QuickFix: Saucy Nuggets from the Jets' loss to Miami
We're going to kick off today's analysis with some things you might not have noticed from yesterday's loss to Miami:
Hacked-off
The Christian Hackenberg era is mercifully at an end, but did he perhaps play an indirect part in the Dolphins' win yesterday?
Hackenberg rushed for 66 yards against the Jets in the Bollinger Bowl last month, exposing the Jets' frailties in terms of reacting to read options and misdirection, setting the edge and maintaining outside contain. The Dolphins obviously saw something in that film which carried over into their gameplan.
Between them, Jordan Jenkins, Frankie Luvu and Brandon Copeland were completely fooled on six such plays, where either Ryan Tannehill kept the ball or they ran an end around. Luvu and Copeland were the starters in that Bollinger Bowl game, but it was Jenkins who was responsible for three of these. Jamal Adams was also guilty of biting on the initial action on some of them, although it's unlikely he had the ultimate responsibility for outside contain.
Tannehill set the tone with a 20-yard keeper on the game's first snap, setting the foundation for Miami to dominate the field position battle until they took the lead as Jenkins was completely fooled and Adams was too aggressive.
I guess we all figured year three would be about the time where we should brace ourselves for Hackenberg to start costing us games.
The Invisible Nose formation
An interesting look from the Jets on 3rd-and-8 led to a Henry Anderson sack, as the Jets positioned three tightly-bunched down linemen on the left side of the formation and Anderson looped around the right side to get to the quarterback while the other two ran a decoy stunt:
At first glance, it seemed like the Jets might be baiting Miami into thinking they could just run right up the middle to get the eight yards. However, the next time the Jets were in this look, that's exactly what they did.
Anderson was easily walled off and Darron Lee basically took himself out of the play at the second level. Nine yards gained and perhaps Miami was left ruing the fact they fell for the double-bluff the first time around.
The fault in our stars
Sam Darnold was absolved of any blame on his red zone interception by Terrelle Pryor, who told the media the interception was on him. However, was Darnold partly at fault? Focus on Robby Anderson here:
It sure looks like Anderson was wide open as Kiko Alonso failed to reacted to him on the crosser, Reshad Jones was too deep and the other defenders on the left side were up close on their men, who cut their routes short to create the room for Anderson.
We can't be too hard on Darnold here, because he locked on to a receiver that was open for what should have been a touchdown. It's just unfortunate that they weren't on the same page for whatever reason because Darnold might have had an easier throw to Anderson had he anticipated him uncovering in the end zone.
That play was nicely designed, though, as was the one on which the Jets scored their only touchdown. The formation is designed to spread out the defense and the initial look suggests Bilal Powell is running to the flat while Chris Herndon will run a post route. Herndon breaks outside on a flag route to draw the defender out of the middle and Powell's jab step gives him the separation to get wide open in space:
As Doug Middleton showed against Golden Tate on Monday night, this is not an easy situation for any safety. Sure enough, even the pro bowler Jones can't stop Powell here, although he had made a great play on Herndon at the goal line earlier on.
Inside linebacker concerns
Middleton got beaten on AJ Derby's touchdown just before half time, but a wide view of the play shows that Avery Williamson had made a deep drop and was potentially in position to prevent this play:
Williamson had dropped into a good position here, but - much like Alonso on the earlier play - he is unaware of the receiver crossing the field right behind him. The Patrick Willis and Luke Kuechly type linebackers would anticipate that route and drop into the passing lane on a play like that. This is why not everyone is sold on Williamson as a three-down linebacker.
As for Lee, his main issue in this game was that he was taken out of a handful of plays in the running game. However, this was partially attributable to the defensive line being controlled upfront, making it too easy for linemen to get out to the second level. That's disappointing given the personnel on the Dolphins line, especially with Josh Sitton out for the year.
This play perhaps illustrates it the best, as both Steve McLendon and Leonard Williams are driven downhill and Lee is immediately also driven out of the hole, leaving a huge lane for the touchdown run:
Both Lee and Williamson need to improve in these areas, but the Jets also need to think about how they go about preventing them from being exploited by finding themselves isolated in situations like these.
More analysis to come later today and over the next few days. Please let us know who you'd like to see us feature in more detail in 3-on-D and 3-on-O.