Key advanced metrics for New York Jets defense in 30-27 loss to New England Patriots

Ashtyn Davis, Folorunso Fatukasi, and Bryce Hall were among the bright spots for the New York Jets defense on Monday Night Football. Bryce Hall makes his long-awaited NFL debut Hall has completed his tough road to recovery from a severe ankle injury on October 12, 2019, making his NFL debut in a Stealth Black uniform on Monday Night Football 394 days later. With Pierre Desir struggling, Gregg Williams decided to have him split snaps with Hall throughout the game against New England. Desir and Hall rotated at the left cornerback spot following each series, with only one taking the field at a time. Hall ended up appearing on 39 of the team's 81 defensive plays (48.1%) and showed some things that Jets fans should feel good about. Over 16 snaps in coverage, Hall was targeted only once, a promising tidbit for a kid getting his first licks in the NFL against Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels. While that pass was completed to Jakobi Meyers for 20 yards (Hall also committed a holding penalty on that play), it is at least promising to see that Cam Newton and the Patriots preferred going after Blessuan Austin (8 targets), Pierre Desir (7) and Arthur Maulet (3) over the thrown-in rookie. There was another target in Hall's direction that was called back. Meyers went in motion and caught a slant against Hall's man coverage for nine yards, but Meyers never got himself set and was called for an illegal shift penalty. Hall made a nice tackle following the catch to hold Meyers short of the first marker. Hall also made an impressive tackle against the run. Playing off-man on a receiver tight to the formation, Hall quickly recognized the run developing and got himself in position to make a play before anybody could get downfield to block him. Damien Harris blazed through the trenches untouched and had the potential to break off a game-changing run, but Hall made an excellent one-on-one tackle in space to save a ton of yardage, bringing Harris down by the ankles. In terms of utilization, Hall was used nearly exclusively on the outside, lining up in the slot on just one of his 39 snaps. He manned the left side of the field on 37 of his 39 snaps. While Hall was not involved in a ton of notable action in his debut, it's just great to see him out there. He has had a long journey back. Now, the Jets will finally be able to evaluate their most promising young cornerback, who was initially projected by many to be a first-round talent prior to his injury. Pierre Desir is a tank extraordinaire There is little reason for Gregg Williams not to elevate Hall into Desir's starting spot after the bye. Desir continues to do a great job of serving Jets fans' Trevor Lawrence ambitions. He allowed 6-of-7 passing for 115 yards and four first downs against New England. On the season, Desir has been tagged with the fourth-most yards allowed among cornerbacks (491). It's also worth noting that Arthur Maulet got his first extended defensive action of the season with 28 snaps. He allowed 3-of-3 passing for 25 yards and two first downs over just 17 coverage snaps, but he had a big tackle in the fourth quarter that held Jakobi Meyers one yard short of the first down marker on a 3rd & 19 completion (Desir allowed the catch). The New Orleans native deserves a chance to try and replicate his rock-solid 2019 production. Nathan Shepherd's breakout attempt has fallen flat I was a big fan of what Shepherd showed in the second half of 2019. His efficient production as a pass-rusher suggested that he had a legitimate chance to develop into one of the league's better defensive tackles in the passing game. Instead, it has been John Franklin-Myers who has emerged as the Jets' interior pass-rushing specialist, while Shepherd has been kicked to the curb. Shepherd entered the season looking primed to play a big role, getting 31 snaps (39%) in Week 1, but his snap count was shredded after he put up no pressures over 23 pass-rush snaps in Buffalo. Over the following six weeks, Shepherd was a healthy inactive in two games and played less than 30% of the snaps in the four games he did play. Williams has given Shepherd a bump recently, throwing him out there for 30% of the defensive plays in each of the past two games, but he has done almost nothing. Across 24 snaps against New England, Shepherd picked up zero pressures over seven pass-rush snaps, and while he had one run stop, he also had a bad missed tackle. On the season, Shepherd is ranked as Pro Football Focus' third-worst interior defensive lineman out of 134 qualifiers with an overall grade of 34.6. He has two run stops over 66 run defense snaps for a 3.0% run stop rate that ranks 116th out of 127 qualifiers (9th percentile) and only two pressures over 67 pass-rush snaps for a 3.0% pressure rate that ranks 117th out of 136 qualifiers (14th percentile). Ashtyn Davis bounces back in a big way Davis' starting debut in Kansas City went about as poorly as you would expect, but coming back to MetLife Stadium to take on a far less daunting Patriots offense, Davis looked much-improved in his second start. PFF scored Davis with a 75.7 overall grade against New England, eighth-best among qualified safeties in Week 9. The California speedster was everywhere. He had a huge pass breakup on the Patriots' game-tying drive attempt in the fourth quarter, made a touchdown-saving tackle on Damien Harris just shy of the pylon, stuffed a run in the red zone, and executed a one-on-one tackle in space to limit a pass into the flat to zero yardage after contact. Davis also had a sack on Newton in which he beat the tight end (the tight end released into a route, but Davis blasted him back and then shed effectively to set himself en route to Newton), but he hit Newton near the head/neck area and was called for roughing the passer on the play. It was arguably an incorrect call, but with Newton completely oblivious to Davis, the rookie could have done a better job of getting his head down and hitting lower to eliminate any potential for a penalty. Gregg Williams used Ashtyn Davis all over the place. Of his 81 snaps, Davis logged 39 as an outside linebacker (typically standing up on the line of scrimmage at the end of the DL), 20 as a free safety, 12 as an inside linebacker, six as a slot corner, and four as an outside corner. This game clearly exemplified what a peak version of Davis could look like - and an optimal way for him and Marcus Maye to live together in harmony. If Davis proves he can handle playing in the box - continuing to tackle effectively (he has 15 tackles to just 1 miss this season), handle the physicality, and capably take on numerous roles - Maye can safely assume his free safety role nearly full-time without needing to be used to patch up any weaknesses of Davis' near the line of scrimmage. This is essentially how the Maye/Jamal Adams tandem operated. Huge step forward for the former walk-on. Foley Fatukasi devours the New England run game With Quinnen Williams sidelined, Fatukasi played a career-high 55 defensive snaps (career-high 67.9% of plays), and he did not let the opportunity go to waste. Fatukasi made an absurd total of six tackles against the run that held the rusher shy of the sticks and to a gain of two yards or less. That led the NFL in Week 9. No other player had more than four such tackles. Not known for his pass-rushing, Fatukasi dabbled in that phase a bit with his newfound playing time, picking up two pressures over 22 pass-rush snaps for a solid 9.1% pressure rate. It is just his second career game with multiple pressures. This marks Fatukasi's second straight game of wreckage. PFF scored Fatukasi with a run defense grade of 91.6, best among interior defensive linemen in Week 9. Last week, he ranked second with a mark of 91.0, trailing only Aaron Donald. On the season, Fatukasi leads all qualified interior defensive linemen with a PFF run defense grade of 90.1. He has continued to make the most of his massive frame with great burst off the ball, excellent recognition, good block-shedding ability, and a knack for staying lower than his matchup to maximize power. Fatukasi has the complete package of tools required to be a great interior run-stuffer. It seems the Jets should have no problem replacing Steve McLendon.