Three on D: Baron, Mauigoa, Moore

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:

Tyler, the Creator

The Jets had to rely on the last three picks of their 2025 draft to play next-man-up with two starters out and a third knocked out just before half time. We'll look at all three today, starting with defensive end Tyler Baron, who was in the rotation due to Jermaine Johnson's absence.

Baron didn't make much of an impact as a pass rusher, as he was in the game for 25 snaps with just over half of them being pass rush attempts but was only credited with one pressure. Probably his best rush came against the right tackle, who he bull rushed back to force Baker Mayfield to escape the pocket and throw a third down incompletion in the red zone.

Against the run, he was in on three tackles. One came as the Bucs ran the ball on 3rd-and-24 and were stopped for a four-yard gain. This was his best play on 3rd-and-2 though.

Baron did have one negative play as he dropped off into coverage and then ended up isolated in space against Mayfield on a 3rd and long scramble. Mayfield easily got to the outside and reached the first down marker as Baron was late to react to what was happening.

His biggest contribution could have been significant though. On Mayfield's touchdown pass to Mike Evans, Baron got his hands up and was so close to deflecting it. He may even have got a touch on it.

Other than that, he gave the Jets solid rotational contributions but not really anything to write home about yet.

Mauigoa? She's having my baby!

At linebacker, Kiko Mauigoa found himself in the rotation when Quincy Williams was hurt just before halftime. Marcelino McCrary-Ball moved into a full-time role alongside Jamien Sherwood, so Mauigoa took over McCrary-Ball's role as the third linebacker in base packages.

This saw him used perhaps more than he otherwise would be in that role as the Bucs led for most of the second half, compelling them to run the clock. As a result, Mauigoa played 14 snaps, 10 of which were running plays.

The Bucs made no effort to exploit Mauigoa at all, although future teams could if he's obviously going to have a role. As a result, he held up pretty well against the run. He did have one negative play against the run where the Bucs had a cutback run for a first down as he was caught on a block at the second level as he flowed downhill a bit too eagerly.

He did make some position contributions, though, with all three of his tackles coming on runs that were stopped for a three-yard gain.

This one, which looks like a pass, but was a lateral, saw him showcasing some good sideline to sideline hustle in pursuit.

Here, he showed good strength and technique to stand up the tight end, maintain outside leverage and shed him for the stop.

With both Williams and McCrary-Ball placed on injured reserve after the game, it's inevitable Mauigoa will have to play a bigger role, although he may not be ready to start based on what we saw from him in preseason, so they may go in another direction there.

Moore's the pity

Malachi Moore was making his first career start after Tony Adams was ruled out with a hip issue although he did get his feet wet last week by playing almost 50 snaps so it wasn't his first significant action.

He ended up with four tackles and did not give up any catches in coverage. Those four tackles included being in on a stop for a four-yard gain on 3rd-and-5 to force the Bucs to attempt the field goal that was ultimately blocked and returned for a touchdown by Will McDonald. He was also in on this run stop.

Now the bad news. Moore held up and did a solid job for the majority of the game but he had a catastrophic blown coverage that could have given the Bucs the winning touchdown on the very next play after McDonald's touchdown.

As you can see, Azareye'h Thomas passes Tez Johnson off to Moore who is late to react and gets turned around. There's no chance he could have recovered if the pass to Johnson wasn't overthrown.

While you might argue that the Jets might have been better off being down a touchdown with time still on the clock than having to hope for a chip shot field goal to be missed at the end, we can all agree that this is the kind of mistake you can't afford to have from your safeties and that the Jets were lucky not to be punished there.

The Jets remain high on Moore and hopefully this is a learning experience for him that will make him a better player in future. It's good that he's already getting plenty of reps and (mostly) looking the part.

Three-on-O will follow tomorrow.