Harris New Signal Caller On New York Jets Defence

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Dan Leberfeld wrote today that with Jim Leonhard on the sideline, David Harris will be the man in the middle with the wired helmet relaying the plays from the sideline.

"Florham Park - With safety Jim Leonhard not likely to play this Sunday because of a broken right thumb, the Jets need to assign the helmet with the defensive signals (from the sidelines), and it looks like inside linebacker David Harris will get the wired helmet."

David Harris is considered a mild mannered, big hitter with self confidence minus the outspoken trash talking. Some thought that the duty may well be given to Kerry Rhodes , but it seems Rex has chosen the most consistent performer on the Jets defence.

I have no problems with this, not sure how much of a leader Harris is, but if he is the guy with the clearest understanding of the play-book then it's the best move. A play caller has to have a calm head, and be able to relay commands clearly and effectively in time where some may well lose his head. Not pointing at anyone in particular.

I did read that Eric Smith had taken the helmet in practise this week, but the team decided that Harris was the better option. I have to say that I would have been a little puzzled if Smith was selected ahead of a more "regular" member on the defence. He needs to concentrate on starting and adapting his game as such.

I think the same goes for Kerry Rhodes, always been a big Kerry fan, but he has not been the play-maker that many expected this year. He is not a weakness by any means, but for a man who talks as much as he does, he needs to back it up, and so far his play hasn't warranted his inflated ego.

I thought Scott might have gotten the nod, he is more of a vocal leader, a good communicator, but perhaps with his trash talking on the field Ryan didn't want to add any more responsibility to Bart, like Sean Avery with the Rangers, let him do what he does best, and that's play hard, and get up peoples noses.

Marques Douglas also had some positive things to say about the way the defensive line has practised this week after a little shake-up:

"I think today was our best day out there," defensive end Marques Douglas said. "[The] communication was excellent, we worked as a group [and] our tempo was great."

When asked if he was surprised at the shakeup, Douglas replied, "It’s kind of something you don’t think about, because we as players are supposed to play, and the coaches and GM [Mike Tannenbaum] make that decision."

Communication between the defensive players has been a problem, causing the Jets to burn precious time outs because they did not have the correct players on the field, hopefully with the new shake-up, we can save these time outs for when they will be needed.

I don't expect the Jets to win this weekend, which of course means that they will. It would be too easy on Jets fans for our play-off hope to end this early, we have to have it dashed at the last minute, because we are the New York Jets, and that is what we do.

*Edit- just because people nearly always ask me this, I spell defence this way because I'm British, and that's how we spell it*

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