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To say Bryan Thomas had a great game against Baltimore might be an understatement. Upon further review, he was better than advertised . . .
The front seven played very well led by Bryan Thomas and Shaun Ellis.
And what was most impressive about Thomas’ performance was his pass rushing. Thomas is an interesting case study. He was drafted out of UAB because of his speed and pass rushing ability, but for most of his Jets career, stopping the run, has been his calling card.
But against the Ravens, he constantly in Flacco’s face with sacks (1.5) and numerous pressures.
On the second offensive play of the second half, David Harris had a PD on tight end Todd “Uriah” Heap, and Bryan Thomas helped Harris on this play with a QB pressure. Thomas soundly beat Heap for a sack to end an early second quarter possession. Thomas beat Yanda and hit Flacco as he threw for an incompletion late second.
He was also very good against the run like when he stopped Ray Rice for no gain on the second possession.
Thomas knocked the ball away from Rice in the left flat as he was bobbling it to end Ravens first drive of the second half.
One of Thomas’s only negative plays was when he missed a tackle on a Rice screen pass that gained 16 yards on the right side on the second possession.
Ellis and Bart Scott combined to stop Rice for no gain on the Ravens second possession. Also on the second possession, Ellis steamrolled guard Chris Chester on his way to the quarterback, drawing a holding call on the play.
On the Ravens first offensive play, Ellis blew by right tackle Marshall Yanda, crushing Joe Flacco, causing a fumble recovered by Sione Pouha.
In the middle of the second quarter, Ellis did a great job of shedding and stopped Rice on the line. On the next play, Thomas had another QB pressure on the blindside, and Flacco was forced to throw the ball away.
Ellis blew up a run by the Ravens fullback in the backfield, on the two-yard line, allowing Jim Leonhard to make the tackle for a loss early in the fourth quarter.
Bart Scott blew up a Willis McGahee running play in the backfield, didn’t make the tackle initially, but got back into the play, tackled McGahee, causing a fumble, and it was recovered by Sione Pouha.
Jason Taylor didn’t do a lot as a pass rusher, but had a couple nice run stops around the line, and a defensed pass. He also had an off-sides penalty. His best play of the game was when he shed left tackle Michael Oher and stopped Rice for a loss of three on the second possession.
David Harris was quiet by his standards (four tackles) but did tip a pass on the line to end a fourth quarter Ravens possession.
Mike DeVito (seven tackles) and Scott (nine tackles) were stalwarts against the run.
Pouha had the two fumble recoveries, and was excellent against the run with seven tackles.