In-depth analysis - Bucs at Jets (Preseason Week 1): Offense

Over the course of the next few days, we'll be breaking down the performance of every player that took the field in the Jets' preseason game against the Bucs. We'll continue today with a look at the offense.

Quarterbacks: Bailey Crappy

The debut of Cade Klubnik was short but sweet, as he started off 4-for-5 with three first down throws before his second drive stalled in the red zone.

Focusing on the two dropbacks he had inside the 10-yard line, there is some room for improvement, especially on the first of those, where he ultimately ran out of bounds for what officially counted as a sack.

Klubnik doesn't do a good enough job of keeping his head up here. He looks at Garrett Wilson as he rolls out and then ultimately directs him to block for him so he can try and run it in. Had he gone to his alternative read, he'd have sensed Mason Taylor doing an outstanding job of crossing the linebacker's face, gaining outside leverage and boxing him out to generate separation. Klubnik should have faded back slightly and led him with the throw and that's either a touchdown or a defensive pass interference.

The other drop back saw him unable to find anyone on the roll out so he just launched it through the back of the end zone.

The next series saw one more completion on a short pass and this was again something that can be scrutinized. The Jets ran a sail concept where Klubnik basically had four places he could have gone with the ball but he immediately took the quick easy option for a short gain. Had he been more patient to let the play develop, he'd have seen a Bucs safety essentially in no-man's land between the intermediate route to Malik McClain further downfield and Tim Patrick running deep. Two more steps to force that defender to commit himself and you've got an easy throw for a much larger gain - and even if he plays it absolutely perfectly, you've likely still got a checkdown to the tight end.

Nitpicking aside, Klubnik was obviously better than Bailey Zappe who was got off to a bad start. His second and third pass of the day were intercepted. The first was a pick six and the other, even though it clanked off Arian Smith's hands, was behind him.

Zappe had one good first down throw down the field, while also missing badly on a deep shot but perhaps his most significant throw was an easy dump off to Jamaal Pritchett for a first down.

He saw this late and threw it with poor placement that led Pritchett to the sideline so he had to tightrope just to get to the marker. Looking at the all-22 view, if Zappe threw that a beat earlier, or more accurately so Pritchett could turn it upfield, that should have been an easy 20-30 yard gain, maybe more given Pritchett's tackle-breaking abilities.

Doing the easy stuff well was at least achievable for Brady Cook, although he didn't really have any significantly impressive moments and, at the end of the game, had two bad decisions on inaccurate deep throws that led to a turnover on downs.

DNP: Geno Smith

Running Backs: Brae-t Expectations

It was a positive first game for Breece Hall and Braelon Allen. Allen had a 31-yard touchdown and Hall would have had a 23-yard touchdown as well if not for the MetLife turf.

Their other carries may have been even more instructive though. Hall's three other carries netted just two yards but one was a screw-up where Klubnik thought he was going to hand him the ball, then panicked and shovelled to him, which led to a five yard loss. The other two were a solid five-yard gain up the middle and an impressive two-yard gain that should have been another loss but Hall broke like four tackles in the blink of an eye. He looks good.

Allen's other three carries netted 13 yards, including one decisive burst up the middle for eight.

Despite only ending up with six yards on six carries, Kene Nwangwu actually did quite well. Five of his seven touches went for four or more yards - he just ended up with bad stats because the other two were blown up for big losses through no fault of his own.

Similarly, rookie Chip Trayanum had just four yards on three carries, but still managed some positive contributions. He had a short yardage conversion, caught two passes for 12 yards and picked up two blitzes really well.

Fellow rookie Sam Scott also had some positives. He had 22 yards on four touches and another 10-yard run called back for a hold which didn't really affect the play. Scott got absolutely lit up when he tried to pick up a blitz though.

DNP: Isaiah Davis

Offensive Line: Parham for the course

The starting offensive line looked really solid, giving Klubnik clean pockets to work with, and not being at fault for the "sack" he ran himself into.

Let's look at their best highlight, which sprung Hall for his would-be touchdown:

When you have a guy pulling as Joe Tippmann does here, all you want from your other four linemen is to neutralize the front three between the four of them and that happens perfectly here. Jeremy Ruckert seals off one of the linebackers at the second level while the other attacks the middle and Tippmann's punishing lead block knocks the edge off his spot. Wilson could do better on the outside, but it still should have been enough.

Armand Membou didn't do much in the running game, because most of the runs went away from him, but he looked comfortable in pass protection, buying extra time by controlling his man a few times.

