Special Teams Review: Jets at Rams

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

Let's review the key contributions...

Kicking game - Ficktory is ours!

Sam Ficken made his return to the Jets placekicker role and had a pretty good day as he made all five of his kicks, including three field goals. He also had four touchbacks in six kicks as he took over that role from punter Braden Mann.

Mann punted pretty well, averaging over 49 yards per punt but he outkicked his coverage a few times, giving up returns of 12, 19 and 34 yards.

In his first game as a Jet, JT Hassell made a big impact with the Jets' second blocked punt of the season. Henry Anderson, who had the first, also broke through the line to pressure on an extra point attempt.

Patrick Elflein allowed pressure on one of Ficken's made kicks.

Kick coverage - Mann of the moment

The Jets didn't do a great job in kick coverage but Mann made a crucial contribution with his open-field touchdown-saving tackle on Nsimba Webster.

Mann's superb tackle not only prevented the go-ahead score but also kept the Rams just outside of field goal range as they trailed by three with just over five minutes to go. Mann is the only punter in the NFL with more than three tackles this season, which is both good and bad.

Frankie Luvu, Matthias Farley, Josh Adams and Thomas Hennessy each had one special teams tackle, but there were a lot of players who missed tackles or overpursued, including Farley, Daniel Brown, Bryce Hager and Ryan Griffin twice each.

One change on punt coverage this week was that Jeff Smith got some work at the gunner position. He downed one punt but also had a missed tackle.

Return game - Glory Corey Hallelujah

Braxton Berrios had another good punt return this week. In fact, his 18-yard runback, aided by a Farley block, was his longest of the season. The other three Rams punts were two fair catches and one that rolled out of bounds, though.

There was an interesting battle between Corey Ballentine playing the vice role and the impressive Webster, who was also the Rams' primary punt gunner. Webster beat him twice to force fair catches, but Ballentine slowed him up well on Berrios' lone return.

Ballentine's only kickoff return saw him stopped at the 24 as he ran behind a Chris Herndon block.

In all, the special teams have shown some signs of life over the past few weeks, but there still always seems to be some negatives, like the missed field goals last week and the missed tackles in kick coverage this week.

Is there any chance Brant Boyer survives if Adam Gase is fired?

That wraps up today's analysis from the game, but we'll be back with more over the next few days...