Quick Fix: Stay in your lane

by Site Admin

The Jets' defensive performance this afternoon was one highlighted by discipline and efficiency. They almost shut the Dolphins out, allowing just an 80-yard drive over the last two minutes and a touchdown as time expired. Prior to that, they'd given up less than 150 total yards and the drive came as they were playing a prevent style defense with a couple of back-ups in the line-up.

Keying the win were performances like those of Demario Davis who led the team in tackles, including three for losses, and Jamal Adams who flew around making plays as a run defender, in coverage and rushing the passer. Leonard Williams was also back to being his usual disruptive self up front and Kony Ealy created plenty of pressure off the edge while newcomers David Bass and Terrence Brooks also made big plays.

However, an underrated aspect of the Jets's win would be the contribution of guys like Muhammad Wilkerson, Darron Lee and Marcus Maye. Between them, these players contributed just three tackles on defense. No passes defensed, tackles for loss, forced fumbles, sacks or hits; just three tackles between them.

Had the Jets lost any of these players might have been singled out for criticism. Lee and Wilkerson are already much maligned and Maye didn't even get his name in the box score. However, sometimes it's how the guys who don't make any plays perform that can be the key to an effective team performance.

Even more importantly, it shouldn't matter to the players that they aren't putting up the numbers or getting the personal glory. If it does, that's going to have a negative impact on their performance and that of the team.

If someone like Lee starts to get concerned that he doesn't have enough tackles, that's when he'll overrun a play and leave a huge cutback lane like he did a couple of times last week. If Wilkerson listens to criticisms about his lack of statistical production, then he might fight around a block to get in on a tackle and get sealed on the backside when it turns out to be a counter play. And Jets fans don't need to imagine what a safety who comes up too fast and gambles in an effort to make impact plays looks like because the team only just replaced Calvin Pryor.

You might wonder what Marcus Maye actually did in this game, since he didn't record a single tackle despite playing every snap and wasn't targeted in coverage. However, he played a key role by covering a lot of ground in center field and his positioning was obviously good because any success Cutler had in throwing the ball was primarily on the outside or underneath.

The Jets used even more three-safety sets this week than they did in week one. However, it was a different approach this time. Instead of Terrence Brooks playing mostly deep and Maye and Adams stepping up into the box, they used Brooks more closer to the line this time and also played some two deep sets with him and Maye. Maye came up into the box and blitzed a couple of times, but otherwise was always pretty deep.

As for Wilkerson, other than one run stuff, he didn't record any stats either, but he played a disciplined game and seemed to get more disruptive as the game went on. He actually got off to a slow start in terms of holding up at the point of attack, but by the second half he was getting traction against double teams and penetrating the pocket regularly.

The Jets aren't using their nose tackles very much at all, so both Wilkerson and Williams are having to shade the center and play some nose reps, even on running downs.

Lee didn't have a perfect game by any means. He missed a few tackles, had a roughing penalty and made a few errors in coverage. However, the run defense functioned so much better this week because he wasn't running himself out of plays or getting caught on the inside as often.

On one play in particular, he filled an outside lane rather than making a beeline for the ball carrier. This allowed the rest of the defense to flow in behind him and make the play as the runner couldn't get outside. Had he tried to blow that play up himself, the runner potentially bounces it outside for a big gain.

Lee commented during the week that he wasn't concerned about the struggles against the run and implied the Jets just needed to tweak a few things. That drew a ton of scorn, but there was obviously some truth to that and his performance in this game proves that he is starting to better understand his role.

Watching a guy fill a lane isn't particularly exciting and can even sometimes be misinterpreted as a lack of effort to get off a block or over to a ball carrier. However, trusting your teammates to fill their lane too is an important step that will prevent the Jets from getting burned on cutback-type plays as they have over the last few weeks.

Those guys that played disciplined football today and didn't generate flashy statistics need only be patient because their chance to make big plays will come. By effectively stopping the run, you put the offense in situations where they're forced to pass and that's when we'll see more plays like this one:

If the entire defense continues to play with this mindset, they're going to become greater than the sum of their parts. And while the media might not want to accept this fact, a lot of those parts are already pretty good.

Tomorrow morning, I'll focus on a key aspect of the offensive gameplan and we'll be providing game analysis throughout the day.