Anleitungen » The New York Jets have been in search of quality players

at the defensive edge for what seems an eternity. The last top edge rusher the Jets had at the position was John Abraham.Abraham last played for the Jets in 2005. Since then the team has been wandering in the wilderness when it comes to edge rushers.When Rex Ryan took over the team in 2009 the team improved the pass rush Cheap Spencer Long Jersey , but it was mostly based on scheme and Rex’s aggressive and creative blitz packages. The Jets, to the puzzlement of many fans, largely ignored the edge position in the draft and in free agency. They tried to make something out of a holdover from the prior regime, former first round pick Vernon Gholston. Unfortunately Gholston wasn’t very good at the game of football. The Jets chose Quinton Coples, a player too big and not explosive enough for the edge, in the first round of the 2012 draft, and they tried to turn Coples into an outside linebacker. That did not go well. In the end the Rex regime’s best edge rushers were guys like Calvin Pace and Bryan Thomas. These were solid NFL players, good at setting the edge and stopping the run, but they were not well suited to bring maximum pressure on the quarterback.When the Rex regime finally was ushered out of New York and a new general manager and head coach in Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles were welcomed in, there was hope that the Jets might finally manage to find a top pass rusher on the edge. Alas, it was not to be. The new regime has been much like the old regime when it comes to edge rushers, patching together the edge with mid round draft picks and discards from other teams, hoping to find some diamonds in the rough. It has not worked. It has not worked, that is, until 2018.Yes, I can hear the derisive laughter in the room. I can feel the waves of utter disdain. Coming into the 2018 season I thought, as many of you may have, that this might well be the worst group of edge rushers in the NFL. On one side the Jets had Jordan Jenkins, a third round selection from the 2016 NFL draft and a solid player against the run, but a guy who did not represent much of a threat to opposing quarterbacks. Jenkins is something of a poor man’s Calvin Pace. On the other side, well, who knew? It was going to be whomever emerged from the usual Jets odd assortment of flotsam, washouts from other organizations, failed prospects, has beens and never weres. It was not, in short, an inspiring group from which to find somebody to instill fear in opposing quarterbacks. If the Jets strategy was to find the proverbial diamond in the rough http://www.jetscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-morris-claiborne-jersey , well, it didn’t get much rougher than the 2018 options to man the Jets edge position opposite Jenkins.There was Brandon Copeland, a washout from the Detroit Lions organization and a player who in two prior NFL seasons had pieced together a grand total of two quarterback hits and half a sack. There was Jeremiah Attaochu, a former second round pick of the Los Angeles Chargers who in four prior NFL seasons had managed more than two sacks and more than four quarterback hits exactly once. There was Frankie Luvu, an undrafted free agent rookie who failed to make the team in September and started out on the practice squad. And there was Tarell Basham, a former 2017 third round pick of the Indianapolis Colts whom the Colts gave up on after just one season in the NFL. This was the unlikely group of misfits from whom the 2018 Jets sought to produce an edge rush.Somehow, out of this group of nobodies, a decent edge rush has emerged. I know, you don’t believe it. So how about if I lay a few numbers on you and see if maybe you change your mind, if only just a little? That sound good?Lets start with this. In nine games in 2018 that group of edge rushers has quietly put together 10.5 sacks, 29 quarterback hits and 13 tackles for loss. That means these guys as a group have hit the opposing quarterback about 3.2 times per game. That’s about once every eleven times the opposing quarterback drops back to pass. Does that sound a bit better than you expected coming into the year?Let’s take a look at how this group of edge rushers holds up to previous groups over the last dozen or so years. I know, I know, that’s a bit like looking for the fastest snail, but hey, you gotta start somewhere to put these numbers into context. Would you be surprised if I told you the 10.5 sacks the 2018 group has posted in nine games is more than the 2017 group put together the entire year? How about if I told you the 2018 group has already surpassed the full season totals for the 2016 and 2015 teams as well? OK, the competition isn’t great, but at least it represents progress, right?Now let’s get to some really juicy stats. The 2018 group has 29 quarterback hits in the first nine games of the season. That is more than the 2017 group had for the entire season. And the 2016 group. And the 2015 group. And it gets better. The 2018 group prorates to 19 sacks and 52 quarterback hits over a 16 game season if they keep up the same pace. Both the 19 sacks and the 52 quarterback hits would be the most any Jets group has achieved in the last dozen years. In fact, the 52 quarterback hits would annihilate every other group fielded by the Jets since John Abraham left. The most quarterback hits any Jets group of edge rushers has achieved since the departure of Abraham was 38, by the last Jets team Rex Ryan ever coached in 2014. That group was Calvin Pace, Quinton Coples, Jason Babin and Antwan Barnes.OK, so maybe I’ve convinced you this group is the fastest snail, so to speak. But compared to other NFL teams they still kinda stink, right? Well, maybe not so much.According to Pro Football Focus, Brandon Copeland and Jordan Jenkins rank 31st and 33rd Cheap Jamal Adams Jersey , respectively, among the 65 NFL edge rushers with the most pass rushing snaps this season in Pass Rush Productivity (PRP), a metric that combines sacks, quarterback hits and quarterback pressures (as judged by PFF personnel), weights sacks more heavily than hits or pressures, then produces a per pass rush number that purports to measure how productive each player is on a per pass rush basis. 