Tom Rock: Edge rusher David Bailey is low-key, but his three sacks against Browns stand out
David Bailey of the Jets celebrates with his teammates after a defensive play during the second half against the Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
There seems to be one person in the Jets’ organization who still isn’t very impressed by David Bailey, the rookie edge rusher selected with the second overall pick in April.
That would be Bailey himself.
Not even his three-sack performance in Sunday’s 17-12 win over the Browns could change his disposition. After each of the takedowns of quarterback Deshaun Watson, he simply got to his feet and went back to work.
There was no crazy dance to celebrate, no gyrations to go through. No taunting or pointing. He didn’t say or do anything, really.
Don’t expect him to scroll through his phone to see what the rest of the league is saying about him. He doesn’t do any of that stuff, either.
The criticism about his play in the first four weeks and the praise he produced on Sunday? None of that reaches him. It’s as if he is operating in a vacuum.
All he does is focus on the football. How refreshing is that?
“It felt great,” he said of being the first Jets rookie since Hugh Douglas in 1995 to have at least three sacks in a single game.
If he hadn’t said it, you wouldn’t think he felt that way.
It was the kind of game that could catapult him into the conversation for Defensive Rookie of the Year and a showing that could help establish him as one of the cornerstones of a defense that already had been ranked among the best in the league without his dominance — but he acted as if this was a routine day for him, not a defining one.
“That’s who David is,” coach Aaron Glenn said.
Glenn was talking about the sacks and the team-high seven tackles and the one other quarterback hit and the general disruption Bailey caused in the Browns’ backfield all game. But he might have been talking about the rookie’s response to all of that, too — or his lack of one.
The kid wouldn’t even admit that something had clicked for him or that he’d somehow found a secret recipe for success.
“Just honing in on what I had wanted to work on this week and relying on my coaching,” he said of the continuation of his development. “Me and Coach [Karl] Dunbar and Coach Cam [Davis] came together and drew a picture of what I could do better in my game, and I was relying on that.”
It apparently was no mere doodle — more of a masterpiece.
“It was beautiful,” defensive lineman Jowon Briggs said. “That’s all I can say. Beautiful. A three-sack hat trick for him is beautiful. And I really think this is going to act as a catalyst for him.”
Said safety Minkah Fitzpatrick: “It was great to see D.B. have the game that he had. I think he really showed the type of player he is and that he can be for us, and we’re going to need that week in and week out.”
Bailey actually could have done more, at least statistically. There were a few plays when he was near Watson and forced him to get rid of the ball earlier than he wanted. He said there was one pass rush when he allowed himself to be blocked by a tight end. That gnawed at him.
Glenn was quick to point out that there are areas in which Bailey needs to continue to improve. But he also seemed tickled by the overall dominance, especially because it came on the heels of outside observers wondering aloud about Bailey not living up to his draft hype.
“I’ve said it all along that his time was going to come,” Glenn said. “I have all the confidence in the world in him. He did a good job today. We expected that.”
On third-and-6 with 1:07 left, Bailey flushed Watson out of the pocket and made him throw an incompletion. He nearly brought him down for what would have been a fourth sack, which would have tied the franchise record for a single game.
On the next snap, fourth-and-11 from the 19 after a delay of game, Will McDonald IV got credit for a sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery. Bailey was right there with him and easily could have had some or all of those if the quarterback or the ball had bounced in a slightly different direction.
In ending a three-game skid, the Jets had a moment to exhale. Bailey’s display made them gasp with jubilation.
“I was] damn happy for David,” defensive back Jarvis Brownlee Jr. said.
Someone has to be, darn it. It’s not in Bailey’s nature.
“He’s very businesslike,” Fitzpatrick said with a smile when asked about Bailey’s rare disposition and lack of showmanship. “He’s obviously enjoying the game, but he is a very even-keeled type of player.”
Oh, but every once in a while, there is a crack in that facade. You just have to be in the right place to catch it. You have to wait because he holds the joy in until it’s safe to let it out, when the cameras aren’t around and when he thinks he is alone.
“He’s such a goofball,” Briggs told Newsday. “He’ll sit there and try not to celebrate, but then he’s cheesing on the sideline. That’s just the type of guy he is.”
It’s who the Jets thought they were getting when they drafted him. Now they and the rest of the league are starting to see it.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
