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Here is Part II of Dan’s look at the Jets’ Front Seven from the Jets’ last game,and looking forward. Mike DeVito was outstanding against Pittsburgh . . .
Mike DeVito is a very good football player. He made two outstanding running plays on mid third quarter drive. On the first play of this drive, he stopped Rashad Mendenhall for no gain. Then three plays later, he stopped Mendenhall for a loss of one.
Early in the fourth quarter, he tackled Ben Roethlisberger for a safety. If he keeps this up, a Pro Bowl could be in his future.
Another guy who got it done this year is Shaun Ellis. The Jets should bring this guy back, if his knee is okay. He can clearly still play on a high level. When I brought up his name yesterday with Jason Taylor and Trevor Pryce as far as the age issue, my point was, you don’t put three older cats on the line together so often, but Ellis is the player of these three who should be back.
Ellis still is very quick for his size. On the first play of a third quarter drive, he got into the backfield immediately, and got in Big Ben’s face, but the quarterback was able to avoid him, and scrambled for a few years and was tackled by guess who – DeVito.
Pryce sacked Roethlisberger late in the third quarter. Trevor is a really smart player, and he’s good for one of these gap-guessing big plays every few games.
Bart Scott had an inconsistent game.
He got off to terrific stop, stopping a Mendenhall run to the left side after just a gain of one. But then later on that drive, Scott missed a tackle, around the line, on a Mendenhall gain of eight. It looked like Scott was going for the strip.
Late in this drive, Scott had another good play. He blew up a Mendenhall run in the backfield, and this allowed Brodney Pool to stop the runner for a loss of two.
On Mendenhall’s one-yard touchdown run on the first drive, Scott had him on the line, but the runner, eventually won the mano-a-mano battle with Scott, and got into the end zone.
Scott had a nice stop on the six-yard-line, on the line, on Mendenhall, in the middle of the fourth.
Scott missed a tackle on the line on Mendenhall, on a gain of seven, early in the second quarter.
Jamaal Westerman’s running into the punter penalty in the third, cost the Jets five minutes of valuable
The Jets once again had issues covering the tight end. On the first series, Miller got in back of Bryan Thomas, and in front of Eric Smith, and caught a pass for 21 yards. This play was overturned because Miller had trouble maintaining control as he hit the ground, but this doesn’t excuse the fact that he was wide open. And Miller was wide open on a 14-yard gain – a huge play – on second-and-nine, late in the game.
Speaking of Thomas, a play involving him is going to hurt the Steelers a great deal in the Super Bowl. He got pancaked by the Steelers’ massive right tackle Flozell Adams, and as he fell to the ground, Thomas fel on to the back of center Maurkice Pouncey’s ankle. The talented rookie suffered a severe high ankle sprain, and will likely miss the Super Bowl. I think nose tackle B.J. Raji is going to have a field day against Steelers backup center Doug “Bronco” Legursky.
Roethlisberger drove the Jets crazy with his scrambling. On the first series, he took advantage of too many defenders getting too far up field, and ran up the middle for a gain of 12.
The Jets’ run defense was the biggest reason they lost this game. It’s essential the Jets get younger in the Front Seven, and Mike Tannenbaum did a good job of stockpiling young defensive linemen and linebackers this year, on the practice squad, and at the end of the roster, so they Jets should have some good options.
