PAGING: All Capable Safeties, Rex Ryan Wants YOU

by Matt Birch on Dec 7, 2010 9:16 PM EST

Not only did the Jets get demolished in every aspect of the game last night, they also suffered an unfortunate loss in losing S James Ihedigbo to a high ankle sprain. "Digs" is expected to be out for 2-3 weeks to recover.

The problem here, is with SS Jim Leonhard on I-R, the Jets are now razor-thin at that position. SS Eric Smith has shown how bad he can be in coverage, as he was straight-up embarrassed on a couple of plays and looked completely lost at times.

Jenny Vrentas earlier reported about SS Keith Fitzhugh turning down an offer from Gang Green. Fitzhugh was previously released by the Jets on September 3.

JennyVrentas Jenny Vrentas

Interesting: Jets reached out to S Keith Fitzhugh an hour ago. Turned them down to stick w/secure job w/railroad to provide for family. #nyj

John mentions some possible candidates for the position in the above post (here).

But the issue remains.... as none of the aforementioned players excel in COVERAGE. That's what the Jets need. Unfortunately, consistent and capable safeties are hard to find, especially this late in the season.

I would like to see the Jets have CB Dwight Lowery make the switch to SS over going out and bringing in these two. It's tough to learn a new position on the fly, and they'll be some missed tackles along the way, but he's the best candidate of what we have and he can cover better than the others.

This will be a recurring problem throughout the duration of the 2010-11 Jets season. It's hard to see this getting any better any time soon. FS Brodney Pool has been a big letdown in coverage also, and has quietly had a pretty terrible, ineffective season thus far.

Hopefully Rex and Pettine can scheme well enough to mask this weakness. Which really means, they need to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

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yeah for real

The Texans just signed someone I think but I didn’t see who it was. If we put Lowery there full time do you think he can get better? Off coverage seems like his kind of thing, its not ideal but with whats available it may be the best way to go forward.

In an Ideal world I would have all ten fingers on my left hand so my right hand could just be a fist for punching.

by BL3ACH on Dec 7, 2010 9:21 PM EST reply actions

Agree 100%

Also think Lowery is the best available candidate.

As you said, with having to work with what’s available, he’s the most viable option. They’ll be some missed tackles, because that’s his weakness. We have to hope they don’t go for big plays against us.

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by Matt Birch on Dec 7, 2010 9:24 PM EST up reply actions

Short week....Less options....

+1 on the safety suggestion. Eric Smith looked awful in coverage, and the pass interference play at the goal was 2nd rate. His back was to the ball the entire time. Don’t think for a minute that the Dolphin’s coaching staff won’t be exploiting that this Sunday given the opportunity. If their passing game proves ineffective, why not single out Smith and throw the ball deep looking for the call. Leonard’s injury hurts both in coverage and on the blitz, and no obvious options exist to retain both of those strengths.
But I think Lowery will give us better coverage and slightly better blitz potential than Smith.

by oldskooljet on Dec 8, 2010 12:41 PM EST reply actions