Safety Approval Rating
by John B on Nov 2, 2011 7:46 PM EDT
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PrintSome people order a chicken Caesar salad on the side when they go out to a restaurant. Others order a chicken Caesar salad as their main course. Nobody would order the salad for both a side and an entree. That would not make sense. Two chicken Caesar salads would not compliment each other at all. The second salad would be redundant.
This is essentially the situation for the Jets at safety where New York starts Eric Smith and Jim Leonhard. They are both very good against the run but not athletic enough to be that good against the pass. Since Smith has taken over a spot in the starting lineup, Leonhard has been pretty quiet. Smith does what Leonhard used to do.
I think Leonhard is a better player. He is more of a playmaker and better in coverage. You can live with him as your number two cover safety. Smith is really a nickel linebacker. He plays the pass better than the average linebacker and the run better than the average safety. A tweener like him can have a lot of success as a situational player. When he becomes a full time starter, he ends up allowing more yardage in coverage than any safety in the league as he has to this point.
Both Leonhard and Smith are heady players. This matters. So does athletic ability, though. I think the best safety play the Jets got in the Rex Ryan era was last year when both were out of the lineup. Coverted cornerback Dwight Lowery and versatile Brodney Pool did great work in their place. Pool became a playmaker near the line of scrimmage. Lowery was a good pass defender, which is more critical than run defense from the safety spot given the current trends of athletic tight ends and high octane passing games. I think the best safety duo the Jets could put out there today would be Kyle Wilson at free safety and Pool at strong safety. Neither guy is a starter, though.
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Never really considered moving Wilson before
quite an idea.
Arm chair GM. Mod/contributing writer at SBN Jets blog GGN.
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Yeah a balhawk at the safety position with good coverage skills
Who can also tackle.
"We're not there yet, but we're going somewhere," Johnson said. "And we're going to Brooklyn. We're not going to contract. We're going to Brooklyn."
hes been so good at cb though
i think hes more valuable there.. im still not sure why we traded lowery though
Lol, this
Nobody would order the salad for both a side and an entree. That would not make sense.
Kinda like the Wilson to safety idea. Also kinda like the idea of using Cro to cover TEs (obvious not in situations where the run is a real threat) while putting Kyle out wide.
But Pool really needs to be the SS already. Dude is dynamic from that spot.
Lol why is this so low?
I went yes, it is a kind of weak link but its not like they’re blowing games for us. Some of you guys are to jump ship even after a win and a bye.
I like Leonhard as one of our starting safety. That guy uses his intelligence to make plays. How many times has he been the last man and hes saved a touchdown. Nearly every play you hear his name as in on the tackle. On the other hand all i ever hear about smith is that he was beat in coverage again. I would be much happier with Pool Leonhard starting but drafting a new strong safety in an early round of the draft.
I think the best Safety play I've seen was Pool and Smith last year
Smith is currently leading the team in tackles. And Pool is our best coverage safety. The two should be on the field together.
Ludicrous!
To suggest Wilson should play safety is totally ridiculous. Right now, he’s fourth in the league in quarterback rating. He’s not a safety—he’s a CB. With Revis’ guidance, he’s made tremendous improvement. He’ll play CB his entire career.
Your analysis lacks one important point—Leonard is the defensive signal caller. That’s critical to this defense. Smith has the intelligence to fill that role, and, yes, the two are both similar in their overall makeup. These guys are two smart, tough safeties, and I, for one, appreciate their overall play.
Poole came on last year after struggling to adjust to his new team. I believed he would continue to make that adjustment as a starter this year—but Rex has decided to go with Smith instead. Poole is better in coverage, but coach has chosen Smith—and there must be a reason for that hidden from us.
I know ESPN lists him as a CB but many calls have him take safety responsibilities. He’s familiar with the position. He’s not a starter so it’s a question of him playing or sitting on the bench in the base defense.
And if Leonhard’s calls were so critical, we wouldn’t have shut down Manning and Brady back to back without him last year.
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by John B on Nov 3, 2011 7:17 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Still waiting for your mea culpa from the other thread...
Arm chair GM. Mod/contributing writer at SBN Jets blog GGN.
GangGreenNation.com
well
all i know is that 33 and 36 are good players whether u like them or not n i like em they are both out there for a reason, rex know what he is doing and by the way with these 2 safeties we have our pass defense is ranked in the top ten so they must be doing something right in coverage
Right because Rex is infallible.
He didn’t cut Maybin and roll with Westerman as the DPR or anything. Injury forced his hand with Maybin. Just like it did with Pool last year. And the team was better for it. He still hasn’t gotten McKnight any touches on offense.
One of Rex’s critical flaws is his reluctance to make necessary changes. Like when he blitzed the house all last year despite it being picked up and burned time after time after time. Injury forced him to scale that back too, for the betterment of the team.
Do you understand that if you take out either safety?
Teams’ tendencies change.
If you take out Smitty, teams will continue to run on the Jets.
Every team has changed it when Smitty goes out.
Look at how successful the run game was against Pool.
Smitty is the most versatile safety the Jets have.
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uhmmm
well i dont really agree with most of voting (no) on the balllot. Its true tht b.pool would be a better fit to be at SS but i really like how smitty plays against the run. tht dude is a small linbacker playing safety. in this league u cant really win if u dont run the ball. i love both smitty nd jimmy. but yes pool would be a better fit at SS due to his physicality. he needs to start seeing more snaps against teams tht are pass happy. oh nd no kyle wilson at safety. im not diggin tht. i wanna see more of him being a corner. much improved compared to his rookie year
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