Preseason BGA: Jets v Redskins – Part Two (Defense)
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).
BGA is back! And this time it’s preseasonal. After the jump, catch my analysis of the performance by the Jets defense in the game against the Redskins on Friday night, including – but not limited to – comments on Kyle Wilson, Vernon Gholston and Jason Taylor.
If you missed part one, click here.
Defense
Kyle Wilson: How is he faring? Any comments on comparison to the other first round cornerbacks? – Oli 3268
Good question. I’ve been pretty impressed with Wilson so far, but let’s break it down:
Joe Haden: The first point to note is that Haden signed a 5 year, 50m deal with 26m guaranteed. In other words, he earns four times what Kyle Wilson does. In camp there was a minor controversy after he posted a complaint about team fines on twitter and then had to go for “Clear the Air Talks” with DC Rob Ryan. He has started during preseason due to an injury to Eric Wright, but is not expected to start during the season.
Recent reports here and here have been mixed:
Joe Haden came up with an answer on the third series with a nice break-up of a third-down slant that hit Nate Burleson in the hands. But more glitches surfaced later … On third and long from deep in their own territory, the Lions earned a first down when Calvin Johnson got wide open for a 29-yard gain before Haden stopped him.
Round 1 pick Joe Haden made more rookie mistakes in preseason Game No. 2. Yet, Mangini said Haden “seemed more comfortable” than he did at Green Bay. Few players are likely to be on the field as much as Haden will be at Detroit. “He needs as much work as he can get,” Mangini said.
Kareem Jackson: Missed first game due to death in the family. They’ve been matching him up against Andre Johnson in practice and that’s helped his development. He intercepted a tipped pass and returned it 64 yards against the Cowboys.
Devin McCourty: Looked okay during the first two preseason games, then struggled against the Rams, as documented here.
And McCourty, who looked like a kid chasing an ice-cream truck on three different occasions, can be excused for a bad rookie performance after two decent ones.
Sam Bradford looked really good, but there were three occasions where McCourty was beaten and it should have been a touchdown. One was slightly underthrown, ending up being just a long gain, one was overthrown and the receiver couldn’t keep his feet inbounds and another was underthrown, enabling McCourty to not only break up the pass, but also to collide with Donnie Avery and put him out for the season. That was in addition to giving up several other catches. He did look better in the first two games as noted though and has flashed on special teams. Now that Leigh Bodden is out for the year, it’s possible he could start.
Patrick Robinson: This weekend he made a bad rookie mistake, going sideways on a kick return and gaining just 7 yards. This was not his first rookie mistake, though.
Say this for newbie corner Patrick Robinson: he can take criticism. After suffering more abuse than a Bourbon Street hotel room in the Saints’ preseason loss to Pats last Thursday, Robinson was further lambasted by Williams, who on Saturday ripped Robinson for not knowing how to play football. “I don’t have any trust in him,” the coach said.
As the image above shows, he doesn’t exactly possess Wilson’s solid tackling technique, either.
Kyle Wilson is playing like he can be at Leon Hall’s level, he won’t be Revis, but last I checked Hall is pretty good at controlling his man too, has he played well enough to be the opposite corner to Revis next year, rather than Cro? – nyckage
Well, he certainly looks better than Revis did in his rookie preseason.
He has consistently shown impressive closing speed throughout the preseason. While the Jets have had several cornerbacks in recent years that give up too much of a cushion, leading to easy catches, Wilson seems to be a lot tighter, reacts quickly to the throw and gets there fast. Early on there was a pass to his man and he made an immediate tackle to hold it to a four yard gain. He’s done that a couple of time in each game. Later on, there was a third down play and Wilson stayed with the speedy Joey Galloway on a crossing route and made the solid tackle to force a punt. A better thrown ball to the endzone might have seen him get his first interception in the second quarter. He had the receiver blanketed over by the sideline and the ball bounced just in front of him. He also added half a sack. There were a couple of plays where passes were caught in front of him in zone coverage, but to be honest it’s impossible to say who was at fault. One saw Santana Moss find a gap in between him and Brodney Pool and another saw a throw right in between Pool, Wilson and Antonio Cromartie. I am defintely impressed with his skills though.
