As the Jets prepare to face three straight NFC North opponents, starting with the Green Bay Packers in the home opener on Sunday, head coach Aaron Glenn can look back on his time as Detroit's defensive coordinator as a reference for formulating his game plan. But, as he will acknowledge, "every years different."
"Coaches always have a wrinkle here and there when it comes to how they want to operate their offense and defense," Glenn said.
Glenn faced QB Jordan Love when he was first starting his NFL career with the Packers, which gives Glenn experience about how Love operates.
"The dangerous part about him, man, he's getting out of the pocket and he's looking to launch it down the field and be able to make plays," Glenn said. "And his receivers do a good job of playing off him to be able to do that."
Love's arm talent is something that stands out to Glenn because of the different angles he can throw from.
"I think he's more elusive than guys might give him credit for so we want to try and keep in him the pocket as much as we can, but we also want to deter some of these throws that he has, because he has these receivers out there that can cause a lot of damage," Glenn said. "They're all 4.3 guys, they're all tough guys, they all can go up and catch the ball, so it'll be a challenge for our secondary."
Limiting explosive plays will be a pivotal part of the Jets' game plan on Sunday. With rain expected throughout the afternoon, that might hinder both offenses from consistently taking shots down field, which only makes those limited attempts more important to defend well.
"If you're responsible for being on top of a guy, being on top of them is the number one part of it, certainly when you don't offset the safeties in the deep part of the field, so making sure they're on top of things and playing those deep balls," DC Brian Duker said about limiting explosive plays. "That's probably the biggest pieces of it, but I'd also say up front, don't give him that much time, so that's the other element of it."
Injury Update
HC Aaron Glenn said RB Kene Nwangwu (back), rookie WR Omar Cooper Jr. (ankle), edge Joseph Ossai (foot) and S Minkah Fitzpatrick (groin) will be out against the Packers on Sunday.
But he said LB Jamien Sherwood; DL David Onyemata; who received a veteran rest day earlier in the week; CB Jarvis Brownlee Jr.; edge Will McDonald IV; and rookie CB D'Angelo Ponds "will be good."
Ponds, according to Glenn, "is ready to go." The rookie out of Indiana missed training camp with a calf strain but has returned to practice the past few weeks.
"Well just that he can go out there and compete at a high-level and that's what we want to make sure with any guy that's out ... because once you get on the field, there's no excuses," Glenn said about what Ponds has shown him at practice. "Our trainers have done an outstanding job of getting him ready to go and he's been in the meetings so he's understanding exactly what we're doing."
Tinkering With Tight Ends
OC Frank Reich's analytics team couldn't find any instance of 05 personnel in the 20 years of data they looked at. While Andrew Beck is rostered as a fullback, he's considered a tight end -- he's never in meetings with the running backs.
"It's a hard business. There's a lot of ups and downs," Reich said. "If you don't have some ways to have some fun, try to be creative like that and do fun things for the room and the unit, you can do that and still not compromise your principles. That's all we're trying to do."
Initially, Reich thought the Jets would have to "phase in" Kenyon Sadiq, but then he saw the rookie tight end practice.
"Talking to AG, before he started practicing, we thought there might be a play limit that we have to put a cap on it, but after seeing him practice seeing how he handled it and knowing what the play was going to be for the game and using all the tight ends, we went in there with the reigns off and said let's just play football," Reich said.
Of the Jets' 63 plays on offense against the Titans, the Jets utilized 12 personnel for 15 plays and 13 personnel for 11 combining for nearly 40% of the total of 145 yards.
"I think we had a great camp. A lot of different guys can do some different things but at the same time, you know, I think we're all well versed enough to be able to be put in any situation," TE Jeremy Ruckert said. "When you put us all together, I think it creates a lot of matchup problems and things that defenses haven't really seen."
The Early Evaluations of David Bailey
Everyone is watching No. 31 when he lines up on the edge. As the No. 2 overall pick, David Bailey had his first NFL action in Week 1 and his first career NFL sack.
"You saw the pressures, he was affecting the quarterback, had the sack just the way I'm sure he dreamed it up," defensive coordinator Brian Duker said. "It was good, did a nice job executing."
According to Next Gen Stats, Bailey generated all 6 of his pressures (23.1% pressure rate) as a left edge; he lined up on the left side for 21-of-26 pass rush snaps.
"I thought he's shown flashes of him being able to get off the ball and get after the quarterback," head coach Aaron Glenn said. "Then being able to set an edge and do all the things that we ask those edge guys to do. He's only going to get better."
In Week 2, he'll likely face the Packers right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele who allowed 7 pressures on 46 pass-blocking attempts, which tied for the most pressures allowed in a single game in his career (according to NGS).
