LISTEN | Inside the Jets with DL Sheldon Rankins (12/20)

Hosts Bart Scott and Dan Graca talk about the one-score loss at Miami, talk about how the Jets can finish games leading up to this week's home contest against the Jaguars and welcome defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins back to the show for the second time this season.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

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 Grossa and welcome into another edition of Inside the
Jets presented by e Y Building a Better Working World.
Dan Grosser joined by Bart Scott. As always, Bart, how

(00:25):
are we doing, my friend? I can't complain. I would
be better if we were camp talking about the Jets
victory in South Beachs. They went down there, they accounted
themselves very very well, but they still fail short of
their desired outcome. And you know, eventually they got to
figure out how to get on the other side of
these type of games. They showed a lot of grits,

(00:47):
showed a lot of heart, but it is still improvement
to be made, no doubt about it. And you know,
they come up seven points short, ultimately, same margin of
defeat that they had against Dolphins back in MetLife Stadium
a few weeks ago. But this and at least in
the first half, felt a little bit different. Right. They
jumped out to that ten nothing lead. Believe it or not,
it was the first time the Jets have had a
double digit lead all season long. They took a seven

(01:09):
team ten lead into the locker room and then they
were even down by seven, and that fourth quarter, Brandon
Echoles makes the big pick six. You got yourself the
tie ball game with about a half a quarter left
to play, and you didn't know which way it was
gonna go. But Dolphins just made a couple more plays
at the end. And the offense in the second half,
that's my big takeaway. Bart The offense in the second
half really unable to capitalize on all the good things

(01:32):
they did in the first two quarters. Yeah. Absolutely, And
I thought, you know, they this team struggles coming out
of the locker room at halftime. It used to be
flip flot, right. It used to be that they started
slow and then they finished, you know, they finished fast.
But now they're starting fast and finishing slow, and whatever
they're doing to start games, they have to try and
act like the third quarters to start all over again.

(01:54):
His defense, once again, it hasn't been able to stop
the run, as the Miami Dolphins average eight yards rush
and and they'd go for one four. You know, that's
the difference, being able to get him off you know,
off the field, the time and possession became an issue,
and they have to find ways to make plays, and
they just don't have enough possessions in the third quarter

(02:14):
to be able to be in a position to win.
But when Eccos has that the the interception to pick six,
great play, you know, putting six points on the board. Um,
they had an opportunity at that point to bowl up
as a defense, but they just wasn't able to get
the job done. And for that, those guys on defense
have to look themselves in America, no doubt about it.

(02:35):
And look, you you mentioned the running game with Miami yesterday,
and in all honesty, I mean in our pregame show yesterday,
we didn't even talk about the Dolphin running attack because
it wasn't something that we really thought that Jets really
had to worry about too much. As you said, they
ranked thirty first to the National Football League, and for
them to go out there and run the ball for
eight plus and Duke Johnson, who only had four touches

(02:57):
all season long, for him to go out there and
have the game that he yesterday. Myles Gaskin was a
guy who was just coming off a COVID protocol. To me,
that was a little surprising how successful Miami was on
the ground, turning out those yards, and I mean we
put it. We gave this this defense a lot of
credit early in the season about what they were and
what they were capable of doing, and how the defense

(03:18):
line was supposed to be the strength of this team.
But the statistics don't lie. They have to be much
better and they hold itself to a higher standard. You
have to start living up to it because this team
cannot win. You know, it was tough to watch Riley
go out, you know, um, thankfully, thankfully he's okay. You
never really want to see, you know, a player cartered off.
I know that's an emotional, uh, you know, very emotional

(03:41):
thing for not only the team that the player plays on,
but also for the opposing team because at any point
that can be you. Um, but I felt like they
lost left some plays out there. When you're a team
that isn't a team that has a tremendous record and
doesn't rank high in categories, you have to take advantage
of the layups. You know, you look at you know,
Austin Davis had an opportunity deflected ball, you know he

(04:05):
had he got one. But you know, the great ones
that how you take the step from going from good
the great to be able to make the second one
as well when it falls in your laugh and be
able to get in the end zone. They weren't able
to do that. It seems like they found a kicker
at least at least we're got sitting here talking about
the miss extra points or the miss uh field goal attempts.
They just have to do a better job. And it's
not one thing you can put your finger on. It's

(04:27):
just across the board. This team has to play smarter.
This seems has to be understand situational football. I didn't
like the fact that La Fleur came out with a
lot of innovative plays to talk about the their version.
I believe of the hook and ladder where you have
crowder throwing the ball back was an innovative play. I
think it creates a lot of excitement and energy. You know,

(04:47):
you would like to see them be able to have
a little bit more productivity for the wide receivers with
Elijah More being out. But you know, I thought early
on it was more about the tight end show and
and the fact that they had all through their tight
ends healthy. But they didn't keep it up. They did.
They seemed like they strayed away from that personnel grouping.
I don't know if Miami made the adjustment and in
the Jets didn't make the adjustment to the adjustment, but

(05:09):
those are opportunities. You know, when you got a team
on the ropes. You got ten points in the first
first quarter, you gotta try and be productive and get
points on the board in the second quarter as well.
And there's too many Evan flows ups and dials. Appears
that this team doesn't execute well. The other thing, I
think that impacted the offense too. In the second half
of the game. Certainly the past protection broke down, right.

