Yeah my comments were meant for the defense as a whole. I do not know what the Jets can do to get more pressure. I suppose if I did I would be on their staff. Maybe they should switch BT's side as Kenyon Coleman has been the most effective Dlineman so far. Hobson is a bit slow comparatively speaking so maybe that will free up more pressure. This is no great incite, but the OLB's have done squat this year and that is where the majority of QB pressure/sacks come from in a 3-4 defense. Why that is I can not honestly say. I will be sure to watch for it this weekend though.
That's not a huge subset, but the Chargers are much better against the run than the pass. Their pass defense is middle of the road because of their secondary. Quentin Jammer is absolutely worthless. That team ought to be starting Florence and Cromartie. Were it not for a superior pass rush, they'd have been much worse against the pass than us statistically last year. As it stands, they gave up about a yard less per game on the pass. The point is, we do have a good secondary, and a great one when Dyson is starting and Barrett plays a limited role. However, even a great secondary is limited by the pass rush. I don't think you can throw out the New England game. The Chargers had the same trouble we had with only one facet of their pass defense working. It illustrates that we'll be in trouble all season long if we can't generate a pass rush. As you mentioned, it impacts the entire defense. As far as Baltimore is concerned, we looked better because we were playing an offense inferior to New England's. We STILL failed to generate a pass rush, which would have been the only sign of improvement we needed. Our run defense is decent. Our secondary is fine. We need to generate the pass rush in order to see actual, steady improvement like what you mentioned.
IMO, you can absolutely send Kerry Rhodes against the Dolphins this week. Leave Coleman back in coverage along with one OLB (Thomas showed good coverage skills last week, which hasn't been his strong suit). The increase in speed will help against a weak O line like Miami's. Trent Green has never made quick decisions, and David Barrett can absolutely hang with Marty Booker for 3 seconds. It's not like we're asking him to cover Randy Moss here, or even Mark Clayton.
