Content available exclusively for subscribers
Sometimes you wonder about the scheme a little bit . . .
Last night, the Las Vegas Raiders beat the Dallas Cowboys 36-33.
In this game, the Raiders amassed 509 yards offense, and Cowboys had 437.
And keep in mind, these teams were without key offensive players – obviously, the Raiders released WR Henry Ruggs a few weeks ago, and then lost perhaps the NFL’s best tight end, Darren Waller, in the first half to a knee injury. The Cowboys were without their two top receivers Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb.
And even without these key weapons, Derek Carr threw for 373 yards, and Dak Prescott, 375.
Why are am I talking about the Raiders and Cowboys? Simple. They both play very similar schemes to the Jets. Raiders defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and the Cowboys Dan Quinn, are both from the Pete Carroll coaching tree.
So are Jets head coach Robert Saleh and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and they all play a similar scheme.
It’s not a system with a lot of bells and whistles. They like to keep it simple so players don’t have to think too much.
“We’re not going to give them magical calls and get them out of things, they’re just going to understand these defenses at the highest level and understand the techniques within the defense at the highest level,” Ulbrich said earlier in the year. “That’s going to be the secret sauce, simplicity though, and players first.”
The Cowboys and Raiders moved to this system last off-season because they felt with the players were thinking too much in their prior systems, and it was leading to a lot of mental errors. So they wanted simplicity.
Now simplicity is fine, but if the system is simple for you, it’s also simple for cerebral opposing quarterbacks. Right?
The Jets are ranked 32nd in defense.
Quarterbacks like Mac Jones, Carson Wentz and Josh Allen recently lit them up.
Some of the Jets’ problems are related to personnel deficiencies, but perhaps it goes deeper than that. Maybe they need to tweak the scheme a little, add more “magical calls,” add to the “secret sauce” in the off-season.
And maybe the Cowboys and Raiders need to do the same . . .
To the Jets’ credit, they did make some lineup changes last week. Saleh has been criticized by some for not doing this sooner.
They had Laurent Duvernay-Tardif for Greg Van Roten at right guard, Elijah Riley for Jarrod Wilson at one of the safety spots (they don’t list free or strong on their depth chart, just two safety positions) and Quincy Williams for Jarrad Davis at linebacker.
LDT for GVR provided the Jets more size and length at right guard, Riley provided the Jets more instincts at safety and Williams for Davis was because Davis reportedly is still not 100 percent healthy after suffering a serious ankle injury in the summer.
The first two moves certainly made sense. GVR gives you everything he’s got, has tremendous character and is smart as a whip, but has issues at times in matchups with some tall, athletic defensive linemen with long wingspans. You saw that in the first quarter of the Jets-Bills game when DE 6-6 Efe Obada beat Van Roten and hit Mike White as he threw leading to an interception.
The Jets needed Riley because their safeties have too often been out of position, and the former Army Black Knight is extremely smart and instinctive . . .
Watching the individual drills today, four linebackers were working with the team’s linebacker coach – C.J. Mosley, Williams, Del’Shawn Phillips and LaRoy Reynolds. Davis was not in the drills. He was at practice, but he was not in the drill. Not sure what was going on there . . .
Zach Wilson was wearing a brace on his injured right knee in practice today, so it would stand to reason he will wear it in the game . . .
In the photo above from the press room, there is a napkin holder with “All Gas, No Break” on it. This kind of stuff is all around the building with Saleh’s favorite mantra.
November 26, 2021
Premium will return by 11:30 pm on Sunday.
