He sucks in coverage, there is no way about it. If you see somebody getting beat deep 9 times out 10 you see #33 trailing the play. He hits hard and plays with aggression which I like but the Chuck Cecil days of safety's just being heat seeking missles are long gone. I still have no idea who he has lasted in the league this long nor how he is a defensive captain. Throw in it's a position we seem to ignore every year.
I think you're right... Rex keeps on raving about how smart he is. Well guess what, we xouldn't care if he knows whats going on if he doesn't have the speed to actually do something about it!!! FS is a major liability... especially considering Leonhard is kind of similar in being very smart but not that fast. 2 slow S aren't really what you want starting...
should of kept Lowery, most times he was in at safety he was makeing plays...imo better than pool and smith.
Leonhard may not suck, but he does not seem to be playing at the same level as he was before he broke his leg.
my understanding is that pool still doesn't completely grasp the defensive scheme. as far as smith and leonard, they are still with the team and lowery is gone. if lowery truly was better he would still be here. i trust rex knows more about who's got the talent and who doesn't over some fan on a forum board.
he seems to have lost a step he couldn't afford to have lost, but sometimes it takes a couple of years before you're really back to full strength. either way, this defense and offense have taken a major step backwards this year.
This brings me back to the draft, most fans would agree going in we thought we'd be getting a OLB and/or S. I realize the the draft was DL heavy but would've been nice to give it a try. To some Wilkerson has been good and in certain situations he has but he's not containing his edge and that's where the majority of the runs are. I realize we shuffled our line a bit but last year Shaun Ellis had 18 tackles and 3.5 sacks through 5 games. Granted, Ellis only had 1 more sack the rest of the regular season because he's worn out. I do think Wilk will be great down the road but right now there are glaring weaknesses at each level of the D.
I'd rather see Pool in for obvious passing downs. I think he's got better coverage ability. Smith is clearly the more physical player, almost make him a first two-downs guy and short yardage guy
Of course when the Jets are facing a hurry up, changing out Smith for obvious passing downs is not practicable.
eric smith has been terrible leonhard hasnt been much better, either ... but he gets a pass on this board because hes "short and scrappy" if only eric smith were white
