Against Miami last week, the Jets' defense struggled to get a hand on Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who dropped back to pass 47 times. To be sure, Tagovailoa was adept at executing the game plan, which called for quick dropbacks, screen passes and quick releases to neutralize the Jets' rush.
Heading into the Week 15 game at Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon, the Jets are tied with the Eagles for seventh in the league with 37 sacks. Second-year edge rusher Will McDonald IV leads the Green & White with 10, followed by Quinnen Williams with 6. Haason Reddick, who was acquired in an offseason trade from Philadelphia, held out and did not take the field until the Week 8 game at New England, however, has thus far failed to produce the numbers that made him one of the NFL's most prolific pass rushers. He has recorded 58 sacks over seven seasons with the Eagles, the Panthers and the Cardinals (who made him a first-round draft pick in 2017).
"I'm really happy, with the way that he came in, physically," defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton said on Thursday. "Happy with his understanding, his football acumen, his awareness in picking up the scheme. And I think when I'm watching him rush, I'm excited and feel like he's continuing to grow, and we'll just keep giving him turns. I really believe in what he's doing, and I'm as fired up as I was the day that we traded for him."
The Jets sent a conditional 2026 draft pick to the Eagles for Reddick, either a third- or second-rounder depending on his playing time and number of sacks. So far this season Reddick has a half-sack and a QB hit. Through 6 games, Reddick has taken 215 snaps (52%) and has seen limited action on special teams. Against Miami last week, Reddick recorded a TFL with his ankle tackle of RB De'Von Achane. He also forced FB Alex Ingold into a holding penalty, which was offset by a horse-collar call against S Chuck Clark.
Asked about his evaluation of Reddick and his performance, Whitecotton said: "Play in and play out, I have to look at him and say: 'Look, does he know what to do? Is he in the right place? Is he accomplishing that? And then is he making plays?' Boom, boom. It's just play by play. It's play by play by play. And then, if he comes out of a play and he doesn't know what to do, or he doesn't play things correctly, then I got to re-evaluate the way that I explained it to him and what we're doing on that play. Is this the right scheme to put him in? Because if he doesn't know what to do, or it's not the right thing that's on us. So, we got to get that fixed."
Whitecotton, who is in his fourth season as the Jets' D-line coach, said more than raw numbers go into his evaluation of the players across the D-line.
"And the other thing about grading the tape, especially for a D-lineman, is I'm always looking like is this guy a factor in the play," he said. "So, like, a guy sets a physical, violent edge, and he turns it right back to somebody, and Quincy [Williams] or C.J. [Mosley] makes the tackle. Well, that's never going to go in the stat book. That is a critical, critical play for our team.
"If we don't have that violent edge set, we're not making that play for two [yards]. It might go for four. There are things on that play-by-play grade sheet that aren't necessarily big, fancy, flashy stats, but are they helping our team win? Boom. That's a factor. It's not a hit, it's not a hurry, it's not a sack fumble. But if we didn't get this done, then this result wouldn't have happened. So that's another thing that I take into account with that. It's are the guys being a consistent factor?
"You got to keep taking swings like that as a D-lineman and with the proper technique, the proper effort, and then those plays will come to you if you're doing the right things on a consistent basis."
