The Season May Rest on Sione Pouha's Shoulders

by John B on Oct 21, 2009 9:15 AM EDT

Kris Jenkins was valuable in two different ways for the Jets. The first was his playmaking ability. He has unusual athleticism for a man of his size combined with great strength that allow him to overwhelm opponent blocking schemes even when double teamed. The Jets aren't going to be able to replace that. The second thing Jenkins brought was an ability to tie up blockers. Since he was such a dominant force, opponents had to dedicate at least two men to him on pretty much every play. Every blocker dedicated to Jenkins is not going to affect anybody else on the play, making life easier on the rest of the defense. The Jets have one man potentially capable of doing that, Sione Pouha.

I keep thinking back to the game in which Pouha saw his most extensive work, Week 16 of the lost 2007 season at Tennessee. Pouha led the Jets with 7 tackles that day and helped the team control the line of scrimmage for the first time all year as the Dewayne Robertson nose tackle experiement ended as a failure. Since then, the Jets have acquired Jenkins. Pouha didn't play much until Sunday, when again he held the point of attack.

I'm sure we'll see the Jets experiment a lot with different fronts. I've heard a lot of people suggest they'll show more 4-3 looks, but they were already showing them. This defense isn't Eric Mangini's where everybody must line up in the same spot on every play. The scheme might not change much. The team just needs Pouha to play with enough leverage to control the point of attack and free up other guys to make plays. The Jets will miss Jenkins' playmaking ability a lot, but if Pouha steps up, this defense can still be good, and this team can still have a good year.

Do you think Pouha can step up?

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I think he can be a decent tackle

But there is an unfillable void where Kris Jenkins once stood on the field. The loss to the Bills was the closest we’ll get to seeing our full D squad on the field together this year.

But if we’re dropping games to Miami and Buffalo with Kris, we haven’t a prayer without him. I’m just pleased the implosion came a little earlier this year.

by Bro Namath on Oct 21, 2009 9:38 AM EDT reply actions

remember san diego last year?

jenkins came out before the 2nd half and the game changed, leading to a jet loss.

that was with mangini’s schemes though, so hopefully rex can utilize pouha a little better.

and the home of the... JETS!!!

by dvdvil on Oct 21, 2009 10:14 AM EDT reply actions

Pouha Has Improved

The key is the offense, if they continue to turn the ball over, this will be a long year.

by YankeesJets on Oct 21, 2009 11:53 AM EDT reply actions

We're Screwed

We’re Screwed.

Might as well chalk the rest of this season up to being a learning season for Sanchez, Like when Eli took over for Warner

by Mark D on Oct 21, 2009 12:06 PM EDT reply actions

unfortunatly NOT

Hes nowhere near Jenkins in any aspesct. This is gonna be a blow to our D. He will finish with his fair share of tackles, but only because hes gonna log alot of minutes. Jenkins would be scaring centers around the league, now teams arent gonna be so concernd with our DTs. I hope im wrong, and i hope Kris’s career isn’t done and he comes back just as good.

Curtis "my favorite" Martin - 1 of the best!

by jcgamble on Oct 21, 2009 7:32 PM EDT reply actions

One Chance for 10-6

I was saying at teh beginning of teh season that this was teh Jets bigest problem, depth at nose tackle. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Jenkins was aging, very large and being used too frequently. The Jets need to switch to a 4-3, and run-run-run to eat up the clock so opposing offenses won’t have much time on the field (and so Sanchez will throw fewer interceptions).

by mrneske on Oct 22, 2009 10:56 AM EDT reply actions

I like this idea, but...

We’ve been trying to run, run, run all season and have done it in one game (which we lost).

W.r.t. 4-3, the team seems thinner at D-line than LB, so unless we’re shifting Pace/Gholston to DL, how does this work? How many snaps do you want Howard Green getting?

by JetsFan1991 on Oct 22, 2009 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions