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Honestly, it’s really hard to tell . . .
Somebody asked me today about the state of the Jets’ secondary. This person was concerned because the Giants’ passing offense dominated them on Thursday night.
The Giants’ four quarterbacks – Eli Manning, Daniel Jones, Alex Tanney and Kyle Lauletta went a combined 29-39 for 376 yards and three touchdowns in the G-Men’s 31-22 preseason win over the Jets.
But we need to provide some context to this conversation.
People often speak in generalities about preseason games, like saying “I didn’t think the Jets O-Line looked good.”
I will respond, “What line?” They played three different combinations – first-string, second-string and then a mix of different guys.
You can’t make general statements about position groups in preseason games. In the regular season – absolutely. But not in the preseason.
And that certainly applies to the Jets’ secondary.
The starting secondary – well at least four of the five players – played the first series and Eli Manning was 1-3 for three yards. Then that unit was done for the night. I’m talking about cornerbacks Daryl Roberts, Trumaine Johnson and Brian Poole along with safeties Jamal Adams and Rontez Miles. The reason I said four of five starters is that Miles is just filling in until Marcus Maye comes back. I consider slot corner Poole a starter because the Jets play nickel defense so much.
Then the backup units, the second string and the mix-and-match unit that followed, really struggled. The prolific night for the Giants passing game came after the Jets’ starting unit left.
One thing I didn’t get, and I tweeted this last night, was why Gregg Williams had rookie free agent safety Santos Ramirez with the second-team defense against Jones and the Giants’ starting offense. Jones came in for Manning, but the rest of the unit were Giants’ offensive starters. Ramirez has potential, but why was he on the second-team ahead of Doug Middleton? I have tremendous respect for Williams, but to me, this made little sense. And Jones 12-yard TD pass to Benny Fowler was on Ramirez.
When you have Miles and Ramirez playing together, you essentially a playing two box safeties.
In the long-run, this won’t matter much. This was just the first preseason game, but I have no idea what Ramirez was ahead of Middleton, and it might have cost the Jets on this drive.
So the bottom line is the Jets’ pass coverage issues last night was with their backup secondary players.
A number of backup corners had a rough night, including Parry Nickerson, who really struggled.
Training camp standout Kyron Brown was average, but remember, this was his first ever NFL game, and a corner coming from Akron, in the MAC, to the NFL, is a huge jump. Brown is so smart and instinctive, I think he will learn from the experience and play better as the preseason progresses.
As for the Jets’ starting secondary (at least 4/5ths of it), it’s hard to praise them too much for one series – a three-and-out. There are still come questions marks about this unit, aside from Adams, and we will find out more when the play more, especially in the third preseason game, the dress rehearsal for the regular season, against Drew Brees.
August 9, 2019
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