometimes you get out schemes, sometimes you get outplayed, sometimes
you don't execute. Sometimes you beat yourselves. So you know,
we found different ways to lose a lot of games
(23:27):
this year. And that was the most frustrating thing. And um,
you know, it felt like every time we fix something
in one place, we sprung a league somewhere else. So
you know, as you keep trying to plug holes with
new things keep popping up to playing whackable. And you
know it's tough to win this league when you're a
(23:47):
good team and um, but when you're inconsistent, you know,
on execute, you know you've got guys on and off
injured reserve. Um, it's tough. And you know we we
learned that uh hard and long way this year. And
you just got off of injured reserve yourself. You have
gotten hurt in the Raiders game, missed the next three
and then he came back to play in the season
(24:09):
finale Sunday up there in Foxboro. How important was that
for you, just to make sure you would get back
out there with your guys at least one more time
before the season ended. Yeah, it's very important. Um. Like
I said earlier, you always want to go into the
off season healthy. So you want to um playing that
last game, finish the game, and just know like all right,
you know my body is where it needed to be
(24:31):
to have a healthy off season. So there's no you know,
there's no rehab or anything I need to go through
before I can start training for next year. And then
just from a personal standpoint for me, you know, I
wanted to be back out there with my guys. For
you know, presumably one last time as this version of
the offense. Um, you know, with a lot of free
agents on our team, a lot of uncertainty with a
(24:54):
lot of guys going forward, so we don't know who's
gonna be here, who's not gonna be here. Um, I
don't know if I'm gonna be So I just wanted
to go out there, play one more game with everybody
and just kind of, you know, enjoy it. Um, have
some fun and you know, at the end of the day,
you're doing what you love and you need to play football.
So one more opportunity to play game. You have to
(25:15):
get excited for that. All right, let's go in that
direction because you mentioned it right. You're a Long Island native,
local product. You grew up a Jets fan to be
able to come back play for the team he grew
up rooting for. Here. You know, it wasn't the one
season that you wanted to have, at least in terms
of the team and how they perform. But number one,
what was this experience like for you? And number two?
(25:36):
I mean, I guess it goes without saying, but I
assume you would love nothing more than to come back
again for another go around. In green and white. Oh yeah,
I mean so the thing that stumped the most about
this year was being so close to home but not
being able to share that with my friends and family. Um,
you know, who are so close to home. So it
would be nice to play a home game in MetLife
(25:58):
in front of you know, my friends, my parents, into
my brothers, my wife. Um, that would be nice. And then, um,
you know, just like you said, growing up a Jets
fan and being able to join this organization and be
a part of its history is Um, it's so exciting,
and I just really like I would like to play
here the rest of my career however long it's gonna be. Well, Greg,
(26:20):
hang tight, we're gonna have more with you coming up
next year on Inside the Jets, the season finale edition
right here presented by e Y Building a Better Working World.
All right, welcome back to Inside the Jets presented by
e Y Building a Better Working World. Dan Grassa Bart's God,
and we're joined by Jets right guard Greg Van Rotten.
Seasons over body has to heal. When do you get
(26:41):
back into the training and getting ready for next season? Yeah,
you don't want to take too much time off, but
you definitely need to relax a little bit. So, um,
you know, for me, I'll probably take about two weeks
off and then I'll start, you know, getting back into
light training, active recovery type stuff. And you know, the
one positive that came out of the virtual off season,
(27:04):
which we have this app where the strength coaches can
just upload um, you know, workouts things like that onto
it so you can just look at it on a
daily basis and see like, all right, I'm gonna do
this today, and um, it's pretty straightforward. But yeah, you
definitely need to let your body rest a little bit.
But if you go too long, it's gonna be harder
to get back in shape, and before you know it,
you know, potels are starting, um one way or another. Well,
(27:29):
how do you recover mentally? Because I think mentally this
is probably was the most taxing year for any athlete,
for anybody in the world. So how do you get
your mind right and kind of go to a place
where you can recover and get ready for the grind
all over again, but also recover and think about all
the things that we've learned. You know, you guys will
kind of in the bubble, but not in a bubble
(27:49):
you know where you guys are athletes just naturally were
isolated from some of the issues that the world deals
with because you have the best medical staff. You're being
attended to. But I mean men, like now you're back
to reality and now like you you're in it every day.
It's gonna be uh, it's gonna be a different type
(28:09):
of off season for sure. Um, typically the end of
the year. You know, my wife is a teacher. She
has her winter break in February, so we've always gone
on a trip together somewhere. Um. You know, we last
year we're St. Lucia. Before that we went to Iceland.
So you know, it's gonna be different this year because
I can't really travel that much. She's not allowed to
go to certain places um as a teacher because you
(28:30):
don't want to go somewhere and bring you know, COVID back.
So we're gonna have to figure that out because you
definitely do need that mental break of the season is over,
you know, take your breath, reset, recharge the batteries, and
then get ready to start training again. And like you said,
it was a year unlike any other mentally for a
(28:53):
lot of guys. You know, you know, the rookies have
nothing to compare this too. So I feel for those
guys trying to navigate this year that they had to
just go through with, you know, their college seasons ending
and then they start their pro day draft training into
a non existent o t A, into a completely different
training camp than anyone's ever gone through, into one of
(29:13):
the strangest regular seasons in regards to what was required
off the fields. You know, there's a great like social
responsibility to your teammate this year. Two, don't screw this
up for everybody else. Don't be the guy that goes
out and brings it back into the building and all
of a sudden, you know you're playing without a quarterback
or you have twenty guys on the COVID list. So
(29:35):
that's stressful, you know, whether you want to admit it
or not, like that is something you don't you don't
want to be that guy. And once the season ends,
it's like, all right, you don't have to test every day. Um,
you can kind of you know, let your guard down
a little bit, but you've still got to be you know,
diligent because generally sure the long term effects of coronavirus
yet um, and you know, you just gotta be careful
(29:58):
so as far is what you can do mentally, and
to kind of reset is just I think, you know,
you gotta get away from football for a little bit,
you know, hang out with your friends and your family
that you're able to see and just kinda unlined a
little bit relaxed, and then get yourself ready to go
because before you know it, there's another season starting, well,
(30:21):
you know, kind of you know, following up on a
theme about the coronavirus and its effects on teams. You know,
now we have the postseason coming, and I'm sure like
sometimes I would say I wasn't gonna watch playoffs because
I didn't care who won because I didn't win. But
then eventually I would turn it on because it's entertaining,
right and you you want to see what happens, and
you want to see the drama. The greatest reality show
(30:42):
which is Football Live Sports. Uh. But do you think
that these guys and maybe being some type of bubble,
do you think it would be an added advantage for
teams to put themselves in their own type of bubble
like you guys did for training camp. Because if a
guy like my homes or if a guy like Ben
Roethlisberger gets COVID. You know they don't They're not going
to stop the game for these guys, at least traditionally
(31:03):
that we believe they're not going to stop the game.
