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Following each Jets game this season, I’ll be participating in the post-game tradition of listing out the studs and duds of the Jets’ previous game — but with a new twist.
Each player listed, whether they were a stud or a dud, is capable of earning up to five points positively or negatively, depending on how good or bad their performance was. In total, the scores of each player listed will add up to match the Jets’ scoring margin from their game that week. This past Sunday, the Jets beat the Giants by 7 points, so the combined point total of every player listed below will add up to 7.
At the end of the season, I’m hoping this scorecard system will help us get a good look at which players had the biggest impacts on the team, both positive and negative.
As an added note, no coaches (or general managers) will be involved in these lists.
The studs earn the privileges of having some nice colors attached to their name, while the duds merely get tagged with various levels of badness.
- Studs: Gotham Green (5 points), Platinum (4), Gold (3), Silver (2), Bronze (1)
- Duds: Level 5 (-5 points), Level 4 (-4), etc.
Here are my studs and duds from the Jets’ Week 10 victory.
Studs
Jamal Adams - Gotham Green (5 points)
A signature performance from Adams. He picked up two sacks, blowing up Saquon Barkley and forcing a Daniel Jones fumble on each (swiping one and returning it for a touchdown). Adams added three run stuffs, including a Troy Polamalu-esque leaping stop on a 4th & 1 sneak by Jones. Throw in an impressive pass deflection against Golden Tate late in the game. No passes were completed into Adams’ coverage. Dominant outing.
Jamison Crowder - Gold (3 points)
Crowder snagged five of six targets for 81 yards and four first downs. He is averaging 68.5 yards and 3.5 first downs in six games with Sam Darnold.
Sam Darnold - Gold (3 points)
Darnold posted the third-best QBR of Week 10 (86.5), trailing only Dak Prescott and Lamar Jackson.
Quelling some of the concerns raised about this part of his game in recent weeks, Darnold did a great job of mitigating the pressure. He took heat on 48.5 percent of his dropbacks, third-highest of the week, yet was still able to put forth a high-quality performance. Darnold consistently was able to step up or roll out to create good angles to deliver the ball. He also had a read-option rush touchdown, a crucial 24-yard third down scramble, and drew a pair of penalties (each by DeAndre Baker on Robby Anderson).
Jordan Jenkins - Gold (3 points)
Jenkins recorded a pair of quality sacks against Giants left tackle Eric Smith. He also notched his first pass deflection since 2017 as he got into Jones’ face with a bull rush against left guard Will Hernandez. Jenkins has five sacks and 20 pressures in seven games, putting him on track to set new career-highs in both categories despite missing a pair of games.
Nathan Shepherd - Gold (3 points)
A huge reason Shepherd was able to climb into the third round was his performance at the Senior Bowl against top prospect Will Hernandez. On Sunday, the pair met up again, and Shepherd was dominant. He picked up his first career sack and a pair of tackles for loss, all of those in quality fashion. Shepherd had another sack wiped out by a penalty.
Demaryius Thomas - Gold (3 points)
Thomas posted six catches on nine targets for 84 yards and three first downs. He had a 47-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter that helped set up a field goal. It has been up-and-down for him, but Thomas was a solid mid-season add.
Blessuan Austin - Bronze (2 points)
Austin did some good things in his debut, playing extended action in relief of the benched Nate Hairston.
Over 38 cover snaps, Hairston allowed one catch for 14 yards over four targets. He recorded two pass breakups, making a nice read from the underneath zone (probably should’ve been picked) and contesting a break over the middle on the Giants’ last drive. Austin added a forced fumble to his line, but that was on the Giants’ last play of the game in which Golden Tate was loosely handling the ball looking to make something happen.
Folorunso Fatukasi - Silver (2 points)
Fatukasi is becoming a weekly highlight machine. He only played 21 defensive snaps against the Giants (29%), but still recorded a pair of dominant run stops.
Tarell Basham - Bronze (1 point)
Basham had a pass deflection and three pressures. He leads the Jets with 26 pressures this season. His performance has gone mostly unnoticed, as of those pressures, 23 were hurries while just two were hits and one was a sack.
Kelvin Beachum - Bronze (1 point)
Beachum was a big upgrade at left tackle over Chuma Edoga. He allowed just one hurry and made a key block on Le’Veon Bell’s touchdown. Beachum struggled to handle a few stunts and did not create much else in the run game, but it was a game the Jets will happily take from their left tackle at this point.
Harvey Langi - Bronze (1 point)
Fatukasi is becoming a weekly highlight machine. He only played 21 defensive snaps against the Giants (29%), but still recorded a pair of dominant run stops.
Brian Poole - Bronze (1 point)
Poole allowed one touchdown catch to Golden Tate, but he was solid otherwise, not allowing any other catches. On four of the sacks on Jones, Poole had tight coverage that helped give the pass rush time to get home. Poole has allowed the third-fewest yards per cover snap (0.68) among CBs, trailing only Casey Hayward & Richard Sherman.
Duds
Matthias Farley - Level 1
Farley played just two snaps on defense, but he made a costly mistake on one of them. On Darius Slayton’s 35-yard touchdown (Hairston on the coverage), Farley took a terrible angle from the deep middle, allowing the touchdown.
Marcus Maye - Level 1
Maye was the last line of defense on Tate’s 61-yard screen pass touchdown. He was far too conservative while angling to make the play and thus allowed right tackle Mike Remmers to remove him from Tate’s path nearly ten yards down the field.
Arthur Maulet was the first man to whiff, but he made up for it with good coverage throughout the game (one first down and 35 yards on six targets over team-high 53 cover snaps).
Brian Winters - Level 1
Winters’ season has come to an end, and apparently he was playing with a badly injured shoulder throughout the season. That could largely explain his lackluster performance throughout the year.
Chuma Edoga - Level 2
Edoga was less of a disaster back at right tackle, but he was still a liability in the run game and allowed a good amount of pressure.
Brandon Copeland - Level 3
Copeland deserves some slack, as injuries have forced him to make the tough transition from edge to inside linebacker. It was a rough start, however, as Copeland missed four tackles and was routinely picked on in coverage.
He was easily removed from the play on Tate’s touchdown, allowed Darius Slayton to break free for a five-yard score, and gave up a 22-yard gain to Barkley on an extremely simple flat route. Tate picked up another first down grab as he sat down directly in front of Copeland’s zone.
C.J. Mosley, Avery Williamson, Blake Cashman, Neville Hewitt, and Albert McClellan have all gone down, leaving the Jets in this precarious position.
Alex Lewis - Level 3
Lewis has come back down to Earth after an impressive start to his Jets career. Against the Giants, he was poor in the run game and struggled with the Giants’ stunt action up front. He needed to hold Leonard Williams to prevent a likely sack on a 3rd & 8 play that ended up with a 30-yard Chris Herndon grab.
Jonotthan Harrison - Level 4
Harrison was atrocious, consistently blowing up run plays and allowing far too much penetration up the middle. The Jets have miraculously found a way to get worse at this position each and every season since Nick Mangold left. Joe Douglas needs to make it an top priority in the offseason (as it should have been the last three offseasons).
Nate Hairston - Level 5
Hairston is another Joe Douglas pickup who has come crashing down after a promising start. He was brutal against the Giants, yielding five catches on six targets for 87 yards and four first downs. One of those was Slayton’s 39-yard score, a play in which Hairston found himself stumbling out of the play on a simple slant. Hairston also added two penalties, one holding and one pass interference. All of that production came over just 16 cover snaps before Austin took his place.
Here is a look at the Week 10 scorecard.
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Here is a look at the scorecard on the season to date.
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