Lethal Lawson

Edition #242

☀️ Good morning!

I know a lot of people don’t love the Thursday night games, but I do love how quickly the new NFL week comes around. Washington vs Chicago may not be the marquee matchup to get you pumped over your lucky charms but it does represent the start of the action, and obviously, that means a chance for the Jets to make a statement in Green Bay.

My plan for today’s newsletter was for it to focus on Laken Tomlinson. The big-money signing had a rough start to the season, but he has noticeably improved over the last two games and I’d argue that Sunday’s game was his best by a wide margin. However, while I was watching the game back to chop up the clips, I changed tact.

It’s hard to watch the Dolphins game and now be blown away by Carl Lawson, the marquee free agent signing from last year’s class who missed the 2021 season with a torn Achilles. It’s sometimes hard to focus when you're watching the game live, so I wanted to bring some attention to Lawson’s dominance on Sunday.

I also wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who reads TJW. We’ve picked up a lot of new subscribers over the last week and it’s thanks to you guys sharing this newsletter with your friends, family, and colleagues. I appreciate it.

🤕 The Jets welcomed Quincy Williams back to practice on Wednesday which is a great sign. Carl Lawson, Duane Brown, and C.J Mosley were all limited, but both will be absolutely fine for Sunday according to Coach Saleh. Jermaine Johnson is still day-to-day but did not practice on Wednesday.

📢 My favorite comment from Saleh from his presser was “Our guys have deserved the right to feel good about themselves. But this league is humbling. We haven’t done anything yet”.

🏋️ The Jets worked out four defensive backs yesterday. Innis Gaines, Troy Pride, J.R Reed, and James Wiggins. Gaines spent this pre-season and last season with Green Bay so part of that workout is related to Sunday’s game I’m sure. Pride failed his physical with the Panthers back in May due to a knee injury and he’s been looking for a new team ever since. J.R Reed has bounced around and Wiggins was recently with the Chiefs. It seems interesting that the Jets are working out so many defensive backs, considering there are no new injuries to report in that area.

🧐 This article grabbed my attention as someone sent it to me asking if the Jets almost traded for Stefon Diggs, because apparently, Diggs had said they had. I hadn’t heard that before but listening to what Diggs actually said, I think he was using the Jets as a reference point as he added “or somewhere like that”, as in it was either the Bills or he went to a team not in contention. I don’t think he meant the Jets had an offer on the table.

🙌 Sam Monson who worked for PFF tweeted out this graph today around defenses pass-rush in the NFL and it paints the Jets in a very good light. We don’t blitz often and generate pressure through exotic schemes, but we do have one of the elite front fours in the NFL and they are generating pressure at a high clip. This is a credit to the work of Saleh, Ulbrich, and defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton, and a massive amount of credit to that defensive line in general. All of them are doing their jobs.

5️⃣8️⃣ When Carl Lawson signed a 3-year $45 million contract I was pretty excited. If you followed me back then you’d know he was at the very top of my off-season wishlist, the sacks weren’t off the charts but the pressure and ability to disrupt the quarterback were at an elite level. The kind of player we dreamed about as Jets fans but hadn’t seen since John Abraham in his prime, that’s before he started taking plays off.

The expectations for Lawson were off the charts after a dominating off-season where he gave Mekhi Becton absolute nightmares. Day after day we heard about him living in the backfield. So when he went down it was a devastating loss for the Jets and their defensive philosophy. They wanted to blitz rarely and generate pressure with their front four, not easy to do when you lose your premier pass-rusher.

The Jets struggled in 2021 on the defensive side of the ball and that in large part was due to their lack of pressure generation. The Jets as a team had a pressure percentage of just 21.4%, which was 27th in the league. They were 25th in sacks and 27th in hurry percentage. In short, they didn’t make it uncomfortable for quarterbacks and as a result, their limitations in the secondary were exposed. They also had to blitz on 24.8% of drop-backs to try and generate something, anything.

Fast-forward to 2022 and the Jets are blitzing on just 15.6% of snaps, the 4th lowest in the league, but they’re 4th in terms of pressure generated at 28.9%. And although the sacks are middle of the league, they’re 2nd in terms of QB knockdowns at 17.6%. When you’re one of the best teams at generating pressures and knocking the QB down, the sacks tend to follow.

You don’t need me to tell you what generated the change but I’m going to anyway. The return of Carl Lawson allows the Jets to run the defense they envisioned running when they arrived in New York…but not only that, the improvements in the secondary give the pass-rush more time to get home. Right now the Jets have one of the most dominating defensive cornerback pairings in football in D.J Reed and Sauce Gardner.

Between the Jet’s two outside corners they’ve allowed the following:

215 total yards
43 yards per game on average
1 touchdown
59 yards after contact
11.8 yards after contact per game
6 pass breakups
2 interceptions
51.05 average NFL passer rating in their coverage

This newsletter is all about Carl Lawson, but let’s give them some credit as well. Not forgetting Michael Carter II, LaMarcus Joyner, Will Parks, Brandin Echols, Jordan Whitehead, and everyone else who’s played meaningful snaps in that secondary. Not only are the Jets playing complementary football between offense and defense, but they’re also playing complementary football within each unit as well.

