I'm extremely tired of these New York Jets defenses that have continually hanging their hats on being scheme demons that hang their hat on these exotic blitzes. It seems like we're constantly building these defenses that are reliant on 5-6 man pressures to cause havoc on a defense. Although they lost, we watched the best way to get to Tom Brady and all elite quarterbacks really is through four-man rushes that can get to the quarterback. Enough of drafting these run stopping outside linebackers (Jenkins although he looked good at the end of the year) and oversized defense ends. I like the fact that Bowles and Maccagnan at least have been trying to emphasize team speed in drafting Darron Lee, but we need to shift our focus to getting an elite edge rusher at all costs. Look at the top two in voting for DPOY and how Von Miller single handedly wrecks an offense. Or young RDPOY Joey Bosa. Look at the key play in the game tonight in the strip sack created by Dont'a Hightower off the edge. Four of the top five NFL defenses in this league this year rely on their elite speed on the edge in getting to the quarterback. Some top ten defense combinations: Houston - Clowney/Mercilus Minnesota - Hunter/Robison Denver - Miller/Ware/Ray Seattle - Bennett/Avril Baltimore - Suggs/Dumervil NY Giants - JPP/Vernon It pains me that we have three fucking 300 pound 3techniques on the roster and two of which were top 15 picks. It's like a complete manual on how not to build your defense. I just envision seeing us taking Jonathan Allen so we can play a complete wall of 3techniques. If we're going to use a top 10 pick on a defensive player it better be Derek Barnett or Myles Garrett if he drops. A player that we know is going to be relentless in getting to the quarterback. I just feel like we're going to take a corner in the most lucrative corner draft in a decade, or Jonathan Allen or some waste of a pick. The only way to slow down elite quarterbacks is with front four pressure. The blueprint is simple. The Giants revealed the trend in 2007. And we completely ignored it for the last decade.
According to this fan base Mercilus was the next Gholston, Beasley was the next Maybin, Chandler Jones was overrated because his brother is Jon Jones. Should I keep going?
I agree with you JV. This is why using that 1st pick on a DB is bass-ackwards. As you know by now, I favor addressing the "O" - if possible, grabbing Watson, but if not, taking Fournette/Cook/Howard. That said, if i were going to take a "D" first, it would only be Garrett, or the next best edge rusher, because not only would it improve the pass rush, it would also improve the secondary - they wouldn't have to hold their coverage for so long. The lack of a pass rush is what has made the pass coverage look so poor IMO. And as you pointed out, this draft is deep in top DBs, so why use that premium #6 pick on something you can get pretty close to in a later round? But switching to a 4-3 would mean that Bowles and his DC know how to coach that - is this realistic? Again, talking about what new players to add to this team seems pointless if they're not going to be used properly. The real solution is for Woody to hire someone as Pres. of Football Ops and lets him build a winning organization from the top down. Until that happens, the rest is just a side show.
Add an elite pass rusher to line up with Williams and Wilkerson (Richardson if he stays) and we're set. Assuming of course Wilkerson plays like he did in 2015.
Brady is definitely elite but in the past 2 championship games (the one he lost last year to Denver) it's evident constant pressure equals mistakes. Especially with the pats being in our division and our greatest threat we really should be taking the blueprint which has been layed out to us to handle this QB. Fast guys disrupting off the edge will help so many faucets of our game. Turn overs, third down and long attempts, sacks. The list goes on. I think Barnett would be/should be a priority above all.
I think one of the things I hate seeing most is Brady having an eternity to pass and make plays with a very average offensive line.
Forget the D for once guys Build an offense that scores points and a lot of them..that's your best defense The Jets are in no position to fine tuning a defense without an OL and QB Jmho
100% A joke a commenter made in the 4th quarter in the game last night. It seemed like Matt Ryan had been on the sidelines for an hour. A good offense helps the defense get their breath and not be gassed. Atlanta's defense seemed like they had nothing left in them in the fourth quarter. A reliable offense with solid protection and a good running game could have prevented that.
Good post. I understand both Bowles' and Rex's desire to mix things up and be creative, but in order to do that, they have to get a bunch of "tweeners" non-traditional defensive players who have great flexibility, but aren't necessarily great at one alignment or the other. I think we'd be much better off sticking to one defensive front, getting and keeping players who are great fits in that scheme, and mastering it, rather than constantly switching and not being very good at any of the variations. (Jack of all trades, master of none and all that). The more I think about it, the more I learn about the various players in this draft, the more I think our choices at #6 should be limited to Garrett (who won't be there), Hooker, Howard, Barnett (the 2nd best 3-4 OLB prospect?), Watson (if Mac thinks he can be a FQB and intends to go with Petty, Hack and Him, and bring in no older vet), or trade down.
Man, I remember bangin on the table for Mercilus, Ingram, Beasley (didn't think Leonard would drop though). Weird how they all turned out pretty great.
I agree 100%. We are a joke. We need a new HC too. Not to worry cause after next year is when we really clean house. I hate to say it but our QB is not on our roster. MM the so called wizard of talent loss all faith with him with his Hackenburg pick in the 2nd round. Maybe Woody will wake up and do the right thing. Or maybe better yet, SELL!
