Rex has a tough challenge this week to come up with a scheme to slow down the Chargers offense. They really are not an effective running team at this point and their offensive line is nothing special. The issue is slowing down Rivers, he has good targerts in Jackson, Gates, Floyd etc.... The key thing is not giving up td's. Let Rivers move the ball between the 20's but keep him out of the end zone. To that end the Jets will probably play a combination of zone and man. I look for Revis on Jackson and Eric Smith on Gates. Kerry Rhodes playing his usual deep cover 1. Rex will probably come up with some interesting 5 and 6 secondary formations to mess with Rivers. I don't expect to see a lot of blitzing since Rivers is so good at making quick reads. What would you do if you were rex?
Confuse the crap out of him and bring different blitz packages. We just have to be careful, they can dump off to Sproles and neutralize the blitz if it's made obvious. More CB blitzes should be utilized, I'd bet Rivers would not expect our best cover corner to be diving for his head. I would not mind just sending in the front and covering with the occasional LB blitz.
I'd think a lot of press coverage, with ILB blitzes right up the middle leaving all the DBs and OLBs to cover the WRs and Gates. Revis on Jackson, Leonhard/Smith & OLB on Gates, and Sheppard/Lowery on Floyd. A lot of man coverage on the outsides with Safety help over the middle
Strictly from a matchup perspective, I'd be pretty comfortable with the following: Floyd - Sheppard & Rhodes over the top Jackson - Revis Gates - Strickland Naanee/Davis - Lowery Sproles - E. Smith or Leonhard Tolber - Bart Scott
strickland on gates? are you kidding? not tall enough. you have to put rhodes on him and put e. smith at safety in a 3-safety nickel. sd has the best blitz-pickup in the league. that's why they get so many long plays. good secondary play will be key. the nice thing is that the two teams that most resemble our defense (Ravens/Bengals) actually did pretty good against the Chargers. i don't think rivers will be ready for some of the really crazy blitzes that Rex will bring. it's possible to bring good pressure with just 4. hopefully, that's what we end up doing when they get into 3rd and long.
Here's a big part of the gameplan against their offense: run the ball and keep them off of the field. I do not care what these Chargers fans say about their team ratcheting up the intensity on defense, the Jets' offense has increased their game as much as the Chargers' defense, if not more. They are missing their NT and they are weak up the middle. Just keep pounding it straight down their throats and let the clock run. Even if the Jets' get stopped for a loss on a play, that's still less time for Rivers & Co. to do their damage. I think this one will work better. San Diego delenda est.
I think the best game plan the Jets can come with up to stop River's is simply keep him off the field. Chargers are 20th in run defense, giving up an average of 4.5 tds a carry. The Jets average 4.5 yds a carry. That spells ball ball control and low scoring game. Keep eating up the clock. I don't know if there is a way to stop River's unless the Jets are going to constantly blitz and take chances underneath coverage. Confusion would be better put as, Ryan has the knack for disguising D schemes and the Chargers have yet to face a D like the Jets or Ravens, for that matter.
Um...no. The Ravens and Bengals couldnt stop Rivers and the passing game with the U.S. Army. In fact, the Ravens gave up more yards to him than in their past like 4 years or something like that. And that was when we were pretty bad, early in the season. Other than a BS pick in the Bengal game in which Gates juggled a perfectly thrown ball into a defender's arms, Rivers was almost as unstoppable. That argument being shot down, most of you are correct - getting through the Bolts excellent blitz pick-up is key. Rivers is extremely calm in the pocket, his amazing awareness is almost maddening to us fans because he will stay to the last possible second before throwing and everytime it looks like a potential sack and strip, but never happens.
Oh I dont disagree at all. The only difference is that the jets are the team most likely to be able to get to rivers. The chargers are not as equipped to stop our run game.
1- with as close to zero that a run game can be (bolts), look for MULTIPLE line backer blitzes. whatever side the screen threat is on, the other side will blitz. Pace/Harris will have 5 hurries/knock downs and 1-2 sacks. 2- i believe we will play standard D in the first half. IF we are able to to man up against Rivers and his merry band of men, THEN you will see Rex taking a shot here and there in the second half. Rex will not sell out from 'play one'.
Rivers doesn't crumble under blitz pressure. The real question should be if you have an answer for the screen game while you are blitzing because Sproles is dangerous, and Norv is one of the best in the game at dialing up screens.
IF we have strickland, the screen game won't have a chance, Strickland is great at sniffing out a screen pass. If Strick doesn't play, it might be an issue.
^^^ This. The big key us having the spy on Sproles. He will cause havoc if the first guy is not on him quickly.
