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The echo chamber is going after Brandon Stephens, and they might be a little misguided.
Has he really been that bad the last two games?
He was fine against Buffalo, and then in Tampa Bay, the only bad play of note was giving up a five-yard TD on a quick slant from Baker Mayfield to 6-5, 231-pound WR Mike Evans, who isn’t exactly the easiest guy to cover on that play.
Not making excuses for Stephens, but Evans has 106 career touchdowns for a reason.
Obviously, considering the result of the play, Stephen could have played it better. This is a results-based business. But I have a question for y’all – how’d Sauce Gardner do against Evans before the wide receiver before he left the game early in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury. He was called for a 26-yard PI covering Evans on the Bucs’ first series. On a second-and-13 in the third quarter, Evans beat Gardner for a gain of 14, and then early fourth quarter, Evans beat Gardner for a gain of eight on a second-and-seven, on a quick slant similar to the TD.
Gardner also got beaten for a 30-yard gain by another receiver.
So please chill out with the Stephens hate after this game.
Stephens had one bad game this season, the first one, but that was more on the coaches than him. Stephens had issues with 5-8, 170-pound receiver Calvin Austin, who has 4.3 speed and incredible short-area quickness—a terrible matchup for a big corner like Stephens. I wrote about this issue after that game.
Can Stephens play better? Of course. Everyone on this defense can, but the Twitter hate towards the guy is out of whack with the reality of how he’s actually playing . . .
Speaking of people who are getting crushed on social media, Michael Clemons would certainly fall into that category.
He’s clearly in the wrong defense – he’s not a 4-3 end. The old regime should not have picked him to play in the scheme, and the new regime shouldn’t continue miscasting this player.
But wherever you fall on the scheme debate, one thing I’ve never understood is why a man who is so big and powerful is so often neutralized by tight ends one-on-one.
On Baker Mayfield’s 33-yard scramble in the fourth quarter, obviously, he took the edge on Clemons’ side.
While perhaps it would have been hard for Clemons to stop the QB when he took off down the sideline due to the defensive end’s lack of great speed (not his fault, it’s what he was given as a human), the bigger issue people should have about this play was why was he stuck on a block by tight end Cade Otton for what seemed like an eternity.
One thing I’ve heard from D-Line coaches over the years is that when a defensive end is being blocked by a TE one-on-one, they have to win those battles.
Too often, Clemons struggles getting off the blocks of tight ends.
Why?
I’d say one reason is he plays with a very high pad level . . .
Why were the Tampa Bay Bucs comfortable blitzing on almost every defensive play on Sunday?
Fox Sports analyst Jonathan Vilma said during the game: “They understand that there is one player they have to worry about and that is Garrett Wilson, and other than that, they are going to keep coming after Tyrod Taylor.”
I can understand why Vilma would say that. We heard the same thing all summer about the supposed lack of receivers to complement Wilson.
But while I respect Vilma, who I covered with the Jets, I don’t agree.
Arian Smith runs 4.3. Why wouldn’t you have to worry about one of the fastest players in the entire NFL?
You wanna get people to stop blitzing, hit some passes downfield to a player with world-class speed.
But what you also do is throw to other people aside from Wilson, who is getting extra attention, and that is exactly what the Jets did on the their 11-play, 73-yard TD drive that cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 26-20.
Taylor hit Tyler Johnson on a 20-yard cross. He was being covered by a linebacker. Then Taylor hit a wide-open Breece Hall on a shallow cross for a 12-yard gain. The drive was punctuated by a 4-yard TD pass to Allen Lazard, who wasn’t the main focus of the coverage, and Taylor did a good job taking advantage of that.
Mason Taylor had his best game as a Jet with 4 catches.
The Jets’ issue in Tampa Bay wasn’t having one viable weapon.
The problem in Tampa Bay was terrible blitz pickup. The Jets running backs probably got some tough love from their coaches in the film sessions after the game, and I’m not even singling one of them out – all of them struggled, and so did the offensive line.
September 24, 2025
