New York Jets Friday Fades: Chris Ivory praise, Nick Mangold elite again
The New York Jets 2014 season was one that fans will likely want to forget, but it wasn’t without its bright spots. I’ve already gone over Eric Decker‘s quiet greatness in detail, but he clearly isn’t the team’s only bright spot going forward. A good GM-HC combo will inherit some talented pieces on either side of the ball, and the Jets next franchise quarterback can’t complain about the running game that will support him. There’s obviously a lot of work to do, though, since not enough of the team’s key needs were filled, and they don’t have enough pieces to compete in a passing league.
1. Chris Ivory shines
So let’s start with that running game. I’ve always been a huge fan of Chris Ivory’s game, and it’s great that more and more fans around the league are starting to realize just how good this guy is. Per Pro Football Focus, Ivory managed to force 52 missed tackles on rushing plays, which means that only elite backs Marshawn Lynch, DeMarco Murray, and Le’Veon Bell forced more on rushing plays this past season. That’s an incredible feat, especially when you look at the carries these backs had. Murray, Bell, and Lynch were first, third, and fourth in carries this past season, while Ivory was 18th in the league with 198 carries.
Chris Johnson is one of the running backs that comes to mind when you think of “elusiveness”, but there’s more than one way to force missed tackles. Ivory is one of the league’s most violent rushers, as his hard-nosed, punishing style ensures that he bowls over would-be tacklers, especially on interior runs. He’s one of the most underrated backs in the NFL, and he’s also one of the best in the NFL at making defenders miss. Ivory is also explosive, so he’s a bit of a poor man’s “Beast Mode”, if you will.
His 4.1 yards per carry last season were about league-average, but he did a lot of the dirty work and would have easily averaged more with better blocking in front of him. Aside from the elite Nick Mangold, the Jets don’t have another impressive run blocker up front, and they didn’t exactly get much blocking from the TE position.
2. Chris Johnson solid YPC, no consistency
Johnson’s streak of 1,000-yard rushing seasons understandably came to a close in his first season away from the feature back role with the Tennessee Titans, but he did manage to average 4.3 yards per carry after putting up just 3.9 yards per pop in 2013. CJ0K will cost the team $4 million, and it doesn’t seem like he’s worth that kind of money as the clear No. 2 to Ivory. He did show that he’s still one of the league’s more explosive backs, as, per PFF, he had seven runs that went for at least 15 yards, which is good for a guy who ran the ball 155 times.
Of course, you could argue that Johnson should have received less than 155 carries, since Ivory only had 198 rushes despite clearly being the superior back. Tapering Johnson’s upside provided by the big plays was his complete lack of consistency, as just 35.9% of his runs, per Advanced Football Analytics, were “successful” based on down and distance factors.
3. Run defense elite again
With 4.5 yards per carry on the ground, the Jets were the eighth-most efficient team in the league when running the ball, and they certainly controlled the run on both sides of the ball. If they can make huge upgrades to their pass defense and find a true franchise QB (and maybe another WR, but we’ll see what Percy Harvin has to offer after a full offseason with the team), then the Jets can finally be set up to succeed in this passing league. On the bright side, they continue to be one of the NFL’s best teams against the run, and, as you can see above, Ivory helped lead them to a successful season on the ground on offense.
Nov 24, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; New York Jets defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson (96) against the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson, and Damon Harrison comprise the NFL’s best three-man front, and I can’t think of a team that is closer to them. J.J. Watt is the best player in the game at any position, but nobody else has a trio of players who are as accomplished as the three defensive linemen on the Jets. These three formed an elite front last season, and they were at their best again this season.
The Jets had the league’s sixth-best run defense this past season with just 3.8 yards per carry allowed, and they did it despite the fact that teams weren’t afraid to throw the ball on the them, meaning that the Jets often found themselves without plenty of safety help on rushing plays (Disclaimer: This might not matter, since Dawan Landry and Calvin Pryor excel at downhill run defense). On any defense, 3.8 yards per carry allowed is impressive, and they allowed the fifth-least rushing yards while they were also third in the league in rushing yards as an offense.
4. Nick Mangold bounced back
The 2013 season was an uncharacteristic one for Nick Mangold, and many started to wonder if he should still be regarded as one of the NFL’s elite centers. Well, he reclaimed that title this year, as the Jets were easily at their best when running it behind their star player this season. Mangold’s usual excellence in run blocking was on display, and his pass protection was also on point for the Jets. Per Pro Football Focus, Mangold allowed just two QB hits this past season, and he allowed just seven total pressures on the QB; no other qualifying center allowed less pressure.
5. Inability to adequately fill last season’s needs the biggest indictment of Idzik
John Idzik was easily one of the worst GMs in the NFL, even if he didn’t exactly inherit the best situation. It’s hard to evaluate someone when we can’t see the full picture of their drafts and acquisitions, but it’s always disappointing when a team doesn’t adequately address their biggest needs in an offseason.
Coming into 2014, we knew the Jets needed to greatly upgrade their offense and secondary, and we also knew that their offensive line and edge rush were weaknesses. Decker and Jason Babin were excellent additions, and Harvin was an in-season acquisition with some upside. That said, the Jets didn’t do enough in the offseason to upgrade their team, as the offensive line still had issues despite Mangold’s big year, Decker and Harvin were the only pass-catchers capable of making plays, and the team’s secondary was an abject failure
Idzik’s unwillingness to add a legitimate corner doomed the Jets pass defense, but at least he tried to give the team’s passing attack a big boost by spending on Decker and trading for Harvin. Those two are legit pieces for the New York Jets going forward, but the line, pass defense, and edge rush are still major questions. Plus, Geno Smith is in limbo, and the Jets passing attack as a whole still looks subpar; the fact that they couldn’t definitely knock out one of their many sizeable needs last offseason is a tough failure to swallow.
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