flgreen Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Jets’ D-line straightens Jets Blog By BRIAN COSTELLO Last Updated: 5:34 AM, May 21, 2012 Posted: 1:41 AM, May 21, 2012 Jets defensive line coach Karl Dunbar worked under Nick Saban for a time at LSU. Last week Dunbar referred back to something his old boss used to say, as he discussed defensive end Quinton Coples, the Jets’ first-round pick. “He used to say, ‘Big guys are just like pretty women. There’s not a lot of them, and everybody wants them,’” Dunbar said. “You can’t find those guys everywhere.” Fortunately for Dunbar, who was hired in February, the Jets have made finding those guys and reshaping their defensive line a priority over the past two offseasons. The team drafted defensive ends with their first picks in each of the last two drafts, as they selected Coples this year and Muhammad Wilkerson in 2011. QUINTON COPLES Newest addition. “And I love it,” Dunbar said with a big smile. The makeover of the Jets defensive front began long before Dunbar arrived. After watching the Steelers gain 135 yards rushing in the first half of the 2010 AFC Championship, the Jets knew they had to get younger and more athletic up front. They made the unpopular decision to let end Shaun Ellis (34 years old last year) leave as a free agent and they also said goodbye to end Trevor Pryce (36) and rush linebacker Jason Taylor (37). Besides adding Wilkerson and Coples, the Jets also chose nose tackle Kenrick Ellis in the third round of last year’s draft and added linebacker Aaron Maybin to be an outside rusher early last season. When nose tackle Sione Pouha, the anchor of the line, was about to become a free agent in March, the team re-signed him to a three-year, $15 million deal. “If you want to have a good defense, you’ve got to have a good defensive front,” Dunbar said. “I think we have two of the better corners in the league. We have pretty good linebackers. It’s not to take away from any defensive linemen that were here before, but when you get a chance to get young, big athletic guys, you get them.” The Jets now feel like they have plenty of parts to mix and match up front and give offenses headaches. There has been speculation the Jets, traditionally a 3-4 team under Rex Ryan, could use more four-man fronts this year. Dunbar said the Jets will stick with what Ryan has always done, mixing in 4-3 with the 3-4 and using the 46 defense Ryan’s father, Buddy, made famous with the Bears. Dunbar played under Buddy and Rex Ryan with the Cardinals in 1994-95 when Buddy was the head coach and Rex coached the defensive line. “We’re going to do what they did last year,” Dunbar said. “We’re going to do what Rex has done his whole career. I was fortunate to play for him in Arizona. We did the same stuff. ... If you’ve got guys that can get on the field and be disruptive, you’re going to put them on the field.” The Jets hope they now have more than a few of those. brian.costello@nypost.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleedin Green Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 The DL is far and away the Jets deepest and strongest unit on the team, and with Rex and Dunbar coaching these guys, you know they're going to get everything possible out of these guys. Best of all, outside of Pouha this group is quite young, so it's a position for which they should be in good shape for quite a while. I don't think there's many questions left about Wilkerson after his rookie year and if Coples can become what he has the potential to be, it really could be a scary unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Mostro Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 This DL can cover up a lot of ills elsewhere in the defense -- and I believe we will perform better behind the line this season. I fully expect the D to do nothing short of wreaking havok this year. Better personnel + better coaching = good times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryno the Jet Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Dunbar may be the best offseason addition that the Jets have made. This guy played DT and has coached D-line his entire career. His predecessor was a DB, and I doubt players truly respected his coaching on technique. Dunbar comes in and already has the respect of his players. Devito was quoted as saying that Dunbar was one of the main reasons why he decided to accept a pay cut to stay with the Jets instead of being released. Getting a push from the upfront down lineman has been a weakness under Rex, except for the limited amount of time Jenkins was healthy. If the D can generate a pass rush with three or four guys up front, Rex's scheme becomes deadly. Look at the Bears D-linemen from the 85 season (chosen for obvious reasons): Richard Dent - 17 sacks, 1st team all pro, pro bowl, SB MVP, HOF 2011. Steve McMichael - 8 sacks, 1st team all pro. Dan Hampton - 6.5 sacks, pro bowl, HOF 2002. Fridge Perry - 5 sacks and 9 starts as a rookie. Sure Singletary and Marshall get a lot of credit, and deservedly so, but it was the D-Line that made the Bears so fearsome. Five HOF's came from that team; Ditka, Payton, Singletary, Hampton, and now Dent, which demonstrates the importance of the big guys up front in Ryan's scheme. All this, and the CBs on that team were nothing special. Imagine that same group with