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The Jets Front Seven was inconsistent in the team’s win at Denver. Dan puts that group under the microscope . . .
On Denver’s first play, Shaun Ellis did a great job of noticing some movement from J.D. Walton, jumped, and got a penalty called on the center.
On Denver’s third drive, guard Ross Hochstein knocked Sione Pouha out of the way, and Correll Buckhalter ran up the middle for a gain of 13. Pouha had a sack on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Trevor Pryce was highly-motivated against the team that drafted him, and it showed in his play. Late in the first half, he beat a very good left tackle, Ryan Clady, with an inside move, for a quarterback pressure. Early in the third quarter Pryce knifed into the backfield to stop RB Lawrence Maroney for a loss of four.
Mike DeVito executed a perfect zone blitz early in the third quarter. He dropped into coverage, and Kyle Orton didn’t see him, and he knocked down a pass, forcing a field goal attempt that was no good. DeVito missed a tackle on a Maroney gain of nine up the middle, early in the third quarter.
At linebacker, David Harris and Bart Scott had active games, but also had a few plays they would want back.
Harris got off to a bad start. He missed a tackle on Knowshon Moreno’s first carry that went for 13 yards, But Harris was bailed out by Drew Coleman who caused a fumble that the Jets recovered. Harris made a heck of a play right before Denver’s first missed field goal. He shot into the backfield and stopped Buckhalter for a loss of three.
Harris let Moreno get by him on his nice run off left tackle for 14 yards in the middle of the fourth. On this same drive, Harris whiffed on Orton in the open field on a gain of 13.
Bart Scott was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the second possession. Scott had a tremendous run stop late in the first half. While being engaged by Hochstein, he made a one-handed tackle, and Moreno gained just one. Scott stopped Moreno on the line on the last play of the third quarter. TE Daniel Graham beat Scott on a play-action pass deep down the middle, but the pass was overthrew him late in the third quarter.
The linebackers did a poor job on Tim Tebow’s second quarter touchdown run. Everyone was sucked into the middle on a play fake, and Tebow ran free to the right side for a touchdown. The Jets likely weren’t that prepared for Tebow because he had hardly played this season.
In the middle of the second quarter, Jason Taylor had a terrific run play, blowing up Maroney in the backfield for a loss of one on the left side. On the next play, Bryan Thomas had a QB pressure up the middle, leading to an overthrow down field to Graham.
Taylor had a QB pressure on Denver’s last possession, helping cause an incompletion to WR Demaryius Thomas down the deep left side.
Calvin Pace did a great job getting into Orton’s face for what looked like a sack, but he couldn’t close the deal and the quarterback ran for nine yards. Early in the fourth quarter, Pace stopped Moreno for a loss of two.
