After each game, we typically highlight three defensive and three offensive players and look in detail at their performance. We’ll start today with the defense:
To be Qwan’tinued
Qwan’tez Stiggers got the start at cornerback with Azareye’h Thomas out on Sunday. This was a complete surprise, as Stiggers had only played three snaps all season, in the previous game against the Browns.
He held up pretty well, as the only catch he gave up was an 18-yard pass from Drake Maye to Stefon Diggs. On the play, Stiggers stayed with Diggs until Maye rolled out and looked to run, so he stepped up to try to make a tackle and Maye pulled up short of the line of scrimmage and dumped it over his head to a now-open Diggs.
He did have one other mistake, when he was apparently the extra man on a play where the Jets lined up with 12. However, who knows if that was even his fault?
He was targeted two other times, both on passes to Kyle Williams. On one he was in good position so Williams tried to slow up for a back shoulder but Maye still threw it deep. The other saw Stiggers stay in stride on a deep throw and get into a position to make a play on it. Tony Adams probably got in his way here, preventing a possible interception.
Stiggers was only in on one tackle, as he combined with a teammate to make the stop after a Mack Hollins catch in zone coverage.
He has had a role this year on special teams, although the Jets have plenty of other gunner options in Kene Nwangwu, Arian Smith and Ja’Markis Weston and he hasn’t really outplayed any of these. He has made some nice plays though and did force two fair catches on Thursday night.
Thomas might return for the Ravens game and we could end up not seeing Stiggers again this season. However, in this limited opportunity, he didn’t disgrace himself and showed that there is potentially more to him than just a special teamer as he could also provide reliable depth. Whether or not his future is with the Jets’ that could keep him in the league for a while.
I hope you like Jermaine too
Jermaine Johnson hasn’t had a significant individual impact since his return after missing the third, fourth and fifth game of the season, but the team has definitely been more competitive since he has been back.
Statistically, his production has been in line with his previous numbers, as he has 25 tackles and three sacks in seven games. He’s also generated pressure at the same rate.
That might be starting to ramp up now, though. His five total pressures against the Browns were a season-high and he improved on that with six more against New England on Thursday night.
One area where Johnson’s impact has not been as good is in the running game. He had just one run stop and one missed tackle on Thursday night, and he hasn’t had more than two stops in any game yet this year. This is the one area he’s falling short of his 2023 pro bowl year numbers because he had three stops five times that year.
With Quinnen Williams gone, the edges perhaps won’t be able to profit from Williams’ disruption by cleaning up as often. However, the fact Williams isn’t in there and getting to the quarterback quickly may mean that they get there first more than they did earlier in the year.
Johnson will be under the fifth year option next year but the Jets don’t have long until they need to start thinking about a possible extension. For Johnson to get the big money deal that pro bowlers drafted in the first round would usually expect, he needs to ramp up his production and develop into more of a leader down the stretch.
Baron Wasteland
Rookie Tyler Baron made his first appearance in over a month as he seeks to prove himself worthy of being a reliable rotational edge next season and beyond. The last time he played was in the Dallas game where he had a couple of costly missed tackles.
In this game, he tied his season-high with three tackles, including his first tackle for loss at the NFL level.
His other two tackles both came near the end of the game, but this was a good play to beat the reach block and work downhill for the stop.
Baron, who played 19 total snaps, also had two pressures, which was the first time he’s had more than one in a game. This is a decent bull-jerk move to get past the tight end, which shows he’s been drilling his techniques.
It’s fair to say that Baron hasn’t shown much so far and falling behind Braiden McGregor on the depth chart isn’t exactly a good sign. However, there were a few hints that he could be starting to figure a few things out so he could be worth paying attention to for the rest of the year to see how he develops.
Three-on-O will follow tomorrow.