So the Jets have been one of the best teams in the NFL against the pass (again) this season. This isn't based on yards per game, which is potentially effected by how many pass attempts the opponent makes. It's based on completion percentage (54.2, 2nd in NFL), YPA (6.3, 5th in NFL) and Rating (76.1, 4th in NFL). The Jets have now been at basically the same level they are at since 2010. They've been top 5 when you look at the key stats above in each of the last 3 seasons. They haven't been a dominant pass defense since 2009 but they've been consistently good each season. Obviously Darrelle Revis is not the key to the good pass defenses, because he hasn't played much this year and yet the Jets are hanging tough like they always do. The question is who on the Jets is responsible for the consistency of performance against the pass?
I think it's a few things, in this order: 1) Ryan and Pettine's scheme has always given QBs, especially inexperienced ones, trouble. 2) Cromartie has played out of his mind this season. 3) Landry and Bell, but especially Landry, have been welcome additions in the safety department and have played very well. 4) The role-player guys (the Trufants of the team) have also stepped up.
The answer is RR/Pettine. The amount of different looks we give teams has been well-documented. Only surgeons like Brady seem to give us trouble, but we have slowed that offense before. RR/Pettine have done an outstanding job on D considering the loss of Revis. Run D has been leaky, but the D has kept us in most games. Easily the strength of the team. Next year with Revis back and hopefully Coples/Wilk progressing... Look out.
You've got a point there. The difference this year is that we have Landry. He's been a welcome addition to our team and I think he plays a vital part for us being in the top five in the pass defense overall. I hope we keep him for next year because we're going to need all the help we can to remain a playoff hunt team. However don't underestimate revis' importance to Rex's scheme. if we had him through out the season, we would have won maybe two extra games that would put us right in the wild-card spot. One game I can think from the top of my head would be the game against Steelers where Cromartie gave up that touchdown pass to Wallace. Revis would not give up the TD instead he'd make the interception as he generally looks for the all even before the defender does, which may be his biggest trait. I'm not advocating for Revis, just pointing out what could have happened. He's the one that could have pushed all those stats to near #1, which are currently skewed due to a couple of games against teams with college level talent or HS level QB.
So would we be better off making a commitment to a big-time safety to play in the middle of the field and keep the tightends from eating us alive or should we pay through the nose to have two great cornerbacks? Can't have both.
How about restructuring D Harris ($10m), and cutting Scott and Pace? That should free up a nice amount of coin to retain Landry. Let Davis and McIntyre platoon with some new guys. 3/4 of our linebackers are vastly overpaid.
Too bad the run defense sucked for the first half of the season otherwise this team could possibly have an extra couple wins.
Well Pouha and big Kenrick Ellis have been banged up and missing games here and there all year. That's hurt the run D
I'm sure if the offense didn't go 3&out like its a bodily function, the run D would've been much better vs SF, Miami, @Seattle and every time we play NE we play the whole game in fuckin Nickel and Dime basically daring them to run on us. Our starting NT missed a bunch of time this year as well. Just sayin.
I'll take the ball-hawking safety. Cromartie or Revis, one of them have to go in my opinion, we can't tie up so much money in one position. If Tanny decided to sign Cromartie early in the off-season, we prob could of gotten him for cheaper.
Then you have a huge amount of money tied up in the defensive backfield as a whole while the linebackers are the guys who you are making cap sacrifices on. The Jets are 5th in the NFL in pass defense without having two big-time corners. They're not getting eaten alive by tightends. What they need to do now is preserve both of those things while fixing the run defense. Cornerbacks don't fix the run defense, linebackers do.
You can't have a pro-bowler at every position. If they let one of the CBs go all you'll hear is bitching about how Wilson and the Nickelback get torched weekly and how we "didn't sustain the strength on D". I think the FO is building this team to compete with NE and spread offenses, which is the trend in current NFL.
I'm pretty sure Scott and Pace are both owed a ridiculous amount of money next year, and have a 0% chance of being on the team in '13 unless they take DRASTIC pay cuts. By cutting them we take no cap hit and can wipe their salaries off the books. I think this applies to Jason Smith the OT as well. I'll look for the article during lunch, but I remember Cimini saying the Jets save $20 million in cap room for next year by releasing those 3 guys. On edit: http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/18211/clarifying-the-13-cap-situation By cutting Pace, Scott, and Smith, we save a whopping $28 million in cap room for next season.
The additions of Landry and Bell has helped our pass D a ton. They made up the difference of losing Revis. With Leonhard and Smith starting at safety our pass D is not top 5. You really only need 1 great corner. Luckily Cromartie stepped up his play and went from good to great which helps a lot too. Also Kyle Wilson is the piece of trash a lot of people here make him out to be.
Yeah but wouldn't having a solid run defense and a solid pass rush be a better way to deal with the Patriot no-huddle than trying to cover everybody like a glove while the back runs wild on the Jets because there are only 5 big bodies on the field? When was the last time the Jets actually beat the spread?
A better offense not going 3 and out would help fix the run defense stats. Healthy big boys up front would also help. We didn't have that this year, but will get them back next. I would re-sign Landry, hopefully to the similar 4-5 mil range we currently pay him. He's been a spark, been hittin hard, and has been better than i expected in coverage (although not great). He's a nice fit for the Jets. I would also re-sign Revis. You pay the players that perform. Of course i'm assuming #1 CB in league pay, and not #1 defensive player in the league pay. If he is unreasonable, that would force our hand on a trade. One which we wouldn't get a ton of value back on. The biggest problem cap wise we have, is paying players that aren't performing. Scott and Pace contracts will be gone. If they re-sign at all, it will be significantly cheaper. Sanchez and Holmes contracts are just killing us. But those will be off the books after next season, or we eat some of it as part of a trade this season. We do need to re-stock on LB's.. Potentially thru the draft plus low end signings for guys who can potentially fill roles.
Maybe this is just the darksider in me but....couldn't this be due to the fact that the Jets are often trailing (sometimes by a lot!) and teams haven't needed to air it out against us?
Jets D has been very good. They don't compare to the great D that carried Ravens & Bears to SB victories but they're good enough to win with. It's really amazing how Rex has been able to keep that unit together with the injuries, slow ass LB core, & two brand new safeties. As much as the offense drives me nuts, Rex really get the other side of the ball to over perform. Still think the defense needs some early picks next year (at least one spent on the LB core). Perhaps one at safety also? As much as I like Landry, I think the Jets really lucked out that he's gonna finish this season healthy. Wouldn't wanna push my luck & expect two healthy seasons in a row out of Landry. Also, with old players sometimes the decline isn't gradual and it's more like the performance onfield just completely nose dives ... and Jets have two very old safeties.