(05:30):
I mean, Zach got sacked six times yesterday. Five of
them came after halftime. And you know Miami, who normally
is a team that's gonna come at you with the
blitzing because they have corners that are good enough to
just man up and shut down receivers. You know, that
corner tandem. It's as good as any in the National
Football League. And so, like you said, when you're missing
a Corey Davis, when you're missing in Elijah More, it's

(05:51):
still incumbent upon some of those guys that you know what,
you have to go out there and win your battles.
Credit Miami though, for being able to win those one
on ones. Well the adjustment to the boots where they
didn't they couldn't anticipate where the boots were coming from,
so they decided to take their pressure and come off
both edges with secondary pieces that understood that if it
was a boot either side, they didn't have to guess

(06:12):
left or right. They put they blitched both outside, you know,
defensive backs a lot of times, and that's where the
pressure came from, knowing that you get the turn protection
when it's a boot. Everybody's gonna go elephants on parade
to the direction of the play fake and he's gonna
come back. And you know, they did a good job
and coming from outside and making Zac have to pull
up and being able to get to him. And it
seemed like they just had unblocked guys, but it's because

(06:34):
they brought one more than the Jets were able to block,
and they did just really didn't adjust to what they
were doing. As far as that aspect, I wish they
would have ran the ball a little bit more. Tevin
Coleman six point three yards to carry. I think that
you know, when you have those type of wins or
you have that type of league going into halftime, you
have to come out and established a run and to
win on first down. I just think they just did

(06:55):
a bad job and winning on first down. Yeah, it
didn't necessarily see a lot of Michael Carter in terms
of impact plays, right, I mean, he's coming off and
missing the last few games due to that ankle injury,
so look to get him going probably a little bit
more starting against the Jaguars here this week. But you're right,
not much to speak of there with the run game.
And you know you saw the absence of George Famby
a big one at left tackle, right. I mean, George

(07:17):
has done a real nice job sliding over the left
side this year filling in for McKay peckton, and he
couldn't go with the knee yesterday, so Connor McDermott went
out there. He battled. But in all essens part, you're
talking about your third string left tackle going up against
a Dolphin defense which is playing really really well of late,
and you saw a couple of plays there at his expense,
especially in that second half. Yeah, because you talked about

(07:40):
playing offensive line is more about continuity and chemistry and
non verbal communication. And you know, when you take a
guy that has been playing at such a high level,
you think about fat Yeah, I think he's only given
a one one sacked this year. And also being able
to be a communicator for pre snap Polstna to gol
a Vera Tucker is very very important. And when you

(08:01):
take that out of the out of the equation, it
causes for a lack of communication and lack of situational awareness.
And it showed a little bit because you know when
when the Dolphins decided to get a little creative with
their bliss packages, you know the Jets, you know, were
slow to react and respond to it. This is it's
the Jets presented by a selective insurance be uniquely in

(08:22):
shore Dan Grass alongside Bart Scott. I think the next
step when you talk about the evolution of this offense,
the evolution of the quarterback, for example, is how do
you put four quarters of good football together right, continue
scoring points, continue the positive momentum that you're built in
the first half, Because to me, there was some parallels
what we saw yesterday to what we saw a couple
of weeks ago against the Philadelphia Eagles. Remember, in the

(08:44):
first half against Philly Jets offense scored three touchdowns on
their first three possessions of the game. Second half, couldn't
find the end zone. Same thing yesterday. They didn't score
point offensively after halftime. So I think the next challenges,
whether it's from the quarterback, the coaching staff, I'm in
the entire offense as a whole. How do you continue
that consistency for four quarters as opposed to just to

(09:06):
absolutely And I mean, you know what better team to
get on track against in the team that you should
be evenly matched with. If you think about the Jacksonville
drag Walls coming in, you know you're gonna have opportunities
and you want to see them be able to take
advantage of being able to have a young quarterback for
the first time. They're gonna you know, yeah, I know
when they go against Matt Jones, and Matt Jones is

(09:26):
well coached, you know, to go against a guy where
you know, maybe you can put pressure on him and
learn how to attack a rookie quarterback. And on both sides,
you know, Zach Wilson can look how another rookie quarterback
is being attack and learn how to make the adjustments.
I mean you're gonna have a tremendous matchup this week.
You know, when you think about the first overall, picking
the second overall, pick right and understanding and listen, it

(09:48):
didn't go. And I think maybe Zach Wilson can get
some comfort for understanding that. Listen, Lawrence is struggling as well.
And you know, sometimes it's a process because sometimes I
think you can be too hard on yourself thinking that you,
you know, you should be better, are playing at a
different level. But then you see somebody that's in similar shoes,
similar situations to do, and you should see what he
does well, what he doesn't do well, and try to

(10:09):
add that to your game, no doubt about it. Speaking
his act though, let's hear from the Jet quarterback. This
was after the game yesterday, chatting with our own Bobo
shoosing again. A lot of good things to build off
of in the first half. A time struggle to move
the ball in the second half. Why why do you
think that first half the second half issues still exists
for your offense. Uh, I think it's just part of
the part of the game. You know, you gotta give

(10:30):
credit to the defense. I thought they did a good
job mixing some things up and um, you know, he's
gotta win. I think the game was just full of
one on ones all the way around. I gotta give
the guys some better balls to be able to win.
And then you know, we just gotta we just gotta
put some drives together. How hard was it for your
team to get back to football after watching what happened
with Elijah Riley? I mean, obviously our hearts out to him,
and you know, we hope he's doing well always, you know,

(10:51):
But I think the motive is to, you know, come
out and play harder, you know, for him and you
know and everything. I don't think that has anything to
do with it, you know. I think we just gotta
you know, keep me going. I think that's just ups
and down the football for you. Every game's a learning experience,
I'm sure. So to have a couple of opportunities at
the end with time house in your hip pocket, trying
to get a two minute offense run, Well, what do
you think when you go back again to look at

(11:11):
this tape, you'll take out of this experience and learn. Yeah,
it's a tough situation. Um, you know, just finding our completions.
You know, we've got to be penalty free. I think
that's the biggest one. And you know those will kill
those two minute drives and so um. It really just
comes down to execution when adversity hits and and all
the pressures on and so there's a good situation to
be in just to experience it, you know, but we
gotta put something together there. Appreciative Thanks. That's Bob with

