And assuming we do have depth issues this year having Darrelle Revis on the field isn't going to help much because if the backups are toast they will be toast with him on the field or without him. Great QB's go find the weak link and exploit it, that's why they're great.
Focusing only on the starters ignores the frequency teams now see opponents go to multiple receiver threats. Bottom line is if you want to rise above the average, to contend for the SB, defend against the top passing attacks, You need more than the Jets have right now. This upsets me a good deal, but I can't drink the Kool Aide that says the Jets are fine at cb right now. They aren't.
It won't be the same backups, though, if Revis is on the field. You go from having Cole/Lowery in the nickle and Cole AND Lowery in the dime to Wilson in the nickel and Wilson and Lowery/Cole in the dime. It's a huge difference. In the latter, there's no way Coleman EVER sees the field, either.
All the Jets needed was for Strickland to stay healthy and they'd have been able to blitz the safeties more. Adding Cromartie and Wilson is overkill unless one of them gets hurt. The Jet's secondary on the field last night in the first quarter was already better than the Jet's secondary after Strickland went down. It might well have been better than the Jets secondary before Strickland went down. It certainly handled Eli better than the Jets last year handled Peyton after the first series.
In the roles you'e describing everybody is good enough at their role except for Coleman. Wilson in the nickel is overkill by a mile. If Revis was here that'd be a wonderful luxury to have but it's no reason to pay somebody at the level Revis is demanding when his actual value in terms of wins is much lower. Cornerbacks as a group are way overpaid in the NFL at this point and Aso's deal is just off the charts stupid in terms of return for the dollar.
Wilson in the nickel is a one season fix, though. If he plays well, Cromartie likely doesn't get re-signed next season. Or perhaps he does...we all know how much Ryan loves corners. I don't disagree with the latter statement at all. No corner should be making more than $10 million per season. However, I don't see that as a reason not to pay Revis a fair market (not Aso market) value of $12 million when he's so integral to Rex's defense.
I don't think the secondary was better than before Strickland went down. Revis > Cromartie Wilson = uproven rookie. Jets also had Lito Shepard, who as old as he was was imo better than Lowery. Are Cro and Wilson > Revis, Strickland and Lito? I don't think so. Plus that's not the real question. The real question is this a SB caliber group of corners? No.
I'm stealing from Br4dw4y a little here, but I agree with him. It is yet to be seen what Cromartie can do in this defense playing the Revis role. I'm not saying Cromartie is better than Revis, but with his athletic ability it is not out of the realm of possibility that he comes up with a boatload of INT's (and some TD's) when the QB is pressured into making quick throws his way. He nearly had 2 last night.
I disagree. A little history is in order. The Cover 2 defense was the darling for quite some time up until recently. Emphasis on the ability of corners to play man were seen as not so important as doing your assignments in the coach's scheme of zone coverage. Players like Revis allow coaches to look back to a D like the Raiders had when they had Lester Hayes and Michael Haynes, two corners who could play man all day long. Those two allowed the team to forego double coverage on either of their opponent's two best receivers. This allowed the D to bring more players to other assignments, including blitzing. And this is what the Jets' D under Ryan has become, a team that uses the ability to play man at cb to make the whole rest of the D more flexible, confusing and effective. Aso's contract may be off the charts, but teams have been revving up the passing attack, and the best way to counter is to have cb's who can handle man coverage. It's the game today.
Revis doesn't want that deal. You can't make a player take a fortune these days when he's decided he's worth more than a fortune. My basic point in all of this is that the Jets cornerbacks are good enough with or without Revis. The fault line on talent at the position is the 6th or 7th guy, not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd. The Jets have several guys who can handle the nickel in a committee depending on who the slot receiver is on the other team. When Welker is the slot guy you either put Wilson there, leaving one of the other guys with safety help on the second receiver, or you somebody on Welker close to the line of scrimmage, bump him and head for the QB releasing him to a safety. In either case if Brady gets 4-5 seconds to throw the ball he'll pick the Jets apart. That would be true with Revis, Cromartie and Wilson as the three defensive backs also. Tannenbaum is right. The Jets need another cornerback in the absence of Revis. Not a starter or even a nickel, they need a guy who is better than Drew Coleman to make sure the Coleman isn't on the field if (when) an injury happens.
I may be wrong, but I think his point is - exactly what benefit have the Raiders got back from giving Aso that huge contract? They still lose 10+ games every year.
I don't consider myself either an optimist or a pessimist. But as good as those plays were, I watched them and thought Revis makes at least one of those catches. Or more to the point they would have thrown it elsewhere. The question in any event and I don't understand why you optimists don't see it is not whether Cromartie can approach Revis's talent. We know he doesn't hit like Revis, but even if he did, that's not the question. The question is will this group of corners be an upgrade over last year, making for a SB caliber group? Without Revis, I am afraid the answer is no.
Now you are talking about something else. I don't think the Jets should give that kind of deal to Revis, for a number of reasons. I am simply saying this team is not as good as it could be with Revis in there.
Point to the history that says great cornerbacks get you to the Super Bowl. You won't find it recently. Really you won't find it at all. Deion Sanders chose to join two teams that had already won Super Bowls and got there with them again. From that somehow people took the false lesson that a shutdown cornerback was important to winning it all. None of the last 5 Super Bowl winners have had a shutdown cornerback. This in the era in which shutdown corners are supposedly most valuable. Maybe you can argue that the Patriots dynasty had a shutdown corner in Ty Law but the Patriots gave up a LOT of yards in the air in the games they won. The reason they won 3 Super Bowls was because they had Tom Brady. Ty Law was incidental.
You are confusing me. How is this group good enough with or without Revis if you also say they need another corner? In any event I DON'T think Lowery is a good nickel.
Nope, and I would hope that Tanny doesn't offer him a dime more. If he wants to sit and kill his career, so be it. I actually feel fine about Lowery as the nickel, but as Cato pointed out last night, the coverage calls for some reason have remained with fixed man coverage rather than floating assignments. In other words, we saw Lowery on the outside far too often because the Giants simply dropped their #1 into the slot and shifted the #3 outside. Lowery was fine on Welker last season IIRC with Eric Smith helping out. I'm not disagreeing with you that our secondary COULD be fine without Revis. I just prefer seeing him out there, especially with Cromartie up for a new deal next offseason. Yep. And if Revis continues to make his outrageous demands, and the first team secondary continues to play well, we may see that happen.
I don't know. I do think if healthy it's better than the group Manning raped in the AFC Championship game that had Lowery starting on the outside. I also think that AFC Championship game is a lot different if Greene doesn't get injured, we have another true pass rusher like Jason Taylor, or we have another bad ass receiver like Holmes.
... like many of you, i believe revis will come in around the 12mil per mark and it will be a non-issue ... but if not ... ... lowery looked very shaky out there as 3rd cb ... ... would like to see an attempt at least to upgrade the nickel spot and bump lowery back to a dime backer ... l_j_r
