Another ESPN insider article: Once Darrelle Revis went down with a torn ACL in Week 3, the New York Jets defense was supposed to collapse. It was thought that receivers would be running free in the secondary, the lower echelons of the cornerback depth chart would be exploited, and Antonio Cromartie would look a lot worse when he was matched up against the receivers usually taken away by Revis. But it hasn't worked out that way. Cromartie might be enjoying his best season in the NFL and has been a notable bright spot for the Jets this season. The defense has kept the team in games, and the Jets are somehow in the AFC playoff picture. Let's take a look at why the defense has been so successful without Revis. The Revis benchmark Before we dive into how the Jets have fared without him, it's important to contextualize just how good Revis is. In 2011, he allowed just 41.2 percent of passes thrown at him to be completed. Only Jacksonville's Derek Cox managed a better mark (32.1 percent), and he played around a third of the snaps Revis did. What makes Revis' number even more remarkable is that he did that almost exclusively against No. 1 receivers, shadowing them across the field and even to the slot. Opposing quarterbacks threw for just a single touchdown against Revis, and he got his hands on 20 passes (four picks and 16 broken up). In the brief time he was healthy this season, he allowed just three catches for 15 yards while picking one pass off and breaking another up. The ability of Revis to lock down his man on an island allowed the Jets to get creative with the rest of their coverage and roll safeties away from his side of the field. It stood to reason that without that ability the rest of the Jets secondary would struggle, especially Cromartie. Cromartie's improvement Instead of a slump, Cromartie has excelled, seemingly relishing the opportunity to be the alpha dog again. He has put together a string of fine performances. He is PFF's fourth-highest graded cornerback in terms of coverage, behind Richard Sherman, Casey Hayward and Charles Tillman. It's important to understand that Cromartie hasn't had poor seasons for the Jets and has perhaps been overshadowed by the unreasonable benchmark set by Revis. But Cromartie has benefited from what Revis does to an offense, having to shadow only No. 2 receivers or vertical threats while Revis takes the opposition's top receiver. In 2011, Cromartie allowed just 46.4 percent of passes into his coverage to be caught, but for an average of 14.5 yards/reception with six touchdown passes. He got his hands to just 12 passes (picking off four and breaking up eight). This season, the numbers are better across the board, despite having a tougher job to do. Without Revis, the Jets have used Cromartie to shadow an opponent's best receiver much of the time, and he has allowed only 43.8 percent of passes thrown his way to be caught. When he has given up catches, they have been less damaging as well, as he has cut two yards off his 2011 average and given up only four touchdowns to last season's six. He has already gotten his hands on 14 passes (three interceptions, 11 broken up) and has even cut down on the number of missed tackles from a year ago (seven to four). Cromartie has had two games this season in which he has given up five catches, the most he has allowed, and seven in which he has allowed two or fewer, including one, against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 4, where he blanked the opposition entirely. The Jets secondary relies on having a No. 1 corner, and Cromartie has taken the opportunity to remind people why he was chosen to pair with Revis in the first place. The backups stepping up While Revis and Cromartie played well last season, the players behind them on the depth chart fared far worse, with Kyle Wilson and Donald Strickland, the nickel and dime defensive backs respectively, combining to yield five touchdowns and 833 receiving yards on 68 receptions. Both players allowed more than 55 percent of targets into their coverage to be completed, and neither player was graded well by PFF. This season, Wilson has been forced into a starting role and the next man up has been Ellis Lankster as the Jets have stuck to far more nickel than dime packages. Though they have given up five touchdowns between them and a similar volume of catches and yardage, Wilson and Lankster have done so at an improved rate. Neither Wilson nor Lankster has allowed more than 55 percent of passes into their coverage to be caught or been beaten for more than 12 yards per reception. While Wilson was beaten for a 99-yard reception last season, the longest pass he has surrendered this season has been 38 yards. Lankster hasn't been beaten for a pass that went farther than 31 yards. The bottom line While the pass defense was expected to collapse without Revis, it has instead stepped up. The Jets rank third against the pass this season, giving up 196 yards per game. Last season, they were fifth in the league, allowing more than 200 yards per game while yielding almost half a yard more per reception. In 2011, teams were beating the Jets for an average of 6.7 yards per reception, but this season that figure is just 6.3, further eroding the leverage Revis once had in contract negotiations. Revis may be the unquestioned best corner in football, but Cromartie has raised his game, proving he is a pretty good player in his own right. If Mark Sanchez can cut down on his turnovers and the pass defense continues to play well, the Jets can keep their playoffs hopes alive.
