Dan’s Premium – let’s delve into the secondary Dan Leberfeld
The Jets’ secondary had a solid game, but they could have given up two touchdowns instead of one. Let’s take a look . . .
Jim Leonhard made a couple of very nice plays before hurting his knee.
The Chiefs first possession ended with Leonhard breaking up a pass over the short middle to WR Steve Breaston.
Early in the second quarter, Leonhard picked off a third down pass to Breaston over the middle, and the wide receiver twisted his leg attempting to bring him down, and the safety hurt his knee.
On the first play of the possession that ended with the Leonhard pick, Tyler Palko attempted a short out to WR Dwayne Bowe, and Darrelle Revis broke it up. Palko has an average arm, and a ball can’t be in the air that long with Revis in the vincinity.
The possession before the one that featured the Leonhard pick, that drive ended thanks to a Donald Strickland blitz. It was third-and-10, and Strickland blitzed off the edge, forcing Palko to dump a pass into the left flat to RB Jackie Battle, and the play gained just two yards, and the Chiefs were forced to punt.
Before we move on to the second half, it’s worth noting that new Jets safety Tracy Wilson had a terrific stop on a late first half kickoff, stopping Dexter McCluster on his own 10. This kid is very tough and a good tackler. He was a tackling machine at Northern Illinois.
On the Chiefs’ first offensive play of the second half, Revis was beat by Bowe down the left sideline for a gain of 21, on a back shoulder throw.
This possession ended up going nowhere after that play.
On the Chiefs’ second drive of the third quarter, on the first play of the possession, Bowe beat Revis over the middle for a gain of 20. A few plays later, Palko attempted a pass down the deep left side to WR Jon Baldwin, and it fell incomplete. Antonio Cromartie had air-tight coverage. Two plays later, this possession ended with Eric Smith blitzed up the middle and sacked Palko for a loss of 13.
Let’s move ahead to the fourth quarter.
On a possession that started late in the third, and continued into the fourth, the Chiefs finally got into the end zone. Palko threw a beautiful pass down the middle to WR Jereme Urban for a touchdown. Strickland was covering Urban, but you have to give Palko credit, for a man with limited arm strength, it was a heck of a throw.
On the Chiefs’ next possession, we witnessed one of the best catches of the NFL season. Jonathan Baldwin made an unreal one-handed grab down the left sideline for a gain of 18. This pass was thrown very high to take advantage of his height (6-4) and great leaping ability, and the kid came down with the football. There wasn’t much Cro could do on this play. If Baldwin can keep his head on straight, he’s going to be a special talent in the NFL.
The Chiefs should have scored on this drive, but a wide open Bowe couldn’t hold on to a pass in the back of the end zone when he hit the ground. Not to make a big deal about a play that happened with a team is up 37-10 in the fourth quarter, but there was a blown coverage, and a teachable moment here. Revis and Kyle Wilson after the play looked at each other as if to say, “I thought you had him.”
Premium will return by 8 pm tonight with some notes from Jets camp.
