Sometimes, one side of the trenches gets the better of the other side. Not only does that routinely happen, but it’s expected.
Other times, one side of the trenches completely dominates in a way that simply cannot happen. On Thursday morning at New York Jets training camp, that’s precisely what occurred.
The OL blows back the DL
Watching football practice is tricky, especially professional football practice. By and large, the “flash” usually stands out. This is why reports of David Bailey’s quickness will always surface when live reporting takes shape.
What’s critical — and rarely reported on and/or even noticed — are the sacrifices required to showcase Bailey’s off-the-edge quickness. For instance, on one second-down situation in the green zone, a Breece Hall rush straight at the No. 2 overall pick went for a nice chunk of yardage.
Bailey took an outrageously wide path outside of Olu Fashanu, who merely guided him even wider. Knowing where Hall was running, it was one of the easiest rush-blocking assignments of the Penn State product’s football life.
Despite the situation remaining firmly in the rush-pass mold, Bailey went 1v1 in a non-pass-rush-lane-type way.
Is that the Jets coaching staff saying, “Ok, kid, go ahead and get to the quarterback any way you’d like.” Or, could it be more on the player, whose responsibility must remain more balanced, while not sacrificing lane and gap integrity?
Either way, nobody came to replace him, nor did anybody fill the C-gap, which meant Bailey’s outside lane parted the seas for Hall off-tackle. It was just one of many examples of the defensive line failing in its run-fill responsibilities.
Easy work
One of the first plays of teams (11v11) saw Hall find an incredible hole off the right side. Over there, it was Armand Membou who not only sealed off Bailey but also moved him at least five yards to the sideline.
Granted, the Jets’ defensive front on this day was something completely different than what we’ve seen so far in camp. As opposed to Aaron Glenn’s react-attack and odd-front principles, New York ran more four-down fronts with pass-rushers.
Kingsley Enagbare recently joined Joseph Ossai and T’Vondre Sweat on the injury list, which paved the way for Bailey, Will McDonald, and Jowon Briggs to play plenty together. Folks, the results weren’t pretty. But again, this is a prime example of a story that will hardly see the light of day because it looks and feels so mundane (non-flashy).
When not one, not two, but at least three of the four defensive linemen are finesse players whose instincts are to choose a side and elude, the defense has just volunteered to play a no-win guessing game.
The few DL positives
The most encouraging Bailey play of the day came against a traditional yet tricky red-zone play that forces the edge to remain responsible. Unblocked purposefully, Bailey remained locked in on his keys, didn’t overextend, and stayed home to stop the shovel pass cold.
In instances in which finesse is the tactic, Bailey can be fine, as long as he remains disciplined on the defense’s goal. In instances where holding up at the point of attack is a must, physically, it’s simply not pretty.
I wholly understand why this flies under the radar — because, again, it’s not flashy and needs a specific eye on it, play by play, to notice — but it’s the reality of the situation right now.
Nevertheless, Bailey will always flash in the pass-rush game, as he did once or twice on Thursday while taking on Fashanu. Unfortunately for Jets fans, I wholeheartedly disagree with some onlookers who think one particular outside move would have resulted in a sack — as the path was entirely too wide, and Geno had plenty of room to step up.
The moment David Bailey can get after the quarterback while not sacrificing the integrity of the defense is when the Jets organization and its fans can rejoice.
Other news and notes
Omar Cooper Jr. ran one of the smoothest routes anybody will see. In wide receiver-cornerback drills, 1v1 with all eyes on them, Cooper took an inside stem to perfection, remaining smooth throughout while wasting no time and effort against Samuel Womack III (out-breaker towards the sideline).
Cooper did experience a brutal drop in the end zone, though. Geno Smith put it on him with perfect timing at the top of the route, courtesy of an excellent route that caused Dane Belton’s hips to open too much towards the sideline.
Unfortunately, the ball got on Cooper so quickly that it hit him right between the numbers and fell to the ground.
The much-maligned Arian Smith continues to fly under the radar a bit too much. His improvement in the late-adjustment area has been noticeable, which continued Thursday morning.
Rookie quarterback Cade Klubnik put forth a mixed bag. On one play, he looked poised in the pocket, stepping up like a vet to avoid outside heat. The problem is that he threw the ball directly to a defender (with the closest weapon at least five yards away).
The New York Jets are slated to get back after it on Friday morning.