Revis and Cro...scary good. I realize the Jets front line is not the 85 Bears, but this should help everyone understand Rex's passion for D-linemen. Sure he likes CBs, and what defensive minded coach wouldn't love Revis, but Rex knows that the key to having a truly great defense starts up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flgreen Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Dunbar may be the best offseason addition that the Jets have made. This guy played DT and has coached D-line his entire career. His predecessor was a DB, and I doubt players truly respected his coaching on technique. Dunbar comes in and already has the respect of his players. Devito was quoted as saying that Dunbar was one of the main reasons why he decided to accept a pay cut to stay with the Jets instead of being released. Getting a push from the upfront down lineman has been a weakness under Rex, except for the limited amount of time Jenkins was healthy. If the D can generate a pass rush with three or four guys up front, Rex's scheme becomes deadly. Look at the Bears D-linemen from the 85 season (chosen for obvious reasons): Richard Dent - 17 sacks, 1st team all pro, pro bowl, SB MVP, HOF 2011. Steve McMichael - 8 sacks, 1st team all pro. Dan Hampton - 6.5 sacks, pro bowl, HOF 2002. Fridge Perry - 5 sacks and 9 starts as a rookie. Sure Singletary and Marshall get a lot of credit, and deservedly so, but it was the D-Line that made the Bears so fearsome. Five HOF's came from that team; Ditka, Payton, Singletary, Hampton, and now Dent, which demonstrates the importance of the big guys up front in Ryan's scheme. All this, and the CBs on that team were nothing special. Imagine that same group with Revis and Cro...scary good. I realize the Jets front line is not the 85 Bears, but this should help everyone understand Rex's passion for D-linemen. Sure he likes CBs, and what defensive minded coach wouldn't love Revis, but Rex knows that the key to having a truly great defense starts up front. Yep What a D-Line that was. If Wilkerson, Pouha, Ellis and Coples can contribute half what those guys did, with Revis and Cro behind them. I'm not even going to start thinking about it. This is the Jets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whodeawhodat Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 You control the line of scrimmage you control the game. Why I want to see us with 300 lb guards on offense and just roadgrade everything in front them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JiFtheOracle Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Dunbar said the Jets will stick with what Ryan has always done, mixing in 4-3 with the 3-4 and using the 46 defense Ryan’s father, Buddy, made famous with the Bears. Dunbar played under Buddy and Rex Ryan with the Cardinals in 1994-95 when Buddy was the head coach and Rex coached the defensive line. “We’re going to do what they did last year,” Dunbar said. “We’re going to do what Rex has done his whole career. I was fortunate to play for him in Arizona. We did the same stuff. ... If you’ve got guys that can get on the field and be disruptive, you’re going to put them on the field.” Weird. Feel like someone on this very board was saying nothing would change. Shhh, dont tell Smash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenorGato Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Coples is going to be a star. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaJetsFan Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I'm all fired up just thinking how bad a$$ the D will be this year!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow_monkey Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Look at the Bears D-linemen from the 85 season (chosen for obvious reasons): Richard Dent - 17 sacks, 1st team all pro, pro bowl, SB MVP, HOF 2011. Steve McMichael - 8 sacks, 1st team all pro. Dan Hampton - 6.5 sacks, pro bowl, HOF 2002. Fridge Perry - 5 sacks and 9 starts as a rookie. Sure Singletary and Marshall get a lot of credit, and deservedly so, but it was the D-Line that made the Bears so fearsome. Five HOF's came from that team; Ditka, Payton, Singletary, Hampton, and now Dent, which demonstrates the importance of the big guys up front in Ryan's scheme. All this, and the CBs on that team were nothing special. Imagine that same group with Revis and Cro...scary good. I realize the Jets front line is not the 85 Bears, but this should help everyone understand Rex's passion for D-linemen. Sure he likes CBs, and what defensive minded coach wouldn't love Revis, but Rex knows that the key to having a truly great defense starts up front. Don't forget Otis Wilson. He had 10 sacks in 85. With him and Marshall lining up on one side, and Dent on the other it's no wonder QB's soiled themselves when playing da bears. Don't get me wrong, I agree that their D-line was amazing. But with the 46 you need good passrushing LB's too, and we don't have that yet. But much of our d-line is still young. We can adress that in the next draft (I hope). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointman Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Two of the better corners in the league? Best tandem anywhere, noob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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