(11:41):
shoes in there with Zach Wilson. And you know one
of the things that Bob as Zack and I'll ask
it to you as a player, you know, what is
that emotional swing? Like you know the Elijah Riley injury
yesterday where he was down for a long time, had
to be carted off, and you know, you could hear
a pin drop in the stadium because everybody felt the
magnitude of it. Though just from a human level. Though,
when you see something like that one of your guys

(12:03):
go down, have to leave the game, you don't know
how serious the injury is. Is it hard to just
forget about that and then go and continue playing football.
It depends on the injury. A lot of times when
you see compound injuries, like you know, guy like like
I can remember playing with Moss Mohammed and this is
the reason why they UM outlawed the horse collar tackle.
You know Roy Williams horse column and it's you know,

(12:25):
watches the dislocation of the lake, spend around stuff like that.
But when somebody like it's hurt um. You know, he
put the thumbs up, so you thought that he was good.
It looked like he can move his you know, his
upper body. You never know that. The biggest fear that
you ever have is that somebody's gonna get paralyzed on
the field. That's the biggest fear that I believe that
all athletes have UM. But we are so trained to

(12:49):
learn how to move on UM and be able to compartmentalize, like, okay,
we have to go back to doing our job in
the best way to honor our teammate. The best thing
that we can do right now, it's a playing spy
for him so that we can get the victory and
try and present him with the game ball or try
and put him in good spirits. And because you're gonna
check on him at the words, but it's nothing you

(13:10):
can do. Your powerless and you just have to try
and and move on and go to the next place.
Where it happens in practice all the time. Guys go down,
You turn the drill over and you handle what you
can handle. What you could control is how you're gonna
play inspired for your teammate. You know, three games left
here in this season, okay, and you're gonna go out
there and you're gonna try to win each and every
one of them. Certainly, every guy in that locker room

(13:30):
wants to win games. But you've been on teams in
your career where overall the season didn't play out the
way you wanted it to. Can you gain something positive
from a strong close to the season, taking it with
you into the off season, then perhaps into next year.
Is there still something to gain from, let's say, winning
your last two three football games. It's always something to
gain for the opportunity to improve, right, the opportunity to

(13:52):
go against a team that you don't know, personnel that
you don't know, situations that you don't know, and it
shows you a lot about the care after your teammates, right,
it shows you guys are guys who are going to
play through the whistle, who's going to continue to finish
strong run through the line, or if they're guys that
are gonna feel sorry for themselves and going to self
preservation mode. So I think as far as the team

(14:13):
building phase, it kind of tells you who you can
count on because it's more about managing failure in this
league than it is about managing success because you're gonna
fail far many time more times and you succeed. So
if you're one of these guys that's gonna hold onto
the rope and pull it in the right direction, you'd
like to see that with your teammates and say, hey,
no matter what, if we're out here, I'm going to
play to the standard. And right now you're trying to

(14:34):
establish the standard, the standard that hey, this is what
the jet looks like, this is how we play, and
this is how we represent the names on the front
of our jerseys before we start worrying about the names
on the back. He knows the out about it. And
you know, when you look at this defense, and we
talked about it a little bit earlier, the struggles that
they've experienced and now they're missing some pieces because of injuries.
You know, we don't know the status of Quinnin for example,

(14:54):
he left in that game in the second half yesterday.
We know he's dealing with the bump shoulder. Fully, Fatokasi
was in COVID protocol missed the game. So that's two
big run stuffers that weren't in that lineup. But you
also saw the turnovers, right, you saw the two interceptions
yesterday you were plus two in that department. I think
that that's something maybe you can look to gain some
traction with for the final three games. I mean the
Brandon Echles pick six part. That was the first interception

(15:17):
by a Jet corner all season long, and it took
until the four team came. Maybe get a little bit
more you know, opportunistic when it comes to the takeaways
over the next three weeks. I think that could be
something to build a pump. I mean you talk about
you know, believe me your eyes and when we say
pulling the trigger right, we have some guys. You know,
Bryce Hall has been there multiple times where he's right

(15:38):
there to make a pick or right, it turns into
a p bu Right. You understand that you get paid
in his league to get turnovers and put your offense
on short field. If you can do what Ecles did,
you know we call it that hit it for the cycle,
were able to get to turn over and and take
it to the enzon to get the touchdown, right, because
you can't take any day for granted in his league.
As far as if you get a turn over your
handed to the offense. He doesn't guarantee that you're gonna

(15:58):
get seven. It's whenever you have an out. And he
put seven on the on the on the board, you
do that, and you know he was he was decisive
in his decision making. He believed what he had studied.
You know, he saw the come back coming back to
through a ball that he was laid on and the
Echoes took advantage of it. And that's something that you
that you try and focus on because you know, you
want to be one of these teams that you know,

(16:18):
people have to worry about so many other different things,
not just about it if you're gonna take a big
hit or if it's gonna be a you know, physical hit,
but you have to be worrying about, Okay, how am
I gonna secure the football because these guys are grabbing
at the football. First guy, go make secure to tackle, second,
third guys in try and get the ball out. And
that those are things that you see the best teams
and the best defenses do on a route team basis.
We talk about turning the ball out, you know, but

(16:40):
those are things that have to be practiced. And then
when you practice them, you know, you see them and
you go in you try and implement him and try
and execute them when you play in the game, right
and you saw the attempts and hopefully that they can
start figuring out how to get this done and you
start seeing more opportunities to get turnovers and setting their
offense up and putting them on short field. That's what
the best defenses do. All right. We're just getting started here.

