2009 in Review: Defensive MVP's
by John B on Jan 30, 2010 12:53 PM EST
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Print3. Sione Pouha: We've already touched on Sione's contributions, but he certainly belongs on this list. Pouha did the dirty work, drawing double teams and holding the point of attack consistently. The way he tied up blockers opened things up for everybody else. When the Jets lost Kris Jenkins for the year, there was plenty of reason to think the defense would suffer. The unit actually played better from that point because of Pouha.
2. David Harris: Harris took half a step back in 2008 after a brilliant rookie season.. His play was much improved in pass coverage. He did his trademark excellent work in traffic to snuff out running plays, leading the team with 127 tackles. He set a new career high with 5.5 sacks as a blitzer. He's an ideal 3-4 inside linebacker, extremely versatile. It's a shame he couldn't make the Pro Bowl.
1. Darrelle Revis: This is no real surprise. If Harris missing the Pro Bowl is a shame, Revis losing the Defensive Player of the Year award to Charles Woodson is a travesty. Revis shut down top flight receivers every single week with minimal help. He lined up against the best the opposition had to offer on every play. While Woodson's advocates say he made more of an impact because he lined up at more positions, Darrelle made an impact on almost every single play by taking away the opponent's best weapon. He also made his teammates better in ways Woodson didn't. The Jets could roll coverages to secondary targets. By taking away the first look of every quarterback, he bought the pass rush extra time. He was so dominant taking away one half of the field, playing Cover 1 was like playing Cover 2, and the Jets could use an extra guy to blitz or play coverage underneath. Gang Green had the top defense in football this year because of Darrelle Revis. Given the caliber of competition and the way the rules benefit receivers today, you could argue it was the greatest season ever by a cornerback.
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Certainly can’t disagree with #1 and #2.
Only place I would differ is at 3. I would have put Jimmy Leonhard in there for what he did for our secondary. Really was the veteran glue that held everything together back there, especially when Kerry Rhodes was at his worst. Was just so consistent back there day in day out.
I would have put Sione right after him though at #4. Cant wait to see him in action next year with Jenkins back. It will take an entire OL just to try to block the two of them the way they fight off blocks lol.
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Jim Leonard
How could you not like the guy all he does is create and make big plays.
by LostOnRevisIsland24 on Jan 30, 2010 1:50 PM EST reply actions
If Kerry Rhodes played the game the way Jim Leonard does, Kerry might be the defensive MVP.
No Edgar, it's not your fault, it's the fault of the idiot that plays you
by rxmeister on Jan 30, 2010 10:53 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
When you have the best defense in the league, three probably isn’t enough spots to recognize everybody who did a great job.
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Bart and Jim
should both be 3
Helped the team buy into Rex’s style. Help Taught it and led the defense with playcalling. Without them where are we?
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Internal pessimist
Question
Active or retired, who is considered the prototypical 3-4 DE. Seymour? The reason I’m asking is I’ve been hearing a lot about upgrading DE. For depth I agree, but I don’t see the need for an early round impact player. My impression of the 3-4 is the DEs had to be stout against the run and occupy blockers in the pass rush. That they’d never get the stats. I guess my point is I don’t know how much of an upgrade we can get over Ellis and Douglas. I thought part of the point of the 3-4 is DE is a fairly anonymous position, easy to fill, and not somewhere that you had to sink a lot of money or high picks into. For the life of me I can’t think of 3-4 end that consistently impacted the game.
Seymour's a good one
You’re correct. 3-4 ends usually aren’t huge impact guys. In the 3-4, more than anything the job of the linemen is to tie up blockers. The idea is that if 3 men can tie up the offensive linemen instead of 4, you have an extra guy.
Because of this, ends are usually bigger than ends in the 4-3. They’re usually in the 280-310 pound range and around 6’3"-6’6" tall (longer wingspans are necessary to fight off blocks). It’s tougher to get through double teams. They’re usually doing the dirty work to open things up for other guys. Even in a lot of Seymour’s really productive years, his sack totals don’t really jump off the page because of it.
Not all 3-4 defenses are built the same. In the one Mangini ran, defenders were responsible to hold two gaps. Rex’s defense seems to be based on more penetration, and the assignments tend to be more one gap. In any event, ends usually don’t make a huge impact. The outside linebackers are usually the more athletic sack artists.
It makes guys like Kris Jenkins who can not only command double teams but consistently shed them and gain penetration so valuable. It also makes it not so advisable to invest too heavily in an end. I still can’t believe Tyson Jackson went as high as 3 for the Chiefs last year.
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Yea, Seymore will good in green...
A yo, John B , you and me are like rite here man,Seymoure is a pass rush master the missing puzzle peace the JETS need, we know he’s not happy playing for the RAIDERS what a waste, he’s a Q.B’s nightmare ,he will be a good fit in Big Rex mean Green “D” Machine! ….Brady will shit his tight’s!
I can understand Jets fans thinking Revis was better
but I’d like to point out the fact that just because Woodson made absurd plays all over the field does not mean that he didn’t shut down whoever he was covering each and every play. He did. I looked at a complete breakdown of everything Woodson and Revis last year and Revis had a very minimal edge over Woodson in coverage which in all honesty was almost too small to merit mentioning. Woodson on the other hand had a huge advantage over Revis in run support. He was also able to be used to blitz and to cover tight ends and running backs, things that Revis is not utilized for. Woodson had more tackles, more interceptions, more fumbles forced/recovered and a bigger effect on the game than Revis did. All of the Rex Ryan bluster in the world can’t change the fact that Woodson was a better player this year.
36% of passes completed into Revis coverage, 51% into Woodson’s, 8 pass defences by Woodson, 23 by Revis, 5 TD’s into Woodsons coverage (Don’t think that includes the ones he gave up in the post season), 2 TD’s into Revis. I think you need to check those coverage stats again. I have heard some absolutely ridiculous things from Green Bay fans, but calling Revis’s edge over Woodson minimal in coverage, well that takes the biscuit.
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according to ESPN
Passes Defensed:
Revis – 31
Woodson – 18
but it’s fair to note Woodson did have 9 Ints to Revis’ 6.
I guess my memory was spotty on that one
Still the conclusion of the article was that all the things Woodson does that Revis can’t made him a better player this year which I’d have to agree with. Packers play the Jets next year, so it’ll be nice to see Darelle’s myth get busted
by Donald Driver on Feb 1, 2010 4:00 PM EST up reply actions
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