two things happened to this defense 1. the new CBA limiting practice in pads has killed the tackling consistency and overall physicality of this team. people might not agree but thats my belief. 2. people have realized we dont have a legit edge rusher and rex sends his mixed level blitzes out of nickel and 3-3-5 hybrid type fronts. hes been figured out and its up to Revis and the db's to cover longer than they should.
On #2, the Jets just aren't all out blitzing as much as they did two seasons ago and even last season. I can think of one time in the last five games or so that the Jets sent 7+ guys at the QB and that was on Tebow's winning run in Denver. Ryan and Pettine have come to the conclusion that the all-out blitz isn't a winner for them any more.
thats my point, theyve been figured out and exposed for a lack of consistent pressure. they no longer send guys in vein, the only result is were finding out how overrated our DB's are and how one dimmensional our LB'ers are in the process. granted alot of us knew this but now I just have to pound my hand on the table for a LB'er and S even more. as we send less pressure Smith gets exposed more and Leonhard is simply too small to make certain tackles and be effective to fight for the ball in drop zones when making reads. I love Smith and Leonhard but if were not rushing anyone to throw they seem to be at the tail end of every back breaking pass we allow.
Ha in RR world it seems that a P/rusher of any type is not a player necessary to having a dominating D. Actually I think the last 2 years of film + the years before in Balt have finally caught up to RR & MP :sad:
Perhaps the most depressing thing about this season is not Mangold's injury and how it hurt the OL along with Turner being out, or Sanchez's mediocre play, or the 95 yard drive by Denver, or the two more regular season losses to Belichik and the Pats. Perhaps the most depressing thing is the notion that it's not the personnel alone that explains the decline of the D, but the possibility that other teams have figured out how to attack Ryan's D.
The Jets toned down the blitzing by the time they were in the playoffs last season. I don't have the stats to validate this part, but just from watching the games, I think we were able to get more pressure last season early on in the play without sending the blitz. This season, even when we get QB pressures or Sacks it seems to be due to coverage (ie: Maybin sacks). I prefer to just remember the good old days!
we cut back on blitzing in the playoffs cause Rex pulled his head out of his ass and realized how much coverage he was sacrificing. My point essentially is, our coverage isnt as good as everyone would like to think and none of this gets fixed without having a legit pass rush.
well i may be in the minority but i never looked at us as being a great defensive team - a very good one, yes. but not great. IMO a great defensive team HAS to be able to sack the QB without exotic blitz packages in addition to coming up big at the end of the half/game when its on the line. add to that the "hidden" stats of yards given up on first down, defensive penalties for first downs, 3rd down sacks, and number of 3 and outs. the jets have obviously done good in these areas. we need that pass rushing threat - not only for the sack threat but for the pressure it puts on opposing Off coordinators in game planning around the guy.
The coverage against the Pats in the playoffs looked pretty good with Lowery at Safety and little if any blitzing. Our safety play is atrocious in the passing game.
Right on the money as always. you hit the nail on the head. I particularly think Lowery and Smith were key losses for us in the midst of the changes you mentioned.
Lowery and of all people Coleman played their asses off in the PO last year. I also think they pulled the plug on Lowery too early but thats just me
I still believe that the Jets are definitely a top 10 defense in the league. Even with all of the issues that the Jets offense has had the defense itself has given up less points than all but 6 teams in the NFL. And if you actually take into consideration the points that the defense has scored the Jets defense "adjusted" points allowed is #4 in the league (trailing only the Ravens, Texans, and 49ers). Obviously, they have struggled in getting that "closeout" stop (Broncos and Pats) and that has been disappointing. They have also had issues with the run game, but that looks to have been solved lately. However, I believe that they are pretty close to having a defense that is dominating. As others have said - a pass rushing OLB and a better coverage safety could put this D in excellent position in the coming years.
in thinking about this some more. I think part of it is we lost our attitude. Our two biggest shit talkers, the guys who made us the smack talking, big hitting, never say die defense. Bart Scott and Kris Jenkins were a big part of our identity. Jenks is gone as we all know. Bart just isnt the same, he seems to have lost his edge. He isnt playing with his mean streak, he isnt talking trash and he just isnt the same guy on the field anymore. I think these guys being gone (or not the same) is a huge reason we don't have that identity. We just dont intimidate like we used to.
You said our secondary isn't as good as people think which is completely different then no secondary can expect to stay in coverage for as long as ours have to.
Bart Scott talks trash on the field all the time. You think Kris Jenkins was talking trash from the sidelines? Any other baseless speculations?
you have to be on the field to talk shit, which Bart hasn't been. remember that goalline stand in hard knocks in the rain? Jenks is the animal that they all loved. He loved to let it be known he talked shit. Jenks fire in TC is something that helped set the tone for the teams attitude. Plus Bart was still on the field being Bart after Jenks injury took place. Now that he isnt the same, not having either guy seems to be affecting the attitude, the nastiness just doesnt seem to be there anymore. Part of their identity was talking as much shit as possible in the media. when's the last time Bart was quoted in the media this year? week 1 maybe? Just my opinion. The defense just doesnt seem to have that attitude any more. The biggest differences I can see is Bart is no longer himself (on or off the field) and Jenks is no longer around.