(17:03):
A lot more to do on this edition of Inside
the Jets presented by e Y Building a Better Working World,
Dan Grass and Bart Scott coming back right after this,
and welcome back to Inside the Jets presented by e
Y Building a Better Working World. Dan Grazza alongside Bart
Scott and remember Jets fans. You can watch Inside the
Jets through the Jets App presented by Fubo Sports Book.
Go to the app store or Google Play right now

(17:26):
in search Official New York Jets. We talked a little
bit earlier Barred about takeaways in yesterday's game and Brandon
Echols one of the rookies getting that pick six and
Ashton Davis in the first quarter coming up with the interception.
That's a second year player. You think about that secondary
and it is really even old. Season long been littered
with guys who were pretty much only in their first

(17:47):
or second year in the National Football League. Even though
the team doesn't necessarily get the results that they want
each and every week, those guys are getting valuable experience
to where you hope when next season rolls around, they'll
be able to hit the ground running. You know, at
since been a guy that has been forced into a
leadership role and he has to step up right You
either thinking swimming this league, and you know, right now
he's starting to make plays, and now he's building his

(18:09):
competence because I feel like this is a kid that's
really hard on it so and he holds itself to
a high, high standard, but he just doesn't have the
experience in the plays. He's getting plenty of that. You'll
be that at May and join his expense. But yo,
I got my start in this league because ray Lewis
got hurt and gave me the opportunity to prove myself.
But you also build confidence because everybody in this league

(18:30):
can play. The problem is can you process? And he's played,
he may high. Can you be a high percentage decision maker? When? When? When?
The when, the when? The height of the levels are
there's stressful, most stressful times, you know, when it's two minutes,
when it's pivotal times where you're behind you have to
get a stop. Can you be a high percentage decision maker?
He's starting to become one, and I think everybody else

(18:51):
is starting to believe that. I mean, it's gonna be
something that's gonna catapult him into the season. That's what
everybody's playing for. Their playing for the opportunity to be
able to have in our twenty next year. Because if
you don't prove that you can play and you can
carry your weight and that it is a bright future
for you, and they're gonna start going out looking for
your replacement. That's that's the reality of the NFL. You know,
it's different for everybody right like to where you're able

(19:13):
to put it all together for a young player, and
you said, you know, you got an opportunity. Ray Lewis
got hurt, but you would have been paying your dues
up until that point being a part of the team,
not necessarily when the moment was. But I'm curious with you,
when did you know what was it specifically that trigger
to you when you said I got this now, I
got this figured out to where you weren't thinking as

(19:33):
much and you were just able to go out there
and play. What was the one thing that said, all, right, now,
I know this. It's it's when you've been in enough
situations and you're confident in the game plan, right, Because
what happens is when you think, it makes you slow, right,
And that's what happens. Most of these guys were stars
just last year. Then you put them out there and
it's hesitancy because they're not confident in what they're when

(19:55):
they're seeing and what they're believing their checks and and
and forces them to play slower when it when it
when it all opened up for me is when I
can play with anticipation pre snap reads where my vision
opened up. My vision opened up because I wasn't panicking
when somebody came in motional was the shift. I knew
exactly what the check was, exactly what was expected with me.
I know exactly what my teammate was going to be

(20:16):
because we had practices in practice, we had communicated, talked
about if we get this, that's how we should see it.
Because what happens, it happened so fast in the game
you don't maybe get an opportunity to communicated. You can't
sit around and go in the huddle say hey man,
let's do this like you. No, it happens in the
nattle second, and you have to be able to see
it at the same way and be where you expect
him to be, him to be where you expect him
to be, and you be where he expects you to be.

(20:38):
And then when you do that, now you're not pausing
instead of you know, getting a pass breakup. You you
have a confidence to step in front and be able
to make a bigger play. So it's all about experiencing reps,
not saying all the time, and it becomes redundant. A
betetion is in a veterroom because he doesn't make mistakes.
A beson is a veteran because he's made all the
mistakes rather than practice in the game, but he learned

(21:00):
from him and he's able to apply it and not
make the same mistakes over and over again. You may
make a mistake, but it's a new mistake, no doubt
about it. So, Brandon Echols, you saw the beneficiary of
that yesterday with the pick six, big moment for the
Jets there in the fourth quarter of that football game. Afterwards, though,
he caught up with our team reporter Ethan Greenberg. All right,
now joined by cornerback Brandon Echoles. Brandon, let's start on

(21:22):
a positive note for you. Your first interception, your first touchdown.
When you lined up on the play, did you have
a feeling the ball was gonna come your way? Oh? Yeah,
I kind of do, just you know, by the way
they lied dope. But it was also good, you know,
team communication across the board. You know, I want to
give Chris my call to the second the dB. He

(21:42):
caught out a play, you know, and I trusted it,
and so you know, he let me know to get
it my first in accistion. How how good did it feel?
Do you feel like, did not only get that but
also to give your team a joel and to tie
the game at the point in which you did? I
feel good, But I also knew, you know, did I
still that we still had more work to go out,
you know and do so my focus even though I

(22:04):
got the intercession my folks, was to try to get
back on the field and make another make another place. Brandon,
you didn't play against the Dolphins in the first go
around and Met Life Stadium. Now that like, what did
you hear from your teammates leading up to this week?
And also how do you feel like you performed to that? Uh,
just basically just recapping on the last game. You know,
we all was just emphasizing all the you know, the

(22:26):
different things that could do, all the possibilities that could happen,
and you know, and we just you know wanted to
come out to the fielding the plood. You know, just
how we was just you know, being and out his communication,
communication and execution. That's the biggest part is the execution part.
We executed some places, some places we did it, but
just you know, just as something we gotta work on
as a young thing. Coach Alah has talked so much