And that could be an unfair competitive advantage if somebody
has to play without Alvin Kamara, which we don't know
coming back from off the COVID list. So do you
even bunker down even more, kind of tighten the screws
even more if you're in the playoffs saying hey, let's
go to this bubble and let's make sure that the
other teams are the ones have to deal with COVID
because it could be an advantage where we could beat
a team that maybe we couldn't beat if you know,
(31:25):
they didn't have COVID or somebody that was important to
them get come down with COVID. Yeah, I think, Um,
you know, this is one of those situations that we've
not had to experience yet. And you know, the NFL said,
you know, we're not rescheduling games, um because of competitive
you know, disadvantages. So that really shifts the responsibility to
(31:47):
the teams to make sure that they don't let coronavirus
into their building, because, like you said, if you're team
like the Chiefs and the Homes gets coronavirus and he's
out for at least two weeks, you know, that's two
playoff game that could be the super Bowl and then
then what you know, you made it all this way,
through all of this stuff that you had to navigate
(32:08):
to even get to that point. You know, you've got
to buckle down as an individual and as an organization
to you know, follow the protocols and make sure that
it doesn't become an issue to effect your play in
the postseason, because you know, a lot of the things
we've seen this year across the league, it's not necessarily
that someone has contracted it and spread it. It's been
(32:31):
more that someone contracted it and there was several close
contacts that were high risks that had to be held
out whether or not those people got sick. Um. I
think most of the times they didn't get sick. So
it's just like, hey, like, if you follow the protocols
set by the league and the union, you would have
been able to play. So take it seriously because whether
(32:52):
or not you think it works, whether or not you
think the virus is a big deal or not like
these are the rules to play and to get paid,
so like you or follow them. And as far as
like teams you know, bubbling willingly or if the league mandated,
I just don't think it's something that we're going to
see because we've come so far already, um, with the
protocols that we've been operating under, and I just don't
(33:15):
think it's something necessary. I know there was a couple
of teams whose coaches had to bubble, and you know
that's just one of those things where if you have
a union, you know you need to collectively bargain that stuff. So, um,
you know, I trust the guys. I think we've done
a great job, all things considered across the league, with
a few exceptions of handling this pandemic. And you're the
(33:38):
union representative for the team, so certainly you're all caught
up with all those type of things. Here, all right,
let me transition. We're gonna turn you from player into
analysts here because we're in the playoffs and it gets
underway next week here. I think at last check, you
guys played I think six teams that made the playoffs
this year during the regular season, so out of the
teams that you went up against that are still in
(34:00):
here in the postseason. Give me a little scattering report.
Which teams do you think are going to be the
strongest contenders once playoff football begins next week? Obviously, the Chiefs,
you know, they're the champs from last year and they
showed this year that they are still for real. You know.
They their offense is so fun to watch, um, when
you're not playing against them. Um, they just you know,
(34:22):
they find creative ways to get their guys the ball.
They use every bit of the field. You know, they
stretched the field, they make you defend every inch of
grats and they are really difficult to play again. So
the Chiefs are you know, they're not funt art course,
but they are a fun football team to watch. And
then in our division specifically the Bills. I think they've
(34:43):
shown a lot of people over the last you know,
a couple of seasons that they've been building something and
that they're for real. And you know, Josh Allen's been
playing well and their defense is great and you know McDermott,
it's a really good coach and they've done a good
job building that team over the last few years. So, um,
you know, it's hard not to root for the City
(35:04):
of Buffalo just because they are Their fan base is great,
and you know, they've been through a lot in regards
to the playoffs, so it's been a long drought for
them to see them come back. And then, um, you know,
a little bit of a hometown thing for me. I
went to U penn and the coach of the Browns
is the pen Grads. Um. Secretly, you know, kind of
pulling for them to make a little bit of a run. Um.
(35:26):
But you know, those are probably the three teams in
the a f c UM that we played against that Um,
you know, I'm excited about. And then like the Seahawks,
they're just one of those teams where it seems like
the game is never over. You know, they're not gonna
they'll they'll blow out some teams, but a lot of
times you feel like they just find a way to
win it on the very last play and the last possession,
(35:48):
and possessions are very precious in the postseason. So you
know they're going to be a team that's the perennially
the powerhouse or perennially around. So there, you know, they're
fun to watch. Um, but I'm sure if you're a
fan of the team, they might be very stressful. And uh,
you know it's kind of you know, my take on
(36:09):
those these teams we played this year, well, certainly, you know,
we hope to see the Jets in the playoffs in
the not too distant future, certainly, and you know, hopefully. Greg,
you know you're a part of this team here in
one and beyond. But thanks again for joining us. We
always appreciate the time you gave us throughout the season
here and your dealings with with us here. And happy
New Year to you and your family. Stay safe, stay healthy,
(36:30):
have a good offseason, and we hope to catch up
with me again next year. Greg. Thanks, guys, appreciate it alright.
So that's Greg van Roten. We thank him more to
come still 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 Grass, alongside Bart's got It Inside the Jets is
also supported by Selective Insurance be Uniquely Insured. So the
(36:54):
end of the season has come for the Jets, Bart,
but for fourteen other teams in the NFL, the season
is just getting going. And of course that means the playoffs.
It's gonna be fun this year as fans because we're
gonna have three games on Saturday, three on Sunday with
the extra playoff team. And look, I know the Kansas
City in Green Bay are the to one seeds in
each conference. But you know, the way this year is gone,
(37:17):
if it's taught us anything, be prepared for some surprises
once the playoffs get started here, I can't wait. I
know absolutely. I think that's the beauty of the playoffs.
And you know, looking into just wild card weekend, you're
looking at some potential upsets. I wouldn't be surprised if
Jared Golfer, if his thumb is a little better, if
he's able to beat Russell Wilson, knowing that you know
that defense and they know each other well. They've got
(37:39):
the number one defense in the in the Los Angeles
Rams going against you know, Brussell Wilson. You know, teams
that know each other very well, and wouldn't be surprised
one bit. Um. Also, you know what's interesting is looking
at the Cleveland and Pittsburgh game. You know, sometimes Pittsburgh
had an opportunity for being to play and for you
to maybe put him out and have to deal with
(38:00):
word about what can happen in the playoffs when you
have a team that can run the ball, you know,
much like how the Bengals did us in two thousand
nine when they say, oh, don't worry, we'll arrest our.
People will let them in. And then we went to
their house and next week and beat them and put
it sent them home packing because of the confidence that
we gathered the week before and playing with momentum um.
So I mean, I think that's a very dangerous game
(38:21):
for the Steelers as well, you know, because you know
Baker can make enough plays and that run game can
run on anybody, as you saw Nick Chuck, you know,
do that this following Sunday. And then you know, sometimes
when you win, you lose, right Because if I was
the Titans, how much rather go against the Buffalo Bills
than the Baltimore Ravens. But you know, the Ravens gonna
(38:42):
have that same energy that the Titans had last year
when the Ravens had the best record and they came
into their building and was able to to run all
over them. And now the Ravens are gonna have that
chip on their shoulders. So I think that's gonna be
a potentially a bad matchup. They also remember what happened
earlier this season when went in and they were talking
trash and stuff after before the game and after the game,
(39:04):
and they were able to get to the late win.
You know, so Baltimore they're gonna get the best of Baltimore,
and Baltimore is gonna have a little bit more juice
because they're gonna be the underdogs and they're gonna be
feeling like they have revenge on their mind. We just
saw what revenge can do. You know when you watch
Ohio State and Clips in the other week. Sometimes you
don't have to be the best team, but if you
just pissed off, you play with so much energy gives
an opportunity to win. That's gonna be a great one
(39:26):
right there. But either one of those teams, if you win,
you know your reward. It's Kansas City. Yeah, exactly. Good
luck with that. But you know what's cool about the
first week here of the playoffs is that you've got
a lot of rematches. You hit on a few of them.
Even the Bears and Saints played each other earlier this year,
it Soldier field. But the thing that stands out to
me the two division matchups like Rams and Seahawks, Browns
and Steelers, Right, those are they've played twice already this
(39:48):
year and they both split the two games because they're
in the same division. What is that like? Because that
happened to you and oh eight, you're last year with Baltimore,
you played the Steelers three times, you played them in
the nh C champions Hip game, right, So what is
that like playing a team a third time during the season,
Like once you get to that playoff matchup, like how
much do you carry over from the regular season games
(40:10):
or how much do you just like throw aside because
this is the playoffs. It's like a whole new season.
I mean, you know each other so well that you
have to try and use your coaching against them, use
their knowledge against you. You know, certain formations that they've
been on. You give them the same you present to
them the same looks, and then you do something different.
Um you you you you you you you have the
self scout and say, hey, do we have any tendencies
(40:31):
that we're giving up what we're doing and how we're
doing it, and you know it's it's tough to play,
to be the team, or to play a team three
straight times in one year, you know, so you know,
it's one of those things where it's gonna come down
to who makes the most plays and who doesn't make
the big mistake, and you know, ultimately that usually comes
down to execution. Who's gonna be poised, you know, because
(40:51):
what happens when you get to the playoffs, things move
so much faster. Like you know, you didn't you didn't
wear yourself out before the game even comes, and you
have to make sure that you or tremendous job and
pacing yourself and pacing your team so that they're not
all gassed up and hyped up on Tuesday and Wednesday.