I’m sure that if Revis comes back Wilson will start some games as a slot corner. In this game, when the Jets brought in an extra DB, Wilson went to the slot and Lowery played on the outside, probably because the Redskins tend to put their speedsters in the slot (Moss and Galloway). Can he overtake Cromartie on the depth chart? It’s too early to say, but I have been impressed with Cromartie too. He’s no Revis, though…
I noticed during the skins game that our blitzes just weren’t working…the skins seemed to pick up them up way to easy… Is that are blitzes arre just being vanilla or are they keeping a lot of players into block? Basically why couldn’t we get pressure? – Ed L
One surefire way to avoid pressure is to throw a lot of quick passes and the Redskins certainly did plenty of that, especially early in the game. It may have seemed like they weren’t getting much pressure, but Kris Jenkins, Vernon Gholston and Shaun Ellis all got to the quarterback in the first half and they also had some success with sending a delayed blitz up the middle (including an unblocked Bart Scott being flagged for roughing the passer) and the overload (with Eric Smith getting a hit on the quarterback). You can leave extra guys in for added protection or try to anticipate the blitz and there are fewer guys in the secondary to stop a completion if you get it right. That definitely happened on a few occasions, but the blitz packages are so versatile, that’s the risk you run, with the rewards being that you should get to the QB from time to time, as Pace did – to force what should have been a turnover – when the blocker had to pick up Smith coming off the edge.
Other than the numerous hits they got on Grossman in the first half, there was also pressure coming from Ellis and Bryan Thomas that twice led to passes being deflected by Sione Pouha, one of which was intercepted (but negated by a penalty). On the whole, the Jets got much more first half pressure than Washington did, which is surprising considering all the comments I read about the Jets “atrocious pass blocking” and “non-existant pass rush.”
How is Vernon Gholston doing? Any big improvements from last year? How is he at DE vs LB?
Yes, he is much improved as a pass rusher and looks faster and stronger. He has already been more productive and made a few impact plays. He’s still actually playing some linebacker, but it is mainly Rush LB, which is basically the same as a pass rushing end, just from a standing start. However, he does drop into coverage sometimes too. His role hasn’t actually changed all that much from last year, but they’ve simplified things for him. Goodness knows why they didn’t do this from the start.
Gholston only had two tackles this week, but did make an impact from the start. Jamaal Brown really had his hands full with him. Early on, he made an inside move and got a hit on the Quarterback, which caused a rushed deep throw that was a wobbly duck and way off target. That easily could have led to a turnover. Later on, he had another QB hit, when he drove his man back and then beat him to the outside, again causing a bad throw. He also had to be blocked by two guys on a third quarter play where Wilson and Jim Leonhard came free either side of him and met at the quarterback for a sack. What was perhaps more impressive though was that he was routinely getting penetration in the running game, on one occasion forcing a runner to change direction and get stuffed for a loss.
For the record, he lined up at multiple positions (including both weakside and strongside OLB in the second half) and there was no discernable difference in his performance whether he was on the line or standing and coming off the edge.
I was wondering if you could look at some of the breakdowns in the secondary- it seemed like the Jets gave up a bunch of completions in the first half especially. Ray Lucas on the radio said Lowery had a particularly lousy game and is always out of position, and the papers say Cromartie had a bad game even though one of the penalties against him was clearly a bad call. So basically my question is who was responsible for most of those long gains? – Mel31602
Cromartie was thrown at a ton and only gave up a few catches. He also had the interception called back, which was a correct call, but showed his playmaking ability. I didn’t think he had a bad game. As for Lowery, he was beaten one on one for a few catches, but wasn’t noticeably out of position. Let’s break down some of the breakdowns:
- Cromartie was beaten deep by a step by Joey Galloway – no shame in that though, right, Aaron Glenn? – but the pass was way off line
- Lowery was beaten to the outside for about a 10 yard gain and then gave up a catch in front of him, but short of the marker on second down
- Leonhard ended up matched up with Santana Moss in a zone and got burned on a slant pattern after a playaction fake for a pretty big gain
- Moss might have had half a step on Cromartie on a deep post route, but Brodney Pool got over there and the pass was incomplete
- There was a mix-up in the zone as Scott was covering a running back going across the middle and clearly “passed him on” to Harris, but Harris did not see/hear him and went after the Quarterback, so the back was open for a dump off pass and a big gain
- As mentioned earlier, there were a couple of passes that found seams in the zone, with Wilson, Pool and Cromartie in the area
- The second unit had a few breakdowns too, with Drew Coleman overpursuing and missing a tackle on a screen pass to lead to a big gain and Smith arguing with Jamaal Westerman (presumably about zone responsibilities) following a pass to the flat.
