Bent Gets Analytical: Part Three – Linebackers
Disclaimer: All analysis was taken from the TV coverage, so at times it may have been hard to identify players or what was happening, because I was limited by their footage. However, I have tried to be as accurate as possible and apologize for any inaccuracies or omissions (which I am happy to correct).
After the jump, I look at the performance of the linebackers from the Panthers game, focusing in particular on Bart Scott. There is much more to come later today.
Bart Scott: I was particularly interested to evaluate Scott’s performance because some TJB commenters had said that he played really well, whereas others had singled him out for criticism. Who was closest to the truth:
- The first thing to note is that on first and second down, Scott was usually lined up on the weakside. This was not what I expected. For most of the season, Scott has been the TED linebacker and Harris the MIKE, which broadly means that Scott takes on blockers and Harris plays in space. However, yesterday, at least on running downs, these roles were reversed. I don’t know how long ago this change was made. The MIKE will usually end up with more tackles than the TED, but this was not the case yesterday as Scott was credited with 4 and Harris was credited with 6. However, Harris did make some of these plays in coverage or on the pass rush and despite the low tackle number, Scott had an active game.
- On third down, Scott usually was the strongside inside backer, which meant he was covering the tight end a lot, although he also covered the back out of the backfield regularly too, especially when the Jets went to more of a prevent late in the game, where one incomplete pass was thrown to his man.
- He did get blocked on the 3rd and 17 run, but there were enough players outside that it still shouldn’t have been a first down.
- He broke up a pass over middle to RB forcing 3rd and long.
- He made a good stop in the hole on 2nd drive.
- Good coverage on 3rd down on the TE, who appeared to be the primary target, forced a checkdown (Lito made open field tackle).
- On 3rd and long, Scott, having lined up on the strongside, makes the stop in hole.
- He shed a block well to stuff another run in the hole.
- On third and short, he hustled to ball to stop the runner driving the pile at the marker. He won’t have got credit for a stop on that one, but it was important.
- On 4th and 1, both Harris and Scott tried to make an arm tackle short of the marker and the runner went between them for the first down. This was a worthwhile gamble though, as they nearly had him.
- He got to hole a step late leading to an 8 yard run.
- He took on two blockers enabling Smith to make big stop on the edge.
- He was beaten for big play by the speed of Rosario. It was not bad coverage, but a perfect throw led to a gain of 26 yards.
- In a 2 TE set, Scott had one TE covered, but the other made a first down catch.
- In a zone, Scott covered the TE and bumped him (legally), then passed him over to Harris who was beaten but Coleman broke the pass up.
Conclusions: Even though he wasn’t the TED on running downs, Scott did take on some blockers and all of his tackles were at or near the line of scrimmage. In coverage, he was beaten badly once, but other than that did a very sound job. Scott’s reputation is that he does a lot of the dirty work that doesn’t show up in the boxscore and he lived up to that on Sunday. Note: I also saw the Ravens game and it does seem that Ray Lewis is not quite the same without him.
The Best of the Rest:
- The Jets continued to use their linebackers in a number of different ways. Pace a few times lined up at DE, but with his hand up, in what otherwise looked like a conventional 4-3 with Thomas at OLB. On one such play, he dropped back and covered the TE and Scott dropped into zone coverage, leaving Harris to pick up the back catching a pass out of the backfield with a solid hit.
- Harris missed an arm tackle on the first down run on 3rd and 11 in the first quarter. He also had the afore mentioned missed tackle where he gambled on fourth down. Other than that, he was solid and also caused havoc with delayed blitzes, including one on the last interception.
- Pace did win some one-on-one matches, but was unblocked for his sack. He dropped into coverage at times and was beaten by Rosario for two first downs, but was productive against the run, making ten tackles in total and string out one play that went for a loss.
- Thomas had a sack, but it came from an Ellis pressure. A few plays later, he did have a good pressure to lead to an incompletion.
- Murrell cleanly beat the LT with speed on what proved to be an unsuccessful third down pass.
- Westerman had the biggest hit of the game, albeit on special teams.
- Gholston played as a defensive lineman on the final series as the Jets rushed 3-on-5. He disengaged from his blocker twice and was headed in the direction of the quarterback, but there was a quick pass each time. On the other plays, he was double teamed, but kept battling. On the last play, after the ball was thrown, rather than chasing down the ball that was being thrown around by the Panthers, his instinct was to run back downfield, to get into position as an extra safety. I found that interesting, but overall the sample size is too small to make any judgements on Gholston.
Up next: The final instalment, with miscellaneous stuff.
9 Responses to Bent Gets Analytical: Part Three – Linebackers
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JesusRevis says:
Did your analysis show that David Harris is an absolute BEAST!!!
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Bent says:
Yeah, but I don’t like to state the obvious…
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firstdown77 says:
These analysis articles are perfect. Great job Bent.
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The Ed(itor) says:
And Gholston’s future is as a DE. Since we have two duds at DE, this could make the DE position a strength instead of a weakness.
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Zartan says:
The Ed(itor), I agree and was one f the guys who wanted Gholston albeit at the DE.
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I really enjoyed the work you did here on all of these postings Bent. I have to be honest that I cant believe how far Gholston has fallen now. Larry Izzo saw more real game time than VG did. Most of the game Gholston was the only defensive player to have his helmet off the entire time on the sideline, though he stood at the sideline as if he was going to get in. I wonder if they give him another shot this week or if they have just totally given up and will be trying to convert him to something else (DE? TE?) in the offseason
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Bent says:
Jason – Ryan did say that Gholston was unlikely to play much coming off his injury, so that wasn’t a surprise (although entering the game cold for 4 plays isn’t ideal for a bad hammy. I reckon he might enter camp at 290 and try to contribute as a DE next year.
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vajet says:
i like this analysis bent, thanks a lot!
glad you highlighted gholston a little. although he hasnt been making huge impact plays, i have been glad to see him with a strong motor attacking the LOS.
i def. agree he may take on some more bulk and come back next year for a DE spot.
Always a great analysis, I can’t say much about this game because I didn’t watch it, but these analysis help me with what went on the game, stats tell so much, but never unofficial stuff.