The Notebook: Addition by subtraction

We sometimes joke about how Smith likes to fight, and he does, but it’s not really a laughing matter when a wide receiver might be intimidating his own quarterback into looking his way too much. Then there was the bullshit non-story made out of Newton not being elected captain a few years back when everybody knew the players were going to vote for Smith as captain because they still had to share a locker room with him.

It got so ridiculous that Ron Rivera added two more captains spots last year just to put the issue to rest. Regardless of what anybody tells you, I could guarantee Cam was going to get one of those come hell or high water. But, it still wasn’t Newton’s team.

Let me be clear, I don’t deal in rumors and I don’t know that Newton and Smith had any issues between them whatsoever. What I do know is that Smith, at times, appeared to be Newton’s first, second and third option on certain pass plays. That has to hurt a quarterback’s development no matter how good one receiver is, and make no mistake, Smith was fantastic. If a defense knows it only has to figure out how to take away one of your wide receivers to make the rest of the pass offense go in the shitter, that’s a recipe for disaster come the playoffs -- provided, of course, a team can even reach the playoffs with such a ridiculous set up on offense.

More than that, Newton just looked so much more comfortable scanning the whole field on passing plays rather than locking in on one guy. I thought Cam would look rusty with all the time he had missed in preseason and coming in with injured ribs, but I didn’t see much of it in the passing game.

This is my confused face....

Look, man, I think this whole “best cornerback” conversation/debate/argument is pretty dumb at this point. It’s a subjective title. I guess it’s tailor-made for the Twitter “any argument will do” crowd, but really there’s no way for anybody to “win” the argument, because the top three or four guys all have different attributes, play in different schemes and are all pretty good in their own right. So, I’m not quite sure what I expected to see when I fired up my NFL Game Rewind app, but it sure wasn’t Sherman just giving up a 10-yard comeback, a quick slant and an in-out route where he guessed it was a crossing route, none of which were scoring plays.

That’s what passes for getting exposed these days? Are y’all serious?

I hate to break it to some of y’all but, that’s a pretty good day for most cornerbacks, including the elite ones. Especially since he still made the tackle all three times (one time was a push out of bounds, which still counts). I guess maybe people don’t like Sherman’s personality, which is fine, but let’s not go too far into the land of bullshit when it comes to what really happened on the field.

That dude is a monster. I wasn’t sold on how he might do in a 3-4 defense initially, but his play has shut me right the hell up. If anything, I respect his game more now than I did before, and that’s saying something. I’m just saying if you happen to get a chance to catch a Titans game this year, you’ll want to check him out.

Here’s a basic truth: Unless you literally have a photographic memory, there are some guys you will overlook or forget about, no matter how much film or how many games you watch and re-watch. Some guys just don’t make enough plays or maybe don’t make the kind of “splash” plays that really attract your attention enough for you to remember them. Then that same player might show up big time in one game and you’re like, “Who the f*** is that?!”

If you have your hand raised, good for you! Now put some baby powder on that same hand and smack yourself with it because nobody cares, smarty pants.

You might recall that the Bucs just played the Panthers last week in the first game of the regular season for both teams. And yet I was sitting here dumbfounded trying to figure out who this guy was other than just his name. So I hit up the trusty old Google, and it turns out it’s worse than I imagined. The guy started for the Panthers’ league-leading defense most of last season. So why in the hell couldn’t I remember the guy?

Well, his story is a pretty interesting one, which is why I decided to highlight it.

Fast forward to this year and I’m thinking that surely Jets head coach Rex Ryan and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg have discussed how stupid that was last year, and how they are definitely not going to make the same mistake going forward. I’m reading training camp breakdowns talking about how much better and more poised Smith looks this year, and I say to myself that the Jets have a chance to shock some people if this kid comes along the way I think he will.

And then it happened ...

Some random reporter asked Ryan if they might use backup quarterback Mike Vick, who was signed in the offseason, in some Wildcat-type packages. The first part of Rex’s answer was encouraging because he said he hadn’t even thought about it; however the second part concluded with “you never know.” Cue me face-palming as I was reading that quote.

