QuickFix: Reviewing the rotations against the Chiefs

Let's start today's analysis with a quick review of the rotations on offense and defense in yesterday's game.

A huge snap disparity

The Jets did a good job of converting extended ball control drives and a poor job of limiting big plays on Sunday. The net result was that they had a season high 91 snaps on offense and a season low 46 snaps on defense.

As a result several offensive players had season-highs in terms of their snap counts, while several defensive players had season-lows despite maintaining the same workload in terms of percentage.

The only real rotational change was that Rashard Robinson started in the nickel package for Darryl Roberts. However, he only played one defensive snap after half time. Basically he was benched after getting burned for a touchdown by Tyreek Hill.

On offense, the Jets operated out of three wide sets much more than last week, which meant more action for rookies Chad Hansen and ArDarius Stewart.

The Jumbo Shrimp package

Last week, the Jets threw the ball on nine out of 10 plays when they needed three or fewer yards for a first down and the one time they tried to run it was negated by a hold. This week, they used the run in short yardage situations and had some success, including three touchdowns and a two-point conversion, all from the goal line.

One package they used three times saw Jojo Natson enter the game and run a jet sweep action. We're calling this the Jumbo Shrimp package because they went with heavy personnel but then featured the diminutive Natson in a prominent role.

The Chiefs were anticipating the hand-off each time and this provided just enough of a distraction for Josh McCown to sneak for a fourth down conversion and the game-winning touchdown.

On the third occasion, they used it for the two-point conversion and this time they convincingly faked it to Natson, who would have had a one-on-one with Ron Parker and a decent chance of scoring. This got the defensive line leaning to their left so when McCown faked the hand-off and pitched it the other way to Elijah McGuire, this gave him the angle to score on a walk-in.

(Hat-tip to Juunit for the name).

Coping with Lee and Wilkerson's absence

With Darron Lee inactive and Muhammad Wilkerson benched for the first quarter, the Jets basically just replaced Lee with Julian Stanford, who played every snap, and Wilkerson with Mike Pennel, who only played five snaps after Wilkerson's return late in the first quarter.

However, they did operate some different packages, perhaps in an effort to scheme around Lee's absence. They opened up in a conventional nickel with Robinson outside and Buster Skrine in the slot, but then also used a three-safety nickel with Rontez Miles as the fifth defensive back.

The Chiefs scored pretty easily on those first two drives, so you could say that Wilkerson's absence hurt the team more. However, it's possible that breakdowns on those drives, primarily from Marcus Maye, might have been indirectly caused by Lee's absence.

Previously: Exploiting the other team's breakdowns for a change