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For whatever reason, backup tight end Joel Dreessen, looked like Antonio Gates. But it might be unfair to blame the secondary for the TD. Dan breaks down the secondary.
Darrelle Revis had a good game in coverage, not tackling.
Andre Johnson, one of the NFL’s best receivers, finished the game with four catches for 32 yards, so clearly Revis did a terrific job on him.
Late in the first quarter, Darrelle Revis had airtight coverage down the right sideline on a deep pass to Johnson.
On the next play, Revis whiffed on RB Arian Foster on a sweep to the left side that gained five yards. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, both Revis and Kyle Wilson missed tackles on Foster on a pass to the left side that gained 14 yards.
The reason I said Revis was “good”, not “great” in coverage was he did give up an 11-yard reception to Dreessen, and he got very lucky in the second quarter. WR Kevin Walter surprisingly beat him down the right sideline and dropped a wide open pass that would have been a long gain.
Antonio Cromartie had a PD on an out to Walter on the left side to end the first possession.
Now to the Dreessen issues.
Brodney Pool gave up a 21-yard completion to Dreessen deep down the right side in the first quarter. Dreessen beat Eric Smith for a gain of 31-yards early in the fourth quarter down the deep middle. I know Smith doesn’t have the best speed, but if he can’t keep up with a 250-pound tight end, that is a problem.
And of course, there was the 43-yard touchdown to a wide open Dreessen down the deep left side. There was nobody near him.
Let me talk about that play for a minute. Clearly, Jason Taylor was supposed to cover Dreessen. Now if you want to make the argument that he shouldn’t be covering Dreessen, like Jim Leonhard said, that is fair.
But here is my issue with Taylor on the play. I know he might have trouble running with a tight end at the age of 36, but he wasn’t even near him. He stopped running with Dreessen in the middle of the route. I don’t know what he was thinking. He wasn’t going to get safety help because both Leonhard and Eric Smith blitzed. Jason, give it your best shot, if he beats you because you can’t run with him, people will understand, but don’t stop in the middle of the route.
And the double safety blitz was another issue on this play. Because the Jets pass rush is so poor right now, they have to jeopardize their coverage on a regular basis with these kind of defensive back blitzes.
So it’s unfair to blame the secondary for the blown Dreessen coverage. It was clearly Taylor’s assignment.
Kudos to safety James Ihedigbo for two impressive special teams tackles. This guy is a playmaker, and they should use him more on defense. Maybe he can help cover tight ends. He is a 220-pound safety.
Pool led the team with seven tackles, which shows you what a bad job the Jets did on Foster (running and receiving) because he was constantly getting to the last line of defense.