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The Jets secondary played well against Miami, but they have a much bigger challenge this week. Dan reviews the coverage from the Miami game, and looks ahead to the DB’s challenges in Pittsburgh.
Brodney Pool had a terrific game agaisnt Miami, perhaps his best as a Jet.
Late in the second quarter, he had a big hit on a Ronnie Brown on a right side run, causing a fumble, and it was recovered by Jason Taylor.
He also had two very nice plays on Miami’s first possession of the second half. On Miami’s second rushing attempt on this possession, he came up and stopped Ricky Williams on the line. Then on the next play, he ended the possession with a blitz that resulted in a sack of Chad Henne.
In the middle of the third quarter, Henne fumbled on a pass attempt (slick ball) and Pool recovered it.
The only bad play of note that Pool might have been implicated in, was TE Tony Fasano’s 28-yard gain down the right seam, in the middle of the third quarter. The completion was into a zone, and the players in the area of Fasano were Pool, Eric Smith and Calvin Pace was trailing him.
Late in the third quarter, Dwight Lowery had a terrific PD on WR Davone Bess on a crossing route. Also in the third quarter, Lowery was called for a holding call on a punt return.
Before leaving the game with a concussion (which might have occurred on the play pictured in the Front Seven premium article), Smith was implicated in Brandon Marshall’s six-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter. It was a zone concept, and Bart Scott was on him, but expected Smith to come up quicker from inside the end zone. He seemed to get there a step late, and didn’t provide the help that Scott was expecting.
Late in the third quarter, Drew Coleman was beat over the middle by Marshall, but the receiver dropped the wet ball.
For the most part, Cromartie did a terrific job on Brandon Marshall. Late in the first quarter, Cromartie got beat for a 10-yard reception on the right side. The issue on this play was that Marshall beat him on the line, and got a free release in a bump-and-run situation, and then attempting to catch up, Cromartie slipped on the slick field.
Late in third quarter, Cro had a terrific PD on a pass down the deep middle to Marshall. On the next play, Revis, who they stayed away from for the most part, had great coverage on WR Marlon Moore on an incompletion on the right side.
Revis re-injured his hamstring in practice on Thursday. The Jets were practicing outside. Pulled muscles don’t react well to cold weather. The Jets think he should be able to play on Sunday.
The Jets secondary played well in this game, but keep in mind two factors. First off all, QB Chad Henne is not playing particularly well for Miami, and they might need to draft another quarterback next year. He has the same problem Mark Sanchez has right now – he doesn’t read defenses particularly well. Also, the weather conditions were terrible for passing, and Brandon Marshall was great impacted by this. This was Marshall’s first game back, after missing about a month with a hamstring injury. Marshall clearly wasn’t 100 percent, was being careful on the wet field.
The Jets are going to have a much, much bigger challenge this week against Big Ben. He’s in another league than Henne.
You have to wonder who is going to cover WR Mike Wallace. Revis, with a shaky hamstring, might not be a great matchup for perhaps the fastest player in the league. So Cro would probably be a better matchup, with Revis on Hines Ward.
The Jets safety play is huge in this game because the Steelers are getting back their star tight end Heath Miller, who was been out a while with an injury. The Jets are going to without Eric Smith (concussion) in this game, but his two replacements, Dwight Lowery and James Ihedigbo, have more range, so they should be able to do a decent job on Miller, if called upon to cover him.