QuickFix: Reserve Lemons
The Jets have dealt with a few injury issues on defense this year, by having guys play while hurt or by scheming around any personnel weaknesses. However, their lack of quality depth does hurt them at times, as was the case last season.
In yesterday's games there were a few plays where seldom-used backup players didn't do their job when called upon, leading to some big plays.
Let's review some examples:
Here's the end around by Kaelin Clay in the first half. While you'd certainly have to throw some blame at Josh Martin for overpursuing to the inside and Jamal Adams for biting on the initial flow to the right and getting caught too far over, there was another player at fault:
Xavier Cooper allows himself to be completely sealed to the inside by a tight end, giving Clay a ton of room in the open field. If Cooper could get off that block or pentrate upfield even slightly, it would help to stretch the run outside and give the pursuing defenders better angles to minimize the gain.
Shortly afterwards, the Panthers exploited another reserve on this play:
This time, it's backup linebacker Bruce Carter who Cam Newton beats into the end zone. The mistake Carter makes here is to bite on the playfake and take a step to the inside, which is something he's prone to doing and the Panthers probably anticipated that. Once he's made that misstep, Newton easily has an angle on him to get the score.
The Panthers exploited another reserve on their other offensive touchdown. Once again, you could also fault a starter - on this occasion it would be Marcus Maye who overreacted to the inside - but the key to this play was Mike Pennel getting sealed to the inside:
On the play, Muhammad Wilkerson penetrates upfield in an effort to force Jonathan Stewart to go up the middle. That works, but there's nobody there to stop Stewart from scoring as Pennel has been sealed off and Maye has vacated the area.
If Steve McLendon's injury is going to keep him out then Pennel might actually need to move up. And, to be fair to him, he did a pretty solid job against the run for the most part. However, he made an even bigger mistake with his late game roughing the passer penalty, which basically ended the Jets' comeback hopes.
Playing these reserves less isn't really an option, although some of the rotations yesterday would suggest they're trying to keep this to a minimum. Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams missed just 11 snaps between them - a season low - and only the top five defensive backs got reps.
Hopefully next year's team will have more reliable depth that can not only make plays when called upon but also enable the coaches to feel comfortable in resting their better players to keep them fresh.
PREVIOUSLY: Reviewing the rotations