Pressure from lightning
The Jets don’t typically blitz under head coach Robert Saleh and DC Jeff Ulbrich, but that wasn’t the case Thursday night. The defense blitzed Patriots QB Jacoby Brissett on 40% of his dropbacks, the team’s highest rate in a game since Saleh was hired in 2021, according to Next Gen Stats.
Brissett was pressured on 8 of his 10 dropbacks against the Blitz and allowed more sacks (3) than completions (2) against the Blitz.
“Every game is different,” HC Robert Saleh said Friday. “They obviously had two new O-linemen in the game, so we thought it would be good to attack them a little bit. That was really the crux of the matter. We saw some things from a defensive perspective that we could attack. Home game, get our guys going a little bit, get them running vertically.”
The Jets sacked Brissett and rookie QB Drake Maye seven times, led by DE Will McDonald IV, who had a career-high 6 pressures. McDonald, who had 3 sacks in Week 2, had 2 sacks, 4 QB hits and a tackle for loss in Week 3.
“Will has made great use of the opportunity,” Saleh said. “It’s kind of a blessing for him. Without Haason (Reddick) here, he’s gotten a lot more opportunities than he probably would have taken advantage of if he had been here. You have to give Will credit for working on it, he’s getting better and he’s only going to get better.”
