Thoughts on the Season: Defense

Continuing with my thoughts on the 2019-2020 season, I look at the defense. I break it down by position groups & focus on the starters, with a sprinkle of some reserves. To end it, I break down the offense as a whole. Enjoy!

DL: Personally, I think the DL got better after the Leonard Williams trade (thank you Giants for that idiotic trade). No need to talk about Leo anymore, a wasted Top 10 pick. Steve McLendon was his solid self per usual, & second year guys Nathan Shepherd & Foley Fatukasi showed a lot of progress both in stopping the run & getting pressure up the middle. Kyle Phillips was also a pleasant surprise & I think he can be a mainstay in the DL rotation moving forward. I wasn't too pleased with Henry Anderson this past season as I think he took a major step back from the year prior. The guy I was most disappointed with however was Quinnen Williams. Yes he's young & yes he was a rookie, but as the #3 overall pick, I needed to see more out of him. He did show flashes at times, but it just wasn't enough.

LB: If you would have told me that Avery Williamson & CJ Mosley would play a combined 2 games this season, I would have told you that the defense was screwed. However, guys like Neville Hewitt & James Burgess REALLY stepped up as much as they could. I think Burgess is the better player of the two, Hewitt has far too many lapses in coverage (and at least 1 horrific PI a game), but overall, they helped keep the defense together. Jordan Jenkins had another solid year being a strong run defender while also picking up 8 sacks. He does go games where you don't notice him, but he also seems to make big plays when they're needed.Tarrell Basham came on strong late & provided a nice outside rush, but this Jets team is still lacking that constant outside pressure that they haven't had since John Abraham.

CB: This unit was a disaster in the early parts of the season with Trumaine Johnson & Daryl Roberts starting at CB. Johnson will easily go down as the worst FA signing in Jets history & you can tell he just doesn't care about the game. Roberts is a BUM. He had the audacity to come at Jets fans again via Twitter because he was playing subpar. We're an extremely loyal fan base, & for him to attack us like that is pathetic. I'm glad Gregg Williams benched both of them (yes I'm heated talking about both of them). Even with all of that, guys like Bless Austin and Arthur Maulet showed something in the second half of the year. I'm not saying Bless is going to be a HOF'er, but I think there's a lot of potential there to be a a pretty good CB in the league. Finally, what a season for Brian Poole. We've had to watch Kyle Wilson & Buster Skrine get smoked the last few years so watching Poole was a nice change. Whether it was coming up to stop the run or just locking up his guy, Poole did it all last season.

S: Jamal Adams is the heart & soul of this defense. I've been a HUGE fan of his since the day he was drafted (how did he fall to #6?). He just brings it ever single play. Yea the INT's aren't there, but he does so much more for the defense. That strip sack TD against the Giants was a thing of beauty (and also just going right through Saquon) and was a prime example of what he brings every game. Marcus Maye had, what I believe to be, a good season. The average fan would think it was relatively quiet, but someone who knows the game sees what he does. In Gregg Williams defense, he plays center field & he did a great job doing it. That PBU against the Steelers is exactly what his job is for this defense. The Jets have the best safety tandem in the NFL, without question.

Closing Thoughts: This defense really showed me something this year. Yea it sucked that CJ got hurt game 1, because during that game, you saw how much of a force he was going to be. But this defensive unit just didn't quit. It had a "next man up" mentality, & I for one was happy to see yet. They overachieved & that's something every fan should want. #TakeFlight