You want them hitting the weekend, you know, going right.
And also this is a Saturday game, not a Sunday game,
(41:14):
so you gotta get ready to to be you know,
on a on a bit of a short week. And
you know, a lot of these teams that are successful
are the teams that have been in playoff mode for
the last couple of weeks, whether it was a team
like Cleveland that had to win to get in. You know,
those are the teams that are going to be coming
off because right, yeah, because they didn't rest players or
(41:35):
anything like that. So it's gonna be exciting, you know,
to see what happens. And you know, this Bucks game
against Washington, you got a young talent, did great player
and Chase Young talking smack already talking with telling Brady,
telling the goat that he's coming. Now he can meet
one of these guys that call their shots. But traditionally,
when somebody calls out Tom Brady, he usually makes them
(41:56):
pay by attacking them. I don't know if they have
a game plan and attack Chase on gonna run game
or the past game, or cutting him using his aggressiveness
against him in screen games and things like that. But
it's gonna be interesting to see what happens. And you know,
if he can be one of these guys are coming
to league, Braggadosh is the quasis and back it up, Well,
don't tug on Superman's cave. We've learned that before. Right
(42:17):
when it comes to stuff like that and the Buccaneers,
they dodged a major bullet in my opinion. You know,
you saw what happened to Mike Evans yesterday, the way
his knee went. I mean that looked like it was
gonna be, you know, catastrophic for them. Absolutely, so, I
mean everything is I guess okay, it looks like he's
got a good shot of playing here this week because
that's a big part of their offense here. Remember, Jets fans,
(42:39):
you can watch Inside the Jets through the Jets App
presented by Ben Mgen. Go to the App Store or
Google Play right now in search Official New York Jets.
That's the interesting thing, right about the NFC. Each champ,
we always knew that they were gonna have a losing record,
and in the past, whenever those teams have losing records
that won the divisions, the Seahawks in you had Carolina
do that. Both of those teams one playoff game games
(43:00):
at home. This year a little bit differently, you don't
gonna have fans there and this matchup on paper at least.
I mean when you said Tom Brady Buccaneers on the road.
By the way, this is Brady's first time on the
road to start the playoffs in his entire career, because
every year he made the playoffs with New England it
was just a division champ. I just can't see Washington
winning this game. I can't um, I can see this
(43:24):
been a tough out even I mean, this can be
a long bit for Brady because you think about teams
that have given him problems, his teams that can get
to you with four Well, you know the the Washington
football team has five yea because they bring old man
Winter in and and Carrigan and he comes off the
bench press on third down and he's only the all
time sack leader for the for the organization, for the franchise.
(43:46):
You think about paying in the inside and you can
double everybody. If Mike Evans is compromised, you know, will
Brady and will this team do what they should do
and run the ball to have play action off overs?
Bruce Aaron gonna try and put the ball up a
few times times, Chase Younger does Montest we get to
Brady once or twice and just like yesterday, get a
(44:07):
huge return or put points on the board because Brady
get costs the ball up. So it's you that's something
that you have to ask. So if this, if it
was gonna be one Achilles Hill, you know for for
Tom Brady, it is a team that has a relentless
pass rushing. You talk about this team. It's the best
in the business. So it's time going to go to
uh New England time where he's gonna get the ball
(44:28):
out of his hands and less than you know, less
than two seconds or is he gonna be the Bruce
Aarrans no risky, no bisky where he's falling back and
he's sitting up there just you know, throwing the ball up,
throwing bombs and hoping that he can hit one and
hoping that one does get picked off, or hoping that
he doesn't get hit in the back of the head.
And you know, remember when we beat him, it's because
our our pass rush to day to get to him
with four, we're able to confuse him a little bit.
(44:49):
They don't have to do that. They can just say, hey,
we're gonna double everybody and we're gonna just get there
with four. Tristan Worth's had a very good year, so
I'm sure he's gonna see a lot of Chase Young
in the trenches there the outside of that offensive line.
That'll be a fun matchup like they all were. Um,
this was a fun show each and every week. And
now we have reached the end of the line. You
and I here on inside the Jets and look the
team only won a couple of games, but I think
(45:11):
you and I went sixteen and o in doing this show.
So thank you for everything that you did this year.
This was a lot of fun and I can't wait
to do it next year. My pleasure man see you
next year. Get him rest absolutely next year, darn Wright.
It is thanks Jets fans for being along for the
ride with us. He's Bart Scott, I'm Dan Grass. This
once again has been Inside the Jets, presented by e
(45:32):
Y building a better working world. So long everybody can
stay safe. We'll see you next year.
It's time for Inside the Jets presented by e Y
Building a Better Working World. Now here's Bart Scott and
Dan Grosso and welcome into Inside the Jets presented by
e Y Building a Better Working World. Dan Grosso alongside
Bart Scott and Bart. This is it my Man end
(00:25):
of the road, last show of the season. You said
it all a what yeah, boys, the man style man
come to me. All great things come to an end.
And just happy that we're able to make it through
and that the guys did such a tremendous job and
NFL and all the protocol they did a good enough
job to keep everybody as safe as possible. And you know,
(00:46):
we're gonna have playoffs and we're gonna have a Super Bowl,
we're gonna have a draft, and hopefully we can get
back to normal and we can continue to have our
traditions that we're using the customed to dealing with when
it comes to our NFL schedule. Two fifty six games up,
two d fifty six games down. And for the New
York Jets, the sixteenth and final game was played on
Sunday in Foxborough. They lose to the Patriots. They finished
(01:08):
two and fourteen for the first time in the history
of their franchise with that exact same record. But really
the big news comes Sunday night when we find out
that Adam Gates was relieved of his duties as head
coach after two years. And I mean, Bart, everybody kind
of saw the writing on the wall. You figured that
this was going to be the outcome for him, and uh,
you know, just didn't get the results necessary over the
(01:28):
last two seasons. Well, you know, this is a results
of business, and you know, you know, the organization decided
to say, you know what, let's not double down on this,
Let's see what we can do where we can get
better at And everybody is always under evaluation, or rather
as coaches rather it's strength coaches rather as players. We're
all constantly being evaluated in the organization thought it was
(01:49):
best to move forward with someone else as the head coach. Um,
let's hope that you know, Joe Douglas and the team
gets it right this time, and hopefully we can get
somebody that can be around for a long time, that
can build this program to as a young team, to
have a lot of flexibility, a lot of cap space,
a lot of draft picks, and um, if you build
this thing right, they could be built with a foundation
that has sustainable success for the decades to come. Yeah.
(02:12):
And earlier on Monday, Christopher Johnson did a conference call
with the media, and you know, the question was asked
about the committee and this searching process, and it's gonna
be you know, himself and Joe Douglas and him mel Hi,
the team president, and you know, but Christopher also said, look,
Joe has been around the league, Joe is well respected.
Joe's voice is going to be the one to carry
(02:33):
the most weight in this search. So it is gonna
fall on the shoulders of the general manager here to
be able to find that next leader. And that's the
thing you've heard a lot too over the last couple
of days, right stress from the organization. A leader, a
CEO type, someone who's gonna embrand a culture here. That's
what they're looking for to be the next head coach
of this team. Yeah, because you know, some people want
(02:54):
to offensive guru defensive gurus. That's not what you need.
What you need is a leader of men. And then
you know, you can find guys that are exceptional at
you know, the offensive exit and those and the execution
the defensive extra and those. But if you can't lead
and inspire people to come to work and work hard
when they hurt injured, and play for each other and
not play for themselves, then you're gonna have a team
(03:15):
that's gonna always underperform and always come up quite short. Yeah,
But when you have a team that's willing to lay
it on the line for each other, a team that
to buy in, a team that has believed not only
even what they've been taught, but also in each other,
and they lay it on the line, then they can
punch above their their their their weight class, right, And
that's what you want. You want somebody that's gonna come
here and there's gonna be a force multiplier for the team,
(03:38):
you know, and make guys play better and develop and
teach and and and teach these guys only how to
be great football players, but how to be great men.
