ahh why not.... No Fly Zone 2.0: Revis, Cromartie headline revamped Jets secondary By Jared Dubin | CBSSports.com staff March 13, 2015 2:11 pm ET Bringing the band back together in New York. (Getty Images) More than anything else, a strong pass defense is what characterized the first four years of the Rex Ryan era in New York. The Jets ranked first, seventh, second and 10th in pass defense DVOA from 2009 to 2012, according to Football Outsiders, dropping out of the top-seven only in the season where Darrelle Revis missed 14 games with a knee injury. The presence of Revis and Antonio Cromartie -- among others -- allowed Ryan to play man coverage on the outside while getting creative with exotic blitzes to terrorize opposing quarterbacks. It worked extremely well and played a major role in the Jets making back-to-back AFC title game appearances in 2009 and 2010. The team's record dropped off in 2011 and 2012, but that was more due to the slacking offense with Mark Sanchez at the controls than anything having to do with the defense, which remained quite strong. In the offseason following the 2012 campaign, John Idzik took over for Mike Tannenbaum as the team's general manager, and one of his first moves was trading Revis away to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Jets dropped to 18th in pass defense DVOA in 2013 as a result, and Cromartie left for Arizona after the season. Despite being armed with loads of cap space, Idzik's only notable free agent signing in the secondary was cornerback Dimitri Patterson. He also drafted safety Calvin Pryor in the first round, but it wasn't enough. New York fell all the way to 24th in pass defense DVOA in 2014, and both Idzik and Ryan were fired at the end of the season. A little more than two weeks later, the Jets hired former Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles as head coach. Bowles spent the last two years coordinator one of the best defenses in football: Arizona finished second and seventh in defensive DVOA, respectively, in 2013 and 2014. Despite losing Daryl Washington, Karlos Dansby, John Abraham and Darnell Dockett, among others, from the top-flight 2013 defense, the Cardinals experienced very little drop-off in Year 2 of the Bowles Era. Much of that was due to the presence of Calais Campbell as an all-world destroyer on the defensive line. Campbell lined up all over the defensive front, alternately occupying blockers and penetrating gaps like a madman. In a world where J.J. Watt didn't exist, Calais might be considered the best 3-4 defensive lineman in football. While unleashing Campbell to the best of his abilities, Bowles also coaxed above-average seasons out of the likes of Tommy Kelly and Frostee Rucker in 2014, and got plenty of help from the stout Dan Williams up the middle as well. While Campbell earned a trip to the Pro Bowl and an All-Pro nod (Second-Team) for the first time in 2014, the performances by the rest of the defensive line went somewhat unheralded as attention was instead paid to the Arizona secondary. After signing Cromartie in the offseason, the group -- which also included Patrick Peterson, Jerraud Powers, Justin Bethel, Tyrann Mathieu, Deone Bucannon, Tony Jefferson and Rashad Johnson -- took on the moniker "No Fly Zone," and though it didn't quite live up to expectations in 2014 (largely due to an uncharacteristically poor season from Peterson), it was a fitting nickname given all the talent on hand. With Cromartie joining Bowles back in New York this offseason, the Jets now have two of the principals from that group, and it might be a decent idea to let the newly-revamped secondary have the "No Fly Zone" nickname, too. They are the Jets, after all. When you look at who the Jets were playing in their defensive backfield in 2014 and compare it to who will get the snaps in 2015, there's really no comparison at all. The two groups are not in the same stratosphere. 2014 Secondary Cornerback: Antonio Allen, Darrin Walls, Marcus Williams, Kyle Wilson, Phillip Adams Safety: Dawan Landry, Calvin Pryor, Jaiquawn Jarrett
Am I crazy in thinking this is a fuking insult? I understand it's in the context of Bowles scheme with Peterson but my man, Revis already had his Island established with many visitors on it...lol...
I think its just withing the context of how Bowles haddrawn up his D with the Cards. It's more like Peterson played a Revis type role
...here's the 2nd half of the article http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on...is-cromartie-headline-revamped-jets-secondary 2015 Secondary Cornerback: Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie, Buster Skrine, Dee Milliner, Dexter McDougle Safety: Marcus Gilchrist, Calvin Pryor, Jaiquawn Jarrett That 2014 unit was terrible, ranking 21st in opponent's completion percentage and yards per attempt, 30th in passing touchdowns allowed, interceptions and opponent's quarterback rating and 24th in pass defense DVOA. It's clear that new general manager Mike Maccagnan came into this offseason with the goal of improving the secondary so Bowles could be put in a position to succeed. In the first two days of free agency, Maccagnan spent $102 million ($59 million guaranteed) to bring Cromartie and Revis back into the fold on four and five year deals, respectively. He also brought in former Browns corner Buster Skrine on a four-year, $25 million contract with $13 million in guarantees, and has reached a four-year agreement worth an unknown amount with former Rams safety Marcus Gilchrist. Note: I feel like it needs to be mentioned that there's no way Maccagnan could have dropped all that cash on defensive backs had Idzik not held back his spending last offseason. That restraint may have A. driven Jets fans crazy at the time; B. resulted in a terrible 2014 season; and C. cost both Idzik and Ryan their jobs, but it also played a huge role in this spending spree. Let's try not to forget that when we talk about New York's improvement agains the pass next season. If he were saddled with last season's group as his defensive backfield, there's just no way Bowles could have done the things he likes to do when running a defense. Consider this: Arizona blitzed on 46.5 percent of opposing drop-backs in Bowles' two seasons as the Cardinals defensive coordinator, the highest blitz rate in the