(22:49):
about how as young players, especially like yourself, this is
the part in which you want to see young rookies developed. Yeah,
your first touchdown today. When you think about when you
first joined the Jets and April, how much or how
much do you feel like you've grown and how much
more do you feel like you can show before the
end of the season. I feel like I've grown a lot,
especially within confidence, and I'm speaking for everyone like out

(23:13):
the rookies and including my other teammate, our confidence that
you know, it gets better and better every week going
into the different teams, and there's you know, for me,
there's a big thankful us just confidence and you know
not you know, going out there panicing, awesome brand, appreciate
the time, thank you, thank you. Alright, So that is

(23:33):
Brandon echoes with Ethan Greenberg. Good performance from Brandon yesterday.
Want to see more of that over the final three
weeks here of his rookie season. And it was interesting
part two, right, you heard him say, Michael Carter, the
other rookie d D called out the play before the
ball was snapped. There a little rookie help on a
rookie there. That's good to see for us guys who
maybe don't have the experience as much as a veteran. Well,

(23:54):
but that's what it's all about, right, It's like everybody's
a lot. That's why you communicate, That's why you study film, right,
you know, you may recognize something within a play that
you know another guy may not, but it may come
to him. So I understand. Okay, listen, I've seen this
formation to understand this set, right, Like listen, this guy,
this split, I've studied this all the time. Right. And

(24:15):
if you're one of these teammates that people know that
you study, that you paid attention, that you're that you're
locked into the little things that you not only can
compare attention and you know before the game in your
film study, but also can see conceptually what teams are
doing out of certain formations and knowing that hey, this
is a pivotal moment that this is gonna want to
be one of those stick routes. You know, believe it,

(24:35):
and he trusts, this teammate, and that's what it's all about.
It's about trust. You have to trust that he's gonna
be where he's supposed to be. But it's supposed to
be able to trust and believe that, hey, he sees
something and you know that he's a guy that doesn't
give false information. He's just not one of these over
communicators that screens watch the screen, watch the draw Like okay,
everybody know that, Like that's like, come on, man, that's
a temporaryminder. Did you see something do you have com

(24:58):
fiction in it? You sure, because I'm a trust you
and I'm anna jump it. And when you have that
type of blind trust and you have that type of
blind or you have that type of commitment where you know,
everybody on this team is working and studying, and he's
saying something is law, he says, hey, jump it, and
he jumps it. You have to get him credit first

(25:19):
of all, right, quatal sources. But then you know, you
you celebrating that, you celebrating the fact that all the
hard work that you did and all the studying that
you did, you know, paid off because you can study
for for for a whole game and nothing that you
study really comes to fluition. But if you see something
that you recognize and you said and it comes man,
that that just emboldens everybody else to be able to say,

(25:41):
you know what, we gotta look at him too, like
if he can do it, And if you have a
whole team of guys that's giving out information, man, that's
you talk about playing at a high level. Teams think
that your omni president, think that it's twenty of you
out there because you're communicating you're preparing for every situation,
which allows you to play so much faster coming out
x here on the inside that you will be joined
by a member of that defense defensive lineman Sheldon Rankin's

(26:03):
is gonna be our guests. It's Inside the Jets presented
by e Y Building a Better Working World. And welcome
back to Inside the Jets presented by e Y Building
a Better Working World. Dan Grasso alongside Bart Scott's time
now for our player guest segment brought to you by
e Y Building a Better Working World. He is first
year member of the New York Jets, veteran defensive lineman
Sheldon Rankins nice enough to join us again here on

(26:24):
Inside the Jets. Sheldon, thanks for being our first repeat
guest here in one season. What's going on now? Much manages?
You know, just glad I loved having me on so
much the first time out. Decided to swing back in
and show my face, man, So it was so nice
we had to do it twice. Man. Now you guys
go down the South Beach when we're bench on your mind,
you guys get out to a fast start off offensively.

(26:45):
What was Divide like and what was the what was
the atmosphere like when you know you talk about going
somewhere that's a fifty degrees hotter than when you where
you reside in that Yeah, man, this is everybody knew.
Um that playing playing, Uh, going down to that warmer
temperature when you ain't been exposed to it, you know, Um,

(27:05):
every possession is gonna count, you know because at some
point that that that heat is gonna kick in. It's
gonna play a factor. But um, it was good for
us to get out too that type of start. You know,
that's that's the type of start we always want to
get out too. So for us to be able to
do it, so we can do it and be able
to sustain it for for as long as we did.
Obviously didn't end the way we wanted it to, but
you know, to be able to do that, get out

(27:25):
to that start, Um, just furthermore shows that this team
is could tell you in the work until you and
the lock in on the things we just lock in on.
Obviously things still to clean up, but overall, um, you
know we'll we'll take that start. We just gotta work
on the finished park. Now where you're proud, Papa, when
you saw those little young ThunderCats out there, you know,
turning the ball over. You talk about echoes, you're talking

(27:46):
about David's. David dropped too, so he still owe you
guys push up, but dropping the other one because you
know the type of planes that help you win games
when they present themselves. They don't come too often, but
you get tip ball, you gotta you gotta get you
gotta ask you both of those. But how proud were
you the young guys for being able to step up?
And definitely proud of those guys, man, I see the

(28:07):
work they put in, and I see how hard to
get coached, I see how hard to get pushed. So,
you know, to see them step up in situations where
you know we needed those you know we we we
we need those big plays on defense to kind of
to kind of shift the momentum. Um, get the offense back,
the ball gets back back the ball, allow them to
get rolling. Um, we needed those plays. And if for
Eckles that pick six, I mean, you know, scoring on defense,

