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East Rutherford – Close, but no cigar.
The Jets’ run defense and pass rush have improved a great deal the last few weeks.
Neville Hewitt and Kevin Pierre-Louis have helped the run defense now playing for Darron Lee. So has Henry Anderson now playing for Nathan Shepherd.
Frankie Luvu, now playing a lot more, has helped improve the Jets pass rush, along with Henry Anderson, who had three sacks against Houston.
But the problem for the Jets today is one that kind of went away for one week in Buffalo, but has been an issue all year – pass coverage. Their cornerback play wasn’t very good against Houston, with Mo Claiborne and Trumaine Johnson having substandard games.
Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson finished 22-28 for 294 yards, two touchdowns and a 134.2 QB rating. It was too easy.
DeAndre Hopkins was thrown 11 passes and caught 10 of them. That is a troubling ratio if you are a defensive coordinator.
Hopkins finished with 10 catches for 170 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 17 yards per catch.
The Jets are paying Claiborne $7 million this year. Trumaine Johnson got a 5-year deal for $72.5 million contract with $45 million guaranteed.
There was a slight uptick in Johnson’ play against Tennessee and Buffalo, but today wasn’t great.
When you pay your starting cornerbacks this kind of money, and you actually have a good pass rush and stop the run, they’ve got to do their part.
In the second quarter, Hopkins caught a 45-yard TD, but this was actually on safety Darryl Roberts.
Look, I like Roberts as a player, but why are you starting him at safety over Terence Brooks, who is a safety by trade.
Roberts is a cornerback by trade, and you could see on this play that his spacing was a little off. Lining up at safety is way different than at cornerback. That is obvious.
Roberts seemed out of sorts on this play, out of position.
Which is understandable. This safety thing is very new to him.
The Jets benched him after this play, and put in Rontez Miles, who has coverage limitations. Brooks is the better coverage safety. Miles is the better box safety.
Look, while I’m not into talking to moral victories, the Jets had to be happy today with the performance of Sam Darnold who finished with 253 yards passing, two touchdowns and a 100 QB rating.
But their pass defense let them down.
And I know Hopkins is a a heck of a player, perhaps the best wide receiver in football, but the Jets didn’t deal with him well.
Maybe with their cornerbacks struggling against him, they should have bracketed him more, or given safety help.
The Jets’ run defense was superb, and they might have had their best pass rush of the season.
But it’s a shame their pass coverage was substandard.
Especially with the money they are paying some of the guys back there.
Unfortunately with the 2018 Jets, when they fix some things, other things tend to break down.
December 15, 2018
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