Three on D: Jenkins, Roberts, Mosley
After each game, we've been highlighting three defensive and three offensive players and looking in detail at their performance. We'll start today with the defense:
Flash Jordan
During preseason, the Jets made it clear that Jordan Jenkins was their main weakside edge rusher, given how they rested him in the second half of games while everyone else continued to get reps.
That pattern continued on Sunday as Jenkins played 40 snaps, while none of the other edges played 30. He also delivered a big play, swatting Dion Dawkins aside for this strip sack:
Aside from that moment, Jenkins only had two tackles - one on a run stop after the two minute warning as the Bills were bleeding clock and one on Brian Poole's safety as he was credited with an assist.
As a pass rusher, Jenkins only recorded one other pressure, but the Bills were getting rid of the ball pretty quickly, especially on the two touchdown drives.
In terms of negatives in the running game, Jenkins got caught inside a couple of times on outside runs, including on Josh Allen's quarterback sweep to convert a 3rd-and-short on the winning drive where the left guard sealed him to the inside.
Jenkins also dropped into coverage a couple of times. Once came as he read a screen and was in position to make the stop if it hadn't been dropped anyway. However, he dropped off into zone coverage on one fourth quarter play where Frankie Luvu should have been able to pass off the tight end but didn't, leaving the back open in the flat.
Gregg Williams was insisting we'd be shocked by the edge rushers this season. Jenkins was probably the best they had to offer this week, but there has been nothing shocking about his performance so far.
Mosley on down
Much has been written about how much CJ Mosley's absence killed the Jets in the fourth quarter and that's obviously true as run fits and coverage breakdowns contributed to the Bills' touchdown drives having not been a problem in the first three quarters. However, let's focus on what he did well before he was injured.
The most surprising aspect of his performance was that Mosley only had one tackle within eight yards of the line of scrimmage - a third quarter run stuff where he was unblocked.
Despite this, Mosley seemed to be constantly around the football, getting his hands on three passes in coverage - one of which he intercepted and returned for a touchdown - and also adding a fumble recovery.
Mosley's reputation is that he offers more as a run defender than in coverage, but he does have some underrated coverage skills. Here, the Jets operate out of a Tampa-Two style defense that requires a deep drop from the Mike linebacker. Mosley handles this well, disrupting the pass without making contact down the field:
Mosley was also in good position on one other incompletion and made a tackle short of the marker on an Allen scramble to ultimately force a punt.
In terms of negatives, there were only minor issues as Mosley was blocked out of a couple of plays at the second level, although one of these was as the blocker peeled off a double team. If the lineman did a better job of taking that on, Mosley could have been kept clean on that play.
Ultimately, he was arguably the best player on the field for three quarters, so the sooner the Jets can get him back on the field, the better.
[Pun redacted]
There's been plenty of concern this offseason about the Jets' cornerbacks. For all the talk of the Jets not having a competition at the kicker position, they basically just handed a starting role to Darryl Roberts, who wasn't even targeted in preseason.
He was obviously going to have to deal with some targets on Sunday though and ended up surrendering 77 yards and a touchdown on five targets.
Roberts had actually held up pretty well for most of the game, though. Prior to the game-winning touchdown, he'd only given up 39 yards on six targets. However, he had a penalty (his third of the game) and a missed tackle on that play.
Although his yardage totals weren't too bad, Roberts did surrender four first downs in those first three quarters. The Jets probably need to be wary of him ending up in mismatches where he has to cover a player like Cole Beasley in space:
One of Roberts' other penalties was extremely costly too, as it negated a Marcus Maye interception. The Jets fanbase is divided on how harsh that call was though. His other penalty was a neutral zone infraction.
Roberts ended up with eight tackles, about half of which were before the marker. He was also in good position on one deep incompletion.
The media is very much in "I told you so" mode about the cornerback's performance in this game, but maybe Roberts wasn't all bad over the course of the entire game. He'll definitely face a tough challenge on Sunday with all the weapons the Browns have though.
We'll be back with the 3-on-O tomorrow.