31st and 33rd certainly doesn’t sound dominant, but it also doesn’t sound like the dregs of the league. Basically the Jets, as evaluated by Pro Football Focus, have two NFL average starting edge rushers. The Jets are one of only nine teams to have two edge rushers in the top 33 in PRP among the 65 edge rushers with the most pass rush snaps this season. That sounds, well, not bad at all, right? And even better, both Frankie Luvu and Jeremiah Attaochu, tworotational players who don’t play enough snaps to rate among the top 65 edge rushers in terms of pass rush snaps, in limited action have PRP numbers better than either Copeland or Jenkins.Now, none of this shows the 2018 Jets group of edge rushers is anywhere near elite. No offensive coordinators are kept up late at night sweating out how in the world they can manage to stop the Jets juggernaut of sheer pass rushing terror. The Jets shouldn’t give up their search for a really great edge rusher because they already have what they need in house. No, this group isn’t great. But it isn’t bad, and its production, given preseason expectations, has been surprising, in a good sort of way. And in a season where not a lot has gone the Jets way, this pleasant surprise built out of the wretched refuse of the NFL’s teeming shores is a little something to enjoy for Jets fans understandably upset by much of what they see. It seems the Jets have found an edge, and in the most unlikely of places. I’ll be straight with you, this was the hardest game I’ve ever had to rewatch. Towards the middle of the second half, I literally had to leave and get a slice of pizza despite not being hungry because it was painful to watch. I haven’t had this much trouble forcing myself to finish something on TV since Bojack Horseman released its new season (okay, that was pretty recent, but prior to that Cheap Isaiah Crowell Jersey , let’s say the movie Compliance.) Watching live, somewhere around the end of the first half, I thought to myself, “The Jets are going to find a way to lose this game.” I’m not psychic, I’m not a pessimist, but I have watched enough of this Bowles/Maccagnan show to know that this team does not play complete games over 4 quarters, and no lead is safe. Just to drive the knife in deep, it had to be a 2 game losing streak heading into a week and a half without anything to wash the taste out of watching Baker Mayfield torching the Jets while Sam Darnold played miserably even by rookie standards. All you can do is hope that things will get better (thank goodness we get to play a team that narrowly missed the Super Bowl coming off a surprise loss.) Let’s just move on:Bronze Star: RB Bilal Powell (14 rushes for 73 yards)I have to admit, I’m a little biased with Powell. When he was drafted by the Jets, I misheard his name as Colin Powell and I’ve loved shouting Colin Powell! at the screen every time he gets the ball. That said, I’ve never really understood why the guy doesn’t get more love and why it always seems as though the Jets are trying to avoid giving him the ball. Even in a game where the offense totally imploded, Powell averaged over 5 yards per carry when he got the ball. He’s never averaged under 4 yards per carry in a season (not counting his rookie season with 13 totes) and his career average sits around 4.5 yards, which is better than some great backs like Le’Veon Bell, Frank Gore or Marshawn Lynch. He has 3 career fumbles (one as a rookie) one 742 carries and 199 receptions. I can’t remember him ever dropping a pass and he can be dangerous if you overlook him. He also pass protects quite well. This has turned into a love letter to Bilal Powell, but it’s really just because I don’t want to talk about the Browns game. Fine, on to the Silver Star.Silver Star: LB Darron Lee (7 tackles)Though he was part of a group that contributed to the second half collapse, Lee looked great during the first half. He had a couple of stuffs, got into the backfield when needed, and wasn’t a liability in coverage. Not many other players stood out, so he gets second billing. That’s really all there is to it. Gold Star: LB Avery Williamson (7 tackles, 1.5 sacks)This was a pretty good showing for Williamson, but considering how lethargic the rest of the team looked, that is easily enough to win a gold star. He looked pretty good even during the Jets second half collapse and managed to get pretty good pressure when rushing the passer. I really wish I could say more, but that’s about all I’ve got for our top performer. That speaks volumes about this game. So there you have it, three weeks in and the table stands:Darron Lee 4 points (2 silver)Avery Williamson 3 points (1 gold)Quincy Enunwa 3 points (1 gold)Andre Roberts 3 points (1 gold)Jamal Adams 3 points (1 silver, 1 bronze)Bilal Powell 2 points (2 bronze)