Inside the Numbers | Quincy Williams Throws His Hat into Jets' Tackle Ring

Green & White Linebacker's Big Stat Game vs. Miami; 3 Different Starting QBs in 3 Games

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Almost two months ago, after Quincy Williams first burst into Jets fans' collective consciousness with his big game against Tennessee, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was asked about adding Quinnen's big brother to his LB mix.

"It's been fun getting Quincy in there," Ulbrich said. "Is he perfect? Not close. He's got so much room to grow, but we're just so excited about what he could become."

What Williams became, after 169 defensive snaps vs. the Titans and Falcons combined, was lower-profile. Jarrad Davis came off of IR to join C.J. Mosley in the middle of the unit and for three weeks Quincy's D-snaps were in the teens.

But with Robert Saleh's decision to scale back Davis' reps because "he's not all the way back yet" from his late-August ankle injury, Williams was back in the starting lineup, this time vs. Miami, and back in big-play mode again.

Williams racked up 15 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss vs. the Dolphins. The tackles we'll get to in a minute. The TFLs are juicy enough, since he now unofficially has 8.0 tackles for loss on the season and, if we add in tackles on zero-yard runs and receptions, 9.5 tackles for loss/no gain. Both figures are tops among Jets defenders.

And that tackle number not only led both teams in the game but also was the best total by a Jets defender since 2019 (Neville Hewitt's 16 tackles at Philadelphia) and most at home since 2018 (Avery Williamson's 16 vs. Buffalo).

Apologies to Mo Lewis, Marvin Jones, Kyle Clifton and the rest of the great Green & White tackling machines over the decades but here are two side-by-side Jets lists from 1997 only — most tackles in a game and most 12-plus-tackle games in a career, both lists that Williams could crack if he becomes everything Saleh and the coaches think he can become (span is years from first 12-tackle game to last):

Table inside Article
Jets DefenderYr, GmTklsJets DefenderSpanGames
David Harris2007, vs WAS20David Harris2007-1622
Jonathan Vilma2005, @ DEN18Jonathan Vilma2004-1713
David Harris2009, vs BUF18Demario Davis2013-1712
Marvin Jones2002, vs DEN17Marvin Jones1997-038
Jonathan Vilma2004, @ PIT (PO)17Sam Cowart2003-045
Jonathan Vilma2005, vs NE17Eric Barton2004-084
Eric Barton2008, @ NE17Erik Coleman2005-074
LaRon Landry2012, @ NE17Eric Smith2007-114

Jets Starting QB Trifectas

With Zach Wilson set to start at Houston on Sunday, the Jets have achieved a rare triple in franchise history: They will have started three different quarterbacks in three consecutive games.

The good news is that it doesn't happen often and when it happened four times from 1970-2005, the Jets got one win out of the three games. That bodes well for Zach and the Jets vs. the Texans.

The bad news is the last time that win came, when Vinny Testaverde famously climbed off his Long Island couch and led the Jets past the Buccaneers 14-12, it was 2005. The only other time since then, 2019, resulted in three losses.

Here are the six times since the 1970 merger that this Jets triple has occurred (rookies in CAPs, three-game records in parentheses):

Table inside Article
Year, Games1st QB2nd QB3rd QBJets Record
1977 Gms 10-12Marty DomresMATT ROBINSONRichard Todd1-2
1987 Gms 4-6DAVID NORRIEPat RyanKen O'Brien1-2
1989 Gms 13-15Ken O'BrienPat RyanTony Eason1-2
2005 Gms 3-5Chad PenningtonBrooks BollingerVinny Testaverde1-2
2019 Gms 1-3Sam DarnoldTrevor SiemianLuke Falk0-3
2021 Gms 9-11Mike WhiteJoe FlaccoZACH WILSON0-2

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