David Harris

[hoping4ASuperBowl]

Where art thou? I have to say this is the first week I think his presence was sorely missed. The Broncos running game took off and we had trouble all game stopping it. I really hope Harris is back next week.

[Bugg]

He was inactive, still not ready.

Unrelated-Eric Barton once again shows himself to be a stupid,selfish unthinking dope. And a dope that cannot cover a TE to save his life. Playing the Jets' pass offense this year is Career Day for NFL tight ends.

[Blackout]

he's the man

[dbatesman]

We need Harris back bad. We all know that he helps stop the run, but the more I think about it, the more I come to think that he's the key to pressuring the QB as well.

My reasoning:

1. Harris isn't a great coverage LB (far from it), but he generally gets coverage responsibilities on TEs over the middle. Without him, that job falls to Bowens (who is an abortion in coverage) or, more often, to an OLB--who now has to worry about coverage instead of getting upfield after the QB. I never thought I'd say this, and Chan will give me a well-deserved ration of shyte about it, but here it is: we need David Harris in coverage.

2. Because our other LBs (especially ILBs) are terrible against the pass, we can't put them out there in coverage too often, so we constantly have to sub into nickel and dime packages, as we did today. With more DBs out there, there's less potential for blitzing and less guesswork (and more time) for opposing QBs. Also, every DB we have not named Revis or Rhodes is absolute garbage, so that doesn't help.

3. Harris strengthens the run D, putting opposing teams into 3rd-and-long scenarios. Watching Peyton Hillis (who?) run roughshod over our D today was painful. I kept daydreaming about Harris filling the hole and stuffing his helmet right into Hillis's gut. Bowens is a solid player, but he simply doesn't shed blocks or tackle as well as Harris, giving opposing offenses an advantage in down-and-distance.

Frustrated that we're constantly seeing Pace and Thomas in coverage? Me too. It's not a coincidence that we've seen it more often lately. We still need to upgrade our secondary in a big big way this offseason, but hopefully getting Harris back will improve things down the stretch.

[CTM]

Meh, I hope your right. He's certainly better then the other two clowns, but I'd be surprised if he was the key to out pass rush..

I still think we could take our chances if Mangini wasn't such a girl scout. When we were playing the Rams he keep the dogs coming all game cause he had little to fear. Get him against the a dangerous offense and he reverts to the bend but don't break take no chances style of defense..

(btw, we actually did blitz some today)

[dbatesman]

Meh, I hope your right. He's certainly better then the other two clowns, but I'd be surprised if he was the key to out pass rush..

I still think we could take our chances if Mangini wasn't such a girl scout. When we were playing the Rams he keep the dogs coming all game cause he had little to fear. Get him against the a dangerous offense and he reverts to the bend but don't break take no chances style of defense..

(btw, we actually did blitz some today)

I think Harris is more the key to defensive flexibility/scheming than to the pass rush itself.

And I agree about Mangini...we're not bringing a lot of heat, and we're getting burned anyway. In that case, why not bring the heat?

[Jets Voice of Reason]

We need Harris back bad. We all know that he helps stop the run, but the more I think about it, the more I come to think that he's the key to pressuring the QB as well.

My reasoning:

1. Harris isn't a great coverage LB (far from it), but he generally gets coverage responsibilities on TEs over the middle. Without him, that job falls to Bowens (who is an abortion in coverage) or, more often, to an OLB--who now has to worry about coverage instead of getting upfield after the QB. I never thought I'd say this, and Chan will give me a well-deserved ration of shyte about it, but here it is: we need David Harris in coverage.

2. Because our other LBs (especially ILBs) are terrible against the pass, we can't put them out there in coverage too often, so we constantly have to sub into nickel and dime packages, as we did today. With more DBs out there, there's less potential for blitzing and less guesswork (and more time) for opposing QBs. Also, every DB we have not named Revis or Rhodes is absolute garbage, so that doesn't help.

3. Harris strengthens the run D, putting opposing teams into 3rd-and-long scenarios. Watching Peyton Hillis (who?) run roughshod over our D today was painful. I kept daydreaming about Harris filling the hole and stuffing his helmet right into Hillis's gut. Bowens is a solid player, but he simply doesn't shed blocks or tackle as well as Harris, giving opposing offenses an advantage in down-and-distance.

Frustrated that we're constantly seeing Pace and Thomas in coverage? Me too. It's not a coincidence that we've seen it more often lately. We still need to upgrade our secondary in a big big way this offseason, but hopefully getting Harris back will improve things down the stretch.

Great post.

I hope for all our sakes Harris returns healthy and productive. I don't know if he'll solve all of our problems, but he'll greatly improve us. Our defense is successful because they are a cohesive unit. Not a unit chock full of superstar athletes. Harris makes us a better defense overall.

[Thai Jet]

At one point during the game they mentioned that Denver's TE's had 11 catches. Good grief they were running wild and free out there.