(28:29):
and that's that's a game changer. You know, you can't
you can never have too many of those moments. So
UM happy to see those young guys step up, and
I hope that continues to pre confidence in the in
the level of playout there. You know, you guys have
had not exactly as much success as you would like
when it comes to creating those turnovers this year, right,
I mean, the defensive line had more interceptions than the

(28:49):
corners leading up to this game yesterday here, So to
see an echos come up with that plane. Then you
have Ashton Davis do his thing in the first quarter
like Bark talked about there. You know what type of
an infusion of energy does that give a defense when
you are creating those turnovers like you did on Sunday.
That's big, you know, I think, uh, you know, anytime
you can get turnovers that that that negates any rhythm

(29:09):
and offense can have. You know, so if you're negating rhythm, um,
you know, that's that's big because you know, an offense
without rhythm, they're never gonna get going. You know. You know,
you got those big strike offenses who can hit every
now and then, but for the most of our offenses
work off a rhythm. So you know, if you're not
allowing them to get into rhythm, you know, and now
you got the quarterback second, get the second guests in

(29:30):
his reads and doing things like that. You know, then
it just kind of plays right in our hands. We
can attack, We can you know, um read our keys
play fast and everybody can get down here to make plays.
Now two a tons of the Lord have been killing
the league. And you know percentage completing percentage. You know
he was up in my seventies, but you guys were
able to hold them like two slightly over fifties something

(29:52):
percent What was the key most the point of emphasis
from a defensive standpoint in that passing game, not allowing
him to get in the rhythm. You I think it
was challenging those guys on the outside. Um, you know
that that was gonna be big. And then um, you know,
not allowing him to go to his first read. You
know with that RPO stuff. You know that they're usually um,
that first read is where they want to go. That's

(30:13):
how they make their money. So being able to get
him off those first reads and making him have to
go elsewhere with the ball, making him have to hold it,
you know because uh, just based off his career thus far,
you know, it's shown when he's not able to be
a rhythm guy and he has to kind of you know,
pat the ball, move his feet, Um, hold it a
little longer. You know, he's he's less accurate. Um, he's

(30:34):
less decisive, you know, and he's more prone to throw
the ball to us. So being able to kind of
fluster him a little bit, make him move a little bit, uh,
you know, get get him off those first reads. Um
was big, you know, and and and then they had
to kind of lean on the run game. Speaking to
the run game, you know, we just saw this Dolphins teamer.
You guys saw this Dolphins team basically a month ago

(30:55):
MetLife Stadium. Was there anything different that they did from
a tactical standpoint? XS and O was when it came
to the run that allowed them to have a little
bit more success than they did in the first meeting
against you guys, Yeah, I think, Um, you know, when
when you look at it, Um, they were a bit
more extra tackle in the game. You know, added an
extra big body to kind of be able to to

(31:15):
to really try to hit us downhill. Um did a
bit more gap schemes. Uh, you know that they were
able to kind of do that and kind of try
to um, you know, create some some some um gap
you know, deficiencies and and you know, um some questions
for us, and then they were ever kind of hit
on some runs and overall we just gotta tackle better too.
You know, there were some situations where, um, you know,

(31:37):
guys are there, Um, you know, guys there to make
those plays. But you know, guys just gotta be able
to get the guy down, you know, for a game
at three instead of you know, allowing him to pop
for a game at seven or eight. That's just that's
just allowing them to stay in manageable situations. And you know,
when you got a team like that that feels like
they want to run the ball, if you allow them
to stay in manageable situations, you know they can you know,
operate on their whole play book. Guys were a little

(31:59):
bit weren't handed yesterday, you know on that defensive line
fully was in the COVID protocol. That's one of your captains,
one of your big run stuffers there. And then Quinn
couldn't finish the games he's been battling with that shoulder injury.
What does that due to shift responsibilities for not only
yourself but for the rest of the defensive line when
you're playing shorthanded like that, Well, guys gotta step up,
you know obviously, you know you you hate to lose

(32:22):
key guys like those two. I mean those are you know,
top tier players in this league. So you know, to
be without those guys for any amount of time was
was was a big loss. But overall, you know, I
put it on myself. I put it on JFM. I
put it off the rest of that defensive line too.
We just gotta be able to rise up and make
a few more plays here and there, you know, whether
it's like I said, you know, just getting off a

(32:43):
block a little faster, holding a run to a gain
of two instead of you know, letting it creep through
for a game of five. Um, you know those things,
you know, throughout the culmination of a game, those things
really add up. So um, you know, I'll put it
on myself. I'll put it on you know, on the
rest of that day line like that didn't do. Um.
We feel like we're good enough to get out there
and make those plays. We just weren't able to do

(33:04):
it yesterday. You know what's the difficulty now? You know,
especially when you get to the end of the season,
you really don't have a lot of live drills. You
guys aren't doing nine o seven, you're not getting live reps.
Then now you're going against you know, somebody that's not
a rolling Don't you know how difficult is it to
to to really be able to learn how or be

(33:25):
consistent with you're tackling. Is it as much as just
reminding each other about the fundamentals? Or you know, do
you think you guys should hit a little bit more?
And I know no player would say that out loud,
but just understanding you and I talking. You know, do
you think maybe I should have like a period of
nine o seven and take the pads off afterwards? Are
you guys doing that or or what's what's the what's
the rules going on? And the league has changed so

(33:45):
much since I've got since I've left. Yeah, So I mean,
I think the big thing is it's kind of twofold.
You know, I'll understanding that. Um, the way this game works,
you gotta get population to the ball. You know, the
guys are too talented. Now, guys are are elusive. Guys
are you know strong? You know, at the end of
the day, you know, guys are making the first guy

