Skrine “Busts” His Mouth About Jets Secondary
Even though Rex Ryan is no longer with the Jets, we still have someone yapping their mouth away. Buster Skrine is full of himself if he thinks the Jets will “have a great secondary this year”. Even though Darrelle Revis had a very good 2015 with 5 interceptions and 9 pass deflections, he is an aging old man at 30 years old with his talent and skills diminishing.
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Buster Skrine: Jets ‘gonna have a great secondary’ – NFL.com Asked Monday if New York’s passing defense can be among the league’s best, cornerback Buster Skrine didn’t back down, saying: “I think we’re gonna have a great secondary this year.” |
| Source: www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000663429/article/buster-skrine-jets-gonna-have-a-great-secondary | |
No game was a better example than the last Jets game against the Buffalo Bills when he matched up against receiver Sammy Watkins. The Bills player torched him for 11 catches for 136 yards but what was more alarming was that whenever it was a crucial 3rd down, Watkins sped by him on every route as Revis tried to play catch up. The “shutdown corner” couldn’t contain him and was one of the reasons why the NYJ couldn’t go to the playoffs in the last regular season game.
Now that old man Antonio Cromartie is booted off the team, Buster Skrine will be put into the starting CB spot opposite Darrelle. As the nickelback, Skrine thrived with 56 tackles and 7 pass deflections along with QB hurries. With Revis and Cromartie ahead of him, he was able to make plays as the ball came his way but now that he’s a starter, it’s doubtful that he will be able to hide his 5 foot 9 inch frame as opposing QBs look his way. And that’s not even talking about the fact if he has the speed and agility to go one on one with taller receivers on every single down consistently.
The only defensive players that should even be in the discussion for “great secondary” are safety Calvin Pryor, CB Marcus Williams and FS Marcus Gilchrist. Along with 69 tackles, 6 pass deflections and 2 INTs, Pryor displayed his closing speed whenever he blitzed opposing QBs. Even though he finished with no sacks, his QB hurries were the reason why Gilchrist had 82 tackles, 7 deflections and 3 INTs while Williams had 27 tackes, 10 pass deflections and 6 INTs.
Add in that Calvin is a great run stopper with his constant tackling of the RB behind the line of scrimmage, and you can see why he is the most indispensable defensive back on the team. While Pryor blitzed, dropped back or stopped the run, Williams was the cleanup guy. This cornerback had a career year in his 2nd year with the Jets as he kept on making plays game in, game out while free safety Gilchrist also helped in mop up duty. These 3 talented DBs were the heart and soul of the secondary.
As talented as the defensive backs are though, their skills will not be the reason why the secondary will go from good to “great”. What Buster Skrine fails to mention is that the reason the DBs were good in 2015 was because of the Jets defensive line and not because of the corners or safeties. While DE Muhammad Wilkerson, DT Sheldon Richardson and surprising 1st round pick rookie DE Leonard Williams devastated the offensive line up front, QBs were always under duress.
Either the passers were sacked for loss of yardage on the play or were hurried to throw the ball faster than they needed to, which often led to mistakes. The 162 total tackles, 20 sacks and 4 forced fumbles between the 3 of them put the pressure on the offense , which benefitted the secondary. The dominant force of Wilkerson, Richardson and Williams in the trenches helped mask old Revis and Cromartie while putting the other DBs in position to make plays. All this led to the NYJ being tied for the top 7 in the league with 19.6 points against per game.
When you see Skrine open his mouth and make a statement like this, you just shake your head in shame. He doesn’t have all the facts and he says whatever comes to mind. An unstoppable Wilkerson, a penetrating Richardson and a young promising Leonard who will only get better in his 2nd year, they will be the reason why the secondary will take it to the next level despite the deficiencies in the back end. If Buster had also given credit to the defensive line, he would not have sounded so ridiculous.
