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Dan takes a microscopic look at the Jets defensive performance in New England, and came away impressed with Westerman, but there are a lot of things that need to be cleaned up . . .
Mo Wilkerson had a nice stop on the Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis on his first carry that gained just two. On the next play, Mike DeVito stopped him on the line.
On the second series, the run defense took a stop back.
After the long Welker reception, Mike DeVito missed a tackle attempt in the backfield on a Green-Ellis run for eight yards off left tackle. Then on the next play, he missed another tackle attempt around the line, and Green-Ellis went for eight off right tackle.
DeVito gives you everything he’s got, but tackles where he dives at the legs of a player are tough for him because he has short arms.
After this two eight-yard runs, Green-Ellis ran for a three-yard TD. On the play, he carried Sione Pouha into the end zone.
On the third series, the run defense improved led by DeVito and Ropati Pitiotua.
On the third play of the drive, RB Steve Ridley attempted to run off left tackle, and Ropati tracked him down for no gain.
A few plays later, on a sweep to the left side, DeVito knifed into the backfield and stopped Ridley for a loss of four.
On this drive, which resulted in a punt, another key play was a sack of Brady by Ropati, who beat center Dan Connolly on the play. Ropati has a great motor for a 6-8, 320-pounder. He was actually knocked to the ground on this play, but got up and tracked down Brady.
In the second half, the defensive line wasn’t as good in run defense, perhaps they got a little worn out because of the seven, three-and-outs from the offense.
After the Jets made it 27-21 in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Pats went on a six minute drive that pretty much iced the win, and the Jets run defense wasn’t great on this possession.
On first down, Green-Ellis went for a gain of eight. Sione missed a tackle on this play. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Sione is playing with no backup now because Kenrick Ellis has been inactive all year, so in the fourth quarter, he’s running on fumes.
Marcus Dixon didn’t distinguish himself in this game. He had no tackles, and missed a tackle on a Green-Ellis gain of six on that Pats long fourth quarter drive
Turning to the linebackers – the Jets might have finally found a pass rusher.
Jamaal Westerman is still a work on progress as a run defender, but his play as a pass rusher in Foxboro was a revelation.
On the Pats third series, he drew a holding call on RT Nate Solder. Late in the first half he beat LT Matt Light for a sack, and then late in the third, he beat extra lineman/tight end Tom Welch for a blindside sack.
On the game-sealing Pats field goal drive in the fourth, on a huge third-and-two, right before the two-minute warning, Westerman was about the sack Brady, and hit him while he threw, but the quarterback was still able to complete a seven-yard pass to Rob Gronkowski.
Calvin Pace did some good things.
He had a nice stop on Ridley, on the line, on the first play of the Pats third drive. Early in the second quarter, also on the first play of a drive, while being engaged by Solder, Pace made a one-handed run stop on Ridley, after just a gain of one.
David Harris led the Jets in tackles (nine) and also had a sack and a quarterback hit.
Harris ended the Pats second possession of the second half when he had a pass defensed on Wes Welker over the short middle.
Bart Scott played on a limited basis. I wonder if he’s hurt. But also, the Jets played a lot of schemes with extra cover guys, and Scott wasn’t in on many of these scenarios.
The secondary did some good things, but was way too inconsistent and had too many penalties.
On the Pats first offensive play, Welker beat Eric Smith for a gain of 11 on the left side. Why was Smith on him on their first play? Strange.
Late in the first quarter, Smith blitzed, and hit Brady as he threw, causing kind of a duck down field, but Donald Strickland was called for pass interference. It was kind of waste of an effective blitz. The ball wasn’t going to be caught.
Kyle Wilson gets mixed reviews in this game.
Early in the second quarter, on a third-and-four, Brady threw a quick out to Deion Branch, but Wilson took a great angle on him as the ran to the sidelines, forcing him out of bounds, and he gained just two on the play, and the Pats had to kick a field goal.
But earlier in that same drive, Wilson had illegal contact with TE Aaron Hernandez after five yards, and was flagged.
Late in the first half, Deion Branch beat Wilson, on a deep out, down the right side, for a gain of 29. Wilson got turned around by Branch’s terrific route running, and fell too far behind him when he cut to the sidelines.
Wilson had a very nice PD on a Welker crossing route in the middle of the third quarter.
Antonio Cromartie also gets mixed reviews.
He had a pick in the end zone at the end of the first half, after a pass bounced off Hernandez. But Cro had very poor coverage on Branch, in the end zone, on an early third quarter touchdown. Once again, Branch ran a great route – faked like he was going inside, and cut to the left corner of the end zone. He left Cro way behind him, and was wide open for a touchdown. Cro said after the game, “I took my eye off him.” That is inexcusable, especially for the kind of money Cro is making.
Darrelle Revis had the defensive play of the game late in the third quarter. Brady threw what looked like a sure touchdown to Branch in the right corner of the end zone, but Revis broke on the ball in impressive fashion, and knocked it up at the last second.
Welker split Revis and Eric Smith for a gain of 73, on the Pats first offensive play of the second half. Smith deserves most of the blame on this because he bit on a fake, and was too close to the line.
Revis was called for illegal contact on a receiver negating Strickland’s sack late in first half.
A Jim Leonhard blitz forced an incompletion, and ended a mid-third quarter drive.
Brodney Pool was flagged for an interference penalty on Gronkowski (mid-third). He also had perfect coverage on Chad Ocho Cinco in the third, in the end zone, forcing an incompletion. The good thing about Pool is he’s a safety with enough range to cover some wideouts.
On a run blitz off the edge, Eric Smith stopped Green-Ellis for a loss of one, and this forced the Pats to kick a late field goal.
In review, the Jets defense was too inconsistent in this game, but I will give them a little bit of a pass for allowing Green-Ellis to run for 136 yards. First off all, they were playing with extra pass defenders for a big chunk of the game, so of course you are going to give up more rushing yards. Secondly, all those three-and-outs on offense, wore them out in the second half. This run defense shutdown Ray Rice a week before using a regular defense. I think they will be fine.