I swear, I just don’t understand why Rex and Marty are so friggin’ enamored with the Wildcat when it’s not like they have ever set the world on fire with it. Then they bring in Vick to run double reverse passes and shit. Bruh, what in the entire fuck? I mean, hey, I’d bet the guy can still run a legit 4.4, so while I object to using this crap at all, at least if he is in the game, how about having him actually running the ball?

Nah, of course not. That, you see, would be too much like right.

Obviously, the Wildcat didn’t lose the Jets the game Sunday against the Packers, so why am I so pissed off about them continuing to use it and other gimmicks? Because at this point it gives the distinct impression that they still have to use it, and it shows a disturbing lack of confidence in their second-year quarterback who has actually looked good in both games so far. Geno Smith has definitely taken a quantum leap forward from last year when it comes to how he carries himself on the field, his decision making and his mechanics. He looks like a different guy. Yet, his coaching staff still fears allowing him to actually be the starting quarterback.

Hell, when the Jets named him the starter after the preseason, they still made sure to temper it with saying it was a “week-to-week” situation. What the hell did that even mean?

I’ll tell you what, it meant that with the game on the line, they wouldn’t trust Geno to know how much time he had left on the play clock and how to get his protection set up properly. Instead they -- or in this case, Marty -- would decide to call timeout for him on a play where he ended up throwing what likely would have been the game-tying touchdown because most of the players didn’t hear the whistle until the play was over.

The ball was snapped with at least three seconds on the play clock, and the protection was set up exactly like it should have been.

It’s time -- hell, it’s past time -- for both Rex and Marty to allow Geno to sink or swim as their franchise quarterback with their full support. And that means keeping the gimmicks to a minimum and letting him actually play quarterback for a full game. That’s the only way to find out if he can do it anyway.

We see you, Schotty ...

Better to call it after the game has gone on for awhile and maybe the defense is looking for something else. Just my opinion.

Well, Jackson was as good as his word, and he did indeed unleash the full fury of his tandem of backs on the Falcons defense. It. Was. GLORIOUS.

In the past few years, the Bengals have mostly gone as Dalton has gone. If he played well, they won; if he didn’t, it was usually a long day for them. With Gio Bernard and Jeremy Hill in the backfield and an offensive coordinator who isn’t allergic to calling running plays, this might be the most dangerous Bengals team since head coach Marvin Lewis has been in charge.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

On another note, the Falcons talked all that shit about getting “tougher” this season, but still looked soft as puppy poop by the end of the game. They were already losing, having been smash-mouthed all game on both sides of the ball, and all of a sudden they wanted to fight? That goes to show you can’t just talk about being tough, you have to be about it.

So how did it feel to hear the coaches basically saying with the play calls that they didn’t trust his ability to beat Sherman? Had to sting a little, no?

His took that frustration he had from the Seahawks game out on the Jets. And then some.

Most people understand that the Jets secondary, or at least their cornerback position, is in shambles. All I know is Nelson showed them noooo mercy, finishing with nine catches for 209 yards and a touchdown.

TWO HUNNIT BRUH!!!

And nine.

He had the one 80-yard catch, but take that away and he still had 129 yards on eight catches, a great day for any receiver. That’s more than 15 yards per reception, according to my calculator. Most of those were also tough catches where he had to get full extension with his arms just to haul it in.

Maybe next time the Packers are facing a top cornerback, his own coaches will have a little more faith in Mr. Nelson. He damn sure earned it.

I would like to think I give credit when it’s due, and since I’ve been a pretty harsh critic of Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett over the years, I’m going to take the time to praise him for his game plan against the Titans on Sunday. Just one week after he foolishly designed a game plan around his barely healthy quarterback who hadn’t played at all in the preseason, Garrett saw the light and decided to to run the ball.

And run the ball.

And run it some more.

Thirty-three carries to the running backs and Dallas won the game, 26-10, on the road against a pretty good opponent. I’m just hoping that the memory of that game leaves a lasting impression on Garrett going forward, and that it doesn’t end up being a momentary aberration.