Because if you're a great men, if you have you know, um,
you know each other, you hold each other accountable, and
you have morals and you you have a philosophy, and
you have your wife is bigger than your what, then
you're gonna have a team that's built on success because
they're gonna build each other up, not tear each other down.
(04:00):
Everybody's gonna pull the rope the same direction, and that's
where the start. That's where the search really starts for me.
You know, people can talk about, hey, we want Eric
the enemy because he's been on any red staff and
that's the hot team. That may be. He may be
a great coach, but he may not be the great
coach for your organization. But you have to find specifically
who's good and who's built for this market, who's built
for this team, who's built for the task at hand.
(04:23):
Every situation in the NFL is different. You know, the
Atlanta job is much different from the Los Angeles Chargers job.
That job is much different from the Detroit Lions job.
You have to find who fits the mold of what
you want to do, what you have and how you
want to move forward, and who can take that vision
and who can and make it a reality. No, definitely,
(04:45):
And look, you have a little bit of competition because,
as you said, there's five other vacancies in the National
Football League right now, so there's gonna be a lot
of good candidates. There's gonna be candidates that are gonna
be interviewed. You know from from multiple teams, but it
is gonna be incumbent upon the organization to find the
right guy and well up right now. The fact of
the matter also is with the Jets part and the
last time this team made the postseason, you were on
(05:06):
the team back in two thousand attendant. That's the longest
drought in the National Football League right now in terms
of making the playoffs. So change is inevitable when you
go to and fourteen when you have season the Jets had,
I mean in a sport and in a business where changed,
as I said, happens each and every year. Regardless when
you have a disappointing campaign like the Jets had, you
knew there was gonna be roster turnover, probably some coaching
(05:28):
staff turnover. Shoot, maybe they're gonna have a different catch
up in the cafeteria, just that you know, find ways
to make things better than they were in Yeah, you've
always been evaluating every year you talk about most squads
have turnover. There Jets are gonna have a little bit
more because they decided to move on from some guys
that may have been good players, but their time didn't
(05:49):
match up with the time that the Jets thought that
they can be successful. Now you know, Joe Douglas also
has gonna have to do some deep dives on the
personnel that he has. He has to make a decision
on sum Donald, do you use that number two overall pick?
On bringing in another player in here? Do you want
to go out and get somebody that can push him
a little bit rather Jamis Winston, Cam Newton or anybody
that's a retread or also, you know, what are you
(06:11):
gonna do with Marcus May? You know, what are you
gonna do with Jordan Jenkins? You know, what are you
gonna do with Harry Amason? What're you gonna do with
some of the free agents or something like that, you know,
between restricted, unrestricted and whatnot. So there's a lot of guys,
as you said, and that's you know, that's part of
life in the NFL, right And what what moves are
you gonna make in free agency? You know, because what
you're doing free agency really affects what you're gonna do
(06:32):
in the draft. So it's all about you know, what's available.
It's about also identifying, I believe, who's going to be
your CEO and your CEO in the face of every
organization is always the head coach. And once you do that,
then you can say, okay, these are the players that
I need. You don't want to go out and start
making decisions and start bringing players in into the coach
the man that's gonna cook the meal. It's trying to say, hey,
(06:53):
these are the type of ingredients that I need, These
are the type of tangibles that I want out of
our players, and then start going forward that way. So
I think all attention right now has to be on
the head coach had head coaching search. A lot of
these head coaching candidates are currently on rosters and they
won't be available to to interview until they have a
bye week, until they lose. And you know, right now
(07:14):
it's you know, it's a lot of good opportunities out there,
and you look at you know five, I think six
may have come on. I don't know. You have Jacksonville,
you have Atlanta, you have the Jets, you have Yes,
six total is crazy because I mean, so would you
blink every time you look up it's a new update
to say, hey, this guy may be out of who
knows after what we witnessed yesterday in Philadelphia, if that
(07:37):
was enough, you know, of outrage for them to say,
you know what this guy is and the leader you
know this is, this is something that we don't stand for,
and that's a black guy. So we want to move forward.
And if they decided to say, you know what, Carson
Wentz is our guy, you know. So, I mean it's
a lot of things that's going on. That's what makes
the nfls intriguing. It's thirty two teams. Everybody has an opportunity.
Some guys think that they're closer than they are. Uh
(07:58):
some guys are farther away than what they think. And
then you know, you you go out and you make
these moves, right you know, you look at what Miami
did last year and going out and making all those transactions.
You know, it almost got them to a to a
playoff run and it fell short. But I mean that's
the team that you think that you're gonna have to
deal with within your division. You talk about the division
now that's being re sculpted, and what are the past
going to do as far as trying to you know,
(08:20):
figure out what they're gonna do with their quarterback situation.
All that all that effects, all that effects this division
because This division is young, and right now it looks
like the Buffalo Bills are in their window, and how
are you going to catch up and be able to
compete for the division first? Every team that I've ever
played on the goal was to win the division first,
and that can't be any different here for the Jets.
(08:41):
So how do you build your team to defeat and
to win your division. It starts with the head coach,
and it starts with the draft. It starts with creatorcy,
It starts with figuring out which one of these guys
that played has you know, earned the right not to
be on the back end of the rosing, that could
be on the front end of the roster. I love
what Batham did and how he finished the season. I
(09:02):
think he showed a lot of promise of guys who
we all know that when Quinny Williams is is played, well,
how do we get this team healthy. How do we
figure out how to how to build these guys up
so we don't have as many injuries as we've had,
How do we develop Milt? There's so many things yesterday
that was that was a side of relief yesterday when
we saw Mackay go down in the game and then
(09:24):
he was able to get off and walk off of
as his own power. And you know, we didn't hear
anything today that there was anything serious, but that was
the last thing you wanted your stub left tackle to possibly,
you know, be undergoing some sort of a rehab in
his first off season as a pro. That was, you know,
like I said, thankfully, something that we don't have to
deal with, right. I mean, I think the biggest growth,
you know, for any player always comes from year one
(09:45):
a year two, because just thinking all these young men
had the most difficult tasks of any rookie class in
the history of the sport. They basically had to learn
mentally and not have the physical rip to kind of
make it muscle memory that had to go out every
day and to do zoom call things that nobody had
ever did before developed technology, learned technology, learn how to
learn on the board. And we all know that everybody
(10:06):
is not that type of learner. Some people are are
physical learning, they're not visual learners. And they had to
do that. And you know, so I commend these young guys.
I think it's gonna be a breath of fresh air.
These guys get to come out and hopefully do it.
You know. Hopefully, you know, by the time you know,
O T A s come back around after the draft,
we'll be able to have a regular off season. We'll
be able to have a modified off season where guys
(10:28):
can get in and they can spend time with their coaches,
they can be taught, they can sit in the classroom,
they can be around their teammates. You know, as since
vaccine continues to spread and people are getting more access
to it, eventually it's going to come to the athletes
and to people that you know that that that place sports,
you know, whether it's collegiate or high school, and you know,
(10:48):
people can feel like they can be in the same
room with each other, that they can lean on each other,
that they can push each other, they can sweat on
each other and not know that they can be and
know that they can be okay. So you know that
I think these young guys are going to get it
because they've done the hard park. They've done it as
hard as you can do it. So what are they
gonna do now that they're able to be taught, They're
able to get that that that face to face type
(11:08):
of experience, and Betton is going to be able to
get in football shape. You know, we we watched Quinny
Williams last year come back with a different body once
he realized what the NFL was all about. I think
when you look at Beckton, he's gonna come back and
he's going to figure out how not to get deemed
up so much, how not to be in and out
of the line up as much so he can continue
to be a dominant player for US. Sustainable along with
(11:29):
sustainable um pairs of time where we don't have to
worry bout him going down, whether it was the pack,
whether it was an ankle, whether it's you know, whatever
happened this week inside the Jets is supported by bet
MGM Place your Football Parlay's props and Futures bets at
ben MGM Sports all season long. Head coach, of course,
getting that right is important. Then when you talk about
the personnel, you got to figure out the quarterback situation here.
