Lack Of Team Defensive Speed; Communication
The lack of communication piece of it has been mentioned many times this past week. In-house, communication (or busts, as Todd Bowles puts it) seems to be the culprit that all involved are pointing to for their issues, via Connor Hughes of NJ.com:
“It’s really not miscommunication,” said Bowles after more than a handful of his players described it as miscommunication. “That’s probably the wrong choice of word. You can call it busts. Sometimes it’s not miscommunication when there’s only one guy involved.
“I’ve seen certain plays like that that I’ve coached the secondary. I don’t know if there’s been as many at the same time, but overall during the year you’ve seen certain plays like that. We’ve had way too many.”
Unfortunately, it’s much more than communication. New York lacks true speed in the secondary.
Darrelle Revis, the future hall of famer, is a rather slow cornerback. Calvin Pryor moves like a linebacker. Buster Skrine, as quick as he appears to be, is only a little above average in the speed department.
In knowing this, either Bowles needs to adjust by throwing more speed on the field, or the communication better be on point. Against Andy Dalton and A.J. Green in Week 1, it sure wasn’t:
Showing a single-high safety look, something the Jets love to do, Bowles had a straight Cover 3 on. Essentially, the Bengals ran a two man route on the play fake.
Darrelle Revis’s first read was Green. Marcus Williams‘s first read was the opposite receiver. Marcus Gilchrist is playing deep middle-third.
The result? All three of them were at fault on this play.
Gilchrist winds up as the top culprit once he chased the deep dig. But Williams never should have allowed his man such separation in the middle of the field. The reason is simple: nobody else came into his deep third zone.
If his second read, which is undoubtedly the tight end, doesn’t enter his zone, Williams should continue to chase his first read to the middle. Because he was so open, Gilchrist jumped it.
Revis, while he expected deep help, also had no reason to allow Green such separation. Nobody was even near his deep third. This means Revis should’ve had hand-on-hip contact with Green the entire play.
It was a lazy football play all the way around for the Jets secondary, and if it doesn’t get fixed this week in Pittsburgh, kiss 2016 goodbye.
