Key stats for New York Jets defense in 18-10 loss to Buffalo Bills

Playing red-hot football, do young Jets defensive tackles Quinnen Williams and John Franklin-Myers have the potential to form an elite pass-rushing duo? Home, sweet home for Marcus Maye Maye moved back to his natural free safety position in Week 6 and stayed in that role against the Bills this past Sunday. The switch rejuvenated Maye, who has the top overall grade at Pro Football Focus among safeties over the past two weeks (91.7). Against Buffalo, Maye was a secure last line of defense, which is what Jets fans grew accustomed to seeing from him throughout 2019. Maye made nine tackles without missing one, most of them stopping big plays from turning into enormous ones. In coverage, Maye allowed 2-of-4 passing in his direction for 10 yards and zero first downs. If Maye keeps playing this well at his position of strength, it is going to be tough for Joe Douglas to trade him unless a highly enticing offer comes in. He is one of the few players on the roster who could be a core piece of a championship-caliber team. It's time for Ashtyn Davis to replace Bradley McDougald McDougald had a brutal game against Buffalo. He allowed 3-of-4 passing in his direction for 63 yards and three first downs and was also tagged with two missed tackles while making only one tackle. Through seven games, McDougald has been abysmal in both phases. In coverage, McDougald allowed 13-of-16 passing in his direction for 206 yards (12.9 per target) and 10 first downs (62.5% rate). His average of 12.9 yards per target allowed is fourth-highest among 60 safeties to see at least 10 targets (5th percentile). The passing game has typically been McDougald's strong suit throughout his career, especially man coverage, but that has been far from the case in 2020. Against the run, McDougald has been knocked with five missed tackles against only nine tackles for a miss rate of 35.7% that ranks second-worst out of 80 safeties with at least 50 snaps against the run (the only player worse is former Mike Maccagnan selection Juston Burris). McDougald has usually been a poor run defender, and that has not changed. The time has come to have Ashtyn Davis replace McDougald. You can hardly get any worse than McDougald with the way he is playing right now. Davis did get a season-high 24 defensive snaps against Buffalo, splitting his time between the box and deep. He and McDougald never shared the field, splitting the team's 74 defensive snaps, with McDougald taking the other 50. Maye played every snap, as per usual. Nothing too eventful happened for Davis over his stint on the field, but he did make three solid tackles against the pass while allowing no first downs over 11 snaps in coverage. The only pass thrown his way was completed for eight yards on 3rd & 15, with Davis covering man-to-man and making a good tackle on tight end Tyler Kroft. That is the only pass that Davis has been credited with allowing into his coverage over 37 cover snaps this season. It's a small sample size that equals about one full game, but it is still a nice indicator that Davis has been executing his responsibilities in coverage rather well. Show McDougald a comfortable seat on the bench and begin evaluating whether Davis and Maye can coexist. Who knows? Perhaps Douglas will force Gregg Williams' hand by dumping McDougald for whatever a team would be willing to cough up. Quinnen Williams and John Franklin-Myers are beginning to show the potential to become an elite interior duo Franklin-Myers exemplifies the New York media market that he plays in - he never stops applying pressure at a ridiculously high level. With five pressures on 24 pass-rush snaps against Buffalo, Franklin-Myers had a phenomenal pressure rate of 20.8%. For the sixth straight game to begin his Jets career, he posted a pressure rate above the league average for interior defensive linemen (7.1%). Racking up 21 pressures (tied for 7th-most) on 110 pass-rush snaps (60th) this season, Franklin-Myers' 19.1% pressure rate on the season leads all qualified interior defensive linemen. He is back in the driver's seat after yielding it to Pittsburgh's Stephon Tuitt for a week. Williams had himself quite the day as a pass-rusher as well, picking up five pressures over 30 pass-rush snaps for an excellent rate of 16.7%. The Jets have to be excited about the possibility of