Agreed - you cannot fuck with groin injuries until they are fully healed. It would be nice to have him back for playoffs.
I'm surprised the Jets secondary doesn't play better as a unit. Revis shuts down one side of the field and I rarely see Rhodes get beat. I guess a lot of it is Dwight Lowery and our other corners getting picked on as well as the check down passes. Our line backers are big which really helps stopping the run but I also think it hurts the pass defense against the tight ends and the check downs to the RB's. We are a bit slow at the line backer position.
I'm not saying he isn't better than Bowens/Spencer because he definitely is. I don't think he's particularly good in coverage.
Does anyone else notice the decline in sacks since Harris got hurt? Harris is a baller, no doubt. But this Bowens guy certainly has held his own in Harris' absence, aside from the first drive against the Bills.
You're talking about sacks, I'm talking about tackles in general. Harris was piling up ridiculous numbers last season in a very short period of time. People ran the ball down the Jets throats all the time. You don't see any connection there? Give a guy enough opportunities and he's going to get some tackles behind the LOS. Harris is a good player, probably a future PB'er, but expecting him to put up the kind of numbers he did last season with a rush defense like we have this season isn't realistic, healthy or not.
My goodness, I can't believe there is no love for Bowens. Unless I missed it I think it was 15 posts in until he was even mentioned. Most of what has been said has been negative. The guy has played great. No he is not as good as Harris, who is not good in coverage, but is an outstanding ILB. Bowens is bad in coverage, but has been outstanding against the run, which he wasn't supposed to be, and brings a solid inside pass rush. He also is a good OLB, and a good situational DE. He's the kind of player that makes good teams great. You can lose an very good player for a month, and your Defense doesn't fall apart. Parcells used to talk about the value of role players that make good teams Champions. Bowens is a good example of that. With that said this will be a better team when Harris is healthy. Right now Bowens is playing more then well enough to let the kid heal 100% for the playoffs.
I should probably not have quoted you with that other idiotic statement. However, you obviously missing the point. You can say omg they ran on the Jets all day long that is the reason why he had huge numbers. Great awesome spectacular. Then he shouldnt have had any sacks. The fact that he frees up Pace, Barton, Thomas and Bowens makes him pretty freaking important, not too mention makes the defense much better. What you are saying is he is that he only racked up tackles because "they were running down our throats". Fine great I never disputed tackle numbers. In fact I can give a rats ass, Harris was still the leading tackler at the time of his injury whether it was 50 or 150. He is a vital cog to this D by his coverage, his ability to rush the passer from the middle which adds a vital dimension, his run stopping ability and his overall toughness which is overlooked as well. I lumped you in with the guy that said all he does is stop the run which was so monumentally stupid almost made my head explode.....
I agree 100% Harris role has changed. Last season the NT was being thrown to the ground a lot. Jenkins has changed that. Last season Harris' role was to make the big play. This season his role is to fill the holes that 3 OL have to abandon to successfully block Jenkins. Who still makes big plays. Before his job was to make the big plays. Now his job is to cover Jenkins butt. That's not been needed much. His effectiveness is still going to be high, his numbers are not. Be happy
The defense the Jets run is supposed to make inside linebackers look good. I'm not taking anything away from Harris or Bowens, but pretty much the whole point of the defense is to get the ball carrier to the inside linebacker to make the play. Harris is a really good linebacker, but he needs to improve his pass coverage. Jenkins, Revis, Rhodes, and then Harris/Ellis are right there next.
sure our D is great now, but just wait til Harris gets back healthy...well be even better at stopping the run and get beat less underneath...i really hope he gets back soon but only if he is 100%..i agree u should not play through any groin problem unless it is 100%
I hope Harris's return will be similar to Bob Sanders return to the Colts in their '06 SB year... The Colts were a great team that year but could not stop the run at all(I think they were dead last in the league)...when Bob Sanders came back they were a different team...they shut down L.Johnson and the chiefs and held up to win the SB... Our pass D could potentially cost us down the road...Harris may not be the best pass covering LB but his presense may free up others to rush the passer or create some intangible that helps the D...I can only hope....
Abram Elam is pretty legit this year, it really surprised me, but I did notice he had brief sparks of excellence last year, hopefully he keeps it up
yeah you guys are dumb, he is a WAYY better passrusher than Bowens. Thats the difference. Bowens can stop the run, but if you ask him to rush the passer or run with a te, no dice. If we beat Ne and Ten without him, we can beat denver, but we need him back before the playoffs start
He's been rolled to the opposite side of Revis- giving Lowery, and now Law, deep help all year. That's one of the reasons that, despite Lowery's major struggles, he has seldom been beaten deep. Without a safety of Rhodes' caliber behind him, we would have given up many, many more big plays this season- I can guarantee that... With Rhodes there, QBs rarely even try to throw the deep ball. In fact, QBs test Revis deep more often (we're talking like once a game, not often at all) than they test Rhodes Rhodes has been as good as ever this season.
You're not right about Bowens. He can't run with TEs, but neither can Harris. That's been the weak part of our LBs from the start. The one thing we gave up with the transition from Vilma to Harris was that coverage ability. And Bowens has not been that effective rushing the passer from the ILB position, but he is still one of our best passrushers when starting at the LOS- either as an OLB or a DE. He has some of the best technique I've seen on this team, and a non-stop motor. One reason I'd like to see Harris back, is because then we'll have Bowens' versatility at our disposal. Kenyon Coleman cannot get after the passer at all- and as such, last season and early this season, we saw Bowens getting reps at his spot on passing downs, and making tons of big plays. With Harris back in the lineup, we're free to move Bowens around, keep our run-stoppers fresh, and have a great weapon available to focus on rushing the QB
