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The Jets’ defense had some issues in Pittsburgh, but they also did some impressive things against the Steelers. In Part II of “Films and Thoughts,” we take a look at that side of the ball.
The Jets starting defensive line was Mo Wilkerson, Sione Pouha and Mike DeVito.
Smart move – the Jets’ run defense took a quantum leap from One Week. Pittsburgh managed just 28 carries for 66 yards – a unimpressive 2.4 yards per carry. That is outstanding run defense.
And if you think that is good, consider this – RB Isaac Redman had a 13-yard carry. So you take that run out, the rest of the carries would be 27 for 53 yards, less than two yards a carry.
And on top of that, there was a nine-yard run by WR Antonio Brown.
You take that out, and it was 26 for 44.
In an overall disappointing game for the Jets, this was a huge positive.
And side from stout defensive line play, there were other factors.
Yeremiah Bell is outstanding against the run. He finished tied for the team lead with 10 tackles (along with David Harris).
OLB Garrett McIntyre had four tackles for losses, and you have to wonder if Bryan Thomas will get his starting job back.
And Bart Scott was outstanding against the run with eight tackles.
The Jets are going to be a bear to run on this year . . .
Getting back to McIntyre, he had two really good plays in the fourth quarter. On one play, he shot off the edge, and stopped Redman with a big-time hit for a loss of two. Shortly after that, he beat LT Max Starks with a club move to sack Roethlisberger.
Another play by McIntyre earlier in the game won’t get as much attention, but was awfully impressive.
In the middle of the second quarter, the Steelers called a screen to the left side. Roethlisberger, was about to throw to the left flat, but McIntyre had the running back covered well that the quarterback couldn’t make the throw, so he shut the play down, and was sacked by Sione Pouha . . .
As we mentioned the other day, Big Ben’s ability to break tackles on potential sacks was the key to this game (and many other Steelers wins.)
A perfect example was on the Mike Wallace touchdown grab. David Harris blitzed, and had Roethlisberger in his grasps, and the quarterback stepped up, and hit Wallace for the TD . . .
You know what was kind of a hidden positive for the Jets in this game – the pass rushing of DeMario Davis.
He played very little, but when he came on on defense, it was as a pass rusher, and looked very good.
On the Steelers’ first drive, Davis came shooting off the edge, ruining the pocket, forcing Ben up in the pocket, and McIntyre finished him off for a sack. MacIntyre got the sack, but Davis was the star of this play.
Later in the game, Davis got a sack, but Yeremiah Bell was called for holding TE Heath Miller, so it negated the sack.
With his 4.53 speed and motor, he’s an underrated pass rusher.
September 18, 2012
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