David Bailey Just Showed The Jets What He Can Become | After Further Review

Look, sometimes a team needs a beautiful win, and sometimes that same team just needs to survive the rain, embrace the ugly, and find somebody who can go and get the quarterback. The Jets, they did exactly that in their 17-12 win over the Browns, and because everybody wants tomorrow yesterday, the past few weeks we've heard questions about when New York's No. 2 overall pick would start making the kind of pass-rushing plays that everyone expected. Well, in Week 5, David Bailey provided a pretty loud answer. And after further review, what the rookie did on Sunday was more than just a three-sack game. It was the David Bailey breakout the Jets had been waiting for. From the beginning, Sunday's game belonged to the Jets' defense. Cleveland, they finished the matchup with just 198 total yards and only 13 first downs. Deshaun Watson was sacked eight times, tied for the most sacks the Jets have recorded in a game over the last 40 seasons. Four of those sacks came before the half. David Bailey was right in the middle of the sack fest. Now, it was impressive to watch Bailey in action against the Browns. And what was evident was the burst off the line and the ability to close space before Watson could settle into the pocket. And it kept happening. One sack, then another, then a third. By the end of the afternoon, Bailey produced a hat-trick recording his first three-sack game as a pro. and that's important because the conversation around Bailey was starting to change not necessarily because he wasn't affecting plays because we saw the pressures he was producing but the question for some was when was all of that pressure gonna start turning into production that you couldn't ignore well you can't ignore the numbers in week five against Cleveland 28 pass rushes nine pressures that's a 32.1 pressure rate to go along with those three sacks and Bailey had an average get-off of just 0.84 seconds. NextGenStats also credited Bailey with five quick pressures, his nine total pressures tied the most by an NFL rookie in a game since Jared Verse in Week 7 of 2024. And through five weeks, Bailey now leads all NFL rookies with 26 pressures and nine quick pressures. So, when you look at Bailey's number and actually watching him in the first four weeks of his NFL career, this didn't exactly come out of nowhere. The pressure had been building. Literally, it had been building. We talked about the fact there had been questions about why a player drafted second overall and viewed as one of the premier pass rushers in this class hadn't produced more disruptive plays. He had two sacks through four games, despite both coming in the first two weeks. But the Jets kept saying the impact was there, even when it wasn't always showing up in the box score. Prior to this week's five matchup, Aaron Glenn said that Bailey would make impact plays and that some of what he was already doing was helping other Jets make plays. On Sunday, the impact was everywhere for everyone to see. But this is where I think Bailey's performance became more than just a stat line. The Jets' defense, they controlled Cleveland for most of the afternoon. The Browns, they managed just two field goals. Then, with six minutes left, Watson finds Denzel Boston for a 29-yard touchdown. And all of a sudden, Cleveland leads 12-10. And I know some of you were thinking, here we go again, same old Jets. However, special teams gives the Jets a break. Braylon Allen, he cashes it in with a 22-yard touchdown run. Now it's 17-12, and it's on the defense to finish what they had started. That brings us to third and sixth. Late in the fourth quarter, number 31 was coming again. Watson, he felt him, has to escape the pressure. In Cleveland, they are forced into fourth down. Three sacks already on the stat sheet. but David Bailey he's still affecting the game without getting another one and that's really the part of this performance that should excite the Jets look sacks can come and go consistent pressure that travels if you look at it now we go back to the game Cleveland they get one final opportunity no timeouts they've got to throw everyone in the building knows that the Jets pass rush is coming and on fourth down Will McDonald gets home first for the strip sack that finally ends it and david bailey he's also right there that's eight team sacks for gang green three for bailey and a jets defense that needed to close the football game and they actually closed it now you know i'm always about pumping the brakes and making sure we don't do too much so let's not turn five nfl games into a hall of fame speech right here david bailey still a rookie which means there's going to be ups and downs and adjustments with him but the reason this performance matters isn't just because he finished with three sacks. It's because the numbers underneath them tell you this wasn't three random plays. For me, it's the nine pressures, the five quick pressures, the 32 percent pressure rate, and now more pressures than any other rookie in the sport. For weeks, the Jets kept saying the impact was coming. Against Cleveland, the pressures became sacks. The near misses became game-changing plays. And one of the Jets' biggest questions started looking a lot more like one of their biggest reasons for optimism going forward. So, if you were waiting for the David Bailey breakout, well, you don't have to wait anymore. In the nasty rain, with the Jets desperately needing a win, their rookie pass rusher did exactly what great pass rushers are supposed to do. He made the quarterback uncomfortable, made him move, and three times he put him on the ground. And when Cleveland needed to throw late, well, number 31 was still coming. After further review, David Bailey didn't just have a big game in Week 5. He gave the Jets their first real glimpse of what a game-wrecking version of David Bailey can look like.