Nights Watch deserter Kony Ealy praises our Lord Commander
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| Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports |
Apparently Ealy wasn't a "fit" here. I get pretty tired of hearing that. Good players are good players. Von Miller has free reign to pin his ears back and get after the QB. He doesn't have setting the edge responsibility in Denver that he might have in New England. Would that decrease his elite sack totals if he was a Patriot his whole career? Probably. But does that mean he isn't a "fit" here??? We would say nah, don't need him. Doesn't fit the scheme. Hell no. We would take him in a heart beat because he's an impact player.
So don't spin me this web of Kony was really progressing and did everything we asked of him. Because he didn't. We asked him to set the edge while also getting consistent pressure on the QB. This is not something he could do. Tell me you don't like my firm. Tell me you don't like my fucking necktie. But don't tell me Kony Ealy is now a Jet because he isn't a good enough fit. He just isn't a good enough player. End of story.
Despite the dumpster fire ending to Ealy's Patriots career, he did have some nice things to say about us in return for the pseudo compliments we paid him. “Those guys are great, man,” Ealy said of the Patriots last month. “I thank them for the opportunity. They’re great coaches, great teachers. Obviously it just wasn’t a fit for me. They felt like that, I kind of felt like that.”
Yea, yea, whatever bro. Thanks for nothing.
But while we're here, lets talk about his level of play for the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets. Thus far in NY, Ealy has appeared in 4 of their 5 games, missing only week 5 due to injury. He has played the 9th most snaps on the Jets defense, and is credited with 9 tackles, 2 QB hits, 5 passes defended, and one pick.
For reference, here are people we kept instead of Kony:
My BOY Trey Flowers: Beast. Started every game. Has 22 tackles with 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Plays almost every snap.
Deatrich Wise Jr: Has played in all 5 games. Zero starts. He has 7 tackles with 3 sacks and a pass defended. Comes in on obvious passing downs. Minus his two bonehead penalties on Thursday I don't have a single bad thing to say about him. Love this kid.
Cassius Marsh: Has played in 5 games with 1 start. Saw his snap count go way up last week. He has 12 tackles with 1 sack and 1 forced fumble. Acquired for cheap via trade with the Hawks. Don't love him, and hate that he gets regular playing time on anything but special teams, but he has been more than serviceable. He only looked like an ass hat against KC.
Geneo Grissom: Three games. Zero starts. Very limited snaps. Literally zero stats to speak of.
Adam Butler: I guess he can be included here too based on the way we utilize him. He has played in all 5 games. He's credited with 4 starts but that is very misleading. He has 6 tackles, and has seen his playing time decrease the last few weeks.
All things considered, are we mad about the decision? I guess not. I find it VERY hard to believe Kony isn't better than Geneo Grissom, but a lot of that was special teams contributions. If Bill trusts Cassius Marsh more than Kony Ealy to get the job done than so do I. But watching Kony rack up meaningful snaps on the FIRST PLACE Jets kind of sucks when our edge play by everyone with a name that doesn't rhyme with 'towers' has been an absolute nightmare.
Couple that with the fact that Ealy has more TACKLES than David Harris has SNAPS and you can see why I'm slightly frustrated with our Jets related business transactions this season. Hopefully Kony suits up on Sunday, because watching him break contain and let DIDI squirt by him for 20 yards to the outside will make me feel a whole lot better.
