FanPost

Big Nickel: A NYJ Breakdown

With the recent injuries at the CB position our very own Crackback brought up the notion of using the big nickel as a base defense. The comments turned into rumblings about everything but the big nickel. I know there are some of you here who are unfamiliar with the concept. I will break down the concept as well as how it might fit with our personnel.

What is the big nickel?

I'm sure most of your are familiar with the term nickel. It means there is an extra (5th) defensive back on the field. This is used in obvious passing situations. The theory of the nickel is simple. When the opposing team is almost invariably going to throw the ball, you need your best coverage personnel on the field. This means sacrificing a big bodied linebacker with a smaller faster DB. The DB you pick is usually a CB. This reasoning is also simple, as your CB's main job is coverage. He either locks onto a man and runs with him, or he sits in a zone. The big nickel is a variant of this concept. Instead of placing a CB in as the teams 5th (nickel) back, you send in a safety. The safety is generally a larger body than a cornerback, who is capable of playing the run or the pass, yet smaller, faster, and better in coverage than a linebacker. Speaking in the most basic sense, it is better to have a safety in coverage than it is to have a linebacker in coverage. It is also better to have a safety in run support/on the blitz than it is to have a cornerback in run support/on the blitz.

By sending in a 3rd safety, you are now in the big nickel look. While the safety isn't a specialist in either aspect, his jack of all trades nature allows the defensive coordinator to be more creative. With 3 safeties on the field, the coordinator could send them anywhere to do anything. He could drop into a cover 1 with a single high safety, sending one safety in man coverage on a tight end, and sending the 3rd crashing down in a blitz. He could drop into a cover 2 with 2 high safeties, and lock the third onto a back coming out of the backfield. The possibilities are far more multiple than with a cornerback in as the nickelback. If a quarterback doesn't know what defense he is looking at, it is far harder for him to pick it apart. Being able to do multiple things from the same look is a key tool for the defense.

The Jets in the big nickel:

So now that we all understand the concept of the big nickel, how would that benefit us with our current personnel? Our depth at CB took a major blow with the recent injuries to Dee Milliner and Dex Mcdougle. With the inability to win the 1-on-1 battles, the Jets need to rely on good, unpredictable playcalling. This is something that is very possible with Rex Ryan and Dennis Thurman calling the shots. We have a shortage of good CB's, but we have a stable of horses at the safety position. We have yet to see rookie Calvin Pryor in action, making it hard to tell what we will get from him. We do know that he is a hard hitting safety with good speed. If his play recognition transfers from college, he should fit in fine. We also have veteran Dawan Landry. He has lost a step physically, but is the brains of the operation in the secondary. finally, we have Antonio Allen, who played the spur position in college. For those of you who are unaware, it s a hybrid safety/linebacker. Allen has a large body, and used it well when covering tight ends last season. The talk for most of the off season was how the Jets would pair these 3. The athleticism of the Pryor-Allen match-up would be ideal, but without the knowledge of Landry to call coverages and quarterback the secondary it might leave us open to busted coverages and missed assignments. Enter the big nickel. This would appear to be the ideal situation. It allows the young and gifted Allen and Pryor to roam the field while Landry sets up the defense. Imagine if you will Landry playing cover 1, using his years of experience to attempt to jump a route. Antonio Allen locked up man to man with the opposing team's tight end, and Calvin Pryor crashing down in a blitz. That is only one of the many looks that could come out of that package. Landry and Allen could both lock up in man coverage leaving Pryor to spy on the QB and prowl the middle of the field daring a receiver to leave their feet to catch a ball.

I feel that there is also another underlying advantage to the big nickel when used by our personnel. If a QB doesn't know what he is looking at, he isn't as able to find the open receiver. This leads to him checking through his reads and holding onto the ball. We have a very formidable defensive line, and some dark horse pass rushers. The strongest position on our team is our DL. One hopes that in his second season, Sheldon Richardson shows more ability in the pass rush. We can also hope that Coples puts it together now that he isn't hobbled with a bum leg. Hoping doesn't do much, but playing to your strength is always advisable. Disguising coverages in the big nickel could cover our weakness long enough for our strength to win its battle. A coverage sack is still a sack and will kill a drive just as fast. By not allowing quarterbacks to quickly read the defense and make a short quick throw, the big nickel allows Wilkerson, Coples, and Richardson the time they will need to disrupt the QB.

None of us liked our CB situation before the injuries, and now it looks like we may be in dire straits. We do still have a top defensive line, and a top defensive minded coach. Pairing those two things together with the personnel we would put on the field in the big nickel, and it could be a strategy that allows us to steal away some games.

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