This past week, the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles have been running joint practices, much like they did with the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers before their respective games. The trend continues this week, with the Jets and Eagles playing their final preseason game this Friday. With that being said, here is a review of the week, as well as a preview for Friday’s game between the Jets and Eagles.

More Injury News

Last week, Carl Lawson went down with an Achilles injury that will keep him sidelined for the entirety of the 2021 season. Despite this, Carl Lawson has even told them that he doesn’t feel bad for himself, and they shouldn’t either. Then we saw Foley Fatukasi say “The standard has not changed.” And it hasn’t.

Fan expectations for this season may have taken a bit of a hit, but the players know that they can’t just take a step back because one player got injured. And then, Vinny Curry was put on IR. Curry, also brought in as a Free Agent in 2021, was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder, and was told to not have any physical contact. Because of this, Curry decided that he should take the season off. Unfortunate as it is, it is probably a smart decision for Curry. It also unfortunately means less depth on the defensive line, but if there is one position on the team that could be ok with injuries, it would be the defensive line.

Zach Wilson Continues to Impress

Zach Wilson continues to be in the spotlight, of course, but any news about him continues to be positive. He has hit to hit the ground in preseason, despite reports out of training camp being that the Offensive Line looks poor. In his second preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, he finished with two touchdowns, no sacks, and no turnovers. He looked efficient, and the Jets scored points!

Reports coming out of practice this week indicate that he has continued to get better, despite the pocket never being solid around him. Elijah Moore was back practicing this week, and the two connected on numerous occasions, including this 25 yard strike.

Keep in mind, the preseason is NOT an exact indication of how a player will perform during the regular season, but it is encouraging to see how quickly he is taking in the game.

The Defense Continues to Struggle

As mentioned before, Carl Lawson and Vinny Curry are out for the season. Not having those two is big, but even before they were placed on IR, the defense was looking quite shaky. Reports out of the joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles are that Jalen Hurts and even Joe Flacco were carving up the starting Jets defense.

The secondary is young and inexperienced, but the front seven is a good mix of talent and depth, so this is quite troublesome. Once again, it is preseason, but it is still a little concerning. Out of the entire defense, the Jets will likely need to focus on getting production out of four main players. C.J. Mosley, Quinnen Williams, Sheldon Rankins, and Marcus Maye are all great players, and they need to step up big time if the Jets defense hopes to stop anyone this season.

Preseason Game 3 vs. Philly

As was said before, the week leads up to Friday, where the Jets and Eagles meet at MetLife Stadium for the final preseason game for each team. There will be many people watching, but here are the most interesting things that fans should be looking out for.

• Zach Wilson has been playing well, but he needs to continue to do so on Friday. The Eagles defense is decent, and it will be a good final test before the Regular Season starts.
• The Jets defense needs to play well. They don’t need to shut the Eagles out, but they need to keep the them from scoring too many points if the Jets want to have a chance.
• The backfield is still super crowded, and this final preseason game may give fans a good idea of how the depth chart will look come Week 1.

This has been your review of the past week of practice, as well as a preview of the Jets final preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles.