The Eye in the Sky: Picking Apart the Jets Defense All-22 Breakdown

By: Matt Harmon
11/6/13

Everyone and their mother believed that this would be Rex Ryan’s last season as the Jets head coach. With an offense littered with question marks, and defense that saw its front office trade away the best cornerback of his generation, and maybe the best Jets defensive player of all time in Darrelle Revis, how could Ryan possibly succeed? Despite all the mitigating circumstances, Ryan has this team at 5-4 and is winning the way he always believed he could, on the back of his defense. This is not the same style of Jets defenses the NFL has seen in the early years of the Rex Ryan era. Let’s take a look at the film from their shocking upset win over the Saints to examine what is different, what is working, and how they could stand to get even better despite ranking in the top ten amongst defenses statistically.

1) The best nose tackle you have never heard of

One of the bigger questions facing the Jets defense in the offseason was who would man the nose tackle spot in Rex Ryan’s traditionally 3-4 defensive scheme. Longtime veteran starter Sione Pouha was released in March and 2011 third round pick Kendrick Ellis had never really asserted himself as a starting caliber player. Little did they know, they were sitting on a gold mine in a 2012 undrafted player out of William Penn University, Damon Harrison. The player teammates have nicknamed “Big Snacks” is ranked as Pro Football Focus’ fourth best interior defensive tackle and the highest ranked primarily 3-4 nose tackle on the list (subscription required). His emergence as a dominant player has changed this defensive front.
The best asset that Big Snacks brings to the table is his ability to command constant double teams. On this Pierre Thomas run, Harrison commands the attention of both the center and the left guard:

With Harrison taking up two offensive lineman, the other talented players in the Jets strong front seven are free to take advantage of one on one matchups. On this same play, rookie first round pick, Sheldon Richardson (more on him later), is able to easily beat the left tackle:

Richardson is able to use his impressive athleticism to track the running back down from behind and make the stop. Sheldon Richardson makes the play, but it is all set up by the attention Damon “Big Snacks” Harrison commands from the opposition.
However, do not let the fact that Harrison is an excellent run stuffer at the nose tackle position fool you into believing him to be a one-dimensional player. For a player listed at 350 plus pounds, Big Snacks shows surprising quickness when asked to rush the passer and is capable of taking advantage of guards one-on-one. On this pass play, the Jets align their defensive lineman in a wide formation and Harrison is lined up with former All-Pro right guard Jahri Evans:

Evans has long been regarded as one of, if not the best, guards in football. Harrison has absolutely no trouble beating Evans in a straight up pass rushing set:

Harrison does not use a bull rush or power move to push Evans into the backfield either; instead, Harrison bends the edge like a defensive end. Big Snacks uses his quickness to get to the outside of Evans and his strength and hand technique to keep Evans from getting his hands on him:

With Harrison easily getting around Evans in a mere few seconds, Drew Brees does not have the time to scan the field. Brees makes a poor decision and tries to hit Ben Watson on a crossing pattern in the middle of the field, but fails to see safety Dawan Landry lurking in the middle of the field:

Landry is able to break on the ball and while he is unable to make the interception himself, he tips the pass in the air and linebacker DeMario Davis picks it off. The first Brees interception is yet another example of a play that will not show up in the stat sheet for him, but is made mostly by the efforts of the best nose tackle you have never heard of, Damon “Big Snacks” Harrison.

2) The three keys to the Jets defensive success

So much of success on the defensive side of the ball is having all eleven players playing at a high level at the same time; it is very difficult to mask weak personnel with just one level of the defense. What is crazy about the Jets defense is that they are doing just that. The Jets linebackers are merely decent, their edge pass rush has mostly struggled to get pressure on their own, and their secondary has failed to cover at the level we are used to seeing from Jets defenses. Everything the Jets defense is doing is all based off the success of their three man defensive line, the previously highlighted Damon Harrison, Muhammad Wilkerson, and Sheldon Richardson. They are an elite group and the work they do upfront makes everyone else on the defense’s lives easier.
Muhammad Wilkerson was a first round pick out of the not quite football factory, Temple University, in 2011. Wilkerson started to come on last year, but he has emerged as an unstoppable force for the Jets this season. Wilkerson is ranked by Pro Football Focus as the fourth best 3-4 defensive end in the league (subscription required), and has eight sacks so far this season, an eye-popping number for an interior player. Wilkerson should be the player that offenses assign the most attention and double teams to on the Jets defensive line, but there are two problems with that; Wilkerson has the ability to break those double teams, and that leaves too much open for the other Jets defensive lineman. Here is a play where Wilkerson beats the double team assigned to him:

Wilkerson is set to rush inside between the left tackle and left guards on this pass play, and is about to find plenty success doing so:

Wilkerson’s incredible speed for a man his size allows him to get off the ball faster than the offensive lineman and is already between them before either is truly into their pass blocking sets. You will also notice that since he is single blocked, the defensive tackle lined up over the center has driven Brian de la Puente back towards Drew Brees, which is going to force Brees to move to his left in the pocket:

That pocket movement from Brees moves him right into the path of Muhammad Wilkerson who has left both of his blockers in the dust. Wilkerson has a perfect angle on Brees, who stands no chance at avoiding the charging defensive lineman. The result of the play is a nine yard sack, courtesy of the soon to be All-Pro defensive lineman.
As good as he is, Wilkerson is not the only Jets lineman who commands double teams. When the Jets spent one of their two first round picks on Sheldon Richardson, too many analysts were confused by this pick because he did not fit the mold of the conventional 3-4 defensive end. Rex Ryan laughs at this concept, and simply finds ways to use great players like Richardson regardless of scheme. Richardson was profiled as a natural 4-3 three-technique pass rushing defensive tackle, and Ryan has found ways to use him like that despite the scheme difference. On this play Richardson is lined up inside, and will seemingly have to defend two gaps. His perceived inability to do this was one of the reason draftniks assumed him to be a poor fit in this style of defense:

Being the defensive wizard that he is, Rex Ryan finds a way to get Richardson into a single gap by stunting him outside, and the edge rusher inside. With Richardson rushing through a single gap, he can use his quickness to squeeze between the guard and the tackle:

Because of the time it took to execute the stunt, Richardson does not get home for the sack on Brees, who has one of the quickest release times in the league. However, the pressure that Richardson puts right in front of Brees causes the quarterback to fire an inaccurate pass to Jimmy Graham that falls incomplete.
The three-man line of Harrison, Wilkerson, and Richardson is the key to the entire Jets defense, and is the catalyst for why they are far and away the top run defense in the league statistically and according to PFF. It will be an absolute treat to watch these three young players grow up together, and just imagine what they will be doing when the rest of the defense catches up to them. That is scary when they are already doing things like this:

3) Rookie first round pick, Dee Milliner, had the best game of his career

While their second rookie first round pick is an early Defensive Rookie of the Year favorite, the player the Jets took ninth overall has been slow to adapt to the league. Dee Milliner has been picked on at times this year, and did not look comfortable isolated in man coverage with receivers. No doubt Ryan recognized this and has been playing his corners in more zone coverage schemes lately. Dee Milliner responded to the change with his best game so far in his rookie campaign. On this second down pass play running back Pierre Thomas is going to run an out route to the sideline while the outside receiver is going to run a deep patter and cut to the middle of the field (Milliner is the defender at the top of the screen):

Early in the season, Milliner may have taken the bait and followed the receiver into deep coverage, but check out his eye discipline on this play:

Milliner keeps his eye on the quarterback through the entire play and sees Brees’ is looking to dump the ball off to the split-out running back for a potential first down. Milliner makes the correct decision to pass off the wide receiver to the linebacker and safety in deep coverage, and breaks on the ball before it is even thrown:

Milliner is able to get to Thomas just as the ball arrives and athletically knocks the ball down for an incompletion. The way the rookie reads the eyes of Brees and the decision-making he displays on this play were reminiscent of a veteran cornerback.
Another play displaying Dee Milliner’s new found discipline takes place in the third quarter and should have resulted in an interception. Here Milliner (blue circle) is lined up in outside deep zone coverage against Robert Meachem, who had already made several big plays on the day:

Meachem looks like he is going to run a straight go route down the sideline, but is actually going to stop, quickly break to the sideline on a double move, and continue running deep:

Once again, Milliner could have easily taken the bait and been beat by Meachem’s double move, undercut the route, and left Meachem streaking down the sideline for an easy touchdown. Instead, Meachem stays disciplined with his eyes and reads the receiver’s route correctly and forces Meachem to the middle of the field instead of down the sideline:

With Meachem breaking towards the middle of the field, Milliner is able to undercut the route and is in perfect position to make an interception on this play:

The only thing Milliner fails to do on this play is actually haul in that first interception. Milliner knows he has an easy pick here and no doubt the thought of his first career interception probably gave the rookie jitters and the ball bounces off his hands. Fortunately for Milliner and the Jets the ball bounces right into ball hawk Antonio Cromartie’s reach and he makes the interception. Unfortunately for everyone but the Saints, this play is called back due to a defensive holding penalty on a safety assigned to cover Jimmy Graham. Milliner missed an opportunity here, but nevertheless, this play shows the growth of this top ten pick, and the veteran discipline he played with against the Saints. If the Jets can get this type of play from Milliner for the rest of the season, look out.

4) With more zone coverage being played, the Jets could stand to improve at safety

Now for a part of the Jets defense that has struggled this season, their safety group. With the Darrelle Revis’ departure and the incorporation of younger players like Milliner, the Jets have moved away from the primarily man coverage schemes that Rex Ryan has been known for. While this switch has helped players like Milliner and an ailing Antonio Cromartie, they do not have the safeties to properly execute some of these coverages. Throughout the early part of the season, the Jets defense has quietly really struggled to defend tight ends. With Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham both torching the Jets defense in the last three weeks, the Jets poor play against tight ends has received more notice. Of course, Graham and Gronk are super humans at the tight end position and are nearly impossible to cover, but the problems existed even when they faced lesser tight ends. Check out the chart of some of the tight ends the Jets have faced:

The Jets have a good young coverage linebacker in DeMario Davis, but the safeties are not holding up their end of the bargain. The lacking of the safeties coverage abilities are on full display on Jimmy Graham’s first touchdown:

Here the Jets are lined up in a simple cover-three zone look. When Jimmy Graham comes inside pre-snap and Cromartie does not follow him, Drew Brees is able to identify that the Jets are in zone coverage. The inside receiver will run a go route and take the cornerback down the sidelines, away from Graham, and essentially out of the play. This puts Graham in single coverage with safety Antonio Allen, Pro Football Focus’ sixty-second ranked safety (subscription required):

Graham runs an out-route to the sideline and then hooks up field, and is left all alone with Allen:

The athletic difference between Graham and Allen is not even worth discussion. Brees sees that not only does Graham have Allen beat by at least a yard and a half, but also just how much real estate Graham has in front of him. Brees hits Graham and the result is 51-yard touchdown. The Jets defense is doing a lot right at the moment, but with the move to more zone coverage, they could really use some upgrades at safety.

5) Rex Ryan knows how to make second half adjustments

On thing this football season has certainly taught its loyal viewers is that coaching is the biggest secret to success in the NFL. Poor coaching, scheming, and use of talent has sunk some teams, while teams with great coaching are rising to the top. One thing that al great coaches must do is make adjustments during the game, and especially at half time. Rex Ryan is one of the premier defensive coaches in the league and has been a master at hiding the weaknesses on his defense through the years. Ryan certainly saw Jimmy Graham tearing his defense up in the first half and knew he needed to make the necessary second half adjustments in order to secure the win. Take a look at this play where Jimmy Graham runs a similar route to the sidelines as he did on his 51-yard touchdown:

As he did before, Graham is running an out-route to the sidelines that he will cut upfield while the receiver takes the cornerback out of the play. However, this time Drew Brees will not find his star tight end in single coverage with a safety. The Jets deploy another zone coverage here, but actually have linebackers Quinton Coples, normally an edge rusher, and David Harris doubling Graham. Of course neither of these players has the supreme athleticism of Graham and cannot hope to cover him alone, but it is the design of the scheme that causes the pass to be incomplete. As soon as the ball is snapped both players break toward the sideline, and Harris gets as much depth as possible in his zone, while Coples shadows Graham in the underneath zone:

Because Harris has so much depth here, Graham is unable to keep taking his route down the field, and cannot box out Harris or cut back because Coples is right in front of him. Graham’s only choice is to take his route further to the sideline. Unfortunately, that does not leave Brees enough room to make the throw, and the pass sails out of bounds. Rex Ryan was able to identify a weakness in his defense of the Saints offense, and did what great coaches do; fix it mid-game.
While Rex has the benefit of some really talented players in his front seven, he is certainly not working with a stocked cupboard on the defensive side of the ball. Rex is the brain of that defense and makes all the parts move just as they need to. His masterful work on defense has the Jets carrying a shocking winning record and should absolutely be enough to ensure his future with the Jets beyond the 2013 season.

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