The Jets shook things up on both sides of the ball against the Dolphins.
In addition to Joe Flacco starting, New York inserted the recently-acquired Laurent Duvernay-Tardif at right guard in place of the struggling Greg Van Roten. Meanwhile, Jarrad Davis took a back seat in the linebacker rotation in his fourth game back from an ankle injury.
Robert Saleh went into detail on the two lineup changes after New York’s 24-17 loss to Miami, explaining his search for production on the offensive line and managing Davis as he tries to find his footing after missing an extended period of time.
“LDT, just giving him a chance to go out there,” Saleh said. “GVR, he’s been playing his butt off. It was just a chance for us to get LDT in there and see if we can get some more production out of that right guard spot.
“As far as Jarrad, he’s not all the way back yet. He’s not. It’s as simple as scaling back his reps. Let him get healthy, get his legs underneath him and give himself a chance.”
Duvernay-Tardiff fared well in his first start with the Jets, helping Michael Carter average seven yards per carry before he was forced out of the game with an ankle injury. Tevin Coleman rushed for just 16 yards after Carter went down, but Duvernay-Tardiff did his part on the interior.
Quincy Williams stepped up yet again with Davis on a pitch count, totaling a career-high 15 tackles and two tackles for loss for his second double-digit tackle performance of the season.
[listicle id=671912]