When you have a massive, athletic nose tackle, sometimes the impact of the player won’t show up on his stat sheet.
Don’t expect the Jets’ new 6-4, 366-pound nose tackle, T’Vondre Sweat, to necessarily put up big tackle and sack totals.
But his ability to take up double teams and push back linemen to mess up the pocket will lead to a lot of plays for other defenders.
“I think the first impact of that is at the linebacker level,” said Jets defensive coordinator Brian Duker. “When you have a guy like [Sweat], it’s not easy necessarily for O-line to climb up to [linebackers]. And so, it makes those guys able to be unblocked at the point of attack.”
But the impact isn’t just on linebackers, but on his fellow defensive linemen.
“I mean, certainly based on numbers alone, if they’re blocking [Sweat] with two, somebody else is free,” Duker said.
So when watching Sweat play this year, it’s probably not best to focus on his statistical numbers, but the statistical numbers of those playing around him.
If he can stay healthy, Sweat could be what people in football like to call a “force multiplier.”
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