Based solely off the tv coverage, I thought Kyle Wilson looked great, notably on a few plays where a short completion was made (including a 3rd and 5 where he smothered a guy immediately for a 3-yard gain). They said they were throwing at ‘Cro because they were attacking single coverage (implying that Wilson was getting help). But since the JETS blitz so much, I was wondering if it was accurate for them to imply that Wilson was getting help all day. Doesn’t seem possible. Was that inaccurate? – Dsmizzle
For the mostpart, if the cornerback is playing press coverage close to the line of scrimmage, they will have a safety behind them protecting against them getting beaten deep. Cromartie does this much more often than Wilson. If the QB is off his man, then it’s more likely there will be a safety in the general area, usually further infield, although that player will sometimes attack the line of scrimmage or pick up another receiver while one of the linebackers attacks the line of scrimmage, so it’s probably not necessarily true to say Wilson had help all day. This is similar to last year and explains the difference between Randy Moss saying Revis had safety support and Revis saying he didn’t, because on short and medium passes, he (or in this example, Cromartie) basically doesn’t.
What the hell happend to Pace’s foot? – cmonleon
We now know the answer to this. A lineman blocked him low and his helmet his him on the foot and broke it.
Since Taylor is gonna start now how did he play? It certainly seemed like he sucked and wasn’t playing very hard to me – cmonleon
Again Taylor didn’t really make any kind of impact here, but hopefully he’s just going through the motions and will turn it on for the regular season. I haven’t followed his career closely enough to say whether he would be the type of guy to approach the preseason that way, but it’s hardly rare for experienced veterans. My only preseason memory of him in year’s past was when Faneca pancaked him in Favre’s debut (to set up his first TD to Dustin Keller).
My hope is that they’ve said to him, “We know you know how to rush the quarterback, but we need to get you comfortable with our coverage schemes,” because a lot of the time, they have simply dropped him into coverage. He looks okay doing that, even helping to disrupt a pass on third and goal. Every now and again, he shows flashes of that pass rushing ability. He beat his man to the outside with a speed rush, but probably wouldn’t get credit for a pressure because Gholston got there first. The threat of him coming off the edge did lead to a false start and also may have led to Brunell’s fumble that netted the Jets two points. His best moment was when he got penetration and tackled the runner low near his own goalline, almost getting another safety, but his worst moment saw him get absolutely nailed on a screen pass.
That’s all I can say really. No impact plays, but no mistakes either. (And that would sum up the first two games as well. Let’s hope he has a few tricks up his sleeve that he’s saving for the real games.
I would like to know what went wrong with Donovan Warren – guy’s been on the injured list so long I’m still trying to figure out why he’s on the team! – Jetsfan29
The way things were going, I think he might already have been cut if he hadn’t had the concussion. From their comments, it doesn’t sound like Westhoff or Rex were too enamoured with him. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him miss out on a practice squad place altogether.
How did Tanner Purdum do? Any reason to think he might not be a serviceable long-snapper this season? – JPM
I haven’t seen any problems so far. He had one snap in the first game (on a punt) which went a bit to the left, but other than that there hasn’t been a problem. If the worst comes to the worst, I’m pretty certain James Dearth will not make the Redskins team (UPDATE: And I was correct), so he could be available.
Random
Get a life – Mikejets
No.
Can you tell me what does everyone see that I don’t that has people putting this Jet team in the Superbowl? – reality jet fan
I don’t think any Jets fan is expecting them to reach the Superbowl, especially without Revis, but this team proved last year that their defense is good enough to keep them in most games, which gives you a chance to stay in contention. Very few Superbowl teams have mown through the preseason like a juggernaut and quite a lot of them have been lousy in preseason.
