Content available exclusively for subscribers
The Jets defensive coaches have a lot of work to do this off-season, but one area the team is in solid shape is at starting cornerback. When Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie both bring their A-Games, the Jets are one of the most difficult teams in the NFL to throw against.
Late in the third quarter, on the 21-play drive that carried over from the third to fourth quarter, Darrelle Revis was beat twice by Brandon Marshall. But you can’t blame Revis for the second one.
In the middle of the possession, at the end of the third quarter, on a third-and-nine, Marshall beat Revis on a crossing route over the middle, for a gain of 10.
Then, three plays later, on the last play of the third quarter, Marshall beat Revis on another crossing route, and the play gained 19 yards. This play wasn’t Darrelle’s fault. When Marshall cut to go over the middle, Revis planted his foot to follow him, and did a ballerina split on the horrendous field. The Jets are very fortunate he didn’t suffer a serious leg injury on this play. He did the split, fell the the ground, and Marshall was wide open.
As we mentioned before, this was the series that the Dolphins featured Davone Bess on Kyle Wilson, and Moore connected with the University of Hawaii product four times. The Jets need to be honest with themselves about Wilson – is he the answer at nickel or not – forget where he was drafted.
The possession ended with TE/FB Charles Clay beating Josh Mauga for a one-yard touchdown with a square out on the left side.
A big project for Mike Pettine this off-season, and he will be the first to admit it, is to find a way to cover tight ends better.  Expect the Jets to add a tall, athletic safety, but they do have one on the roster, with a lot of potential, in Tracy Wilson. The Northern Ilinois-product did play some late in the year, but his head was spinning, trying to learn the system. An entire off-season will help him a great deal. He flashed some big-time hitting ability on special teams late in the year, so it’s clear he will be willing in run support. He was a tackling machine at UNI, a lot of double digit outings. It remains to be seen what kind of cover guy he can be on the next level.
One last coverage play to get into – in the middle of the fourth quarter, a few plays after the Randy Starks interception, Moore attempted a pass down the deep right side to Marshall, Revis knocked it away, and the Dolphins had to settle for a field goal.
We all know the Jets have a lot of work to do this season to improve a number of areas, but starting cornerback isn’t one of them. Mike Tannenbaum has received a lot of criticism for his body of work in 2011, but one area he deserves praise is for the Revis-Cromartie combo he put together. It’s a little pricey, but so many teams would love to have a pair of starting quarterbacks of this magnitude.
There were so many games were they covered so well, including this one, that they really frustrated the opposing QB. Moore threw for just 135 yards and a 61.3 QB rating. Both Revis and Cro were superb, just like they were against the Giants, sans the long Cruz touchdown that featured a poor job of double coverage by Cro and Kyle Wilson.
Eli Manning is on his way to the NFC Championship Game, and the Jets held him to 9-29 throwing. That is awfully impressive.
So the Jets are set at starting corner, but they need better play at the nickel spot, and to improve their tight end coverage.
But when you are all set at both starting corner spots, the other stuff is much easier to fix.
Premium will return on Tuesday at 11 am.
