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The Jets linebackers had a rough first half, but settled down in the second stanza, and played much better. Dan takes a closer look at what the LB’s brought to the table . . .
The San Diego first drive was a three-and-out, and it ended with an Aaron Maybin sack. Maybin took advantage of a poor attempt of blocking by tailback Ryan Matthews, and got by the runner to sack Phillip Rivers for a loss of seven. This is a perfect example of why some young running backs can’t play full-time. They come out of college as bad blockers. We saw this with Shonn Greene early on.
The key to Maybin having success is getting him favorable match-ups, because he is undersized, and this is an example of that. Rex Ryan and Mike Pettine have done a good job thus far of using Maybin’s skillset as an undersized speed rusher.
Another nice play by a linebacker on this possession was on the previous play by Calvin Pace. He slipped a block, and had Mathews dead to rights in the backfield, but Mo Wilkerson, who was also in the vicinity, couldn’t finish off the runner, who ended up gaining three yards. We so often give too much credit to the tackler, and not enough to the player who wrecked the play.
Here is another example of what I’m talking about.
Late in the first quarter, Calvin Pace stopped Matthews for no gain on a run to the right side. Bart Scott blew this play up in the backfield, and then Pace cleaned it up.
We all know the Jets are very inconsistent covering tight ends. Perhaps he needed some time for his problematic foot to warm up, but Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates got things going late in the first quarter with a pair of 12-yard receptions on a Charger scoring drive, that carried from the late first to the early second quarter. On the second catch, the Jets blitzed, and Gates sat down in a hole on the right side for a gain of 12.
This drive ended with a two-yard touchdown pass to Gates in the right corner of the end zone. Josh Mauga played more than usual in this game to help cover Gates and running backs, but he was victimized on this touchdown. He never turned around.
Aside from doing a poor job of covering Gates on this 14-play, 76-yard touchdown drive, another issue was the Jets got no pressure on Rivers. And keep in mind, the Chargers starting left tackle, Marcus McNeill, left the game with an injury, on the first play of this drive. The Jets didn’t take advantage of his backup, Brandon Dombrowski, at all. McNeill did eventually return to the game.
The Chargers went on another long scoring drive on their next possession, going 87 yards on 11 plays. This drive started off with the Jets worst nightmare this year; another long run on the outside.
Mike Tolbert ran for 29 yards off left tackle. Calvin Pace stunted inside, and Tolbert went outside where Bart Scott and David Harris both got blocked effectively. Like I said in an earlier section, the defensive line didn’t do a very good job on this play of keeping the inside linebackers clean.
This long drive ended with Tolbert waltzing into the end zone on a one-yard run. Â Mauga was manhandled by center Nick Hardwick, and this opened a big hole.
I do blame defensive line issues more than the linebackers, for the issues on this drive, and I mentioned in the last section, the Jets made the proper adjustments at halftime, and shutout the Chargers in the second half.
You know what was strange. The day after the game, Rex praised the play of Pace. Actually, I think he’s had a good season, but this wasn’t one of his better games. He did have that nice play on the first drive, but finished with just two tackles. On the Chargers scoring drive late in the second quarter, he missed a tackle on tight end Randy McMichael on a screen to the right side that gained eight yards. He also was implicated in that long run by Tolbert.
One last note on the linebackers – on the Chargers final drive, in the hurry-up offense, on a play in the middle of the possession, Maybin got in Rivers face quickly, and the QB was forced to dump a short pass to Matthews in the left flat, and it gained just four. This wasn’t what Rivers was looking to do on this play, but Maybin forced his hand.