David Bailey's Week 5 dominance fueled historic Jets pass rush performance

The New York Jets picked up a much-needed win on Sunday afternoon in the rain at MetLife Stadium. A 17-12 final over the Cleveland Browns helped Aaron Glenn and the Jets keep their 2026 season alive.

One of the biggest reasons New York is walking away with the win is 2026 second overall pick, David Bailey. After a bit of a slow start through his first four career games in green & white, Bailey took over in dominant fashion on Sunday.

The rookie pass rusher tallied three sacks, nine pressures, and seven run stops. Those three sacks and seven run stops were good enough to top the NFL in Week 5. Bailey also ranked second in pressures, only behind Danielle Hunter's ten against the Tennessee Titans.

For Glenn, Darren Mougey, and the Jets, it was good to see the franchise's highest defensive draft pick and the pass rush as a whole have a monster coming-out party in a game the Jets desperately needed to win.

David Bailey and New York Jets pass rush dominate in Week 5 win

It wasn't just Bailey who was getting home to Deshaun Watson on Sunday afternoon; it was the entire Jets pass rush. As a team, the Jets pressured Watson 31 times and brought the veteran quarterback to the ground eight times.

It's the most pressures the Jets have had in a game since Week 18 of 2024 against the Dolphins, and just the second time since 2014 that the pass rush got home for eight sacks in a game.

This comes after a three-week stretch where the Jets severely struggled to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Entering Sunday, New York had just 31 pressures across their three straight matchups against NFC North opponents, where they went 0-3.

That's an average of just around ten pressures per game. Against the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears, the only times New York got home were on blitzes from Demario Davis and Andre Cisco, in games where the Jets couldn't generate any pressure from their front four.

Beyond just the pass rush element of Sunday's win, the Jets' front was also strong against the run, holding Cleveland to just 96 rushing yards. Kingsley Enagbare opened up the game with a four-yard tackle for loss on Quinshon Judkins.

The former Green Bay Packer turned Jet finished with a 76.8 Pro Football Focus run defense grade on the day to bring his season total to 79.2, which ranks eighth among edge rushers.

Simply put, it was a complete performance from the Jets' pass rush and run defense and arguably the biggest reason why New York is sitting at 2-3 as opposed to 1-4. The next step for Glenn and this defense is to stack consistent performances on defense moving forward.

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