Tag: Bryce Huff

Jets had two of the top 10 players in this pass-rush metric in 2022

Jets had two of the top ten fastest average pass rush get-off in 2022

The key to any good pass rush is getting off the ball as quickly as possible. The faster your reaction to the snap of the football, the better chance you have of getting to the quarterback and causing havoc. As it turns out, the Jets have a couple of players that are pretty darn good at getting off the ball.

ESPN’s Seth Walder noted the top 10 players in terms of the fastest average pass-rush get-off according to Next Gen Stats. Two of those 10 players — two of the top seven, in fact — are from the Jets, including the No. 1 player on that list, Bryce Huff. The other is Carl Lawson.

Huff was one of only two players in the league to have an average time under 0.7 seconds to cross the line of scrimmage. Huff came in with 0.67 seconds on average, followed by Browns defensive end Myles Garrett. Not too bad for a player that played a limited role this past season.

Lawson tied for sixth on the list with Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson at 0.76 seconds. The only other players ahead of them besides Huff and Garrett all had 0.75 seconds. They were Josh Sweat of the Eagles, T.J. Watt of the Steelers and Justin Houston of the Ravens.

Rounding out the top 10 were Von Miller of the Bills (0.77), Yannick Ngakoue of the Colts (0.77) and Robert Quinn of the Eagles (0.78).

Interestingly enough, the Jets have decisions to make on both Huff and Lawson. Huff is about to become a restricted free agent, so it’s a matter of how much they want to pay him. Lawson is under contract for 2023, but the Jets have to decide if they want to pay him $15 million next season coming off a seven-sack season. This stat only further fuels both players’ arguments for getting extensions this offseason.

ESPN chart shows how insane Bryce Huff has been rushing the passer this season

Bryce Huff has been incredible this season

He may not be a household name like Myles Garrett or Micah Parsons, but Bryce Huff has been quite a force rushing the passer, even in such a limited time.

Huff is fourth on the team with 3.5 sacks, behind Quinnen Williams (8), Carl Lawson (5) and John Franklin-Myers (4).

To put in perspective how little Huff plays compared to the others, these are their number of snaps so far this season:

Quinnen Williams – 488 (66.5%)
Carl Lawson – 438 (59.7%)
John Franklin-Myers – 412 (56.1%)
Bryce Huff – 117 (15.9%)

Lawson and Franklin-Myers have played almost four times as many snaps as Huff, yet Huff is within 1.5 sacks of both.

And that’s just on his own team. A chart from ESPN’s analytics and Seth Walder shows how impressive Huff has been in pass-rush win rate.

Think about that chart for a second. Huff’s pass-rush win rate is higher than those of Garrett and Parsons. It’s higher than everybody on this chart. That is insane. And it makes you wonder what he could do if he was playing even more than he already is.

The Jets have a stable of pass-rushers, so they don’t necessarily need to throw Huff out there as much, so having Huff in the position they do can be seen as a luxury. But down the line, Huff may turn into the force on the outside for New York. Until then, we can continue to see the flashes during his limited time. And soon enough, more people will know the name Bryce Huff.

What the defense had to say about their performance and the game Sunday

What the defense had to say about their performance and the game Sunday

The defense for the New York Jets did just about everything they could to help the team finally defeat the New England Patriots and take over first place in the AFC East. Until the final play, the Jets had held the Patriots to just three points, helped by two missed field goals by Nick Folk.

The defense sacked Patriots quarterback Mac Jones six times for the second time this season and it seemed like the Jets were going to steal one in Foxborough.

Then Marcus Jones broke the hearts of Jets’ fans everywhere with his 84-yard touchdown return to win the game, 10-3. Needless to say, the defense was deflated after the game.

Here’s what some of the defensive players had to say after the game.

“We had a great game plan,” said John Franklin-Myers on the play of the defense. “Obviously it wasn’t good enough. I think Coach did a good job of putting us in the correct position. We have to capitalize more. They got a couple out on us, we have to go correct that, but overall I think we did well. It’s a mindset. You go out every game expecting to shut them out. It’s just another game, another opportunity, to do that. The Patriots have some great players, some great running backs who break a lot of tackles. We understood that. We understood we had to get people to the ball and I think we did a good job of that.”

