Darron Lee earned the nickname “Little Dog” from Sheldon Richardson last season as a Jets rookie. But this year he has lacked bite, and is toothless and struggling.
Gang Green come into Sunday’s home opener versus the Dolphins ranked dead last in run defense. There are a host of culprits, but Lee is one of the more conspicuous ones. The linebacker, a former first-round pick, is listed at 6-foot-1, 232 pounds, but appears and plays much smaller. He has struggled to shed blocks from mammoth offensive linemen in general, and last weekend at Oakland in particular.
“I should’ve been able to make a couple more run plays here and there,” Lee said. “Just a couple stops definitely would’ve [helped] that. Other than that, really getting to the ball, just making sure I’m there, and then I get the guy down. Tackling was a huge emphasis for everybody as a defense, so I guess for me just getting to the ball, that’s for sure.”
Tackling should be priority No. 1, 2 and 3 for a Jets defense that has given up 370 yards on the ground: 190 in the season-opening loss at Buffalo and 180 in Week 2 at Oakland where Lee was exposed, not using his speed and agility to evade blockers but instead getting overpowered by them.
“[He’s got to] just keep working on his technique,” defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers said. “Use his hand a little better, get off the block and make the plays he’s supposed to make when he’s there.”
Lee was pancaked by center Rodney Hudson and bulldozed off the line by guard Kelechi Osemele on Cordarrelle Patterson’s 43-yard third-quarter touchdown. But the most damning image was him getting met in the hole by 6-foot-6, 265-pound tight end Lee Smith, getting bent over backwards and driven into the turf on Marshawn Lynch’s 13-yard run in the first quarter.
“Keeping my eyes on the blocker, first,” Lee said of what he needs to improve. “I know there was one [in Oakland] with the tight end, I was not even … I didn’t focus on the block at all. I’m sure everybody thought that was real bad. But don’t panic. I slipped on that one. He got me on that one. And we talked about it afterwards.
“Just keeping my eyes on the blocker for sure, and just be more aggressive at the point of attack.”
Still, both Lee and the Jets profess confidence he’ll come around. Why?
“I’m confident in what I do. That’s about it,” Lee said. “I’m not sitting here saying I’m worried. If you’re going to say I get worried over one play, that’s not smart. I’m not concerned whatsoever.”
“My assessment of Darron is fine,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “He’s a linebacker for us. He plays well. He has some mistakes he can correct, just like everybody else on defense, and you go from there.”
Asked if Lee’s mistakes were mostly mental or more physical/technique, he replied, “A little of both.”
Little could also be used to describe Lee’s frame, raising the question of whether he’s bulky enough to play inside linebacker in a 3-4 defense.
“Darron didn’t get here because he didn’t know how to play football. He’s just going to have to keep working, keep doing his things and it will come. He’ll be okay,” said Rodgers, who claims he’s not worried about Lee’s struggles. “No. He comes to work every day and we’ll continue to work to get him better.”
Lee is listed at 232 pounds, but said he actually tips the scales at 236, up nine pounds from the end of OTAs.
“I feel like I’m perfectly fine,” Lee said.
But Gang Green’s run defense has been anything but fine.
“Not very good, just like you know. Obviously, we’ve got to get better,’’ Lee said. “We’ve got to get better, but we’re taking it one day at a time on improving in that and hopefully have a better showing on Sunday.”
How?
“Execution — and there’s nothing I can really follow up with that,” he said. “Execution, that’s really all it is.”