Where should the Big Three line up?
Rich Cimini is such an idiot. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “To me, this is the most challenging scheme-related decision facing the Jets.” Any hardcore New York Jets fan who actually watches Jets games would know exactly where those 3 should line up.
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Jets’ defensive riddle: How to incorporate Big Three into one scheme – New York Jets Blog- ESPN The Jets have three top interior defensive linemen in Mo Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson and Leonard Williams, and they need to maximize their snaps. |
| Source: espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/60601/jets-defensive-riddle-how-to-incorporate-big-three-into-one-scheme | |
Muhammad Wilkerson was the only defensive lineman who played 3 downs every game throughout the 2015 regular season, defending the run on 1st down and then against the pass on 2nd and 3rd down. He was so versatile that he was indispensable to get off the field.
Defensive tackle Damon Harrison would play 1st down 100 percent of the game since he was a runstopper while Sheldon Richardson would join him on 1st down 50 percent of the time. Richardson played 2nd down 75 percent of the time and only 25 percent on 3rd down because that’s when head coach Todd Bowles would blitz, sending linebackers and defensive backs towards the quarterbacks in sub packages. Rookie Leonard Williams would mostly play on 2nd and 3rd down, when his pass rushing skills would be needed. Which downs the 3 linemen played on was not the problem.
The issue was where the Big Three lined up on the trenches. The best and ideal positions for Wilkerson and Leonard were on the edges while Sheldon burst up the middle. Unfortunately, Bowles outsmarted himself because he didn’t know what to do with all this talent on his hands and where to place them. The most glaring of this was the complete mismanagement of DEFENSIVE TACKLE Sheldon Richardson by the head coach.
There were countless times during the 2015 season when Richardson pressured the QB as he shot up the gut, getting past hapless centers and guards with his talent and swim moves. Since the QB is right in front of him as Sheldon lines up on the line, it only takes him 1 second to beat the offensive lineman and bear down on the passer because there is a 1 yard difference in distance between Richardson and the QB.
But even with all this evidence, Bowles would still put Sheldon at the DE position, which just delayed him more into getting to the opposing thrower. A clear example was when Gang Green faced the Dallas Cowboys in week 15, when Richardson lined up against their left tackle (who are premier pass blockers, more than those rugged centers and guards). Amazingly, he broke through and ran towards the QB.
But since it took him longer to get past the better offensive lineman and it was a longer distance from the DE spot than the DT spot, Sheldon came on to the passer in 3 seconds rather than the usual 1.5 seconds. Also, by this time the QB had already set his feet, was scanning the field and obviously saw Richardson coming towards him, causing him to throw the ball away. There is a big difference between having Sheldon getting in your face in 1.5 seconds versus seeing him coming towards you from the side in 3 seconds.
And yet, Todd Bowles was still stubborn in his ways, fooling around with the lineup. Sometimes he would position Leonard or Wilkerson as the DT or Sheldon as the DE, which would also disrupt their chemistry. Even when Williams or Muhammad got sacks as DE and Richardson as a DT, this head coach went back to his old ways. There was no reasonable excuse for him to trample with the formation, not even being a rookie head coach.
So when you see “beat writer” Rich Cimini say that this is the most difficult decision for the team, any true Jets fan wants to punch him in the mouth for stating such a ridiculous sentence. He can bring up these stats about snap counts on 1st and 2nd down but even he admits that he doesn’t “have a count on how many plays the Wilkerson-Richardson-Williams troika played together.”
Since we Jets fanatics watch the plays every week, we know that the natural position for Wilkerson and Williams is at DE and at DT for Sheldon. We don’t need a vague piece of paper to tell us this. And no…”Bowles and Rodgers are smart enough to know they have to be flexible, mixing up their fronts.”
Wrong again, Rich. He still fails to see that the head coach is the culprit of why there was no continuity on the defensive line, resulting in missed plays. After this misguided article, Rich Cimini should cover another sport, possibly hockey.
