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:
Stigger things on the horizon
The Jets traded Sauce Gardner and Deuce Carter, lost Azareye’h Thomas to an injury, and were already without three of their top four safeties, so it’s no surprise that the secondary is struggling.
Recent opponents have taken advantage of inexperienced players like Qwan’tez Stiggers, Dean Clark and Jordan Clark. However, in the case of Stiggers, is he quietly showing some real signs of growth?
In Sunday’s game, he had five tackles, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery. A decent output, and he limited the negatives with just 59 yards given up on 10 targets with no 20 yard plays. He did miss a bad tackle, though.
Both pass breakups were impressive plays. This one saw him exhibit excellent stickiness with good competitiveness and timing at the catch-point.
The other, on a throw to the otherwise unstoppable Chris Olave in the end zone, saw Stiggers slow him up with a jam in press coverage and get his head turned as he trailed Olave to the end zone, so that he could throw up a hand with good timing to disrupt it.
He also displays some good tenaciousness near the line of scrimmage with a willingness to contribute against the run and short passes. He had one run stop where he stayed home on the edge after no receiver lined up on his side.
Stiggers is such a good special teamer that he would probably be back next year even if he didn’t provide much in the way of cornerback depth. However, he seems to be improving and – especially given how inexperienced he was when his NFL career began – perhaps it is premature to rule out him being a very solid pro.
Walker this way
While he entered week 14 having played just 59 defensive snaps all season, Mykal Walker has been in the rotation for the past three games, playing 73 snaps overall. He’s been solid in that role and Sunday was probably his best game yet.
Walker ended up with seven defensive tackles and one on special teams, with most of that production coming close to the line of scrimmage.
Here’s a nice job of keeping himself clean so he can plug the hole and make a nice hit when the runner cuts back. He had two plays like this.
On this play, he makes a decisive read, shows aggressiveness to take on and drive back the blocker and gets outside leverage to force the runner back inside before disengaging for the stuff.
In coverage, Walker was targeted three times with two being stopped for a short gain and the other incomplete as he was in a good position against a tight end in the flat.
The Jets’ linebacker play has been very disappointing with two veterans who have played better in the past having underwhelmed and a rookie who was out of his depth. Walker has some experience and has showed over the past few weeks that he can do a decent job when called upon. In fact, the defense might have been better off after all if they had stuck with the Quincy Williams benching for longer and turned to Walker instead.
Maybe they’d be better off with Walker in a larger role. If he finishes out the year with two more strong games, the Jets should bring him back and consider him as an option.
Will McDoubtful
The Jets have been in a situation where both their defensive ends have underwhelmed in terms of their statistical production in recent weeks, in large part because neither of them are completely healthy.
Aaron Glenn said this week that Jermaine Johnson isn’t fully back from his Achilles tear yet but that they hope he can get back to being himself next season.
As for Will McDonald, he was having another quiet game heading into the fourth quarter with just one run stop and no real pressure. When Mason Tipton got the ball on an end around with just under 13 minutes to go, McDonald played it perfectly as he stayed home and was in position to make the play but he was noticeably laboring as Tipton was able to beat him to the edge for a first down.
McDonald, who was playing with a heavily wrapped ankle that the medical staff had been tending to at times throughout the game looked like someone who shouldn’t be out there at that point.
However, for whatever reason, he played like a man possessed for the rest of the quarter. First of all, he had his eighth sack of the year, but first in six games, as he varied up his upfield approach and showed good bend, motor and hustle to finish.
He also had a few more pressures, drew a holding penalty to negate a touchdown and had another run stuff. This was his most impressive rush.
For McDonald to look so good in this portion of the game is equal parts encouraging and discouraging because it showcases his upside but also does little to alleviate any concerns that his production and effort is consistent enough.
These will be things the Jets will weigh up when deciding on his fifth year option after the season. His ability to look like a total game-wrecker, even if it’s not constant, should not be ignored, though.
Three-on-O will follow tomorrow.