Three on D: Huff, Mosley, Holmes

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:

I'm dreaming of a Bryce Christmas

With the Jets placing an emphasis on stopping the outside runs, it wouldn't have been unexpected to see Bryce Huff's workload cut this week. Having played over 50 percent of the snaps for the first time in his career in last week's game, Huff began this game on the bench as Micheal Clemons was in the starting lineup.

However, by the end of it, Huff had played in 56 percent of the snaps, representing a new career high. This is a far cry from this time last year when he was averaging about 10 snaps per game as the Jets looked to be phasing him out. So, the fact they're increasing his role would seem to indicate he's in their future plans.

It won't be easy to retain Huff, who has finally proved he can hold his own against the run so he can be on the field more often. He's also proved his pressure rate can still be maintained when getting that extra playing time. Most importantly of all, though, he's improved his finishing, and that's the thing which will mean the market for him during the offseason will be hot.

Although he had a reputation as someone who could create regular pressure, Huff never generated big sack numbers with only 7.5 in his first three seasons. However, he already has eight this season to lead the Jets.

His hunger to rack up sacks was evident on this play where he was initially staying home on the backside but then showed good instincts to close for the sack once it was clear it wasn't going to be a run.

Huff didn't grade out well against the run in this game, although he wasn't directly to blame for any long runs and the team fared well as a unit. With three games to go, he'll be eager to have some good production so that his agent can present as impressive a set of numbers as possible to all his suitors in the offseason.

That will include the Jets, and they'll be at the front of the line with the advantage of being able to negotiate with him in advance. You should definitely expect him to hit the market though. That's the current plan.

Rudolph the Red Mose Reindeer

CJ Mosley has had an outstanding season this year, but one of the main things that is standing out about his performances as the season winds down is that he's still playing hard. It's likely a point for pride for the player who was voted a team captain to continue to set a good example for his teammates.

Mosley was at the center of an effort to shut down Miami's running game and the Jets had mixed results on this front. They held Miami to their fourth lowest rushing total of the year, although it's interesting to note that Miami is 4-0 in the games where the total is lowest. One thing they did succeed at was keeping rookie De'Von Achane in check. Achane entered the game with a 9.2 yards per carry average, but the Jets held him to 3.6 which is his lowest total in any game this year when he's had more than one carry.

Miami did break a couple of runs of over 10 yards, picked up a total of five first downs on the ground and twice scored on Raheem Mostert runs where he bounced outside and was untouched. Mosley was caught inside or engaged with a blocker on a few of these plays but not the main culprit on any of them.

Mosley made stops against the run on plays that went for three, four and four yards but didn't really blow up any plays, although he was in on the tackle when Deuce Carter blew up a goal line run for a big loss.

He did well in coverage though. Mosley wasn't targeted directly but did a good job of helping to limit yards after the catch on plays like this.

Mosley remains under contract next year and while it once seemed improbable he'd be with the team for more than a year or two following his Covid opt-out, it's difficult to imagine the 2024 defense without him anchoring things.

Driving Holmes for Christmas

Jalyn Holmes got a chance for more reps this week, especially after Quinton Jefferson got injured. Unfortunately, he himself then went down with an injury.

This week, he played 24 snaps. However, he didn't register a tackle or any pressure.

He did get his name in the box score, though, when he was called for defensive penalties on consecutive plays in the third quarter. On the first, he was called for defensive holding as he got driven back off the line by a double team and was ruled to have gripped onto one of the linemen to stop him from releasing to the second level. That may have been harsh, given that the lineman was already at the second level, albeit only because Holmes was on rollerskates.

Holmes then presumably was determined for that not to happen again on the next snap, causing him to jump early and get flagged for encroachment.

As you'd expect from a player who plays both outside and inside, Holmes struggled to hold up in the trenches against the run. He also had a costly missed tackle that led to Mostert's longest run of the day.

If Holmes is healthy, he should get even more opportunities with Jefferson not expected to play on Sunday. However, the team will hope for better results from him. Marquiss Spencer and/or Bruce Hector will need to be elevated next week as the interior depth continues to crumble.

Three-on-O will follow tomorrow.