Definitely a good point, although I don't totally disagree with JV. All of the teams he mentioned devoted 1st round picks to DE and ended up landing them early in the first round, because there are more amazingly athletic devoted speed rushers by far than there are speed rushers who are versatile. And when your entire defense is predicated on 4-3 pressure from DEs, that's a smart pick. However, a couple of those teams also lucked into a QB early as well, a couple REALLY lucked into mid round QBs, and a few of those teams are hotels because they haven't lucked into a QB. BUT... teams that can devote 1st rounders to speed rushing DEs don't have to constantly high draft picks on LBs, safeties and corners because a stout 4-3 dline with and elite pass rusher or two gives second tier players behind them way more time. 3-4 teams have to seek out extremely specialized players to make them work consistently. You have to have a superior CS for that to happen. We don't. Far too many wildcards in the 3-4 base. NCAA coaches don't care to train their players to learn complicated NFL responsibilities. They just want to win games. It's the same on offense with E-P versus WCO And Air Coryell. If you don't have a genius HC, center and QB, you'll probably end up looking like a fucking buffoon in the latter two. The Jets should be drafting spread QBs to come into a spread system like the Pats have been running for years.
From the tapes I've seen of Barnett, he's more suited as a DE - too big and not quick enough to take on 3/4 schemes. Regardless, I'm not sure he's worth a 6th pick. Garret is in another league. If by some miracle he drops to 6, Jets have to grab him.... Regarding Hooker, with that injury, do the Jets take a chance? If Adams is there, being a sure day 1 starter, can't pass that up. But I do agree they need a pass rusher and I feel this draft is deep enough in the 2nd round. Would love to see them get Charles Harris - he's relentless and fast. Constant motor
Exactly. A good to great defensive line masks the deficiencies of the rest of the defense. Even if you're allowing slightly more on the ground, good pass rushing teams get off the field in critical situations more often than not. It's also less of a transition period for a college player to come to the NFL to become a 4-3 player because they will obviously not have to learn a scheme and techniques that are completely foreign to them. I've grown pretty tired of this exotic blitz scheming 3-4 defense between Mangini, Rex and Bowles. The next head coach we hire should be a 4-3 defense so we can shift towards a simpler scheme rather than needing the perfect player to succeed in the scheme. It's a shame because I think Leonard Williams could be an absolute monster if he consistently played in a 4-3 at the 3techniques. He'll likely waste the prime of his career here 2gapping double teams and downblocks while accruing 6-8 sack seasons.
I never used to like the 3-4 D and largely for the reasons you mentioned, but more and more college teams are starting to run the 3-4 D alignment, so it's not as big a deal (in terms of transitions) for players as it once was. My only hesitance about switching to a 4-3 now is that we have so many of the pieces here for the 3-4 alignment, but not the 4-3 alignment. IMO we'd have to pretty much change some personnel in the front 7. Williams would still work. Mo would work, but I think he's probably more effective as a 3-4 DE. Lee would work as the weakside LB, but we wouldn't have any DEs, a strongside LB or MLB. I think Mauldin & Jenkins would be fairly useless, but of course, it's not like they're setting the world on fire now.
I think the reasons for going to a 4-3 have been pretty well laid out, and outweigh whatever short term hiccups are caused. Why keep "throwing good money after bad" with a scheme that obviously hasn't really worked? Bite the bullet and make the change. That said, I doubt Bowles will do that.
I disagree. IMO it isn't "throwing good money after bad." Changing to a 4-3 D alignment would set this team back 2-3 years. One of the biggest problems with this franchise over the years isn't that they've changed HCs and coordinators, it's that just about every time they have had a coaching change, the system has changed, and then the roster had to be turned over. The 3-4 D alignment has worked quite well at times under Mangini, Rex and Bowles. There are several reasons why it hasn't worked better and more consistently. One, the most important position in the 3-4 D alignment is the pass-rushing OLB, and we haven't had a dominant pass rusher since John Abraham left. Add a dominant pass rusher to our front 7, and this D will look completely different and be more consistent, more effective and more dominant. Two, is that under both Rex and Bowles, the Jets have not stuck with a 3-4 alignment. They've bounced between a 3-4, a 4-3, a 2-5 and all kinds of variations. Part of the reason for that is that is both Rex's and Bowles' philosophy Another reason for that is the lack of the dominant pass rusher. Another reason is due to the lack of the dominant pass rusher, both Rex and Bowles played DL as OLBs and played other players out of position trying to hide their flaws. Still another reason is the lack of speed on the Jets' D. They've had a bunch of older, slower players. Yet another reason or factor is that neither Rex, nor Bowles have any answers when their game plan doesn't work. NFL teams have figured out Rex's blitzes. When he plays a better team, he's usually going to lose unless everything goes perfectly for his D that day. Bowles used to blitz a lot but didn't very much last season. Assuming that Revis will be gone, if the Jets can add that pass rusher and a solid CB in the draft, if Bowles has any skill at all as a DC, the D should look a lot better this coming season. Switching to the 4-3 would set the Jets back 2-3 seasons at a minimum. They don't have a single 4-3 DE on the roster. Williams could be the 3 Technique DT, and Mo play the other DT position, and Lee could function as the weakside LB, but they don't have a MLB or strongside LB on the roster. Jenkins and Mauldin would need to be traded or released. Their secondary would be even less effective because they'd have little or no chance of creating any kind of pass rush outside of Williams unless they could quickly come up with a couple of DEs. If you're sick of the Jets using all their top picks on D in the draft, you'd be even sicker, because they'd have to use their top picks for the next several drafts to change their D personnel. The offense would get no attention.
The problem we have is that our scheme relies on one or two bump and run man to man stud corner backs and we do not have any players fitting that description.
