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Florham Park – The Jets Front Seven had a terrific game in the team’s loss to Miami . . .
I just don’t know if a 3-4 nose tackle could play much better than Sione Pouha did against Miami.
He was tremendous. 10 tackles for a 3-4 nose tackle is rare. He also had a sack.
We aren’t going to document all his tackles, but one drive, late in the first half, was particularly impressive. On the first and fourth plays of this possession, he stopped Ronnie Brown on the line on both plays.
Pouha is particularly effective against tall centers. Joe Berger is 6-5. Pouha has really short legs, and does a good job getting under the tall, angular guys.
Mike DeVito had a nice shed-and-stop around the line on Brown’s second run of the game.
There are certain matchups where one player truly has his opponent’s numbers. Miami guard Pat McQuistan consistently has trouble with Shaun Ellis. It happened in the first matchup this season, and again on Sunday.
On the second possession, Ellis tooled McQuistan, blowing by him, for a quarterback pressure. He also drew a holding call on him in the third quarter. Ellis had a sack in the third quarter, but it was actually against backup tight end Jeron Mestrud.
On the Dolphins second possession, Trevor Pryce got between a guard and the center, and got into Chad Henne’s face, but the quarterback avoided the sack and scrambled for 10 yards, setting up a makeable field goal (47 yards). If Pryce had sacked him, they likely wouldn’t have been able to kick a field goal.
Matt Kroul finally got some action, and had two tackles. On one of these stops, he showed good power, pushing guard Richie Incognito back into the runner. Just to show you Kroul’s mindset. There was a play where his helmet came flying off, and he still dove into the pile to help make a tackle. He’s a maniac.
The linebackers played fairly well.
On Miami’s first drive, Bart Scott was called for a five-yard pass interference call on WR Brandon Marshall. On the next play, Scott had a terrific play in run support, stopping Brown off right tackle after just a gain of one.
Late in the first half, Brodney Pool forced a fumble on Brown that was recovered by Jason Taylor. While Pool made a terrific play here, we also need to give Scott credit. He was involved as well.
A Taylor QB pressure ended the first drive. He beat both FB Lousaka Polite and TE Anthony Fasano to get into Henne’s face, and he threw a bad pass.
On the second possession, Taylor showed great instincts with a near pick on the second possession. Henne rolled right and threw a short pass that Taylor, on the line, jumped up and almost picked it off.
Marshall caught a six-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter. Henne hit Marshall in between Scott and Eric Smith, around the goalline. Scott seemed to be under the impression that Smith was going to come up and help him sooner.
In the middle of the second quarter, Calvin Pace went unblocked on a blitz, and rocked Henne, who fumbled and it was recovered by Pouha. As much as I’d like to praise Pace for this play, it certainly helps a player when he blitzes and isn’t touched.
Bryan Thomas had a couple of really nice plays. At the end of the third quarter, Thomas shot off the edge, and stopped a Williams run up the middle after just a gain of one.
Thomas stopped a scrambling Henne on the right side right before the two minute warning in the fourth, and was given a sack on the play.
David Harris was excellent in run support, finishing with six tackles.