As reported briefly last night in the Sunday NFL Roundup, Kevan Barlow got his first start for the Jets. This article from New York Daily News refers to it as a “shake-up”…so not sure what that means for it becoming a permanent switch. Most indiciations I got before reading that article was that this was at least a semi-permanent move:
Derrick Blaylock was benched, Kevan Barlow was elevated, rookie Leon Washington was unveiled and Cedric Houston was pulled out of mothballs.
Eric Mangini tried to shake things up, starting Barlow and deactivating Blaylock, who had started the first two games. Houston, who didn’t dress the first two weeks, was in uniform, but he didn’t get a chance until late in the fourth quarter. When Barlow limped off with an apparent leg injury, Mangini went to Houston, who scored on a 5-yard run.
The Jets’ only offensive play after the Houston touchdown was a Pennington kneel down, so Barlow didn’t have a chance to return after limping off. Doesn’t seem serious though from comments after the game. A bigger problem for Barlow’s starting future than the limping off was the limping performance during the game:
In the end, the result looked eerily familiar to the first two games: The Jets struggled on the ground, managing only 74 yards on 24 attempts – a 3.1 average. In three games, their total is 216 yards.
Barlow himself got 31 yards on 12 carries. That’s hardly a full day of work for most NFL backs, but when you’re trying to break out of a running back by committee situation you need to make the most of the carries you get. The Jets O-Line definitely isn’t helping out any though, as it doesn’t seem to matter which guy is behind them, there is little room for any running back.
What helps Barlow out the most is his pass-blocking abilities, which are pretty far ahead of the other younger backs.
