I think Jenks is a much better player, but I chose Leon bc his absence really hurt Sanchez's development. He really missed a reliable check down option once LW was gone.
We had the number 1 rushing offense in the league last year....people keep saying that we missed Leon as a checkdown option for Sanchez, that must be news to Schotty, because Leon was hardly used in checkdown situations while he was healthy. Devito, Pouha, H.Green and M.Douglas did a marvelous job in Jenks' absence....but it was because Rex "masked" their weaknesses with exotic alignments and blitz pkgs.....teams like Cincy and Jax still ran right through our dline with reckless abandon. That doesn't happen if Jenks is still anchoring the Dline. Jenkins was clearly the more important piece to the puzzle.......I'll always be a fan of Leon Washington....but I would much rather see a big healthy 77 in our starting lineup...then a replaceable HB.
the thing i think people are overlooking is that even though the rest of the d-line filled in nicely that is all they did. in every game that jenkins played in there was at least one series that he would totally derail the offense before they even got started. pouha was able to hold his ground but jenkins takes ground and blows multiple plays per game up in the backfield. leon didn't have one "home run" before he got injured. i also love leon and was a huge proponent of signing him to that extension last summer but the performance we got out of him while he was healthy last season just doesn't compare to what jenkins does. yes leon can be a game changer but jenkins changes the way the opposing team plays every single game. he totally eats up anything going into the A gaps and puts the fear of god into qb's with that huge body coming at them so fast. i think both sides are correct on the blitzing issue. i don't think rex would have sent the blitz much less with jenkins healthy. jenkins would have allowed blitzes to be more effective with less guys coming. so while the amount of blitzing may have been the same we would have seen more 5 and 6 man blitzes instead of sending the house and leaving all the db's one on one all the time.
I had to go with Jenkins. Although DeVito filled in, and the D really stepped up, we really missed Jenks in the Indy game. The Jets never used Washington frequently enough to truly miss him. It always seemed like they were shoehorning him in. I really hope we can get a 2nd or 3rd for him @ the draft.
I think Leon was the far bigger loss, our offense was really hampered and Sanchez in particular without that check down option out of the backfield, especially one that could take it to the house any time he touched the ball. Surprisingly enough our D didn't skip a beat without Jenks.
I think Jenkins might have been the difference to get us into the SB. He will bring this #1 deffense to legendary if he can stay healthy the next two seasons. I hope we get a DT this year in the draft to spell him which would keep him around longer and to learn dehind so when Jenkins is no longer around. But most of all to play along side and reek havock!
