Content available exclusively for subscribers
Premium – Today, Dan takes a look at a few different interesting Jets topics today in his Premium Whispers. Don’t miss out. For the price of one beer at the stadium . . .
We all know the Jets had issues covering tight ends the last couple of years.
The Jets brought in DeMario Davis to help in this area. He played on a limited basis last year, so it was hard to discern his impact covering tight ends.
And then in the Jets first two games this year, they faced teams with substandard tight end situations in Tampa Bay, and obviously New England.
But in Week Three, the Jets faced an old nemesis, in Buffalo’s Scott Chandler, who has hurt them in the past, and quite honestly, it didn’t’ work out that well.
Chandler finished with five catches for 79 yards and a touchdown.
So far this year, DeMario Davis has done some very nice things. He’s been terrific against the run, and has done some nice things as a blitzer, but in his first real challenge, against a legitimate tight end threat in Chandler, he gets mixed reviews.
On the Bills’ second to last series, right before the two-minute warning. Chandler beat Davis for gains of 12 and 17 yards.
On the first play, Davis was late to react to Chandler cutting away from him, from the left hash to the sideline.
On the second play, on the right side, Chandler beat Davis on a deep out. Davis’ coverage was decent on this play, but he didn’t get his hand on the ball and Chandler made the catch.
Early in the game, on the Bills’ second possession, Davis was late coming over to cover running back Fred Jackson in the right flat, and the runner gained nine yards.
Obviously he’s not a tight end, but it was a coverage situation, and he was a tad bit late reacting, and this seems to be a little bit of an issue.
As for Chandler’s 33-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, you can’t blame Davis on this play because he was blitzing.
This play reminded me of the old Ted Marchibroda quote, “When you blitz, somebodies band is playing after the play.”
Meaning, the play was a big success for the offense or the defense.
On this play, the Jets blitzed both Davis, and S Jaiquan Jarrett from the right side, and Chandler snuck out on that side. The only player in coverage over there was Calvin Pace, and he covered him briefly, but then passed him off to the deeper zone coverage. Pace generally only covers the shallow part of the zone, near the line.
But with Jarrett and Davis blitzing, the single-high safety, Dawan Landry, had to cover the entire deep zone, which was too much to ask, and Chandler scored.
The Tennessee Titans have two very good receiving tight ends, Delanie Walker and Craig Stevens.
Chandler’s performance against the Jets is a harsh reminder to Rex Ryan and the team’s defensive coaches, the tight end coverage still needs to improve.
And this leads to my one concern about Davis.
He’s very tough, and terrific inside the box, but he still has some questions to answer about his coverage instincts. There seem to be some missteps and hesitation at times . . .
Geno Smith is going to have his work cut out for him this week.
With Greg Williams running the Tennessee defense, the Titans are coming after the rookie quarterback.
Williams is yet another coach from the Buddy Ryan coaching-tree, and he loves to bring the heat.
Whether you like Williams or not (remember, he was involved with Bounty-gate), the guy is a heck of a defensive coach, and this game will present quite a challenge for Smith.
The Titans have one of the fastest linebacker corps in football led by Akeem Ayers and Zach Brown . . .
Titan’s backup quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, will be a huge help to starting quarterback Jake Locker facing Rex Ryan’s defense, after facing that unit a myriad of times while Fitzpatrick was with the Buffalo Bills . . .
September 25, 2013
Premium will return by 9:30 pm
