After each game, we’ll be highlighting three defensive and three offensive players and looking in detail at their performance. We’ll start today with the defense:
Gard of Honor
It was always going to be interesting to see how Sauce Gardner would be officiated this week, after his pointed comments addressing how he feels he gets called for things just because he’s on a losing team that wouldn’t be called on other players. For this week, he was penalty-free, but didn’t exactly get the benefit of the doubt on George Pickens’ 43-yard touchdown catch on which Pickens’ initial separation came from a clear push-off, that was more egregious than the one Garrett Wilson had called to negate a key touchdown last week.
As a result of that touchdown, and the yardage, Gardner has given up two touchdowns in a season for the first time in his career and, due to a career-worst 17 yards per catch average, is currently on course to surrender his highest yardage total too. However, it’s not been all bad, as he has only allowed a catch on 50 percent of his targets which is the lowest since his rookie season.
That’s despite the fact that he’s often travelling with the other team’s best receiving option, which was the case this week with CeeDee Lamb being out and Pickens an obvious candidate for him to track. Other than the touchdown, it went well too, as he only had one other catch, albeit on a 3rd down conversion in a tight window.
On two other plays, Dak Prescott came up empty looking for Pickens with Gardner on him. One saw Gardner stride for stride on a throw to the end zone and the other saw him using his length to disrupt this pass. Had Gardner’s timing been off there, Pickens looked to be off to the races but the fact Will McDonald dropped into coverage prevented Prescott from being able to lead Pickens with a pass out in front.
One area where Gardner has shown some improvement is with his tackling. This play is likely designed to force Gardner to make a one-on-one tackle in space and he squares his man up well to upend him.
You can tell how frustrating of a year this has been for Gardner, but he’s working hard to shut down his assignment each week and he almost achieved that this week. The lack of playmaking in terms of turnover creation is still alarming but at least he’s getting his hands on more balls so far this year.
‘kay Adams
There have been calls for Malachi Moore to take over from Tony Adams as a starting safety but Moore got plenty of playing time in the nickel role this week and was exposed as he had some rough moments. Adams, on the other hand, had his best game of the season.
Here’s a nice play he made in coverage, with good timing to disrupt the pass and get credit for a pass defensed.
This was also an excellent play, as the Jets looked to exploit the fact that the Jets often bite on the first action. Adams didn’t overreact and stayed with the tight end to make a tackle for loss. Had he overpursued to the inside, that would have been a big gain. Notably, this is something Moore has already been guilty of a few times and he could have been caught out had he been in this role rather than Adams when they ran this play.
Adams was credited with being targeted on Jake Ferguson’s 26-yard touchdown catch, but that was a screen caught behind the line. Adams was caught on a block but there wasn’t much he and Brandon Stephens could do on that one as they were literally outnumbered because both linebackers did exactly what Adams didn’t do in the above clip and took two steps in the other direction to take themselves out of a well-designed play.
There were a couple more positive plays from Adams, who was in position on an incompletion in the end zone (although a better throw might have given the receiver a chance) and got off a block having lined up near the line of scrimmage to assist on a run stuff.
In terms of negatives, the only significant one was the long run just before halftime when he was one of three Jets who kind of collided into one another only for Javonte Williams to squirt through and into the clear. It’s not clear if he should have been able to make that play anyway.
Adams is another Jets player who has been criticized for not being good enough and it’s fair to note he has had some bad negative plays in the first few games. This was a decent performance from him, though, showing he is capable of such despite what you may hear.
Goner McGregor?
Braiden McGregor has been playing more than anyone expected so far this season, although the likelihood is that he may return to being inactive once Jermaine Johnson is back. It’s likely between him and Tyler Baron for that final spot in the four man rotation.
So, what does Sunday’s performance, which saw him play 28 snaps, tell us about what he’s bringing to the table?
On the face of it, McGregor did some good things, as he ended up with three tackles including the only Jets sack of the game. However that sack was probably one of the cheapest you’ll ever see as Prescott rolled out and then gave himself up. McGregor got credit for the tackle as he had chased him out to the edge and, since it was marked short of the line of scrimmage, this gave him a sack.
In addition, he was credited with a run stop on a play where he was blocked to the ground and the runner tripped over him and his other tackle was 14 yards downfield after he dropped into coverage.
So it’s safe to say he’s not making much of an impact out there. However, you can also say he’s not doing much to negatively hurt the team, at least based on Sunday. He was sealed inside on one run play but also had penetration to affect another, and did record one pressure with a good upfield rush, although he couldn’t bend the edge well enough to finish.
McGregor has never really seemed like a player who brings much upside but if he can at least be functional and mistake free when he’s out there, he’s worth retaining on the 53 or practice squad. You’d just rather have someone more talented getting the reps, which isn’t possible with Johnson out.
Three-on-O will follow tomorrow.