After each game, we’ll be highlighting three defensive and three offensive players and looking in detail at their performance. We’ll start today with the defense:
Sherwood be a shame if something happened to you…
As the Jets’ defense continues to regress we’re left to wonder how badly they are missing CJ Mosley, whether his return would make any difference and, perhaps most importantly of all, if they should move on from him next year.
In his absence, Jamien Sherwood had initially played well but both he and Quincy Williams – and the defense as a unit – have seen a steady regression.
Watching the film from Sunday’s game is jarring. Poor run fits, gap integrity and blown coverages all over the place, much of which would seem to be avoidable with better communication that Mosley should, in theory, bring.
Any misdirection seems to fool multiple players, leading to some easy chunk plays for the offense as players are over-aggressive and in many cases trying to do too much rather than just playing their own role and trusting the system.
Sherwood has now been wearing the headset for most of the season and you’d hope that Mosley returning to that role would lead to a more efficient defensive performance but could also enable Sherwood himself to rediscover the level of play he ascended to earlier in the season and keep improving.
In Sunday’s game, he racked up 17 tackles, with several at or near the line of scrimmage, although many were down the field. Even so, he missed a couple of tackles and there were too many plays where he ended up stuck on a block and unable to influence a big play.
In coverage, Sherwood gave up a couple of first downs but had one play where he was in good position on a throw to the end zone and also hustled across the field for this tackle for loss:
Someone screwed up the call on the play where all three linebackers rushed and Kyler Murray was able to basically loft it up in the air for his completely uncovered tight end, and as the man calling the defensive signals, Sherwood has to take responsibility for that.
A few weeks ago, Sherwood was looking like someone who was developing into a guy that could anchor a good defense. Right now, he makes a lot of plays but is too inconsistent to be someone you’d feel confident about if that was his full-time job.
Damn you all to Hector
Bruce Hector was signed to the active roster ahead of this game and played for the second time this season, having also played against Denver. He didn’t record a tackle or pressure in the game and the Jets’ defensive line being forced to dip into their practice squad for depth probably played a part in their struggles against the run.
Here’s an example of Hector being easily controlled by a single-block, creating not only a big running lane but also freeing up other blockers to pick up the linebackers and ensure a big gain:
Hector gave a good effort while he was out there, almost making one stop in the whole and hustling after the receiver in pursuit on a short first down pass.
If Solomon Thomas can’t return, Hector can remain in the line-up and the Jets will remain weakened, although Thomas’ interior run defense isn’t regarded as his main strength.
Hector, who has one quarterback hit in 10 games over the past four years, seems like he’s the Tanzel Smart of this team now – someone who can fill in a handle some snaps in a reserve role, but don’t expect him to occupy blocks or make plays in the backfield.
McDonald Triumph
With no sacks in the past three games, some might be concerned that Will McDonald’s great start to the season is fizzling out. However, he’s been generating good pressure over the course of those games and still looks good.
In fact, on Sunday, he had more pressures than the rest of the team put together on a day when it was particularly difficult to generate pressure because Murray was getting rid of the ball especially quickly.
Here’s a great example of what you draft a pass rusher in the first round to do. The Jets need to get off the field, it’s third down, still a one-possession game and Murray has to rush to get the throw away because McDonald blows past another first round pick (Paris Johnson) for a clean pressure, using an inside jab, a chop down on the outside arm and quickness and bend around the edge:
This gives Sauce Gardner an easy chance to wrap up the receiver short of the marker, which of course he screwed up.
While the previous clip showed how McDonald is using technique rather than just his raw athleticism (or his signature spin move) to get home, there’s a good point of difference here. From a four-point rather than three-point stance this time, he goes speed-to-power and bull rushes Johnson, then uses a long arm move to leverage off the block and get to Murray.
Again, this should be enough to get off the field but Murray was maddeningly on fire from the get-go on Sunday and makes a tough tight window throw to extend the drive.
Of course, not all of the focus on McDonald is his pass rushing. McDonald was in there for half of the Cardinals rushing attempts and didn’t make any stops, although once again he wasn’t necessarily at fault on any of the most successful running plays, while Micheal Clemons and Braiden McGregor both had bad misreads.
One good sign we perhaps haven’t seen much of from him so far was the instincts he showed on the play where Sherwood picked up a tackle for loss mentioned above. McDonald sniffed this out, disengaged from his block and ran out to the flat to blow it up.
The non-pass rush parts of McDonald’s game are still a work in progress, but he’s been a lot more consistent since the start of the season and shouldn’t be considered a liability in those situations. If he was, they would just use him as a pass rusher only, as they used to with Bryce Huff until last season.
As for his pass rushing, that’s not the complete article yet either, as he’s still adding things to his game every week. Considering the production he’s generated so far, that’s a good sign going forwards.
Three-on-O will follow tomorrow.