(11:52):
And Christopher Johnson was asked earlier today about Sam Donald
and he said, personally, he hopes that Sam Donald is
back with the team, is able to have this great
career as a member of the New York Jets. Like
everybody envisioned a couple of years ago, but he also
stressed that the decision ultimately on Sam is going to
be made by Joe Douglas and whoever the new head
coach is going to be. And well, the number two pick,
(12:14):
like you said, it does present a wide array of
possibilities for Joe Douglas and what he could do whether
you make the pick, and as you said, you could
trade down, acquire more picks and still get yourself a
very good player. Because you know, you're talking about a
two and four team football team, a team that has
a lot of holes. I think that there needs to
be a large infusion of talent on this football team
to be able to turn around. I don't think one
(12:36):
guy or two guys is gonna make that happen. But
with the draft serving as a foundation, bart, I think
that the one thing you can draw back on if
you're a Jet fan is what Joe Douglas did this
pass spring when talking about his first draft. Because I
know one season does not make a career, but by
and large, the rookies that we saw from the class,
(12:56):
those guys did some nice things and look to have
some promise based on what we saw on the field
this year. Yeah, they're only going to get better, right
And you know they had the opportunities and you see
Frank Gore, you know, got a sixteen thousand yards and
Ty Johnson was able to get some opportunities. But you
look at guys they bash me. Look at Frank and
Myers that I think really flash. You know, late in
the season, Nathan Sheppard, you know, I know he's not
(13:18):
a new guy, but you know he's been around for
three years. He's he's flashed a lot. You know, you
look at Fadakasi and what he was able to do.
You know, I know a lot of those um you
know a lot of people are frustrated with the with
the fifteen yard penalties, but you know those are good
good you know, to me, those are good football moves
that start right on that because I mean the one
yesterday was in a week before. I mean, Cam Newton
(13:43):
six five, he's actually taller than you. He may be
just as strong as you, and you gotta get him
down and you don't do that forcibly and then try
and not be able to land on him after worst.
That's just the part of doing business. He'll learn, you know,
maybe that he'll start falling and putting them on top
of him, um or something like that instead of you know,
bending them over. He'll he'll pull him to the side
and try and do it that way. But you know
a lot of these guys showed a lot of promise,
(14:04):
man I like how you know the team really rallied
him and ascended, and you know we're gonna get guys
coming back, you know, Marcus May that's gonna be a
negotiation that we're gonna keep our eyes on. But it's
just so many good players that are going to be
available because of the pandemic. It's not going to be
a lot of teams that's going to be able to
protect players that normally would be protected because they don't
(14:26):
have the funds to spend that luxury tax money because
it was no concession, because it was no parking, because
it was no PSL. You know. So the Jets are
in a great position where they have a lot of money.
They're gonna be attractive destination, and it's up to Joe
to make it even more attractive destination when he's able
to get some of these guys in the building and
show everything that that facility has to offer and also
(14:46):
give them a front a first hand experience about what
it's like to work for the Johnson I'm kind of
curious here, you know, because again we go back to
the head coaching search, and that's gonna be the first
thing on the list to do. And you played for
three head coaches. You never played for a head coach
straight from college. He did play for two guys though,
who it was their first head coaching opportunity with John
Harbor and Rex Ryan. That was their first time, you know,
(15:09):
as head coaches there. But if you can put yourself
back in the locker room, let's just say, because you know,
it's not like we're speculating here or anything, but if
the possibility were to arise that Joe Douglas decides to
pluck a head coach from the college ranks and select him,
how does a professional athlete of veteran embrace a guy
coming from the college ranks who maybe never coached in
(15:31):
the NFL before. Well, we just want to know, you
know what, what, what are your answers to the courtions
that we're gonna have And you're not gonna get those
those questions as a as a player, do you get there?
You want to make sure that that the guy that
comes in um is honest. I want to make sure
that he's a leader of men. And you want to
see what type of staff you can put together. You
know the most important part I think with the Judge
(15:52):
need more than anything, they need a coach that as
a teacher. I need somebody that's going to help them,
you know, get their football accumate. Who's going to put
enough teachers around him? You you know that you take
we tip our hats off in this time to Joe
Judge with what he was able to do. But he
was able to bring in guys that were teachers, you know.
You know, whether it was Jason Garrett or whether it
(16:13):
was these are all guys that these are guys that
were teachers, you know, whether em the offensive line guru
that he brought in from New England. You have to
find somebody that you know, and you never know who
people know, and you know until you hire, until you
bring him in and you see what type of staff
they can put together. You know, I don't want any
arranged marriages because those things never work, you know, So
(16:35):
you don't want somebody coming in. I don't want somebody
coming in and says, hey, you have to take this coach. Now.
I know the special Jame coach here has done a
tremendous job. So maybe that's one exception. But as far
as offensive defense, you gotta bring people that they feel
like they can trust in the foxhold. Y'all know a
couple of years ago when Matt Rule wanted to get
his own uh coaching staff. So these are things that
are going to be concerned of some guys because they're
(16:56):
gonna want to make sure it say, hey, we only
may we may only get one by the the apple
as being a head coach will make sure that we
are able to to have the people that we feel
comfortable working with. And that's a process that's something that
Joe Douglas is gonna have considered. You know. I see
if Joe Douglas lanes or something his favorite places, his
favorite designations rather Chicago, whether it's you know, Philadelphia, whether
(17:17):
it's Baltimore. You have wink Markdale sitting out there. It's
a lot of good coaches around here, but it's not
about you getting a good one. It's about you getting
the right one. I think right one for you and
the right one that that can lead tame this organization.
You hit it right on the head. You know, the
right coach for the New York Jets might not be
the right coach for the Detroit Lions, and vice versa.
So I think that was a great point that you
made a little bit earlier on. When we come back
(17:38):
on this edition of Inside the Jets, will be joined
by the right Guard for the Green and White, Greg
Van wrote in the Long Island Native joining us next,
It's Inside the Jets presented by e Y Building a
Better Working World, And welcome back to Inside the Jets.
Dan Grossi here with you on the season finale edition
of our program, and it's time now for our player
Guests segment, which is also brought to you by e
(17:59):
Y Building a Better Working World. Were placed to be
joined by a local product who just wrapped up his
first season in Green and white. It is the right
Guard for the New York Jets, Greg Van Roten is
nice enough to join us here on the program. Greg's
Dan Grassa, thanks for joining us here and Inside the Jets.
How are you? Thanks for having me? I'm I'm good.
You know the season's finally over and looking forward to
(18:22):
healthy off season. Now it's only been you know, about
twenty four hours or so since you guys left that
field in Foxboro after the Patriots game. There, have you
had a chance to kind of process everything that you've
been through for the last four months or do you
think that that's still coming over the next few days
or weeks. It's still coming. I mean, the end of
the season is always something that's very um sudden. You know,
(18:46):
you're in this routine, you're grinding day in and out,
and then all of a sudden, you know, schedules over,
there's nothing to prepare for next week, and everyone kind
of goes their separate ways. So it's uh, pretty you know,
sad in that regard, um, but it's exciting that you know,
you get to look forward to another off season to
(19:06):
train and then you get to see what happens with
free agency and this year with us, you know, coaching search,
and you know there's gonna be the draft and all that,
and then we get right back to it. So I
guess it's the the sadness of one season ending with
the excitement of what's on the horizon, you know, And
you mentioned the coaching search, right. Adam Gates was relieved
of his duties last night by the team. And you know,
(19:30):
when you kind of put a PostScript on this season,
the fact that there was a coaching change, does that
influence the outlook anyway or the other about you know,
everything that you guys just went through. Uh No, I mean,
it's just like I said, it's exciting to see what's
gonna happen or they're going to bring in and you
know where you fit in that scheme or in their vision.
