Jets Defensive Line Was Best in the League in 2016 at Contacting Rushers

[JiFtheOracle]

Jets Defensive Line Was Best in the League in 2016 at Contacting Rushers

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by John B  Jun 5, 2017, 1:00pm EDT

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It was a disappointing year for the Jets in 2016, particularly on the defensive line. Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson turned in underachieving years. In all of the doom and gloom, Pro Football Focus notes one thing the line did well, contacting ball carriers.

 

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Many of these plays resulted in tackles. Even those that didn't tended to force rushers to slow down their progress. It's easier to run the football when you have space to run.

It is a credit to the guys up front to post such robust numbers even after losing arguably the league's top shutdown run defender in Damon Harrison to free agency. Leonard Williams' emergence certainly helped here, and Sheldon Richardson chipped in more than you would expect in an otherwise forgettable season.

 

There isn't much you can say good about the 2016 Jets, but they did maintain their status as an excellent run defending team.

 

 

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[JiFtheOracle]

See SOJF's, it's not that bad in Jets land. 

[section314]

And people complain that we have three first rounders on the D line. 

[JiFtheOracle]

1 minute ago, section314 said:

And people complain that we have three first rounders on the D line. 

Creating so much contact...

[section314]

5 minutes ago, JiF said:

Creating so much contact...

And you and I were debating last week that there is no plan here.

[Powpow]

Too bad its not two hand touch.

[j4jets]

No offense wanted to go up against our D last year. 

[southparkcpa]

17 minutes ago, Powpow said:

Too bad its not two hand touch.

At times it looked like it......

we suck. 

[Powpow]

16 minutes ago, j4jets said:

No offense wanted to go up against our D last year. 

True. They couldn't handle laughing so hard at the game film the prior week.

[Integrity28]

Reminds me of the good ol' Rex years, where the team was an abomination, but if you dig deep enough there's a statistical category that we were best at - it was mostly irrelevant - but we were the best at it. So, tout it.

[Beerfish]

The Jets have been excellent at run stopping for years now.

This is a passing league.

 

[Scott Dierking]

Not trying to ruin a good thing here, but, isn't contacting a runner separate from actually tackling a runner?

[flgreen]

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After two seasons, @nyjets defensive end Leonard Williams is already among the elite in terms of disruption on the interior

 

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[Integrity28]

19 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

The Jets have been excellent at run stopping for years now.

This is a passing league.

 

Being  the best at stopping the thing nobody tries to do - play like a Jet!

[Integrity28]

18 minutes ago, Scott Dierking said:

Not trying to ruin a good thing here, but, isn't contacting a runner separate from actually tackling a runner?

Yes, but theoretically, first contact is a precursor to being stopped/tackled. Which is why RBs with monstrous yards after contact are actually quite important, and why Belicheat went out and got Rex Burkhead and Mike Gillislee. 

[jmat321]

So one of the best defenses in the box, defending the run.  Too bad modern OCs spread the field and prefer to move the ball via the forward pass.

[faba]

Ok how about the pass defense and rushing the passer- fail

[ASH1962]

Yes they are great at contacting ball carriers, to invite them to dinner or to their kinds birthday party, that's about it.

I guess I can sort of understand grasping for anything positive regarding the Florham Park mess, but honestly, I really wish some posters here would stop accepting the utter mediocrity of this team and organization by calling those of us that hate losing and hate what has gone on here "SOJF's". If anyone needs a detailed explanation of exactly what a "SOJF" is, I would be happy to explain it to you. It amazes me that those who call others "SOJF" love and support this HC and see no problem with the job he has not done over the last 2 years. Unreal, and I am a SOJF. LOL.

[peebag]

bottom line - 5-11.

[Bugg]

1 hour ago, j4jets said:

No offense wanted to go up against our D last year. 

Stats like this are not in a vacuum. Offenses that  can pass effectively had no problem vs. the jets. Also given they were on the field all day thanks to a putrid Jet offense, later in games the defense wore out. And also there were a mess of games where the Jets offense was practically noncompetitive so the 4th quarter was a clock-running plunge into said line to get it down to zero. We know Williams is a great player, but there's no pass rush and the coverage was awful. So why bother running anyway.

[Bleedin Green]

So basically, the Jets DL were the best at getting to second base.

[Bleedin Green]

1 hour ago, Scott Dierking said:

Not trying to ruin a good thing here, but, isn't contacting a runner separate from actually tackling a runner?

I was thinking the same thing, and after a quick look they apparently landed #4 in terms of YPC allowed (at 3.7 YPC).  The Seahawks (3.4) and Cardinals (3.6) both passed the Jets in that category, as well as the Harrison-led Giants (3.6).  So they essentially seemed to do a pretty good job of making tackles after contact in the run game, but obviously not the best at that part, which isn't so surprising when you consider the LBs and DBs start to come into play with that.

[rex-n-effect]

Obviously not meaningful to the most important stat but it does lend a very good argument why not paying a premium at DT to retain Snacks made sense. I like Snacks and he is worth what he is paid but it wasn't a cost we needed to absorb. 

[BurnleyJet]

If only it was 1975..

[JetPotato]

Oh good. Now all we need is a time machine so we can play games back when the running game mattered.

[Powpow]

1 hour ago, peebag said:

bottom line - 5-11.

No that would be beyond expectations line. 

[thebuzzardman]

By the time the Jets figure out it's a passing league and solve that problem, the NFL will have switched back to a running attack in a big way

[Guilhermezmc]

Well, you have 3 first rounders in that line.

 

[jpoppy717]

Also were #1 in run D per Football Outsiders https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef

But unfortunately #31 in pass D

 

[dbatesman]

Disgusting that we just let Snacks walk SMDH

[Tony MaC]

12 minutes ago, dbatesman said:

Disgusting that we just let Snacks walk SMDH

Evidently we're fine without his input.

I love the train of misery going on. "hey here's a positive stat to bring up in the boring part of the football year! Let's sh*t on it because we're grumpy as **** about the bad things!"

With Williams and Wilk here long term rush defense should always be a strength. Pass rush statistics should go up this year as the latter gets completely over his injury this time. I think that last year was a fluke for Wilk, he'll be back in form this time. Oh and Richardson will probably play well too now that the terrible experiment at OLB is over and he's playing for a contract. (which he'll get elsewhere while we reap a comp pick)

[Jet9]

4 hours ago, dbatesman said:

Disgusting that we just let Snacks walk SMDH

With the amount of things you shake your damn head about you might want to enter the JN Concussion Protocol.