In a retrospect

I began to wonder why Jets could not emulate the success Pittsburgh had on Patriots defense. Here are some of the things that I think accounts for the obvious failure:

1. In case of Steelers, they stacked Miller with a receiver (forcing the DB to back off) then burned them all day with 5~8 yards on nearly every 1st down. In case of Jets, however, I do not think stacking Keller with Holmes would have worked. When Steelers start their offense, you could easily see that the DBs were backing off - in Jets case, the DBs would close in to the receiver. The defense is the same (actually a bit worse.) but what would cause such a drastic change in behavior?

2. Then I was reminded that Jets offense do not have someone that will burn the defense deep. Braylon was that threat, and Santonio Holmes does not quite fit the bill. Look at last year's games. Braylon had more than handful 70+ yard plays where he literally barbecued the defending DB for a TD. He burned the midget Colts DB in the playoff win, and also burned the Pats DB once during the playoff. That deep threat role is filled by Mike Wallace in Pittsburgh. As for the current Jets, they do not have that home run threat any more.

3. Since that deep threat does not exist, defenses do not fear anything deep. It is this reason that Jets do not get much room underneath, unlike other teams.

4. On top of that, Sanchez does not extend plays the way Big Ben does. This has a serious implications; remember, if you give any QB enough time, he will find his receiver. If it is Big Ben earning that time, that means Mike Wallace is getting open somewhere deep. As Sanchez does not make things happen like this any more (I don't know what happened there - he was doing a lot of that even last year.) that also puts severe strain on the receivers too. As there is no neutralizing factor to loosen up the coverage, it makes their job that much harder.

5. I would have to say Braylon Edwards was sorely missed. True, the offensive ineptitude has to be shared by Sanchez and Schottenheimer, but Tannenbaum should be stoned for this fuck up. Jets receiving corp had something really good going for them, then Tannenbaum literally guts the core of them, and this is what we have now.

 

Last but not the least: OL not providing enough protection IS the artifact of not having the deep threat, not the other way around. Make no mistake about it.

If the defense KNOWS there is a deep threat that can burn them deep, but still the defense smothers the shallow zone and rushes the passer, what does that tell you? It takes MINIMAL time for the deep threat to get the necessary separation, meaning it doesn't even take 3 seconds to get the ball out. If that deep threat happens to be tall and physical, then it's a sure 6. So if the defense keeps doing that even with the presence of the home run threat, that means 1. the defense doesn't think the QB will be able to hit it or 2. they are risking everything on their pressure. This actually is the past blitz mentality, which is now almost dead.

Again, go back to #1. What makes you think Pats wouldn't rush Ben? True, he is a big and strong QB, but Heath Miller is not even half the down field threat that Dustin Keller is. So why are they backing off? Is Steelers OL so good that doesn't allow anyone to come by the vicinity of Big Ben? (That is not even remotely true.)