Forget the Superbowl for now, I want to see them win the division. While there are some things that might give cause for concern, I’ve seen nothing in preseason to make me categorically state that’s an impossibility. In fact, I’ve seen just as many chinks in the Pats and Dolphins’ armor, if not more, but I’m not going to hand the division title to the Bills.
Sorry for the silly question, but was does BGA stand for? – darl
BGA used to stand for “Bent Gets Analytical” until I realized that Firefox tabs shortened this to something rather unfortunate (unless it was referring to how concerned I am with which parts of the article were italicized or something). I guess “Bent’s Gameday Analysis” (hat tip – billvv) or something gets us around that problem…
38 Responses to Preseason BGA: Jets v Redskins – Part Two (Defense)
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Hey Bent,
I like your stuff and all put next time put in a page break/jump or something okay? Took 20 years to scroll down and read the next post-
Bent says:
Oops, sorry, there should have been one. Not sure what happened there. I’ve now corrected it.
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This might sound crazy but I’m kinda excited out Gholston. He looks a lot better to me this year and the fact that he went up to Rex about redoing the contract makes me think he wants to earn his way on the team.
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I love he site I’m converted from scout.com you guys are active in the posts and you guys have something new to talk about everyday great job guys
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So basically Ray Lucas doesn’t know what he is talking about, which is nothing new I guess haha. And it took me a second to get your Firefox tabs joke also
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i honestly think something with revis is getting ironed out…i really do..i just get the feeling from tanny during hard knocks by the way he was referencing paying revis that they have made progress…
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they also made him look greedy , when letting go of Coles.I think the jets are going to be fine
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Wow I’m getting a Kellen Clemens jersey now that’s a good guy a real role model. To bad the business of it he is loyal while the team management are sharks.
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does anyone else get the feeling that Rex runs a pretty loose ship? I know he chewed them out and all….but who was the coach begging him to do it…saying it was long overdue?
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Best quote after cursing up a storm in the team meeting “Lets go eat an effing snack” LOL
Such a heart wrenching scene to see the cuts (Coles especially). And it seemed O’Connell practiced that speech in the mirror.
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john conner could hit I would like to see him play safety hitting like that reminds me of the way jack tatum use to hit
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Hoodie hood says:
I think that was westoff
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Overall, I’ve been really pleased with the kicking game. Folk has looked smooth on both kickoffs and FGs. I don’t how the shakeweights are helping Weatherford with his punting game (and I don’t want to know), but keep it up man. (Not that there would be anything wrong with that)
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Random thoughts during Hard Knocks.
It is very easy to continue to hate Jason Taylor.
No discipline on this team, for all the bluster of the coaches the vets seem to take it as a big joke.
No leadership on offense? Shocked. Should have thought about that in the offseason.
Which is a real indictment of Sanchez, who just looks like a pouty high school kid in the meetings, nail chewing, flip flopping down the hall during recess. Not a good vibe from this kid.
Clemens is class, hope he plays great tonight, someone notices, and some QB needy team decides to take a shot and trade for him so he gets the shot he deserves.
After all this publicity, tonights game is huge for him, be interesting to see how he reacts to the spotlight, hopefully not like a deer.
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Have to agree with you—saw the same things. I get the sense that they think they can turn it on whenever they want. Don’t think that is how it works in the NFL. And Taylor is an arrogant ass who should have been put in his place (and get on the bus with the other players).
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I would think that with Mangold, T-Rich, LT, Cotchery and Holmes that offensive leadership wouldn’t be an issue. I mean that’s a group of five guys who are professional, pretty vocal, and know what it takes to do play in this league. Very surprised that they aren’t stepping up, to be honest.
Agree that Clemens deserves another shot somewhere, but I would really like him to stay and be the real #2 (he will almost certainly outplay Mark Sr. in the last preseason game).
I don’t know if it’s a lack of discipline, let’s realize that it was only the DB’s who were clowning around and eating cheeseburgers. I distinctly remember Kris Jenkins glaring at them.
