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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 Defender Yr, Gm Tkls Jets Defender Span Games
David Harris 2007, vs WAS 20 David Harris 2007-16 22
Jonathan Vilma 2005, @ DEN 18 Jonathan Vilma 2004-17 13
David Harris 2009, vs BUF 18 Demario Davis 2013-17 12
Marvin Jones 2002, vs DEN 17 Marvin Jones 1997-03 8
Jonathan Vilma 2004, @ PIT (PO) 17 Sam Cowart 2003-04 5
Jonathan Vilma 2005, vs NE 17 Eric Barton 2004-08 4
Eric Barton 2008, @ NE 17 Erik Coleman 2005-07 4
LaRon Landry 2012, @ NE 17 Eric Smith 2007-11 4

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, Games 1st QB 2nd QB 3rd QB Jets Record
1977 Gms 10-12 Marty Domres MATT ROBINSON Richard Todd 1-2
1987 Gms 4-6 DAVID NORRIE Pat Ryan Ken O'Brien 1-2
1989 Gms 13-15 Ken O'Brien Pat Ryan Tony Eason 1-2
2005 Gms 3-5 Chad Pennington Brooks Bollinger Vinny Testaverde 1-2
2019 Gms 1-3 Sam Darnold Trevor Siemian Luke Falk 0-3
2021 Gms 9-11 Mike White Joe Flacco ZACH WILSON 0-2

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