A trio of talking points to jumpstart your Thursday:
1. Do the Jets have a bounty on Reggie Bush?
Jets coach Rex Ryan stammered through his explanation Wednesday that he didn’t really want his players to injure Bush when he told his players before the Week 3 game to put “hot sauce” on Bush. Usually “hot sauce” means to play a little dirty – hit him after the whistle, twist his ankle at the bottom of a pile, etc. – but Ryan said Wednesday that the phrase meant that the Jets would have to pay extra special attention to Bush because he’s such a good player.
The Jets, of course, hurt Bush’s knee in that game, and Calvin Pace bragged after the game that “we had to put him on out.” But Ryan said Wednesday that injuring Bush was never the Jets’ intention.
“I certainly didn’t mean that. I never want to hurt a player,” Ryan said. “This league is better if Reggie Bush is healthy and playing.”
Obviously, Ryan is sending a different message behind closed doors. Jets safety LaRon Landry, who injured Bush with a legal hit, made the headlines yesterday with his comment that “every time he sees me, he will remember that hit.”
And linebacker Aaron Maybin had even stronger words about the Jets’ intentions with Bush this Sunday in New York.
“We want to knock him out, but we’re out to do it legally,” Maybin said, via ESPN New York.
That sure does sound like the Jets have put a bounty on Bush, even if there’s no money involved. Most of the Saints bounty hits were “legal,” too, and Maybin’s comments are sure to make their way to commissioner Roger Goodell’s desk this morning.
Obviously, the Jets are trying to agitate the Dolphins and get them off their game. Left guard Richie Incognito sent out a tweet last night indicating that the Dolphins players are none too pleased with the Jets’ trash talk this week:
“an•tag•o•nize Verb DEF: Cause ( #68) to become hostile. Synonym Oppose”
But the players have to make sure they keep their cool and don’t do anything stupid on Sunday to cost the Dolphins a victory.
By the way, the Jets have now hit a Dolphins player in the knee in two straight games – Bush in Week 3, and Bart Scott hit Davone Bess in the knee in Week 17 last year, giving Bess a partially torn MCL and ACL, which the Dolphins players were none too happy about. And we won’t even get into the Sal Alosi knee trip of Nolan Carroll in 2010.
2. The key for the Dolphins: Stopping TE Dustin Keller.
Keller didn’t play in the Week 3 matchup because of an injury, but he has been a Dolphin killer in his first four seasons, with four touchdown catches in eight games.
Keller returned to the lineup for the first time last week against the Patriots, and caught seven passes for 93 yards and a touchdown. With Santonio Holmes now lost for the season, Mark Sanchez will rely on Keller more than ever, and the Dolphins better find a way to contain him as he works the middle of the field.
“He gives you problems,” Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said. “They do a great job with him formationally. They don’t line him up in the same spot as you guys know. They move him around. He’s got versatility. He’s a very athletic player and I remember evaluating when he came out as a college player. The guy’s, he’s a threat, he’s a weapon and they do a nice job with him.”
3. Dolphins are a more mature team than in Week 3.
The Dolphins could easily be 4-2 or 5-1 right now if they had a reliable field goal kicker or could’ve closed out two fourth-quarter leads against the Jets and Cardinals that ultimately turned to losses.
But Ryan Tannehill thinks the Dolphins are a much more mature team now after closing out two tough wins against the Bengals and Rams than they were the last time they played the Jets in Week 3.
“I think we’ve grown up a lot,” Tannehill said. “I think that the tough Jets loss in overtime and then going out to Arizona and losing in overtime, we really learned that no matter what happens throughout the game, if you’re in a place to win at the end, you’ve got to find a way to win, make that play. Somebody’s got to step up and make that play to win the game. If you go back and look at the last two weeks, Cincinnati and St. Louis, we made those plays. We’ve found a way to make those plays at the end and come out on top.”
