DO IT MORE CALM-LEE
Excess energy leading to errors by rookie Jets LB
Darron Lee knew as soon as he stepped on the field last Sunday against the 49ers he was a little more fired up than usual.
The rookie Jets linebacker had been worried about being sluggish for the game after adjusting to the Pacific time zone. Instead, he came out too hyped up, and it cost his team. Lee missed several tackles early in the game and lined up wrong on a long run by Carlos Hyde, who had 141 rushing yards in the first half.
“I was definitely more hyper than normal in that game, more than I have been in really any other game just because it was a West Coast game,” Lee said Thursday. “I was trying to get up and trying to make sure I’m not dragging or anything with the time change. I was just a little too hyper and I blew a couple of assignments.“
Coach Todd Bowles pulled him from the game after one long Hyde run. He told Lee to take a few deep breaths and calm down.
“Well, you want him to bring all the energy. He’s a young player, obviously,” Bowles said. “As long as he understands what he’s doing, he can be very hyper. But if the hyper affects his ballgame, then you have to tame him and calm him down a little bit. But you want to be as hyper as possible, as long as he understands what’s happening.”
Lee is not happy with how he played Sunday in Santa Clara, but he said he learned his lesson.
“That sucks,” Lee said of his mistakes, “but it definitely was a good teaching point going forward, making sure you’re in control of your emotions and in control of your head so you can make sure you’re where you need to be with your assignments. It was just a good learning lesson, honestly.” The entire season has been learning experience for the 22-year-old. The Jets took Lee with the No. 20 pick in last spring’s draft out of Ohio State. He arrived with a reputation as a speed demon who could play sideline to sideline. The problem for Lee this year has been he has played too fast at times. He overruns plays and sometimes takes one misstep before figuring a play out, but it is too late.
Pro Football Focus, which grades players after studying film, has Lee ranked as the 87th linebacker in the NFL out of 90 they graded. On Sunday, he missed three tackles and had just one run stop on 23 run snaps, according to PFF. He also allowed a 109.9 QB rating when passes were thrown his way.
Though Lee has struggled at times, Bowles said he believes the Jets landed someone who can be a contributor for years to come.
“Darron is great,” Bowles said. “Darron is going to be a good football player.”
Lee’s season can be divided into two. He suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 6 against the Cardinals. He missed three games and played sparingly when he returned against the Rams. He has played nearly every snap over the past three games, though, and Lee said he feels completely different than early this season. He said he spent the time when he was injured studying twice as much film as usual, and that has helped.
“I’m so much more comfortable,” Lee said. “Everything is starting to come naturally now. This is what I’ve been telling people from the start that I’m going to hit a point where I’m very comfortable with what I’m doing and making calls, all of that. My comfort level before the injury is not what it is now.”
BRYCE Petty, by his own admission, aims to please. “I want to be liked by everybody,’’ Petty told The Post on Thursday. The best way for Petty to be better on Saturday night against the Dolphins at MetLife Stadium than he was last Sunday against the 49ers is to aim more passes in t he direction of Brandon Marshall, the Jets’ best receiver. It is early in Petty’s career as an NFL starter, but a disturbing trend has crept into his first two starts: He is not throwing the ball to Marshall often enough. And he knows that. “We’ve got to get him the ball,’’ Petty said. In his two starts — a 9-6 loss to the Rams and a 23-17 overtime win at San Francisco — Petty has targeted Marshall just 11 times, completing seven for a quiet 48 yards. In the win over the 49ers, Marshall was targeted only once in the first half for a 4-yard completion. So it was no accident the Jets were down 17-3 and looking lost on offense. That kind of production is not going to win Petty and the Jets a lot of games. And Petty knows that, which is why, during practices this week, he found himself telling Marshall, “Hey, we’ve got to get you the ball.’’
To his credit, Marshall, who had the best year of his career catching passes from veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick last season, has curbed his personal desires in favor of letting Petty develop without creating too much extra noise to distract him.
“I understand how a receiver with a big personality and passion and borderline rage on Sundays can affect the flow of things,’’ Marshall told The Post. “I’m just trying to do my job right now. That’s the best way I can help Bryce.’’
Marshall has avoided being obtrusive to Petty, which is something that isn’t lost on Petty.
“It’s a big deal to me, because of his personality,’’ Petty said. “Coming in last year, his was the first locker I saw that I was like, ‘Oh my God. I grew up watching him play.’ So I’ve really had to battle with this expectation of myself when he asks me to throw certain routes to him. It’s very humbling, but it’s a feeling like I’ve got to be perfect.
“I try to aim it when I throw it to him sometimes. I want things to be right and I want to be accepted by him. That’s part of the peoplepleasing process I struggle with sometimes. It’s more of an inner thing for me. I don’t know if I’ve ever told [Marshall] that, but Fitz will pick up on it and say, ‘Dude, just throw him the ball. Be yourself.’ ’’
Petty has been more comfortable throwing the ball to Robby Anderson, because he was the receiver Petty regularly threw to all summer in training camp, with both of them taking second-team reps.
Anderson is an athletic receiver who makes acrobatic catches in traffic. But so, too, is Marshall, who repeatedly made Fitzpatrick look great last season catching 50/50 balls.
Petty simply needs to trust Marshall’s ability to make those plays, because he has been making them his entire career. Part of the problem, Petty said, is recognizing when Marshall is being double-teamed — which is most of the time — and when he is in single man coverage.
“I’ve got to get better of understanding when he’s one-on-one and take advantage of that,’’ Petty said.
Marshall developed such chemistry with Fitzpatrick that they communicated with hand signals at the line of scrimmage before the plays. That, Marshall said, is too much to ask of a young quarterback two NFL starts into his career and trying to find his way.
“I remember in his first start, every time he came into the huddle he was smiling. If the ball was a little off or something happened, he was like, ‘My bad, my bad.’ I’d say, ‘ Stop smiling and being Mr. Nice Guy. Just go out there and play, we’ll get it.’
Beginning Saturday, Petty will do himself and the Jets a lot of good if he throws it Marshall’s way more often.