(34:07):
miss breaking first tackle. So getting on, everybody's ball is
gonna be huge. And then, um, you know from a
practice standpoint, you know, yeah we aren't hitting you know,
your the pads on on, but understanding that, you know,
in those periods that are moving fast, you know, making
sure you get yourself in the right position, taking that
extra step, taking that those extra two steps to get
closer to the ball, put yourself in a position that

(34:28):
you would make the tackling in the game and not
just running by. And then your head said, oh, yeah,
I would have made that in the game because you know,
if we're just gonna be completely honest, you know, uh,
it's it's not shown up. So um, you know we've
we've missed some tackles that you know, guys may feel
like they would have made, but you know, at the
end of the day, uh, they're coming up as miss tackles.
So just just focusing on those little things, like I said,

(34:49):
just making sure you you know, you take those extra
you know steps and practice to make sure you're putting
yourself in position that when it's live and the bullets
are real, um, that you'll be able to make those plays.
Three games in the season, obviously there's not gonna be
any playoffs for this team this year. But you're a veteran,
You've been through seasons like this before. Do you feel,
as one of maybe the leaders on this football team,

(35:10):
you have to impart to the younger guys about hey,
finished strong, these games still matter, these games still count.
Is that any type of message you have to maybe
give to those guys? Absolutely? Uh, you know, I think, um,
you know, for just to be completely honest for a
team that's you know, lost as much as you know
the Jets have, and you know, a lot, a lot
of a lot a lot of people don't understand you know,

(35:31):
how this league and work. Sometimes you know, you shut
it down. You you you throwing the towel these last
few games. You know you could be jobless in a
few months. You know, you could literally be sitting on
the couch hoping for a call because at the end
of the day, to tape is your resume. You know,
other teams don't know how hard you practice. Other teams

(35:51):
don't know how nice of a guy you are in
the building. You know how smart you are on the board,
like teams don't understand that. So the end of the day,
all they can do is put on the tape, and
if the tape don't say enough to make them want
to ask those other questions, then it doesn't matter. So
understand that, you know, getting guys to understand that, you know,
this is your job. You know, each and every day

(36:12):
you're you're allowed to put on those paths and go
to work. It's an opportunity and you gotta take you know,
full advantage of it to make the most of it
because this is your livelihood. You got a small window
in your life to carve out your legacy in this game.
You know, make as much money for your family, uh,
you know, your future kids, your grandkids and generations to
come and uh and and leave your legacy on this game.

(36:34):
So um, you know, just just fully impartnered on people
just because like you know, Bart's played. Bart played a
long time and he's seen it happen. You know, guys
throwing the towel, you know those are the same guys.
You know you come back for O t s and
you've never see him again, you know what I'm saying.
So then day, getting guys understand that like each and
every opportunity we get to take the field is a

(36:54):
chance that you need to take full advantage of to
leave your legacy on this game, and and and and
leave and leave it, leave nothing to chance, you know,
go out there and give it. You're all and at
the didn't the day you can put your head on
the pillow knowing you did. That tape is your resume.
I like the way you put that there. We Sheldon,
really appreciate a couple of minutes. As always, we love
having me on the show. Here. We don't talk to
you between now on the weekend. Have so for great

(37:16):
merry Christmas you and your family, and thanks again for
joining us. As always, appreciate you guys having an opportunity
to tell everybody how nicely guy you are to build it.
You keep it all the week what you know not
really that building do though I know you will. That's
Sheldon Rankins. This is Inside the Jets. More to Come

(37:37):
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 Scott
and Inside the Jets is brought to you by Draft
King sports Book, an official sports betting partner of the NFL.
Download the Draft Kings sports Book app today and use
code green for a special offer when you sign up.
It's only at Draft Kings Sports Book. If you're a

(37:58):
football fan part which of as you and I are,
and everybody listening and watching our show is, or else
they wouldn't be listening and watching. This is kind of
like the best you can hope for here in the
next couple of weeks. It seems like we have football
every single day. I mean, unfortunately it's because of the
COVID postponements, which you never want to see. But we've
got two games on Monday, We've got two games on Tuesday,

(38:20):
we got a game on Thursday, we got two games
on Christmas Day on Saturday, and then another whole slate
again on Sunday. I mean, this is like Nirvana if
you're a football fan. Yeah, absolutely, you talk about you know,
I think, you know. Thanks thanks to the NFL for
giving us Wednesday and the opportunity to catch our breath
as they're gonna hit us hard and heavy, Like there's
no way we would be able to watch all all

(38:40):
these games if they were playing at say time, think
about Cody and over football. It's taking over sports altogether
in the NFL is trying our best to make sure
that it's not an unfair competitive advantage. But still, and
everybody agrees with it. You use book a play any
saying that they were close to playing on Saturday. So

(39:01):
now you got teams that was gonna have a regular
week going into a long week where I'm not concerned
with what happens to week, Oh, but what happens to
follow the week when guys are tired or guys are
aren't able to get the necessary rest, It's gonna affect
next week. But I understand these games are too important
to give that big of a fair advantage. You talk
about the Cleveland Browns twenty three people in the protocol,

(39:22):
But you know what I get concerned with is, you know,
we're doing everything to make sure that Baker Mayfield and
and and um. You know, the coach can get back
and they can get back, But what happened on the
other side. If in between that time a guy like
Derek car test positive, they're not going to move to
the game for him. So I think it's unfair. Bantage,
you just have to continue to play. You know the protocols,
but this is an opportunity for team teams to kind

(39:44):
of go onto a Bunkerman talent. Say, listen, we're gonna
be the more discipline team. And if it's gonna be
a team that that loses the game because they don't
have some of the key players because of COVID, it
won't be us because we're gonna do the right and
the responsible thing. We're not gonna go out, We're not
gonna um congregate, We're just gonn want to you know,
do things virtually and win that way. Um. You know,
last week we watched on Monday night football, we watched

