Jets' Maybin Making an Impact

Defensive end Aaron "Mayhem" Maybin is mid-redemption story.

At this point, we all know how Maybin was released by Buffalo and written off as a bust. The Jets brought him into camp and released him, then re-signed him after Week 03 when they wanted to improve their pass-rush. He's been making a difference for the Jets ever since.

He even managed to be a bright spot during that shockingly bad Jets/Ravens game.

But a lot has been written about Maybin lately.

There was a great piece about Maybin written by Manish Mehta at the New York Daily News, about Maybin's life and how he's dealt with tragedies in his life, including the death of his son.

[caption id="attachment_322" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Aaron Maybin. Photo by William Pearlman // The Star-Ledger"][/caption]

He's been popping up on the Jets blog at ESPN.com almost weekly, for everything from his strip sacks on opposing quarterbacks, to how he got his "Mayhem" nickname, to his opinion of the Penn State child rape scandal (Maybin is a Penn State alum and was a part of the legendary football program).

The fact of the matter is that after being a bust for Buffalo, he's now creating mayhem against other teams for the Jets. In two seasons with Buffalo, he recorded 24 tackles with no sacks and caused one fumble. In his five games with the Jets, the situational pass rusher has recorded 5 tackles, 3 sacks, and caused 3 fumbles.

Even though he says he harbors no ill will towards the Bills' organization, you could tell last week that he wanted that sack. He still doesn't have a sack in Buffalo, but he was constantly in Bills' quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's face, making him uncomfortable, rattling his cage, helping prevent the Bills from getting back into "the biggest game of the season."

As the next "biggest game of the season" looms tomorrow night against the Patriots at the Meadowlands, Maybin has a chance to make more of a positive impact. Tom Brady is still a great quarterback, but can be rattled when defenses pressure him and knock him around. He has 10 interceptions this year compared to 4 all of last season. The team around him is more average than it once was. Brady is touchable, he can be sacked, he can be forced to throw interceptions if a guy can get in his face.

Aaron Maybin has shown that he can be that guy.