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Against the the high-powered San Diego passing attack, for the Jets secondary, it was a tale of two halves. In Part I of Dan’s Review, he looks at the first half, which wasn’t great for the deep patrol.
The secondary gets mixed reviews in this game.
The Chargers second possession wasn’t a great one for the defensive backfield.
Late in the first quarter, Antonio Cromartie interfered with Malcom Floyd, on a third-and-two pass that went for eight yards. Even with the interference, Floyd caught the pass, so the penalty was declined. A few plays later, Cromartie broke up a short pass on the right side to Vincent Jackson.
On the play after the Cro PD, on third-and-five, Antonio Gates beat Kyle Wilson for a gain of 12 on the right side. Two plays later, Gates beat the Jets for a gain of 12, again, this time in the short middle.  The Jets blitzed on this play, didn’t get there, and were a little short on cover guys. This drive ended with a touchdown pass to Gates, but that was the fault of a linebacker.
On the Chargers next possession that started in the middle of the second quarter, the big pass play was a 29-yard strike to Floyd down the left sideline. He beat Cro on the play, but you know what, there was little the cornerback could do on this pass.  Floyd is 6-5, and Rivers threw this were only he could get it, and he made a one-handed leaping grab. If a 6-5 receiver sky’s for a pass like this and brings it down with one hand, there isn’t much you can do. Cro was in pretty good position.
Later in this drive, on 2nd-and-8, from the eight, Jim Leonhard was called for pass interference on Gates. On paper, you would say, this is a mismatch – the 5-8 Leonhard on the 6-4 Gates, so this might have contributed to the interference. Not really. The pass was uncatchable because Rivers was under pressure from Aaron Maybin. The interference was unnecessary. This gave the Chargers a 1st-and-1, on the one.
Actually, it took them three plays to get the ball in the end zone. On the first two downs, Jets safeties, Eric Smith, and then Brodney Pool, stopped the runner for no gain. But then Tolbert went with ease on third down.
Smith did a nice job shooting off the edge to stop Tolbert on the first play. Smith has done this before in 2011 – a quick run blitz off the edge where he goes unblocked.
Ellis Lankster was signed after the Jets lost Isaiah Trufant to a hamstring injury in New England. And Lankster, perhaps realizing this might be his last chance in the NFL, is making himself very hard to cut. He has been a force on special teams, and had two more tackles in this game, including a real nice stop on the opening kickoff, and on the Chargers final kick return. On the final return, he stopped the returner for a loss of one, and this gave Rivers a long field to navigate on his two minute drill.
However, Lankster did have a hold on a punt return in the third quarter, which obviously doesn’t help his cause.
On Monday, we will turn to the action-packed second half.