I'm kind of tired hearing about this scheme stuff, the talent on defense pretty much sucks. If you haven't been watching closely, the Jets have tried many different formations and they have all failed. The problems with the D-line and the LBs has been pretty much beaten to death, but as I mentioned on another board the defensive backfield really has me scratching my head. There is just complete disarray at every position. Beginning the year, I figured Dyson and Barrett would man the corners with Miller, Strait and D.Coleman rounding out the position, so I could justify the release of Mickens. Dyson has been serviceable (nothing special), while the rest have completely sucked. Strait is now gone after a stint at safety, Miller/Barrett can't cover me, and now we are looking to the likes of Poteat and a 175lb rookie to help improve the outside play. Not good. At safety, Kerry Rhodes has played solidly but he has not been the impact player many here have made him out to be. A couple of nice blitzes helped his cause early on, but I fear people will be on to him now. Still a nice player with huge upside. After him what do we have? I'm sorry but Erik Coleman has been very disappointing and I applaud the effort to get somebody else in there. Strait didn't work out, although I like the upside of Eric Smith, I'm not sure he is ready. What else is there, Rashad Washington?? Are his whopping 3 ST tackles enough to keep him on the roster? Oh well, just very disappointed with this defense, and unfortunately don't see any significant improvements happening this year. Again, I'm sick of hearing about the scheme; doesn't matter what scheme you run when the personnel sucks. Looks like we will need to wait until the offseason for a complete rebuild of this struggling unit. Most of the players on the squad now are interviewing for their future positions....
You think that Robertson looks out of place as our NT- wait until you throw him to the outside and he needs to not only shed blockers, but also rush the passer with greater frequency- he'll look worse than before. I'm firmly convinced that the only way you get something out of Robertson is if you put him in the 4-3 as one of your DT's, and place an established tackle next to him, in order to take away the double-teams he is seeing now.
My recommendations were based on the premise that Mangini will more than likely NOT change to the 4-3. While you won't get an arguement from me about Robertson being better suited for the 4-3, I completely disagree w/ the notion that he would be "worse" as a 3-4 DE. In fact, I don't even think he is playing that terribly. I hate Robertson but IMO (I went back to look at all the games to confirm this) the worst player on our defense is Kimo Von "Old" Hoffen by far. On most of the snaps he's been getting blown off the LOS by 5 yards before the QB even hands the ball off to. What makes it worst is that the majority of the time JV lines up right behind him. At 230 lb JV has a hard enough time fighting off his own blocks w/o having to deal w/ Von "Old" Hoffen's backside in his face. Most of the damage we've sustained against the run has been in that "bubble" between Robertson and Von "Old" Hoffen. More times than not Robertson can beat his blocker or at the very least hold at the POA; it's the double teams he struggles w/. Being on the outside should diminish the amount of double teams. Also, in a 3-4 the DEs are not the primary resources for the pass rush; it's the blitzing LBs mainly the one's on the outside.
I don't see why the 3-4 should be our future when our best defensive player, and arguably best player overall is a better fit for the 4-3.
What about this? (I hate those "should we take a look at this guy" threads so I thought I would post it here.) Chiefs cut Dalton; DT might be hot property on market Veteran defensive tackle Lional Dalton, who started 14 games for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2005, has been released, in part because the team wanted to create a spot for cornerback Michael Bragg, but also because he was not a good fit in a scheme that demands quicker linemen. Dalton Dalton, 31, could quickly generate interest around the league, because there are a number of teams looking for interior defenders. A ninth-year veteran, Dalton, at 6-feet-1 and 315 pounds, is a proven run-stopper. But he appeared in only two games for the Chiefs this season, because Edwards' defense is a one-gap scheme that places a premium on penetration. Dalton is more a classic, two-gap defender. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2621335
Right now Mangini is worried about what he wants to do for the future, not what he has to do to win games right now. He has 3-4 years to build his team his way, he's not going to waste 1 of them doing things the old way just because that's what players he has. The guys who last past this year will have 1 year of experience in the 3-4 that Mangini wants to run at the end of this season. Thats one year of experience that they would have if Mangini was running Herms old defence. It's a rebuilding year, suck it up and deal. Our Defence sucks, its going to suck until Mangini and the front office have another draft and free agency under their belt to get players in here who better fit the system.