(19:53):
So you hope to be a part of it going
you know forward, Um, you trust and what Joe Douglas
is trying to build here, and you just want to
add value as a as a player and as a
veteran um specifically. Yeah, it's never a pleasant time, of course,
right Greg. Whenever you have a coach and change at
the end of the season, there's families involved, and you know,
(20:13):
from a human story and his human standpoint, it's difficult, certainly,
But you being a player and changes evident in the
National Football League, right it's a part of the fabric.
Last year when you were with the Carolina Panthers, you
also experience a coaching change when they got rid of
Ron Rivera. Doesn't make it any different, does where you
kind of prepared for something like this dealing with it
now that you've been through this now two years in
(20:35):
a row. Yeah, I mean, I guess, um, last year
with Ron was my first experience, um, because they did
it towards the end of the season. We still had
a couple of games leapt so that was very strange
because you know, he was relieved of his duties. You
have an interim head coach, um, and this the whole
feel of the team changes there. You know, this year, Um,
(20:57):
the writing was on the wall obviously for Adam, and
when it finally did end, it is very sad. Like
you said, from the human element. You know, the guy's livelihood,
his job and it's over. And you know he's someone
that believed in me and brought me to this team.
So I'm grateful for that and hopefully I can you know,
stay here and like I said, add value to the team. Um.
(21:20):
But you know, it's the NFL. It is a brutal
game and it's a brutal business because if you're not producing,
you will be replaced. That goes from the top down.
You know, GMS coaches and especially players. Year over year,
there's lots of roster turnover across the league, and the
only thing that's consistent really is the colors of the
uniforms because you saw last year in free agency you've
(21:41):
got guys who had been in one jersey for two
decades like Tom Brady, and all of a sudden, he's
in Tampa Bay. So it's, uh, it's definitely wild in
that regard. You know, earlier today, you guys had an
in person meeting with the team with Joe Douglas and
Christopher Johnson. What was conveyed in that setting to you guys,
(22:01):
You know, it's just a quick little post mortem on
the season and how much they appreciated, you know, the
effort that the players put in day in and day
out to you know, get our first couple of wins,
and going forward, you know what they're looking for specifically,
um in the players and the type of guys are
(22:21):
going to continue to bring in and the coaches that
they're gonna you know, bring in to right the ship.
Um So it's more you know, forward looking than you know,
looking back, because everyone knows what happened this year, so
they will they'll figure that all out and then we'll
see what happens with the coaching staff that they bring
in a head coach and go from there. You know,
(22:42):
you and I were talking a little bit before we
started the interview, and and and you had said that, Okay,
the record, despite it being two and fourteen, you wouldn't
know it by the way you guys practice day in
and day out. So when you look back and try
to make sense of you know, how things got to
where they did. Um, you know, is it one thing
in particular as you can put your finger on, is
to why the results weren't there on game days even
(23:05):
though you guys really went out there on the practice
field and gave it your all each and every day.
That's never one thing, um, as to why you don't
win a game. Sometimes you're just playing a better opponent. Um.
Sometimes you get out schemes, sometimes you get outplayed, sometimes
you don't execute. Sometimes you beat yourselves. So you know,
we found different ways to lose a lot of games
(23:27):
this year. And that was the most frustrating thing. And um,
you know, it felt like every time we fix something
in one place, we sprung a league somewhere else. So
you know, as you keep trying to plug holes with
new things keep popping up to playing whackable. And you
know it's tough to win this league when you're a
(23:47):
good team and um, but when you're inconsistent, you know,
on execute, you know you've got guys on and off
injured reserve. Um, it's tough. And you know we we
learned that uh hard and long way this year. And
you just got off of injured reserve yourself. You have
gotten hurt in the Raiders game, missed the next three
and then he came back to play in the season
(24:09):
finale Sunday up there in Foxboro. How important was that
for you, just to make sure you would get back
out there with your guys at least one more time
before the season ended. Yeah, it's very important. Um. Like
I said earlier, you always want to go into the
off season healthy. So you want to um playing that
last game, finish the game, and just know like all right,
you know my body is where it needed to be
(24:31):
to have a healthy off season. So there's no you know,
there's no rehab or anything I need to go through
before I can start training for next year. And then
just from a personal standpoint for me, you know, I
wanted to be back out there with my guys. For
you know, presumably one last time as this version of
the offense. Um, you know, with a lot of free
agents on our team, a lot of uncertainty with a
(24:54):
lot of guys going forward, so we don't know who's
gonna be here, who's not gonna be here. Um, I
don't know if I'm gonna be So I just wanted
to go out there, play one more game with everybody
and just kind of, you know, enjoy it. Um, have
some fun and you know, at the end of the day,
you're doing what you love and you need to play football.
So one more opportunity to play game. You have to
(25:15):
get excited for that. All right, let's go in that
direction because you mentioned it right. You're a Long Island native,
local product. You grew up a Jets fan to be
able to come back play for the team he grew
up rooting for. Here. You know, it wasn't the one
season that you wanted to have, at least in terms
of the team and how they perform. But number one,
what was this experience like for you? And number two?
(25:36):
I mean, I guess it goes without saying, but I
assume you would love nothing more than to come back
again for another go around. In green and white. Oh yeah,
I mean so the thing that stumped the most about
this year was being so close to home but not
being able to share that with my friends and family. Um,
you know, who are so close to home. So it
would be nice to play a home game in MetLife
(25:58):
in front of you know, my friends, my parents, into
my brothers, my wife. Um, that would be nice. And then, um,
you know, just like you said, growing up a Jets
fan and being able to join this organization and be
a part of its history is Um, it's so exciting,
and I just really like I would like to play
here the rest of my career however long it's gonna be. Well, Greg,
(26:20):
hang tight, we're gonna have more with you coming up
next year on Inside the Jets, the season finale edition
right here presented by e Y Building a Better Working World.
All right, welcome back to Inside the Jets presented by
e Y Building a Better Working World. Dan Grassa Bart's God,
and we're joined by Jets right guard Greg Van Rotten.
Seasons over body has to heal. When do you get
(26:41):
back into the training and getting ready for next season? Yeah,
you don't want to take too much time off, but
you definitely need to relax a little bit. So, um,
you know, for me, I'll probably take about two weeks
off and then I'll start, you know, getting back into
light training, active recovery type stuff. And you know, the
one positive that came out of the virtual off season,
(27:04):
which we have this app where the strength coaches can
just upload um, you know, workouts things like that onto
it so you can just look at it on a
daily basis and see like, all right, I'm gonna do
this today, and um, it's pretty straightforward. But yeah, you
definitely need to let your body rest a little bit.
But if you go too long, it's gonna be harder
to get back in shape, and before you know it,
you know, potels are starting, um one way or another. Well,
(27:29):
how do you recover mentally? Because I think mentally this
is probably was the most taxing year for any athlete,
for anybody in the world. So how do you get
your mind right and kind of go to a place
where you can recover and get ready for the grind
all over again, but also recover and think about all
the things that we've learned. You know, you guys will
kind of in the bubble, but not in a bubble
(27:49):
you know where you guys are athletes just naturally were
isolated from some of the issues that the world deals
with because you have the best medical staff. You're being
attended to. But I mean men, like now you're back
to reality and now like you you're in it every day.
It's gonna be uh, it's gonna be a different type
(28:09):
of off season for sure. Um, typically the end of
the year. You know, my wife is a teacher. She
has her winter break in February, so we've always gone
on a trip together somewhere. Um. You know, we last
year we're St. Lucia. Before that we went to Iceland.
So you know, it's gonna be different this year because
I can't really travel that much. She's not allowed to
go to certain places um as a teacher because you
(28:30):
don't want to go somewhere and bring you know, COVID back.