I think it has a lot to do with rex and pettine, but also with landry and bell. Cromartie is possibly having the best season if his career in terms of COMP % against. For as much as people want to kill wilson, he would start for 25 other teams. Hell, berry was supposed to be a Lions starter this season. It has to Do with everybody responding to others that were saying the jets secondary wouldn't last without Revis. With that said, dont for a second think that I dont want Revis here for the rest of his career. Revis +Cro+ Wilson +Landry =a secondary matched by only the Seahawks(and they may not even compete with that.)
Kyle Wilson has stepped up big-time. As Cro is locking down #1 WR every week, opposing QB have to be staring @ Wilson on the other side but this D is still holding it down. It's been a while since Jets have had shitty corners & the bar to what is "good" & "average" is really messed up for many of the fanbase. Plenty of teams out there would be very happy to have Kyle Wilson.
Of course the reality is Wilson would probably not draw much in the way of compensation. He still has some flaws in his game that look fundamental to me. Anyway I don't think much of analyses that compare last year's pass D to this year's without taking into account how the run D struggled with Revis out, and also how much improved the safety play has been this year. Pool's departure alone has been a big plus. Pool for those who haven't noticed is not even warming some team's bench now. Shocking.
Rex was right. 5th ranked defense bitches!! espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/total/position/defense
That's only because we haven't played yet this week, while other teams have. If you go YPG we're #8. Getting into the #5 spot isn't that unrealistic if we have another great defensive effort.
You have to seriously contemplate trading Revis. I've said all that money tied up in a defensive back is crazy. A defensive back simply doesn't impact the game like a Tom Brady or Adrian Peterson or even a JJ Watt does. We lost Revis and really didn't miss a beat.
Personally, I believe it is the Safety Play. Landry/Bell have played very well this year. In my opinion, the DL play has been above average as well. If we could add a dominate ILB to roam in the middle, above average read and react, and average run stopping ability, we would be a significantly better Pass defender. Of course, a true pass rushing OLB, would help as well. (Sam Montgomery seems like a solid pick in the middle first round)
Jets pass D just hasn't matched up well against good passing teams and that is where my concern is. Yes, it might be a top 5 D statistically, but the stats were inflated pretty badly with that one game against a high school QB that couldn't hit wide open Larry Fitz on several occasions. I don't even count that as an NFL passing team so without that one weekend, Jets pass D definitely drops down to maybe the 8th overall or something. Yes, that is still pretty good, but not great. Revis makes it excellent. A top notch pass rusher, or two solid pass rushers next year can put this D over the hump.
I want to see pick 6s by Cro and co galore. And this isn't just because I have am in my fantasy playoffs and have the Jets D and going against the Titans D and am 1 point down... but it doesn't hurt.
I'd say we definitely missed a beat. We got blown out the next game 34-0 after Revis got hurt. Jim Leonhard syndrome. The D loses an important player and gets blown out. It took a few games but we did get back on track and players like Wilkerson and Landry helped tremendously. E Smith is a huge reason why our pass D is rated higher this year than last. That dude got burned in coverage like it was his job last season. Bell and Landry make him look like peasant. That's the main reason we haven't noticed a dropoff. With all 4 of those guys playing together we'd be near #1.
it's the culture that rex brought to this team. he gave us an identity and something to fight for. that type of belief is completely infectious and the entire squad has bought in. they still need to give sanchez a little more help though, do their part get the turnovers and make big plays
Yes. I've noticed him making some plays when they throw him in. His intelligence is his biggest strength and only playing in a few certain packages seems to help him expose weaknesses in the offense instead of the other way around. I'm pretty sure I've seen him on the field at the same time as Landry and Bell. Those 3 together definitely make receivers think twice before laying out.
As we saw last night with the 9'rs vs Pats game, there are 2 ways to win: 1- have Tom Brady under center 2- have a dominate pass defense, have a dominate run defense, have an above average O-Line, have an above average RB, and have an opportunistic QB that can rape weak defenses. Since we don't have Tom Brady under center, Rex is building our team towards #2.
This. The improvement vs. TE's with the new safeties and Cromartie stepping it up have (somehow) made up for the absence of Revis.
