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He might need to hold his horses a little bit . . .
Avery Williamson told the Jets’ website the following:
“Shoot, we can definitely be a top-five defense. We have all the talent right there, we just have to continue to be on the same page. We could be really great, we have the talent, man. I’m excited. We had a great squad last year. We didn’t have the best season, but we fought hard. So if we have all the pieces I feel like we do, we can really be something special.”
First off, let me point out Williamson is a good guy, and a solid player, and he was just trying to help out the team’s website.
But there are a few things to unpack here:
But before we continue, let’s go back to what Gregg Williams said a couple of weeks ago:
“One of the things about measurables as I talk to the young men daily about this; when you put a quantifiable score on something like ‘I want to be the best in the world that’s ever played this game’ – why can’t you just be the best you can be today,” Williams said. “Why can’t we just be the best we can be today. Why can’t we just be the best that day we are playing and after the year we will get all the measurables later? It’s about improvement.”
So the DC is more into working on improving today, and not focusing on “measurables,” like preseason predictions.
First off, we all know they didn’t have a “great squad” last year on defense.
They were wildly inconsistent and had too many blown assignments – just watch the Jacksonville game and first Buffalo contest. Quarterbacks Blake Bortles and Matt Barkley, two guys who are currently backups, absolutely torched them. Those were two of the most embarrassing defensive performances in recent Jets history.
And then the Jets ended the season with a 38-3 loss at New England where the Patriots really didn’t put the petal to the metal offensively, were kind of conservative offensively (with the playoffs on the horizon), and still put up 38 points.
So they were far from a “great squad.” They didn’t have much of an edge rush, their cornerback play was substandard, especially their #1 CB and nickel back, and their run defense was a roller coaster ride.
And to predict they could be a top five defense, with their current cornerback situation, aside from the nickel spot which should be fine with Brian Poole, is a little strong since it’s a passing league and you need solid CB play to have a top five defense.
With all that being said, I think they will be better than last year.
The scheme and coaching will likely improve. The former head coach hired his friend to be the DC. The friend is a heck of a guy, but he’s best suited to be a D-Line coach, which he is back to doing now. There were too many blown assignments under the former defensive staff – the preparation for games could have been better.
Gregg Williams won’t put up with that. First off, they should be better prepared entering games, and if guys aren’t getting the job done in games, they will get pulled, something that rarely happened before. So there will be more accountability.
The ILB situation should be a lot better than last year with the combination of Williamson, who is very solid player, and C.J. Mosley. They will not get gashed as much with big runs up the middle like they were the last couple of years due toan undersized ILB now in Kansas City.
The Jets’ interior pass rush should improve. I don’t know about the edge right now, but the interior trio of Leonard Williams, Quinnen Williams and Henry Anderson should be excellent. And honestly, against their top nemesis, Tom Brady, interior pressure is more important than edge pressure. Brady deals with edge pressure better than interior pressure. With edge pressure, he clearly sees it, and either gets rid of the ball fast, or steps up in the pocket. Quick interior pressure, beating his guards and center, makes him uneasy and can get him off his spot.
The Jets’ big question marks at OLB and CB make it hard to proclaim at this point that they can be a top five defense.
Like Gregg Williams says – work hard every day and see where you end up at the end of the season.
June 28, 2019
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