Everyone around the NFL has asked the same question about the Patriots’ Tom Brady this year: What is wrong with the once flawless quarterback?
Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine had some insight yesterday.
”I think losing the center [Dan Koppen] has affected him,” Pettine said. “It seems to me that he gets a little more anxious at times, where before you would see him sit in that pocket and not move and scan the field.”
The Jets have always tried to get pressure on Brady using exotic blitzes. After watching the Steelers and Giants beat him up the last two weeks, expect the Jets to do some of the same things.
”I think we got him off his spot a couple of times [the first time the Jets and Patriots played], but it wasn’t enough,” Pettine said. “I think some of the teams that have stepped up and were able to do it, certainly Pittsburgh, they got him on the move a little bit, and the Giants, especially that front four, was able to get after him.”
* WR Plaxico Burress did not have much to say about his former quarterback, Eli Manning, and the hot stretch he has been on with the Giants.
“I’m not talking about Eli,” Burress said yesterday twice before walking away from reporters.
Burress did not practice for the second straight day due to a sore back, but said he will practice today and play on Sunday.
* WR Santonio Holmes and Burress have been meeting privately with QB Mark Sanchez for several weeks now. Holmes said the two receivers have offered “veteran leadership.”
“It’s helped calm Sanchez down a whole lot,” Holmes said. “It’s allowed us to have more fun at practice and go back and watch film after practice together and just talk about all the little things so that we communicate better on the field.”
* S Brodney Pool (knee) and RB/KR Joe McKnight (toe) did not practice yesterday. Coach Rex Ryan said Pool, who has a second-degree sprain of his left MCL, could miss Sunday’s game. Pool has been a key player this season as the third safety and on special teams. Ryan said Emanuel Cook could take Pool’s place on defense.
McKnight hopes to practice today. He leads the NFL with a 40.2 average on kickoff returns. If he cannot return kicks Sunday, Antonio Cromartie will take his place. Ryan said rookie running back Bilal Powell will be active for the first time if McKnight can’t play.
* Today is Sanchez’s 25th birthday. … Pettine, who coached high school football in Pennsylvania and whose father is a legendary high school coach in the state, said he had two players go to Penn State. He commented on coach Joe Paterno’s ouster: “It’s sad. There’s nothing else, there’s no positive spin you can put on this. It’s a tragic way for the career to end. … It’s affected me personally as it has a lot of other people that I know from back home and that have close ties to the program.”