Franklin-Myers and Williams forming a destructive duo in the passing game for years to come. As Franklin-Myers builds remarkable consistency and inches closer to establishing himself as an elite pass-rusher, Williams is beginning to tap into his own enormous potential in that phase. Williams has 13 pressures (tied for 24th) over 160 pass-rush snaps (20th) this season, giving him a pressure rate of 8.1% that ranks 44th out of 120 qualified interior defensive linemen (64th percentile). His Pro Football Focus pass-rush grade of 70.9 ranks 22nd out of 120 (82nd percentile). Pairing up his improved pass-rushing with his already fantastic run defense, few linemen have been as productive in both phases as Williams this season. Williams has 14 run stops (3rd) on 115 run defense snaps (21st) this season, posting a run stop rate of 12.2% that ranks fifth-best out of 110 qualifiers at the position (96th percentile). Here are all of the interior defensive linemen this season who have 10+ run stops with an 8.0%+ run stop rate and 10+ pressures with an 8.0%+ pressure rate: Quinnen Williams (14 run stops/12.2% rate, 13 pressures/8.1% rate) Calais Campbell (11 run stops/15.9% rate, 15 pressures/8.2% rate) DeForest Buckner (10 run stops/8.6% rate, 22 pressures/12.4% rate) Jonathan Allen (13 run stops/9.0% rate, 15 pressures/9.5% rate) Franklin-Myers recently turned 24 years old and has yet to be fully unleashed, playing no more than 53% of the defensive snaps in a game this season. Williams will not turn 23 until December of this year and is rapidly tapping into more and more of the unique potential that made him the third overall pick in 2019. This is far-and-away the most tantalizing duo on the Jets' roster right now. Bryce Huff needs more playing time on the edge Huff had another promising game. He collected two pressures on only 14 pass-rush snaps (14.3% rate versus 2020 EDGE average of 10.5%) and had a wonderful play against the run in which he showed great recognition against an end-around and destroyed it for a loss of 11 yards. The Memphis product continues to pile up standout plays. Since defensive stats were expanded in 1999, Huff is the first Jet to post at least one pass defended, one sack, and three tackles for loss within his first five career games. While Huff's snap count was bumped up to 41% against Buffalo following a dip to 25% in the previous game, he should still be playing more. Here is a look at the pressure production from the Jets' edge rushers this season: Huff: 12.3% pressure rate (8 pressures on 65 pass-rush snaps) Tarell Basham: 10.1% (13 on 129) Kyle Phillips: 9.0% (6 on 67) Jordan Jenkins: 8.9% (11 on 123) Jordan Willis: 8.0% (2 on 25) Huff is the only EDGE on the team with a pressure rate above the league average of 10.5%. Yet, against the Bills, Huff played 30 snaps while Basham played 38 (51%) and Jenkins played 54 (73%). Basham certainly deserves to be playing around half of the snaps, as he is a versatile piece with excellent athleticism, but Jenkins' performance does not warrant nearly three-quarters of the snaps while Huff gets less than half. In addition to his lackluster pass-rushing, Jenkins' discipline and awareness as an edge-setter against the run have not been good. While Huff's pass-rushing traits are the most exciting aspect of his game, he has looked capable of handling all facets of his position. In his limited playing time, we have seen him sniff out and stop a screen on third down, blow up an end-around, and effectively pick up downfield routes in coverage to create a sack among other fundamentally-sound moments. He seems ready to take on a larger role on a week-to-week basis. It's that completeness to his game that elevates his ceiling from "good situational rusher" to "good all-around starter." It's very early, but Huff is an intriguing prospect who could emerge as one of the team's greatest positives to come out of this season. Throw in Huff alongside Franklin-Myers and Williams, and the Jets have their most exciting trio of young pass-rushers in a long time.

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Key stats for New York Jets defense in 18-10 loss to Buffalo Bills

Playing red-hot football, do young Jets defensive tackles Quinnen Williams and John Franklin-Myers have the potential to form an elite pass-rushing duo?

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