What's ailing Jets' proud defense?

Until NY stops over-pursuing plays and gets burned inside, it'll be an average defense

Paul Sakuma / AP

Raiders running back Darren McFadden carries the ball on a 70-yard touchdown run against the Jets. For the vaunted Jets defense to improve, it'll need to solve its issues up front, writes Mike Tanier.

ANALYSIS

updated 10:00 p.m. ET Sept. 27, 2011

Mike Tanier

The Jets defense is awesome. Just ask them.

Even Darrelle Revis knows his team talks too much, saying that Sunday?s Ravens game is a chance to ?show this league we?re not just a trash talking team.? If the Jets irritate themselves with the chest thumping and self promotion, they should have a little mercy on the rest of us.

At least the Jets backed up their boasts in previous seasons. This year, they rank 11th in yards per game allowed. Not bad, but the Seahawks and Browns rank higher, and you don?t hear them crowing about it. The pass rush that bills itself as a scourge of opposing quarterbacks has netted just seven sacks, and the run defense is allowing 136.7 yards per game, 31st in the league. The Jets unimpressive figures are even less impressive when you realize that their lone defensive ?statement? game came against Luke McCown and the Jaguars.

What must Revis and the Jets do to prove they are more than just talk? A look at the game tape and the numbers shows that the Jets must stop over-pursuing on running plays and creating unwinnable matchups for themselves on passing plays. Starting Sunday against the Ravens will be a challenge.

To the left, to the left
The Jets allowed a 70-yard run by Darren McFadden on Sunday. That play, while a major lapse by the run defense, skews the numbers a little. McFadden?s run accounts for 17 percent of the Jets? rushing yardage allowed, and if you strike it from the record, the Jets go from allowing 4.8 yards per rush to just 4.0.

But we cannot go around erasing 70-yard runs from history. Nor can we just forget McFadden?s 27, 17, and 15 yard runs from the same game, or Denarius Moore?s 25-yard reverse. Then, there are Maurice Jones-Drew?s two 16-yard runs and two 11-yard runs the previous week, when the Jets had nothing else to do but stop MJD but still had trouble doing it.

Sort through long runs the Jets allow and one discovers that most occur off left tackle or left end. McFadden?s 70 and 27 yarders were to the left. Moore?s reverse was to the left. So were MJD?s longest runs. The Jets allow 7.2 yards per rush on runs to the left.

Don?t blame the Jets' right defensive end ? they do not have one. Rex Ryan flip-flops linemen, so players like Mike DeVito, Ropati Pitoitua, and Muhammad Wilkerson have all been in the game when a running back has broken a long run.

The personnel changes, but the problem remains constant: Jets defensive linemen are caught inside too easily and get ?washed out? when the offensive line slants to one side, setting up easy cutback opportunities.

Figure 1 shows the front seven against the Raiders offensive line on McFadden?s 27-yard run. Devito (70) lines up on the left tackle?s inside shoulder. When the left tackle begins flowing to the right, DeVito crashes hard in that direction, allowing the blocker to scoop him up and drag him along the line. That creates lots of wide open space on the left. McFadden planned to throw an option pass on this play, but when his receiver (actually quarterback Jason Campbell) was covered, he reversed field and took advantage of all the daylight to his left.

Moore?s touchdown reverse came one play after McFadden?s run. Once again, Jets linemen crashed too far down the line to the offensive right, creating lots of space on the left. On McFadden?s 70-yard run, all three defensive linemen got trapped between the tackles, opening a huge hole that the linebackers could not fill. Many of MJD?s runs came on simple cutbacks as the Jets failed to contain the backside of the play.

Ryan may be asking too much of DeVito, Pitoitua, and Wilkerson on the line. None are elite defenders who can maintain backside integrity when lined up between the guard and the tackle. The Ravens have two mammoth tackles in Bryant McKinnie and Michael Oher, and running back Ray Rice is excellent at making quick cuts in the backfield. Ryan must make adjustments so his defensive line is not swallowed whole.

Mismatch maker
Opposing quarterbacks have an awful 64.1 rating against the Jets, and Revis remains a man with an island. Still that opposing quarterback rating contains an awful lot of McCown, and all is not well in the Jets secondary. With the defensive line only generating occasional pass pressure, the non-Revis defenders often have more than they can handle in coverage.

Figure 2 shows the Cowboys lined up with two tight ends and a single back against the Jets; not shown are the two wide receivers, who are both to the right side. First, notice that all three defensive linemen are once again inside the tackles. This would be a great opportunity to try some kind of counter and get the running back to the outside. But Tony Romo sees something even better: free safety Eric Smith (33) is in man coverage against Jason Witten (82). It?s a major mismatch, made worse by the fact that Smith is close to the line of scrimmage and inside Witten?s shoulder, putting him in awful position to stop a deep route.

Romo audibles at the line, and Witten puts a double move on Smith and gets wide open over the middle of the field for what turns out to be a 64-yard gain. The Jets could make Romo?s job much harder by generating some pass rush, but the defensive linemen are easily picked up by the blockers, and Romo has all the time in the world.

Eric Smith won?t spend much time crowding the line this week, because everyone knows that the Ravens want to throw deep. Still, Ryan must ensure that the Ravens do not get to dictate man coverage matchups, and that if his defenders are locked in man coverage, he better make sure there?s a pass rush.

Trouble on the horizon
The Jets have a pretty solid defense right now, but ?pretty solid? is not going to cut in the AFC East, and they know it. Ryan must scheme to protect his personnel better. It may be as simple as tweaking his defensive fronts so the linemen aren?t as easy to wash out, or coaching them to maintain backside integrity, allowing some five-yard runs to the right instead of risking 25-yard runs to the left.

Until Ryan adapts, or players like DeVito and Wilkerson suddenly improve, it?s time to stop talking about the ?awesome Jets defense.? That goes for everybody, including members of the Jets defense.

Mike Tanier writes for NBCSports.com and Rotoworld.com and is a senior writer for Football Outsiders.

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What's ailing Jets' proud defense?

??Tanier: What must Darrelle Revis and the Jets do to prove they are more than just talk? Simply put, they must stop over-pursuing on running plays and creating unwinnable matchups for themselves on passing plays.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44694348/ns/sports-nfl/

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