Quote:
Originally Posted by milkman
Ryan used a lot of blitz because the Jets lacked any semblence of a pass rush threat.
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I don't agree with that. That implies that Ryan only ran the defense because of the talent available. I think Ryan would have run a similar defense regardless of who he coached. And a curious question to ask is whether Ryan's defense would have been much more successful if he had true pass rushers like Hali and Houston.
In Ryan's defense, DeVito plays a nice role because he is versatile in a different way than we're used to. We're used to versatility meaning the ability to flex between playing DE and OLB. In this case, DeVito has tremendous versatility to play in lots of different interior alignments. He can play either 4-3 DT position or he can play 5-technique or nose tackle. And all 4 of those positions are very highly used in a Ryan defense because Ryan likes to flex between 3/4 and 4/3 fronts, which is a staple of the Ryan defense.
It's not a sexy pick. But I don't think we should get too hung up on the idea that he's not a penetration or pass rush guy. We can't look at him like a Romeo or a 1-gap defense. In a Rex Ryan scheme, he has a very valuable role.