(40:06):
you know, Jalen Rampsy and Tyler Higbee, two of their
most important players offensively and defensively. It poured from the field.
So I mean, listen, nobody can control what happened happens
in the midst of a pandemic. I'm not suggesting that,
and I'm not I'm not I'm not suggesting that these
players were negligent. But what I'm saying is we shouldn't
we shouldn't um hold the team that doesn't have the outbreak,

(40:28):
you know, accountably responsible because it's not their fault and
it becomes a disadvantage their way. So we don't want
to take it up avantage from one way and swing
the pends on them to the other side side as well.
But it's gonna be interesting. And because of it, we
have multiple games on Monday Tuesday, and uh, it's started
pretty briefly, you know what I mean, five o'clocks start
for for the Raiders and they traveling and their own

(40:48):
noble well, and you know, we just gotta figure it out, man,
figure it out, and we want the best team in
the win. But I love the fact that every game matters.
So many teams are still available on lots at an
the tournament, no doubt about it. And look, you make
the best with what you have. And you saw Baltimore
yesterday for example. On that note, without Lamar Jackson. Now,
look he's dealing with an ankle injury, but without having him,

(41:11):
who's your star, who's your m v P caliber player?
Tyler Hunting goes out there, plays pretty good football and
has Baltimore within right, I mean to think about it,
he hasn't within a two point conversion away from knocking
off Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. Unfortunately they
couldn't complete the play. And look, I got no problem
with the decision. I have no problem at all with
the decision to go for two, just didn't execute the

(41:31):
play well. I didn't like to play call because I
think that puts you know, that puts your margin for
a really really small you talk about cutting the field,
only had one receiver throw to your eye, and that
receiver the entire time, you know, you don't have the
opportunity if the play breaks down to find a secondary option.
I know Hollywood Brown was coming from the back, back side,
but you know they doubled him. And but I don't
have any problem with it, and I think it's something

(41:53):
that the Jets should be a look to. Right. It's
not about the people that's into New Jersey. It's about
the standard of excellence and the committing been to each other. Right,
because if you look at how many players that they
have not playing this year, they shouldn't even be in
this game. And with the baddest man in the planet,
the team, the best record in the NFC, and right
right there, they're not there in a position to the
type of the game. They have position to win the

(42:15):
game and they went but the winning you can't apologize
for that because they I mean, they have five dv
s outum, right, they have no running backs, you know,
even available, and they've been doing this in the entire year.
That's why it's important to develop a culture. And this
is where we at with the Jets in their process
of building their program, the culture and accountability and the

(42:36):
standard of excellent. You hear Mike Tomlin, who's another team
that shouldn't be even in the tournament or even have
an opportunity to go to postseason. It's a good wind
for them, and he said all the time, the standard
is the standard. We don't make excuses. We just get
get the job done. And if the Jets can look
at those two types of programs and strive to be

(42:57):
got that one day they can say the standard, it's
the standard, and this is what the Jet looks like.
And when people see a guy I play, they say, hey,
this guy plays like Jet. That's what it used to mean,
you know when I was there. That's what it needs
to meet and half to mean going forward if they
want to turn this program around. I saw a tweet
last night from somebody I can't remember who it was from,

(43:17):
but essentially said that, well, now it's official, the Buccaneers
are gonna win the Super Bowl again because the two
times that Tampa Bay's won the Super Bowl two thousand
and two and last year, the Saints swept them both
of those seasons, and now the Saints did it again
last night. I can't believe that they went down there
and they shut out Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in
their building. I mean, we just saw the Saints last week.

(43:37):
We know they got a good defense, but I didn't
expect Brady and company to be kept off the scoreboard entirely. Well,
that wind was from the d. Right, they don't score,
they don't win, right, and it Tayson Hill didn't turn
the football over enough or put the team in in
too much risk, and the defense matches up tremendously. Styles
make fights, and the way that the Saints go about
business and their unique personnel is built to give Tom

(43:59):
Brady and Tampa Bay all offense issues. And y'all understand
the guy coming went down to understand that four net
wind down. But they still had enough players that still
had a Hall of Fame type and had a hell
of famed quarterback going against a team that doesn't have
you know, doesn't have my Michael Thomas that's missing a
lot of weapons, doesn't have their head coach. But once again,
like I said all the time, the standard is it's

(44:20):
the standard, and they say, you know what, we're gonna
step up put it on our backs when it's too
tough for everybody else, is just right for us. That's
the mentality that you have to have. But they play
tight man and man coverage, challenges receivers at the line
of scrimmers and then give Brady time to process and
go through and find the open man because they had
pressure at his feet. Guys for all at his feet.
Guys got penalties for hitting them in his feet, throwing guys,

(44:43):
you know, at his feet, and they just found the
way to get it done. And that's you know, you
have to tip your hat to them. If they don't
go to the postseason, they still could be proud the
fact that they lost there. They're their starting quarterback that
they lost there. You know, they never had their number
one hundred million dollar receiver. But yet right there, no
doubt about it. Listen, we gotta hit a rap on

(45:03):
this show. First of all, have a merry Christmas, you
and the entire Scotch family. I hope it's a great one, right,
I mean, we get to enjoy Saturday, which is nice,
and then we're back to work on Day. Socks, you
get some nice sucks. He always needs sucks. You need
the sucks. Maybe some flashy ones. We'll see how we go.
But then we're right back to work on Sunday. Jets
Jaguars back and met Live Stadium. But seriously, dude, enjoy

(45:23):
the holiday. You and the family will do it again
next week. Absolutely enjoyed football, football, Absolutely football Christmas. Nothing better.
He's Bart Scott, I'm Dan Grazza. Thanks for joining us
again here on Inside the Jets, presented by e Y
Building a better working World. Happy holidays, everybody,