So we're gonna have to figure that out because you
definitely do need that mental break of the season is over,
you know, take your breath, reset, recharge the batteries, and
then get ready to start training again. And like you said,
it was a year unlike any other mentally for a
(28:53):
lot of guys. You know, you know, the rookies have
nothing to compare this too. So I feel for those
guys trying to navigate this year that they had to
just go through with, you know, their college seasons ending
and then they start their pro day draft training into
a non existent o t A, into a completely different
training camp than anyone's ever gone through, into one of
(29:13):
the strangest regular seasons in regards to what was required
off the fields. You know, there's a great like social
responsibility to your teammate this year. Two, don't screw this
up for everybody else. Don't be the guy that goes
out and brings it back into the building and all
of a sudden, you know you're playing without a quarterback
or you have twenty guys on the COVID list. So
(29:35):
that's stressful, you know, whether you want to admit it
or not, like that is something you don't you don't
want to be that guy. And once the season ends,
it's like, all right, you don't have to test every day. Um,
you can kind of you know, let your guard down
a little bit, but you've still got to be you know,
diligent because generally sure the long term effects of coronavirus
yet um, and you know, you just gotta be careful
(29:58):
so as far is what you can do mentally, and
to kind of reset is just I think, you know,
you gotta get away from football for a little bit,
you know, hang out with your friends and your family
that you're able to see and just kinda unlined a
little bit relaxed, and then get yourself ready to go
because before you know it, there's another season starting, well,
(30:21):
you know, kind of you know, following up on a
theme about the coronavirus and its effects on teams. You know,
now we have the postseason coming, and I'm sure like
sometimes I would say I wasn't gonna watch playoffs because
I didn't care who won because I didn't win. But
then eventually I would turn it on because it's entertaining,
right and you you want to see what happens, and
you want to see the drama. The greatest reality show
(30:42):
which is Football Live Sports. Uh. But do you think
that these guys and maybe being some type of bubble,
do you think it would be an added advantage for
teams to put themselves in their own type of bubble
like you guys did for training camp. Because if a
guy like my homes or if a guy like Ben
Roethlisberger gets COVID. You know they don't They're not going
to stop the game for these guys, at least traditionally
(31:03):
that we believe they're not going to stop the game.
And that could be an unfair competitive advantage if somebody
has to play without Alvin Kamara, which we don't know
coming back from off the COVID list. So do you
even bunker down even more, kind of tighten the screws
even more if you're in the playoffs saying hey, let's
go to this bubble and let's make sure that the
other teams are the ones have to deal with COVID
because it could be an advantage where we could beat
a team that maybe we couldn't beat if you know,
(31:25):
they didn't have COVID or somebody that was important to
them get come down with COVID. Yeah, I think, Um,
you know, this is one of those situations that we've
not had to experience yet. And you know, the NFL said,
you know, we're not rescheduling games, um because of competitive
you know, disadvantages. So that really shifts the responsibility to
(31:47):
the teams to make sure that they don't let coronavirus
into their building, because, like you said, if you're team
like the Chiefs and the Homes gets coronavirus and he's
out for at least two weeks, you know, that's two
playoff game that could be the super Bowl and then
then what you know, you made it all this way,
through all of this stuff that you had to navigate
(32:08):
to even get to that point. You know, you've got
to buckle down as an individual and as an organization
to you know, follow the protocols and make sure that
it doesn't become an issue to effect your play in
the postseason, because you know, a lot of the things
we've seen this year across the league, it's not necessarily
that someone has contracted it and spread it. It's been
(32:31):
more that someone contracted it and there was several close
contacts that were high risks that had to be held
out whether or not those people got sick. Um. I
think most of the times they didn't get sick. So
it's just like, hey, like, if you follow the protocols
set by the league and the union, you would have
been able to play. So take it seriously because whether
(32:52):
or not you think it works, whether or not you
think the virus is a big deal or not like
these are the rules to play and to get paid,
so like you or follow them. And as far as
like teams you know, bubbling willingly or if the league mandated,
I just don't think it's something that we're going to
see because we've come so far already, um, with the
protocols that we've been operating under, and I just don't
(33:15):
think it's something necessary. I know there was a couple
of teams whose coaches had to bubble, and you know
that's just one of those things where if you have
a union, you know you need to collectively bargain that stuff. So, um,
you know, I trust the guys. I think we've done
a great job, all things considered across the league, with
a few exceptions of handling this pandemic. And you're the
(33:38):
union representative for the team, so certainly you're all caught
up with all those type of things. Here, all right,
let me transition. We're gonna turn you from player into
analysts here because we're in the playoffs and it gets
underway next week here. I think at last check, you
guys played I think six teams that made the playoffs
this year during the regular season, so out of the
teams that you went up against that are still in
(34:00):
here in the postseason. Give me a little scattering report.
Which teams do you think are going to be the
strongest contenders once playoff football begins next week? Obviously, the Chiefs,
you know, they're the champs from last year and they
showed this year that they are still for real. You know.
They their offense is so fun to watch, um, when
you're not playing against them. Um, they just you know,
(34:22):
they find creative ways to get their guys the ball.
They use every bit of the field. You know, they
stretched the field, they make you defend every inch of
grats and they are really difficult to play again. So
the Chiefs are you know, they're not funt art course,
but they are a fun football team to watch. And
then in our division specifically the Bills. I think they've
(34:43):
shown a lot of people over the last you know,
a couple of seasons that they've been building something and
that they're for real. And you know, Josh Allen's been
playing well and their defense is great and you know McDermott,
it's a really good coach and they've done a good
job building that team over the last few years. So, um,
you know, it's hard not to root for the City
(35:04):
of Buffalo just because they are Their fan base is great,
and you know, they've been through a lot in regards
to the playoffs, so it's been a long drought for
them to see them come back. And then, um, you know,
a little bit of a hometown thing for me. I
went to U penn and the coach of the Browns
is the pen Grads. Um. Secretly, you know, kind of
pulling for them to make a little bit of a run. Um.
(35:26):
But you know, those are probably the three teams in
the a f c UM that we played against that Um,
you know, I'm excited about. And then like the Seahawks,
they're just one of those teams where it seems like
the game is never over. You know, they're not gonna
they'll they'll blow out some teams, but a lot of
times you feel like they just find a way to
win it on the very last play and the last possession,
(35:48):
and possessions are very precious in the postseason. So you
know they're going to be a team that's the perennially
the powerhouse or perennially around. So there, you know, they're
fun to watch. Um, but I'm sure if you're a
fan of the team, they might be very stressful. And uh,
you know it's kind of you know, my take on
(36:09):
those these teams we played this year, well, certainly, you know,
we hope to see the Jets in the playoffs in
the not too distant future, certainly, and you know, hopefully. Greg,
you know you're a part of this team here in
one and beyond. But thanks again for joining us. We
always appreciate the time you gave us throughout the season
here and your dealings with with us here. And happy
New Year to you and your family. Stay safe, stay healthy,
(36:30):
have a good offseason, and we hope to catch up
with me again next year. Greg. Thanks, guys, appreciate it alright.
So that's Greg van Roten. We thank him more to
come still 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 Grass, alongside Bart's got It Inside the Jets is
also supported by Selective Insurance be Uniquely Insured. So the
(36:54):
end of the season has come for the Jets, Bart,
but for fourteen other teams in the NFL, the season
is just getting going. And of course that means the playoffs.
It's gonna be fun this year as fans because we're
gonna have three games on Saturday, three on Sunday with
the extra playoff team. And look, I know the Kansas
City in Green Bay are the to one seeds in
each conference. But you know, the way this year is gone,
(37:17):
if it's taught us anything, be prepared for some surprises
once the playoffs get started here, I can't wait. I
know absolutely. I think that's the beauty of the playoffs.