NFL. Meanwhile, despite his well-known penchant for using blitzes, Ryan was only able to send extra rushers on 33.2 percent of opponent drop-backs last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Why? The secondary couldn't hold up in coverage. When the Jets blitzed in 2014, opposing quarterbacks completed 69.1 percent of their 175 passes, averaged 8.9 yards per attempt, threw for 14 touchdowns and did not get intercepted even once. That resulted in an absolutely insane 123.5 passer rating, which would be the best of all time by miles and miles and miles. Each of those numbers is also better than what the Jets allowed when sitting in coverage and not sending extra rushers (63.0 percent completion rate, 7.0 yards per attempt, 93.0 passer rating). But Bowles isn't one to have his defense sit in covergae. He wants to be aggressive. To do that, you need players who can hold up in coverage. Hence the spending spree. Revis will play the role of Patrick Peterson: the stud corner who mans up the opposing team's best receiver (that's what Peterson did for the most part in 2013; the Cardinals kept their corners to sides a bit more often in 2014 as Peterson struggled) and takes away an entire side of the field. Cromartie reprises his role as Antonio Cromartie, one of the best No. 2 corners in the NFL. Skrine will play the part of Jerraud Powers, the undersized slot corner who gets some help in the form of extra safeties on the field. Milliner and/or McDougle can be the Justin Bethel of the group, the fourth corner who comes on in case of injury and occasionally in dime packages. Calvin Pryor seems likely to fill the role of Deone Bucannon: Safety in Name Only. Bowles used Bucannon as more of a hybrid linebacker type last year, dropping him down into the box almost 90 percent of the time. Given their skill sets, Gilchrist probably fits in as the Tony Jefferson while Jarrett plays the part of Tyrann Mathieu, rangy free safety who spends time on slot receivers as well. These guys could win up on the field in any number of combinations. Revis and Cromarti will be mainstays, of course, as Peterson and Cromartie were in Arizona. Anyone else is liable to be on or off the field at any given time, with Bowles rotating guys through both based on situation and to keep them fresh. Bowles used as many as four safeties at a time last season, reasoning the Cardinals could count on the defensive front to hold up against the run and that there was a better shot of stopping the pass with corners and safeties than with linebackers. Given the group he now has in New York, with three studs on the defensive line (the so-called Sons of Anarchy: Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson and Damon Harrison) and No Fly Zone 2.0 behind the, you can expect to see a lot of the same next season. Topics: Antonio Allen, Antonio Cromartie, Buster Skrine, Calais Campbell, Calvin Pryor, Damon Harrison, Dan Williams, Darnell Dockett, Darrelle Revis, Darrin Walls, Daryl Washington, Dawan Landry, Dee Milliner, Deone Bucannon, Dexter McDougle, J.J. Watt, Jaiquawn Jarrett, Jerraud Powers, John Abraham, Justin Bethel, Karlos Dansby, Kyle Wilson, Marcus Gilchrist, Marcus Williams, Mark Sanchez, Muhammad Wilkerson, Patrick Peterson, Phillip Adams, Rashad Johnson, Sheldon Richardson, Tommy Kelly, Tony Jefferson, Tyrann Mathieu, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NFL
"Note: I feel like it needs to be mentioned that there's no way Maccagnan could have dropped all that cash on defensive backs had Idzik not held back his spending last offseason. That restraint may have A. driven Jets fans crazy at the time; B. resulted in a terrible 2014 season; and C. cost both Idzik and Ryan their jobs, but it also played a huge role in this spending spree. Let's try not to forget that when we talk about New York's improvement agains the pass next season." This. Idzik was a bum in some respects, but we should be thankful for his parting gift.
Jarrett is trash. Don't let the Pittsburgh game fool you. He is not a good football player, and we are in trouble if he gets any sort of significant playing time.
"21st in opponent's completion percentage and yards per attempt, 30th in passing touchdowns allowed, interceptions and opponent's quarterback rating and 24th in pass defense DVOA" This line shocked me. It felt like I was watching the #32 passing D last year especially with those first 7 games of the year. Either other teams are THAT bad or Rex really did a fine job
IMO, Idzik's failures during his tenure here are slightly overstated. I believe he came here with the clear intent of cleaning up the obvious mess Tannenbaum left behind and then building this team back up once the deck cleared. It took time 2-3 years, but now, we are seeing the results. Now...with that said, I'm not going to agree we should all be thankful and genuflect at the sight of saint Idzik. I have a hard time believing another GM couldn't have done the exact same thing with enough patience. Also, none of us know what he would have done this offseason with all the cap space (presumably the second phase of his plan). I doubt he and Maccagnan's offseasons would've looked the same. Would it have been better? Worse? No clue. But, I think Idzik's tenure for me grades out as an Incomplete.
Good article. The author missed on that tho, prolly 'cause of his lack of in depth knowledge of him. There's no way he is comparable to Mathieu. Maybe we'll see TB use Rontez Miles or Jarrett in the Bucannon role, especially if Pryor can improve a little. He also didn't mention Antonio Allen, again maybe lack of insight into all our players. But the article gives an idea of what we'll be looking at, including AA, it's looking good
The things is, Revis and Cromartie were both available last offseason, and both probably could have been had for less than we paid this year. Definitely Cromartie.
Its amazing thing like things like this get printed, don't they have editors to fix obvious mistakes?
Absolutely could have had them for less last year but then we wouldn't have had the 155M to spend like we do now because of the 12M carryover so in the end it all works out.
Not only that, but I saw 4, or 5 words that were spelled wrong, or were just flat out missing a letter. It was asinine. It was a really good article though regardless.