The other starting linemen, center Josh Myers, left tackle Olu Fashanu and left guard Dylan Parham each contributed in the run game with a couple of good blocks each. In his first game as a Jet, Parham's best block saw him easily repel a spin move in pass protection, after which his man easily could have been flagged for illegal hands to the face.

Moving onto the second unit, they did well as a group and didn't give up much pressure, although right guard Kohl Levao struggled a bit in pass protection, giving up a bad sack and he and left tackle Max Mitchell each gave up pressure that led to a Zappe interception. Center Xavier Newman also allowed his man to drive him back and deflect a pass, negating a pass interference call.

In the running game, they all did pretty well with Levao and right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor carving out room for Allen's long touchdown. Okorafor failed to sustain his block on one run that was stopped but otherwise had a few other good run blocks. Levao was more of a mixed bag, seemingly blowing an assignment that caused a run to be blown up for a loss on one play.

Newman had a bad snap and was beaten one other time in pass protection but he made a strong block at the point of attack on one play. Mitchell had a decent kickout block on one run and left guard Marquis Hayes had one excellent pulling block, although he had another pulling block where he missed his target.

Onto the third unit, which featured three rookies along with center Liam Fornadel and right tackle Landon Young. The experienced Young was surprisingly poor, as he failed to sustain one block, had a false start and let his man get close to the quarterback a handful of times in pass protection. Fornadel held up well at the point of attack though.

One of the three rookies, left tackle Courtland Ford, really struggled as he got beaten for two sacks and called for two holding penalties. He also gave up another pressure. Xavier Hill fared a little better at left guard, getting a good surge on one short yardage conversion.

The greatest point of interest here, though, was sixth round pick Anez Cooper who looked good at right guard. His best block of the day saw him control his man on the edge to set up Scott's 10-yard run that was negated by one of Ford's penalties, but he also got some good traction off the line and looked comfortable all day in pass protection.

DNP: Nobody

Tight Ends and Fullbacks: Chase the Dragon

The Jets gave Mason Taylor a couple of easy looks to get him involved, but the most impressive thing he did was to get himself open in the clip shared above. Go and watch that again - it's good stuff and would probably lead to a Smith-to-Taylor touchdown if the same situation arose in a regular season game.

Jeremy Ruckert and Jelani Woods both seem to be in the team's plans and could be battling to be the number three tight end, or even to keep the number two seat warm until a certain rookie is ready. Each had a couple of good run blocks and Woods caught a short pass.

Ruckert did sort of have the key block on Allen's touchdown run but it looked like he initially screwed up his assignment and then reacted well in the moment to seal a man off. He allowed penetration on one run though.

Andrew Beck lined up at tight end or in the slot on all 15 of his snaps as the Jets did not use a fullback. He had one good second level block and a short catch negated by a flag.

Undrafted rookie Chase Curtis failed to impress as he missed a block that let to a short yardage run being stuffed and had two passes that went off his hands. His lone catch was a 10-yard gain on 2nd-and-11 where it seemed like it was a bad spot that should have been a first down.

The only other tight end in uniform was the newest Jet: Connor Hulstein, who was in for just four plays.

DNP: Kenyon Sadiq

Wide Receivers: Super Cooper

Garrett Wilson looked to be in midseason form with two first down catches on the opening drive. He showed strong hands to hang onto the first in traffic.

The other (current) starters Adonai Mitchell and Isaiah Williams were not targeted. Mitchell did lose focus on one play, missing his block.

Rookie Omar Cooper flashed with a nice catch and run to set up a field goal before half time, and would also have drawn a pass interference penalty at the goal line if the pass hadn't been tipped. He needs to develop some consistency as a blocker, though, as he missed one and had another where he blocked his guy to the ground, but drove him into the runner's path in the process.

Veteran Tim Patrick had a good block on Allen's touchdown run but missed one other and wasn't targeted, although as noted he might have been open on a deep route one time.

With the interception that was off his hands, Arian Smith lost some ground. Among those aiming to steal his spot are Jamaal Pritchett, who led the team with three catches. As noted, one of those plays should have been a much bigger gain.

Other bench performers included Malik McClain, who had an eight yard catch, Cam Camper, who had catches of 13 and 24 yards and Quincy Skinner, who had catches of 11 and 20 yards, although the latter was empty calories as he was all alone near midfield on the last play of the game. Camper also wanted a pass interference call on one incompletion.

Despite not making an impact in the passing game, McClain's effort is worth a mention as he worked hard as a blocker and displayed great hustle in his attempt to run down the defender who scored on the pick-six.

DT Sheffield did not get any offensive reps.

DNP: Caullin Lacy

We'll be back to cover the defense tomorrow...