And you know, looking into just wild card weekend, you're
looking at some potential upsets. I wouldn't be surprised if
Jared Golfer, if his thumb is a little better, if
he's able to beat Russell Wilson, knowing that you know
that defense and they know each other well. They've got
(37:39):
the number one defense in the in the Los Angeles
Rams going against you know, Brussell Wilson. You know, teams
that know each other very well, and wouldn't be surprised
one bit. Um. Also, you know what's interesting is looking
at the Cleveland and Pittsburgh game. You know, sometimes Pittsburgh
had an opportunity for being to play and for you
to maybe put him out and have to deal with
(38:00):
word about what can happen in the playoffs when you
have a team that can run the ball, you know,
much like how the Bengals did us in two thousand
nine when they say, oh, don't worry, we'll arrest our.
People will let them in. And then we went to
their house and next week and beat them and put
it sent them home packing because of the confidence that
we gathered the week before and playing with momentum um.
So I mean, I think that's a very dangerous game
(38:21):
for the Steelers as well, you know, because you know
Baker can make enough plays and that run game can
run on anybody, as you saw Nick Chuck, you know,
do that this following Sunday. And then you know, sometimes
when you win, you lose, right Because if I was
the Titans, how much rather go against the Buffalo Bills
than the Baltimore Ravens. But you know, the Ravens gonna
(38:42):
have that same energy that the Titans had last year
when the Ravens had the best record and they came
into their building and was able to to run all
over them. And now the Ravens are gonna have that
chip on their shoulders. So I think that's gonna be
a potentially a bad matchup. They also remember what happened
earlier this season when went in and they were talking
trash and stuff after before the game and after the game,
(39:04):
and they were able to get to the late win.
You know, so Baltimore they're gonna get the best of Baltimore,
and Baltimore is gonna have a little bit more juice
because they're gonna be the underdogs and they're gonna be
feeling like they have revenge on their mind. We just
saw what revenge can do. You know when you watch
Ohio State and Clips in the other week. Sometimes you
don't have to be the best team, but if you
just pissed off, you play with so much energy gives
an opportunity to win. That's gonna be a great one
(39:26):
right there. But either one of those teams, if you win,
you know your reward. It's Kansas City. Yeah, exactly. Good
luck with that. But you know what's cool about the
first week here of the playoffs is that you've got
a lot of rematches. You hit on a few of them.
Even the Bears and Saints played each other earlier this year,
it Soldier field. But the thing that stands out to
me the two division matchups like Rams and Seahawks, Browns
and Steelers, Right, those are they've played twice already this
(39:48):
year and they both split the two games because they're
in the same division. What is that like? Because that
happened to you and oh eight, you're last year with Baltimore,
you played the Steelers three times, you played them in
the nh C champions Hip game, right, So what is
that like playing a team a third time during the season,
Like once you get to that playoff matchup, like how
much do you carry over from the regular season games
(40:10):
or how much do you just like throw aside because
this is the playoffs. It's like a whole new season.
I mean, you know each other so well that you
have to try and use your coaching against them, use
their knowledge against you. You know, certain formations that they've
been on. You give them the same you present to
them the same looks, and then you do something different.
Um you you you you you you you have the
self scout and say, hey, do we have any tendencies
(40:31):
that we're giving up what we're doing and how we're
doing it, and you know it's it's tough to play,
to be the team, or to play a team three
straight times in one year, you know, so you know,
it's one of those things where it's gonna come down
to who makes the most plays and who doesn't make
the big mistake, and you know, ultimately that usually comes
down to execution. Who's gonna be poised, you know, because
(40:51):
what happens when you get to the playoffs, things move
so much faster. Like you know, you didn't you didn't
wear yourself out before the game even comes, and you
have to make sure that you or tremendous job and
pacing yourself and pacing your team so that they're not
all gassed up and hyped up on Tuesday and Wednesday.
You want them hitting the weekend, you know, going right.
And also this is a Saturday game, not a Sunday game,
(41:14):
so you gotta get ready to to be you know,
on a on a bit of a short week. And
you know, a lot of these teams that are successful
are the teams that have been in playoff mode for
the last couple of weeks, whether it was a team
like Cleveland that had to win to get in. You know,
those are the teams that are going to be coming
off because right, yeah, because they didn't rest players or
(41:35):
anything like that. So it's gonna be exciting, you know,
to see what happens. And you know, this Bucks game
against Washington, you got a young talent, did great player
and Chase Young talking smack already talking with telling Brady,
telling the goat that he's coming. Now he can meet
one of these guys that call their shots. But traditionally,
when somebody calls out Tom Brady, he usually makes them
(41:56):
pay by attacking them. I don't know if they have
a game plan and attack Chase on gonna run game
or the past game, or cutting him using his aggressiveness
against him in screen games and things like that. But
it's gonna be interesting to see what happens. And you know,
if he can be one of these guys are coming
to league, Braggadosh is the quasis and back it up, Well,
don't tug on Superman's cave. We've learned that before. Right
(42:17):
when it comes to stuff like that and the Buccaneers,
they dodged a major bullet in my opinion. You know,
you saw what happened to Mike Evans yesterday, the way
his knee went. I mean that looked like it was
gonna be, you know, catastrophic for them. Absolutely, so, I
mean everything is I guess okay, it looks like he's
got a good shot of playing here this week because
that's a big part of their offense here. Remember, Jets fans,
(42:39):
you can watch Inside the Jets through the Jets App
presented by Ben Mgen. Go to the App Store or
Google Play right now in search Official New York Jets.
That's the interesting thing, right about the NFC. Each champ,
we always knew that they were gonna have a losing record,
and in the past, whenever those teams have losing records
that won the divisions, the Seahawks in you had Carolina
do that. Both of those teams one playoff game games
(43:00):
at home. This year a little bit differently, you don't
gonna have fans there and this matchup on paper at least.
I mean when you said Tom Brady Buccaneers on the road.
By the way, this is Brady's first time on the
road to start the playoffs in his entire career, because
every year he made the playoffs with New England it
was just a division champ. I just can't see Washington
winning this game. I can't um, I can see this
(43:24):
been a tough out even I mean, this can be
a long bit for Brady because you think about teams
that have given him problems, his teams that can get
to you with four Well, you know the the Washington
football team has five yea because they bring old man
Winter in and and Carrigan and he comes off the
bench press on third down and he's only the all
time sack leader for the for the organization, for the franchise.
(43:46):
You think about paying in the inside and you can
double everybody. If Mike Evans is compromised, you know, will
Brady and will this team do what they should do
and run the ball to have play action off overs?
Bruce Aaron gonna try and put the ball up a
few times times, Chase Younger does Montest we get to
Brady once or twice and just like yesterday, get a
(44:07):
huge return or put points on the board because Brady
get costs the ball up. So it's you that's something
that you have to ask. So if this, if it
was gonna be one Achilles Hill, you know for for
Tom Brady, it is a team that has a relentless
pass rushing. You talk about this team. It's the best
in the business. So it's time going to go to
uh New England time where he's gonna get the ball
(44:28):
out of his hands and less than you know, less
than two seconds or is he gonna be the Bruce
Aarrans no risky, no bisky where he's falling back and
he's sitting up there just you know, throwing the ball up,
throwing bombs and hoping that he can hit one and
hoping that one does get picked off, or hoping that
he doesn't get hit in the back of the head.
And you know, remember when we beat him, it's because
our our pass rush to day to get to him
with four, we're able to confuse him a little bit.
(44:49):
They don't have to do that. They can just say, hey,
we're gonna double everybody and we're gonna just get there
with four. Tristan Worth's had a very good year, so
I'm sure he's gonna see a lot of Chase Young
in the trenches there the outside of that offensive line.
That'll be a fun matchup like they all were. Um,
this was a fun show each and every week. And
now we have reached the end of the line. You
and I here on inside the Jets and look the
team only won a couple of games, but I think
(45:11):
you and I went sixteen and o in doing this show.
So thank you for everything that you did this year.
This was a lot of fun and I can't wait
to do it next year. My pleasure man see you
next year. Get him rest absolutely next year, darn Wright.
It is thanks Jets fans for being along for the
ride with us. He's Bart Scott, I'm Dan Grass. This
once again has been Inside the Jets, presented by e
(45:32):
Y building a better working world. So long everybody can
stay safe. We'll see you next year.
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