When talking about the leadership/discipline questions, I don’t look at Rex. He put it best, if he’s the only person leading, they’re not going to go very far. He’s the king of the mountain, for sure, but he can’t do it all on his own. No coach can. He also explained that he loves having fun, in fact he requires it, but he doesn’t condone idiotic behavior (like the cheeseburgers). This team would rather jump off a cliff then lose the respect of Rex, so I think that was a wake-up call to the team. No, they didn’t play that well against the ‘Skins (offensively), but there’s still light at the end of the tunnel. It is obvious this team is going to steamroll people on offense. Hopefully giving Sanchez a full week to study tendencies, gameplan, etc. the offense will come out against Baltimore with more fire, passion, and explosiveness in the passing game.
But, then again, who the f*** knows.
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Bent u see the news C4 have picked up the sunday night game, now we have the first3 Jets game live on telly here, thats got to be a first outside the play-off’s
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Can you imagine if clemmens shines tonight, 1st of all i dont think managment will let him!!! If he shines like he almost always does i see the jets offering him a extention somewhere in the middle of the season cause teams will want him. I would love to see him tell the jets he doesnt want there extention and he deciding to go with arizona, washington, maybe even ne when tom brady retires, to accept a 5 year 25 mil deal. and the jets look as stupid as they did when they signed b farve. im a jet fan but be real people for the past 5 years they goin to the superbowl , there not goin this year either should have not let go of t jones .TANNUMBUAM YOU HAVE MADE SOME DUMB MOVES
SUPERBOWL YEAH RIGHT THANK THE COLTS FOR LETTING YOUR SEASON LAST LONGER LAST YEAR PLAIN AND SIMPLE
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Bent says:
Clemens will be facing backups tonight. Even if he lights it up, I can’t see anyone being that impressed that there’d suddenly be a market for him.
Behind that second string line, he’s unlikely to do much.
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….what in God’s name is this? Are you saying Kellen Clemens, a guy playing for less than a million dollars this year, is going to get a 5 year/$25 million deal after this year?
Thomas Jones is having a dismal preseason, the Jets made the right move there, btw.
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Bent says:
That’s correct, although Thomas Jones always has a dismal preseason.
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OK MY BOY DIDNT SHINE AS BRIGHT AS I WANTED HIM TO BUT HE DIDNT TAKE AS MANY SNAPS AS BRUNNEL BUT HIS 1ST DRIVE !!!
1ST DRIVE LEADS THEM TO THE IN ZONE HE SCRAMBLED BEAUTIFUL TO KEEP HIS TEAM ON THE FIELD HE LOSES 1 FUMBLE CAUSE OF A WEAK ASS RIGHT GAURD ..
BENT SANCHEZ THREW 5 INT LAST YR VS. BUFFALO N 1 GAME ARE YOU KIDDING ME 50 MILLION FOR THIS GUY. I SEE WHY REVIS IS HOLDG OUT. WITH NO T.JONES HE WILL NEED TO THROW THE BALL MUCH MORE .
AND I KNOW ITS PRESEASON BUT HE HAS THROWN A INT EVERY GAME SO FAR AGAIN 50 MILLION THIS IS THE GUY THATS GONNA LEAD THE JETS. AND BRUNELL IS #2 HE WILL GET DESTROYED AGAINST STARTERS MUCH LIKE BRYAN LEFTWITCH. HE IS A DEAR IN HEADLIGHTS AGAINST STARTERS. AND AGAIN WHY DID THIS KID DESTROY THE 2 TOP NFL DEFENSES 2 YEARS AGO (PITT AND RAVINS)
NEXT I GUESS YOU GUYS WILL TRADE FOR MATT LIENARD
PLEASE EXCUSE MY SPELLING AND CAPS-
Bent says:
I’m not anti-Clemens, I merely pointed out (with facts) why that debut perfomance might be fool’s gold.
It was actually the Right Tackle (Dan Gay) who got beaten to force that fumble. No, that’s not all Clemens’ fault, but it would be nice to see an improvement in his pocket presence.
Sanchez hasn’t had a great preseason, but if you take into account the fact that Clemens was facing second and third stringers, Sanchez has still proven to be better.
Also, I think you may be overstating the loss of TJ.
Matt Leinart? No, thanks.
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haha Firefox tabs… That one took me a second. Well done as always Bent. Thanks for these.