Bart Scott Needs to Tackle Better Now

Aug 30, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott (57) during warmups prior to playing the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles defeated the Jets 28-10. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Bart Scott has come into 2012 with a new attitude. He has lost the anger from 2011, and has worked quite hard to get into shape to stay on the field more often in 2012. Scott has been back to his old self off the field, pushing the defense hard to get back to the levels of the past.

Well, he may finally have to start taking some of his own lessons, otherwise he might be off the field on running downs. Mr. “Can’t Wait” still misses too many tackles, and we saw examples of it this past Sunday. It needs to improve now. Take a look and we’ll show you a couple of big spots where it happened:

First we will take a look at a run where CJ Spiller ran for 8 yards.

The Bills are lined up in the shotgun, with CJ Spiller lined up to the right of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Bart Scott is lined up on the left side of the defense, the side that we will see in a moment, that Spiller runs towards.

We move ahead in the play, as Spiller has taken the handoff and made his initial move into the line. Look at Spiller, he is seeing that the bigger hole is to the right side of the line. But, Bart Scott sees the move that is about to be made, and is ready to go close that hole, despite the fact that a blocker is getting ready to take him on.

As Spiller makes his cut into the hole, Bart sheds his blocker and looks ready to make the tackle on Spiller in the hole. Does he make the play?

Nope. Instead of using his feet to get in good position to make the tackle, he dives and comes up with nothing. Short gain becomes an eight yard gain.

We’ll take a look at the long TD run on the next page.

This time the Bills are again lined up in the gun, but Spiller is lined up behind his quarterback. Bart is again on the left side of the defense.

This time, Spiller tries the left side of the line, with again some success. He gets through the initial surge without much contact, and just like that he is at the second level, and in the open field. Bart has a long way to come to get involved in this play.

Coming in from the left side of the screen is the Madbacker himself, Bart Scott. Along with LaRon Landry on the right side, they are closing in on Spiller. Can these guys keep it to just a long gain?

They are closing in. Can Bart make the stop? Will “Dirty Thirty” be able to put another lick on someone?

Nope, not this time either. Bart misses, and runs into the Dirty Thirty himself, and the result is a 56 yard touchdown.

This is what head coach Rex Ryan was talking about when he said the Jets need to tackle better. If the Jets are going to be elite, these types of mistakes must be eliminated from their vocabulary. Good tackling, and consistent tackling can make the difference between a good defense, and an elite defense.

The Jets can be elite on defense. If these mistakes stop. Better to eliminate them now than later.