I've been waiting to see if Rex was going to try to get the spur and bandit action going. It's the logical evolution on defense as the spread becomes more commonplace and the passing defense rules are tightened up. 5 defensive backs but one is always in the box and basically roaming all over the place looking to wreak havoc unless the slot receiver or second tight end is in the game.
i'd like to see the nfl implement a rule where each team has to let the coach play at least one down in a game and it can't just be a busted play, a legit effort down. i'd love to see rex ryan and bill belichek go helmet to helmet.
I remember chatter last year regarding 3 safety alignments as a potential approach for spread offenses like NE's. If Kyle Wilson works at Safety (and i think he can), it opens the door for more flexibility. less defensive substitutions against the Pats, gives them less mismatches to expose repeatedly via the no huddle runs. i could see 4 Dlinemen, 2 ILB's, Landry creeping as the Spur, Wilson and Bush as the FS and Bandit. You can easily flip this personnel to traditional Nickel by spreading Wilson out to the slot when offenses utilize a Y receiver. Good pass rushers up front, plenty of coverage personnel in the secondary and still option of extra blitzers for the QB to deal with. Dare them to run and slow down the game.
If there's one thing I trust Rex on, it's defense. I see the Jets having at the very least a top 5 defense this season, maybe even top 3.
I personally was hoping to see 3-3-5 triple stack, with two SS/OLB tweeners on both sides of the FS; this idea never materialized. [As you could have guessed, 3-3-5 is my pet defensive scheme of the day these days. It's been that way for the past few years.]
The best way for the Jets to win this season is for Rex to coach this defense up to 2009 level. He has the personnel to do some really interesting things. I'm glad he's focusing on his strong suit and excited to see it play out on the field.
Rex has some interesting talent to work with this year. The main questions from my point of view are: 1. Who is the strong side LB? Can Coples actually pull that off or is Calvin Pace going to be the answer again? 2. Do the Jets have a reliable FS on the roster at this point? If there's a hole in centerfield then everything else becomes a bit shakier. 3. Who comes off the field for the 5th defensive back that Rex likes to use so often? Right now there are no logical removals in the front 7 if the Jets have Coples and Barnes both tagged as pass rushers, which they probably do. Pulling the NT opens the Jets up to a no-huddle attack running right at them. Pulling David Harris also weakens the Jets up the middle. DeMario Davis is supposed to be a coverage LB, so who comes off in that situation?
This could definitely work, especially if Kyle Wilson ends up playing safety. We know he can play very well as a slot corner. A pairing of Antonio Allen and Kyle Wilson would work very well together in this situation. Both would work as "hybrid" players at the safety position.
I'm not a defensive expert, but are we really suggesting that Coples can defend slot receivers - guys like Welker, Edelman? Really!?!
also, we have seen this look a few times going back to last season where the linebacker covers the slot guy underneath and the safety stays over the top, the problem has just been that there is no speed at lb to stay in between the line of sight of the receiver and the qb so we would get torched if we couldnt get the right personnel out there. hopefully our olb's this year will be fast enough to make that coverage work.
I would have to clear myself a little bit here. In terms of defensive system, there is a way to neutralize Patriots' offense already - Giants do that all the time. How they achieve that is rather simple: they let their front four rush Brady, and leave three deep coverage, with four shallow coverage. [One deep cover man is hedging - if the designated WR runs short, he becomes shallow defender, etc] This is possible if you know you have good pass rush out of the front four [which they do.] Up until last year, I did not think Jets front line had that kind of pass rushing prowess a la Giants. They are 3-4 after all; unless you are Bruce Smith, you don't go after the QB in 3-4. This was where my preference for 3-3-5 was born; Jets need a defender that can come in to stop the run [and not get blown away by blockers] and cover TEs. Interestingly, though, Jets are investing heavily on DL, making the previous point rather moot. Surely, good safeties in cover 4 shell is going to be a very effective tool, but [if the front four pans out] the safeties don't have to stress over defending the run and the pass as much. As such, when Jets drafted Richardson, that made things clear for me; Ryan is not going to attack with his DBs any more. He will do the things the way he usually does, via front four. [His 46 book will show you a clear picture about his preference toward the DL.] And this was the moment when I realized that 3-3-5 idea would not materialize. It remains to be seen whether it will be effective or not - but from the outlooks of it, the tactic is very promising [Giants are successful for years in that.] and with the amount of talent at the front four, I don't see why Jets can't pull that off either. Added bonus in this approach is that, [if successful] this tactic also kills any pass-heavy offense as well. Back to the topic: Thus, my hunch is that, if Brady starts his no-huddle attack, I doubt if Coples would be asked to cover a slot WR or TE. A better use of his talent is to let him go after Brady instead. So Jets complete 4-men rush with Wilk/Ellis/Richardson/Coples in that regard [You cannot win numbers game consistently with 3 going up against 5, no matter how talented your squad is.] DeMario Davis and David Harris would be both covering, along with Barnes. I would guess one of the safeties would be reading SCF, with two CBs taking out WR #1 and #2. The question mark comes with whether the LB corp can cover the shallow ground or not.
