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Jets rookie safety Malachi Moore has had two big defensive plays in the last two games.
Against Jacksonville, Moore recovered a fumble that was forced by CB Brandon Stephens.
Against New Orleans, on the Saints’ first series, Moore forced a fumble on TE Taysom Hill.
When plays like this happen, especially in back-to-back games, it leads to stories, stories praising the player, especially a rookie.
But be careful with this one.
Yes, these were nice plays, but this player has a lot to work on in coverage.
And these two players really weren’t diagnostic plays. One was a ball that popped in the air right to him against Jacksonville, and the other, he did a nice job wrestling the ball away from Hill, who was looking to gain extra yards.
Nice plays, but they tell you nothing about the player’s ability in pass coverage.
And the Jets have had myriad coverage breakdowns in the last three games, and quite a few before that, including the first New England matchup, where it looked like QB Drake Maye was conducting a seven-on-seven practice drill.
There is plenty of blame to go around, but Moore has been involved with his share of blown coverages since the Dallas-Jets game in Week Five when he became a starter, like on a deep pass TD to Cincinnati’s WR Tee Higgins when he failed to come over and give AZ Thomas the required safety help down the right sideline.
There was a 38-yard TD pass to New Orleans wide receiver Chris Olave late in the Saints’ win over the Jets. Not sure which Jets safety was more to blame, Dean Clark or Moore. Without knowing the playbook, it’s hard to say for sure, but it looked like both might deserve a little blame. Nobody covered Olave deep, which is hard to fathom. He’s the Saints #1 receiver.
So while Moore deserves credit for those two nice plays, he still has a lot to prove before he can be considered a slam dunk to start safety for the Jets in 2026 and beyond . . .
Mike Vrabel is very impressed with the Jets’ offensive line:
“Upfront, I really enjoy watching their offensive line – it’s a good group, a young talented group [at tackle], love the play-demeanor of the guys inside, Myers, [Tippmann], and Simpson – they come off the ball, they are good with their combinations,” Vrabel said on Wednesday. “They allow Breece (Hall) to get going. There is not a lot of a first contract. He is averaging more than 4.2 yards per carry. Last time, they ran the football on us. The formula for us to win is not giving up 140 yards on the ground. I’ve told the team that a number of times.”
This isn’t just coach speak.
He went on to say nice things about the Jets defense in this answer. That was probably coach-speak.
The offensive line stuff, to me, was legit. You could see it watching him – totally sincere.
The Jets do have a good offensive line, and that is one of the things they wasted during this 3-12 season.
Don’t get caught up in New Orleans getting eight sacks last week. A lot of that was related to starting a rookie UDFA QB.
The Jets are loaded upfront, and Vrabel probably wishes he had some of these guys.
It’s amazing how little the Jets get done through the air with their ability to run the football well in many games.
There should be more play-action opportunities when you run the ball like this.
The first New England game is a perfect example of that. They were running well, but their passing game was terrible.
How bad was it? This is something Scott Zolak said on the Pats radio network in the third quarter.
“23 passing yards in the third quarter, I’d run [Justin Fields] every play,” Zolak said.
They ended with 116 yards passing padded by some work in garbage time, but theoretically, when you can run like the Jets have in most games, that should open up great passing opportunities. It hasn’t, and some is related to QB field vision issues.
If you study Chicago’s success this year under rookie head coach Ben Johnson, it’s a run-first offense, and that has opened up some easy big plays in the passing game for developing QB Caleb Williams.
The Jets have somewhat underutilized their offensive line talent this year, as well as the health of their offensive line. Not many teams have had the same five starters on their offensive line all year.
December 26, 2026
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