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The NY Jets defense has some clear gaps that opponents will try to exploit
Jets X-Factor has been nonstop talking about this New York Jets roster: its strengths and weaknesses, 53-man roster predictions, remaining areas of need, and division and league comparisons.
Let’s take it a step further: How would an opponent try to beat the Jets?
We start as the opposing offensive coordinator, cutting down the Jets defense. As we anticipate a blank slate from 2022, the team’s scouts will be forced to look back at the 2021 film. Although the game tape provides some clues, extensive personnel differences limit the effectiveness of finding strong patterns.
The Jets released an ugly film on defense last season. The stats backing up this band: Last Player Dead in Defensive DVOA, Last in Pass Defense DVOA, 26th in Rush Defense DVOA, 31st in Pro Football Focus Defensive Overall Score, 29th in Run -Defense and coverage class and last in allowed points per game ( 29.6).
However, the return of key edge rusher Carl Lawson, the signings of cornerback DJ Reed and safety Jordan Whitehead, and the drafting of cornerback Sauce Gardner and edge rusher Jermaine Johnson will drastically change that. If nothing else, the Jets will have an NFL-caliber defensive lineup out there.
A remaining weakness for this defense is in the middle. The Jets have yet to sign a true run-stuffing defensive tackle, and tackling their linebackers is suspect. Although Jordan Whitehead is a strong boxing safety, the fact remains that the team doesn’t have big bodies capable of getting onto the inside lanes. Charging up the middle, especially in non-obvious rushing situations, would be a regular part of the offensive game plan.
Additionally, the Jets’ linebackers tend to be over-chasing, particularly Quincy Williams. This makes misdirection games a must. Counterplays, bootlegs, play actions, and general fakes should work fine against this defense until proven otherwise.
Another longtime Bugaboo of the Jets defense covered running backs and tight ends. While the signing of Kwon Alexander should help that somewhat, CJ Mosley is still a reporting liability. The Jets currently do not have a ball-falking free safety. The combination of fakes with dump-offs, screens and seam transitions to the tight ends will be difficult to defend. This will also neutralize the pass rush, which has significant talent in Carl Lawson, John Franklin-Myers, Quinnen Williams, and Jacob Martin, among others.
In a move that might surprise some Jets fans, I would often attack Sauce Gardner. As hyped as he is, a rookie cornerback is a rookie cornerback. Even the big ones often struggle in their rookie seasons. Sauce knows this and is ready to be challenged. For all his dominance in college, teams avoided him like he was Darrelle Revis. That will change in the NFL.
For zoned looks, I would focus on Sauce and place two men in his zone, one below and one above. That forces the rookie into no man’s land.
If the Jets play teams with strong running games, they’ll likely play with a lot of single-high, middle-of-the-field closed looks. So if I have a strong running game (Ravens, Browns, Steelers, even Bengals, Patriots, Broncos, etc.) I would isolate my best receiver on sauce and challenge the rookie. With the Jets likely to play each of their starting CBs on a specific side, getting this isolated matchup will be easy.
In cover 3 looks, I would run seam passes where the free safety isn’t, which will most likely work on both the linebacker and free safety due to the shakiness of the Jets. That’s especially true now with the publicly available early training camp tape repeatedly throwing Joyner out of position or being late to the rescue.
Now, of course, the Jets are aware of their weaknesses and will do whatever it takes to make up for it. It’s part of soccer’s cat and mouse game, the Xs and Os that are hard to spot when watching a game on TV. It remains to be seen if Robert Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich are up to the challenge.