Special Teams Review: Jets-Broncos
We've been breaking down this week's game against the Broncos. We wrap up the postgame analysis with a look at the special teams.
Let's review the key contributions...
Kicking game - Legatron-the-money
Often, for games in Denver, special teams don't have much of an impact because every kickoff is an automatic touchback and, while that was once again the case, this was still an eventful game in terms of the special teams units.
Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein played a big role with five made field goals and eight touchbacks. He's returned well from his injury, although four of the field goals were short kicks due to the Jets' lousy red zone offense. He also made two extra points.
Punter Thomas Morstead only punted three times but made the most of the conditions. His first kick was a 51-yarder, nice and high, and allowed the coverage to get downfield and create a turnover. He then planted a 54-yarder out of bounds at the six, having bounced it on the two-yard line. His final kick, from near the end zone, wasn't as good, but he lucked out with a favorable bounce so that was a 48-yarder.
Kick coverage - King Charles
Wide receiver Irv Charles finally made his NFL debut and his impact was instantaneous after the Jets went three-and-out on their first drive. Charles lined up as a primary gunner and got downfield on Morstead's first punt to strip the ball away from Marvin Mims for a turnover.
This was officially ruled as a muff which means Charles won't get official credit for a tackle or a forced fumble and also meant that Sam Eguavoen had his return brought back to the point of recovery. This looked like a bad call.
We were led to believe that Brandin Echols will be out for multiple weeks so Charles will likely be up again against the Eagles.
With the other punts going out of bounds and downed near midfield (by Thomas Hennessy) and all kickoffs being touchbacks, the Jets didn't actually register any tackles this week on special teams.
Return game - Xavier Yips-on
Xavier Gipson has been a star on returns so far but he had some issues fielding punts all day.
He had one nice return on a punt, breaking a couple of tackles as Justin Hardee dropped deep to block the gunner to spring him and Craig James and Nick Bawden also made good blocks. Gipson allowed the ball to be stripped away from him though and it was Will McDonald who made a huge play to come up with the fumble recovery.
Gipson wasn't as lucky on his next punt, as he muffed the catch with the sun in his eyes for a potentially costly turnover. Fortunately, Denver fumbled it back to the Jets a few plays later.
Then the next punt was an adventure too. Broncos gunner Tremon Smith, who was right in his lap for the muffed catch, clattered into Gipson for an obvious fair catch interference penalty. Hardee hustled after and recovered the possible fumble anyway but replays showed it hit Smith's helmet first, so even without the penalty it would be down at that spot.
Further upfield, Chazz Surratt held onto his blocker for too long after his punt rush, so this was flagged and offset against the personal foul. The Jets opted to re-kick instead of taking the ball at the 35 and the re-kick went out of bounds at the 28.
Gipson also made one fair catch where both vices, James and Ashtyn Davis, got beaten.
Every kickoff for Denver was also a touchback but Gipson did return the free kick after the safety from the 13 to the 32. This goes down as a kickoff return even though it was punted to him. Surratt and CJ Uzomah had good blocks on this return.
That wraps up the post-game analysis but we'll be back with the 3-on-D and the 3-on-O over the next few days...