“It goes back to Coach putting us in good positions, understanding how to rush with each other, play off one another,” Franklin-Myers added regarding the six sacks. “The game plan was great. I can’t really say too many bad things about what we are doing as far as pass rush. We expect to win every one-on-one.”

“It hurts watching something like that,” Franklin-Myers said about the punt return. “You don’t want to see anything like that. You just want a blade of grass to defend, and we didn’t get that. We could have done better throughout the game and maybe that wouldn’t have happened. Hindsight is 20/20 and we have to go back and learn from that.”

Bryce Huff, who was also part of the sack party, said, “We did what we do. Stopping the run and earning the right to get to the quarterback. We came in and executed.    Going out there not giving anything, making the plays you are supposed to make and capitalizing on the opportunities. We go out there every day and give full effort. We did the things that we practice every day. All of us come out and it’s a product of all of us working together and building together. That was just the result of our work.”

C.J. Mosley, who led the team with nine tackles Sunday, said, ““That’s just our mentality every time, it doesn’t matter the opponent. When you have defensive linemen like we have here, and everybody trusting each other, we get excited every time we step out on the field. Any time we get the moment we make the best of it.”

Mosley added: “It was a tough loss, that’s for sure. But it’s not the end of the world. We have a chance to go out there next week, and try to put our best foot forward and be great as a team. So that’s what we’re looking forward too.”

“We were doing our best to not let the other team score and just taking it play-by-play, communicating and trusting what we see out there,” said D.J. Reed, who had six tackles and nearly recovered a fumble. “We were really confident. That is one of toughest games I’ve played in as far as how the outcome went. We are going to stick together. We have got to watch the film and get better. Me, myself, I have to watch the film and get better. I gave up about four catches. They were tight windows, but four catches. Short yardage but I have to look at the film and grow from there. It was the game we wanted. We were smiling, we were happy. The defense thought it was going to overtime. We were ready to go to see what would happen from there.”

The league leader in pass-rush win rate for Week 8? Yep, Bryce Huff

Bryce Huff had a solid day in Week 8 to say the least.

Bryce Huff has been incredible for the Jets this season, even in such a limited role (14 snaps against the Patriots).

Take that Week 8 game for example. In just those 14 snaps, Huff posted the best pass-rush win rate among edge rushers, per ESPN’s metrics, and he was pretty comfortably ahead of the second-best.

Huff posted a pass-rush win rate of 45.5% against the Patriots. The next-highest was Eagles linebacker Hasson Reddick at 37.5%. The only other edge rushers to post a win rate above 30% in Week 8 so far were Colts DL Tyquan Lewis (31.3%) and 49ers DL Samson Ebukam (30.8%).

To add to that, Huff was credited with three pressures at Pro Football Focus, which led the Jets in Week 8. He didn’t record a sack, but his pressures helped his teammates rack up six against Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.

The Jets have a stable of pass-rushers which sometimes means Huff gets shifted to the bottom of the barrel sometimes, but his recent play suggests he deserves more playing time, even with rookie Jermaine Johnson returning. Huff is the real deal and Week 8 was just the latest example of that.

 

PFF: Jets’ Bryce Huff had top-notch pass rush season among Year 2 players

PFF: #Jets’ Bryce Huff had top-notch pass rush season among Year 2 players:

The New York Jets have high hopes for Carl Lawson and rookie Jermaine Johnson at their pass-rushing positions.

Lawson will be making his long-awaited Jets debut after injury struck in 2021. Johnson is a player that luckily slid to New York at the 2022 NFL draft.

But Pro Football Focus suggests the Jets do not forget about Bryce Huff. According to the football analytics outlet, Huff had the second-best pass rush rate among all second-year pros last season.

While the Jets do have a bit of a deep rotation at defensive end, finding a way to get Huff on the field for pass rushing situation could be a smart play.

Check out PFF’s numbers below:

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Four Verts: The abysmal state of the Texans and hope for the hopeless

Football is back, let’s take a look ahead.

Can you smell it? Can you feel it?

Long sessions of sitting on the couch, tracking players you don’t even root for because of fantasy or financial obligations, allowing the team you do root for to ruin your emotional availability for the week — it’s all back.

