we should see even more upward movement in the rankings if mcelroy can turn it over far less frequently then sanchez
Provided Houston doesn't give up 700 yards to NE tonight, we've moved up to rank 8 (based on yards allowed). I could see this defense finishing in the top 5 again, which would be damn impressive considering we lost our best defensive player. Buff up the LB corps in the off-season and we should be top 3 next year.
This is what happens when you sign average to above average 28 year old veteran LB's to star level contracts. The Jets did this with Calvin Pace in 2008 and Bart Scott in 2009 and the linebackers have been the thing limiting the Jets ever since.
The defense has been just fine in my opinion. The only stat of concern to me has been the inability to get off the field on 3rd downs. There are many contributing factors to that. 3, 4, and 5 man rushes not consistently getting to the QB, LB's slow in coverage, missing Revis, and could use better conditioning. The offense puts the D in situations where they are constantly on the field, and you can see the D sometimes slip up late in the games. Better conditioning could help that. Re-sign the key guys. Find some capable cheap OLB's that can fill roles, and focus the rest of offseason on offense. The offense is the problem.
While I mostly agree with what you are saying, I think the run defense is definitely not fine. It's been atrocious at time and over all really bad this year. I couldn't understand why Jacksonville wasn't running the ball more often yesterday. They kept giving the ball to Henne to throw which was a dumb decision and probably cost them the game.
I agree run D has not been great. potential loss of Bryan Thomas has me concerned there as well. He's been very good at setting the edge...something they missed last year when he got hurt. But in general, the defense has been very competitive and keeps us in games. If we re-sign our key guys (Revis, Landry, Devito), and find some capable OLB's, it will be even better next year.
It might seem counterintuitive, but I think the run D suffered early on from Revis being out. That was not the only thing, as the run D also suffered from injuries to Pouha and DeVito. But Revis's absence forced the Jets to reconfigure their coverage schemes, since Cro and Revis formerly played man coverage on both opponents' wideouts. Cro continue to play man coverage, but the rest of the D had to be reshuffled. This often meant the D was in zone pass coverage (even if Cro was playing man on his assignment), and in most such cases another player had to play back to cover the pass. It took some getting used to, in addition to the subtraction of a player. And add that to the injuries, and it took its toll. they seem to be playing run D better lately.
Updated rankings: Total YPG: 8th - from 10th Passing yards: 3rd - from 4th Rushing yards: 29th - same PPG: 19th - from 22nd Updated offensive rankings of remaining teams on schedule: Tennessee: 23rd San Diego: 27th Buffalo: 20th (Jets are ranked 30th) Jets will probably go linebacker in R1, and then the rest offense. We're still letting the big plays kill us. That touchdown was terrible and should not have happened. 3rd against the pass without Revis.
We have drafted very well on defense recently. Wilkerson is becoming dominant. Q looks to be on the same track and I've been impressed w/Ellis at times. Not to mention Devito and Pouha doing there usual solid work. Starting to look real good and they seem to be improving. Looking forward to seeing if they can keep this going against Tennessee.
Part of that is because we are so damn bad against the run teams do not need to pass often. Get a lead and then run down the clock is a time honored NFL tradition.
We've drafted we'll along the line. We need an infusion of young talent at line backer in the worst way. The current group is 25% of our cap and not producing anywhere near that level.
This. The Jets have went all in on the line but really need to address other areas of the team via draft in the worst way. If we draft a single DL this draft I'm going to be furious.
Part of the reason we are so damn bad against the run is that we have $20+ million in the cap tied up in our CB's, a 6th of the overall cap and the number soon to get larger.
Who cares about a top 5 defense at this point, The season is over and we blew the important part,Its to late if Anyone thinks the Steelers and the Colts are dropping 3 straight there out of there minds
A silver lining to Revis being out is the extended play time of men who would otherwise never see the field. We'll be that much better off next year because of this. Plus, we have 3 first round draft pics next year to improve our team. Lets go with: 1st round pic #1: Darrell Revis, CB. Top CB in the NFL. 1st round pic #2: Santonio Holmes, SB MVP receiver to play next to 2nd year Hill and Kerely. 1st round pic #3: Top OLB pass rusher available in the draft. Things are looking up for 2013. Despite how this year ends, we'll finally have a real good team next year.
The season is not over. They don't have to lose 3 straight. If the Jets win next week and the Steelers lose to Dallas, we're tied with 2 games to play. The Colts would have to drop 3 straight for us to tie them. Unlikely, so the Bengals and Steelers would have to lose 2 out 3. They play each other so that's a guaranteed loss for one of them. Hopefully Philly will have a rabbit in its hat for next Thursday.
