Jets at Eagles: Special Teams Review

We've been breaking this week's game against the Eagles. We wrap up today's analysis with a look at the special teams.

Let's review the key contributions...

Kicking game - Ficken the sauce

The Jets have already been criticized for not putting enough of their offensive and defensive player in a position to succeed but yesterday they also did that with kicker Sam Ficken. A 55-yard field goal into the wind was a laughably bad idea and, predictably, nowhere close.

It was only 4th-and-3 and at the Eagles' 37-yard line. Surely it would be better to go for it there, rather than go for a low-percentage field goal which only cuts the lead to 14-3 even if you make it and also gives the Eagles better field position in the event of a miss than a fourth down failure would. (Unless there is a sack, which there probably would have been).

A wide snap from from the recently-extended Thomas Hennessy on that play didn't exactly help matters.

Punter Lac Edwards did a decent job this week, with a gross average of 51 yards per punt. He outkicked his coverage once, leading to a 16-yard return, and got a lucky bounce one other time, but he put three inside the 20 and had one fumbled for the second week in a row.

Ryan Griffin almost allowed his man to get heavy pressure on one of Edwards' punts.

The kicking game was a little discombobulated this week as they had a delay of game on a punt and were forced to waste a time out after lining up incorrectly on the ill-fated field goal attempt.

Return game - Cann you dig it, suckahhhh?

This week, both Trenton Cannon and Braxton Berrios has their longest return of the season. It was a pretty low bar though. Cannon had a 28-yard return after the kickoff was backed up 15 yards due to a penalty. However, his other return was stuffed at about the 15.

Daniel Brown had a good block on Cannon's good return, but Griffin missed one on the one that got blown up.

Berrios had an easy 12 yards on a punt where he had loads of room to run. His more impressive return came later, as he again made 12 yards having slipped the first tackle, but that one was negated due to a penalty.

That penalty was an illegal block in the back call on Ty Montgomery which - as detailed this morning - seemed to be a bad call.

The vices did a better job this week, but Cannon got beaten once.

Kick coverage - Leaving you wanting Maulet

Cannon also contributed well in kick coverage as he was in on a good stop on a punt and then recovered a fumble to set up the Jets' only points.

Aside from Cannon, seven other players were all credited with one special teams tackle each, including impressive plays by Hennessy, Tarell Basham and Arthur Maulet.

The others credited with special teams stops were Brown, Griffin, Albert McClellan and Josh Bellamy.

Brown, Hennessy, Neville Hewitt and Rontez Miles all had missed tackles, as did Bellamy, although Bellamy drew a hold on that play.

That's it for today's analysis. Don't forget to leave your suggestions for which players to look at in more detail in this week's 3-on-D and 3-on-O.