With a new NFL season comes the chance to turn off our brains for a few hours on Sundays as the world collapses into brimstone and ashes around us. It’s a very welcome distraction in these utterly insane times. I’m fine. You’re fine. We’re all fine. The pigskin beckons to us all.

This season has had a sense of normalcy to it so far after last year’s debacle of a season that featured games being played on Wednesday, top players getting sick with COVID-19, and Tom Brady winning yet another Super Bowl.

For the first time since 2019, there was a preseason. Fewer players have missed time due to COVID-19 protocols. For a fleeting moment, the football gets to be the focus again.

And boy, there are a ton of reasons to tune into the NFL this year.

Jets exploring trade for pass rusher after losing Carl Lawson

Joe Douglas is in the market for help off the edge after the Jets lost Carl Lawson.

Joe Douglas is in the market for help off the edge.

The Jets and their general manager are exploring trades for a pass rusher, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The report follows Carl Lawson’s season-ending injury. The star defensive end suffered a ruptured Achilles last week during New York’s final joint practice with Green Bay.

Schefter did not specify what the Jets would be willing to give up or who they might target, but Douglas has a stockpile of draft picks and plenty of cap space to work with. The Jets, meanwhile, didn’t show much of a pass rush in Saturday’s preseason win over the Packers, who mostly relied on reserve players. Backup safety J.T. Hassell was the only Jet to record a sack, and Bryce Huff was the only pass rusher with a QB hit in the game.

Huff started in Lawson’s place and rotated early on with fellow UDFA Hamilcar Rashed Jr. Ronald Blair also saw some action, but the veteran injured his hamstring in his first game of any kind since 2019.

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Jets’ defensive front looks loaded after impressive preseason opener

From the starters to the bottom of the depth chart, the Jets’ defensive line made waves in the team’s preseason win over the Giants.

It’s only one preseason game, but the Jets’ defensive line showed tremendous promise — and depth — in Saturday’s 12-7 win over the Giants.

The unit wracked up five sacks, 10 quarterback hits, a few batted passes, a recovered fumble and a safety. Almost every player contributed in some way, as well. Carl Lawson, John Franklin-Myers and Sheldon Rankins added pressure against some of Big Blue’s starting linemen, while Gang Green’s reserves tallied the sacks. Bryce Huff led the team with two, while Hamilcar Rashed Jr., Jonathan Marshall and Michael Dwumfour all record at least half of a sack. 

“The defensive line, they were relentless,” Saleh said. “They missed some opportunities, especially on that touchdown. You’ve got to keep them pinned back in that situation. But it was awesome to see them come back and win the game with that safety.”

The passing touchdown Saleh referenced, which came midway through the fourth quarter, was the only major blemish on an otherwise stellar performance from the Jets’ D-line on Saturday night. The only other time the Giants sniffed the red zone, ​​linebacker Hamsah Nasirildeen popped the ball loose for a Jets fumble recovery.

The Giants passing offense totaled just 92 gross yards through the air on 8-23 attempts. The Jets didn’t allow a passing touchdown until the fourth quarter. After the sacks, the defense gave up just 58 net passing yards, the first time the Jets held a preseason opponent to less than 60 net passing yards since they held the Bills to just 51 yards in Week 1 of the 1970 preseason, per the team website.

This is exactly how Saleh needs his defense to perform every week. It’s not good enough to have one dominating player on the line; everyone needs to play their role effectively for the entire group to succeed. This is how the 49ers dominated offensive lines under Saleh’s leadership for years and it appears the Jets are headed in that direction as well. 

C.J. Mosley watched all of it unfold firsthand from his spot in the middle of the defense. The linebacker’s observations reflected what Saleh and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich hope to replicate in the regular season.

“We’re fast, that’s one thing I can say,” Mosley said after the game. “Our explosive D-line is going to get after it … We’re going to make you try to run the ball on us because if you don’t it’s going to be a long day for the quarterback.”

Don’t forget, this performance unfolded without defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, who is still recovering from offseason foot surgery. Williams is arguably the Jets’ most important defensive player, and his presence on the line will only make this unit more deadly at the point of attack.

There is still a lot of work to do for this Jets team to be competitive and win games consistently. But after one exhibition match, the line at least appears as good as advertised and deep enough to create chaos at the line of scrimmage.

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