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Florham Park – The key to the Jets beating Indianapolis is the play of their secondary. Dan breaks it down to the nth degree. First he takes a look at the Bills game and the ahead to the Colts game.
It seemed like the Buffalo Bills were going after Drew Coleman early in the game.
Coleman had a rough first series. On the Bills third offensive play, he was beat by WR Stevie Johnson for a gain of 15 on the left side. Then, three plays later, Johnson beat him on a double move, for a gain of 33, but S Emanuel Cook forced a fumble that Dwight Lowery recovered.
WR Naaman Roosevelt caught a nine yard pass on Coleman the second series, but it was just short of the first down, and Buffalo punted.
Coleman caused a fumble in the second half on a blitz/strip sack that Jamaal Westerman recovered.
Kyle Wilson did some good things. On the second series, he had pretty good coverage on Johnson down the deep left. I say “pretty good” because there was contact down field, and he’s lucky he wasn’t flagged.
Late in the third quarter, Wilson had very good coverage on Johnson on a crossing route that fell incomplete. This was the play where Bart Scott blitzed up the middle and crushed Brohm.
Brodney Pool continues his resurgence. In the middle of the second quarter, he did a great job of snuffing out a reverse to Roosevelt, and allowed just a two yard gain.
Marquice Cole and Calvin Pace combined for Pick Six in the second quarter. Pace crushed Brohm as he threw, and this led to an errant pass that Cole picked off, and took the distance. Cole and Wilson started this game for Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, who were inactive.
Cole stopped Johnson on a quick slant, for just a gain of four, short of the first down, to end a second quarter drive. He also had a key play on special teams when he a caught and downed a Steve Weatherford punt on the three-yard line.
One negative play for Cole was when he was beat by Roosevelt for a gain of 14 late in the third quarter.
Cook continues to do some good work on special teams. He absolutely crushed Leodis McKelvin after a short gain on a second half kick return. At South Carolina, Cook was considered one of the biggest hitters in college football.
Isaiah Trufant did a terrific job on special teams.
Now to look ahead to Saturday with this group
First off, the Colts are without three important weapons, all on injured reserve – TE Dallas Clark, WR Austin Collie and WR Anthony Gonzalez.
That would be too much for some teams to overcome, but not Peyton Manning.
But with that being said, this passing game isn’t nearly as dominant as it was in years past. The injuries have taken a toll.
They had a very tough time moving the football last week against Tennessee, and probably would have lost the game if Kerry Collins didn’t fumble a snap late in the game.
The Jets had major issues covering Clark last year, in both the regular season contest, and the playoff game. Eric Smith wasn’t fast enough to keep up with him. So Clark being out is a huge help. His replacement, Jacob Tamme, is serviceable, but doesn’t have the wheels or chemistry with Manning that Clark possesses.
I get the sense from being around the team this week that there is a good chance that Lowery will start ahead of Smith this week, even though Smith (concussion) is now healthy. Lowery is a better coverage safety than Smith. His two Pick Six’s are a testament to that. Lowery is a better matchup with Tamme than Smith.
Speaking of Lowery, the Jets made a huge mistake last year putting him on WR Pierre Garcon. Huge mistake! This was a terrible matchup and it really cost the Jets.
It’s hard to be too critical of Lowery for his troubles against Garcon. He just doesn’t have the speed to keep up with Pierre. In fact, he doesn’t have the speed to play man-to-man corner, and that is why he’s a much better fit at safety. And this isn’t a shot at him. He knows it and asked for the position change.
Expect the speedy Cromartie to cover Garcon, and for this matchup to go much better for the Jets than it did last year.
Another huge mistake by the Jets coaches last year was keeping Cole’s butt on the bench. This was a case of a staff not knowing their own talent. After nickel back Donald Strickland’s groin injury, the Jets replaced him with Drew Coleman, an enormous mistake. Cole is a lot better, but the coaches didn’t think outside the box.
The coaches finally gets it when it comes to Cole, and he should give them a heck of a third corner this week to matchup with the underrated Blair White, who is a very crisp route runner.
Considering all the Colts injuries, and the Jets reinforced back end, they are in a much better position to beat Manning this year compared to last.
