After Jamal Adams' first professional regular season game, head coach Todd Bowles offered an assessment of the rookie safety's play against the Bills.
"I thought Jamal had an outstanding game," Bowles said. "His eyes were good, he was physical and he played very smart."
The No. 6 overall pick of this year's draft, Adams played in 97% of defensive snaps as he racked up five tackles, one of which was for loss, and a pass defense. The LSU product was also involved in the Jets first turnover of the season. The 6'1", 213-pounder delivered a powerful hit on Bills TE Charles Clay as the ball hit off Clay's hands and landed in Juston Burris' lap.
In Buffalo's second possession of the fourth quarter, Adams stopped Bills running back LeSean McCoy for a one-yard loss. The following play on third down, Adams brought down tight end Charles Clay immediately after he caught the ball, which forced Buffalo to punt.
"It wasn't so much as to the plays," Bowles said. "His eyes were good, his reads were good and everything he did, he did it the right way. He made tackles when opportunities presented themselves and he made the plays he was supposed to make, so he had a good ball game."
Taste of the Pie
The Jets had difficulty getting into a rhythm on the ground as the team averaged 2.5 yards a clip on 15 attempts. Starting left tackle Kelvin Beachum said even though Buffalo loaded the box, the O-line needs to find a way to create holes. Beachum believes the unit scratched the surface.
"I think the drive where we walked the ball right down the field and scored, I think that's us," he said of the Green & White's 11 play, 75-yard drive in the third quarter. "I think that's the capability we have. I think we could move the ball on anybody, pass the ball on anybody and run on anybody. When we're able to really have chunk plays on first down, which in that drive we did, we're able to really manage the game and situations.
"I think as we get to grow and know each other better, we'll be in a good position. We had a chance to win the game, had a chance to score a number of times, but just didn't capitalize on our opportunities."
North-South vs. East-West
The Jets defense will face a very different running back this week in Marshawn Lynch as opposed to LeSean McCoy. McCoy is one of the shiftiest players in the NFL whereas Lynch will try to run through you. Defensive lineman Leonard Williams said he started watching Raiders film today and Lynch doesn't run like someone who took a year hiatus from football.
"It's a lot different," Williams said. "Shady McCoy is more of an elusive running back, who runs side to side. We had to make sure we were gap-sound. We have to do that every game, but he hit backside gaps a lot whereas Marshawn, once he gets going in one direction, he's going to keep putting his foot down and keep going. It's going to take all 11 of us on defense to pursue the ball, gang tackle and just play together."
Injury Update
Bowles said LB Bruce Carter sprained his ankle and TE Eric Tomlinson sprained his elbow.