Before we get into a couple of clips I just wanted to share some stats on Lawson heading into week five. We’re basically a quarter of the way through the season now and Carl is looking back to his best after taking a couple of weeks to look comfortable on that Achilles.

There are 56 pass-rushers in the NFL who have at least 100 pass-rush snaps to their name and here’s where Carl ranks:

Pass rush grade: 84.7 (8th)
Pressures: 19 (11th)
Sacks: 3 (19th)
QB Hits: 11 (1st)
Win percentage: 23.5% (3rd)
PRP: 9.2 (9th)

Now let’s look at the same stats, but over the last two weeks with players who have at least 40 snaps to their name, of which there are 58:

Pass rush grade: 90.7 (2nd)
Pressures: 10 (6th)
Sacks: 2 (7th)
QB Hits: 6 (1st)
Win percentage: 28.0% (2nd)
PRP: 12.0 (7th)

Everything is up and that’s not surprising. Achilles injuries can be one of the more difficult to come back from, especially when you rely on speed and explosion to do your job. I wasn’t overly surprised to see Lawson start slower, but even with his slow start, he showed flashes of that dominant rusher we thought we were getting. Over the last two weeks, with confidence restored in that Achilles, he has been one of the elite pass-rushers in the NFL.

We also need to remember that the Jets run that defensive rotation. Here are Carl Lawson’s percentage of defensive snaps played over the first five weeks of the season: 52% (Baltimore), 58% (Browns), 66% (Bengals), 53% (Steelers), and 73% (Dolphins). I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his best performance came against the Dolphins.

If you look at many elite rushers in the NFL like Nick Bosa and Trey Hendrickson, they tend to average around that 75% mark in terms of defensive snaps played, not all, but a lot of them. My hope is that the Jets will maintain those Dolphins percentages for Lason and Quinnen through the rest of the year.

Especially when you look at some of the plays below

Miami brings a tight end across the formation to block Carl Lawson one-on-one, that’s never going to end well. Lawson hesitates to ensure he’s setting the edge, then decides that to get to the QB he needs to go through the TE, head down, bull rush on, there was only one winner. This is a huge play in the game and shows the strength of Lawson. Yes I also left it long enough to show Quinnen stiff-arming Hill back to Florida.

This shows a different element to Lawson’s game with him deciding to plant and dip around the tackle, being able to get that shoulder low to enable you to turn the corner is key. We all know about the strength of Lawson but maybe we don’t appreciate his flexibility as much as we should.

This is a continuation of the last example which shows his ability to turn a corner. Lawson has to go a hell of a long way around #71, but once he turns the corner he plants his foot and drives to the QB, his closing speed is excellent and you better believe that these QB hits add up in terms of the mentality of that QB.

Going back to his bread and butter in terms of the bull rush here, the tackle is pushed so far off his base here he attempts to trip Lawson on the way through. Again this showcases the strength and the acceleration. The QB sees Lawson coming and let’s go of the ball earlier than he wants to and it also ends in an interception for Kwon, who had a very good game himself.

This is obviously schemed up to get the tackle in space to block for Hill catching the screen pass, but it’s a perfect chance for Lawson to get a free run at the QB and deliver the hit. These hits will stick with you, especially if you’re a rookie playing his first game. Not sure I’d want to be exposing a rookie QB to a hit like this.

It’s time to take a look at the Jets in the community:

JFM has partnered with the Marty Lyons foundation in an effort to raise money for a little girl bravely fighting cancer. Her wish is to have a soccer field in her backyard. “I have always been involved with charities such as the Sarcoma Foundation, a nonprofit charity dedicated to raising awareness and finding a cure for Sarcoma cancer. This wish and fundraising effort is being done in honor of my late grandfather. I am dedicated to raising money both on and off the field this season in order to grant Luna’s special wish,” said John Franklin-Myers.

The New Jersey Super Football Conference (NJSFC) in conjunction with The Defensive Line, co-founded by Jets DL Solomon Thomas, and the New York Jets are collaborating on a Mental Health Awareness Series for New Jersey High Schools. The kickoff session for the series began on Tuesday at Clifton High School. Solomon Thomas addressed the attendees on the importance of mental health awareness and discussed his journey. Last week, defensive linemen Quinnen Williams and Solomon Thomas visited Goryeb Children's Hospital.

The New York Jets have donated $100,000 to benefit Slow Beskid and Children’s Paths. The donation is part of the organization’s $1 million commitment, to be split between various organizations, meant to help aid the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

The Jets announced their high school player of the week who will receive $1000 to aid their football program. This week’s recipient is Damien Santiago, a Junior Wide Receiver from Carmel High School in Carmel, NY. The Rams dominated in a 62-21 win over Arlington High School. Santiago caught four passes for 129 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown. On the defensive end, Santiago had a sack, interception, and blocked punt, which he returned 20 yards for another touchdown. Santiago has been a key player on both sides of the ball for the Rams, who are riding a 20-game winning streak.

The Jets also announced today that James Magazine of Paterson Eastside High School in Paterson, NJ has been named this week's High School Coach of the Week. Coach Magazine will receive a $2,500 donation to benefit the school’s football program. Along with the monetary award, Paterson Eastside High School will receive an automatic bid to compete in the 2023 New York Jets 11-ON Tournament.