Special Teams Review: Jets-Falcons

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

Let's review the key contributions...

Kicking game - Doubting Thomas

The Jets smartly opted to kick a field goal on third down with under 30 seconds to go and Matt Ammendola duly nailed the long kick to make it a one-possession game and give the Jets a chance to recover an onside kick for a possible miracle finish.

However, why would you have Ammendola executing this when punter Thomas Morstead literally has perhaps the most famous onside kick in NFL history? Morstead's surprise onside kick against the Colts at the end of his rookie season helped spark the Saints to their only Super Bowl win. And while this had the advantage of being unexpected, surely he could have done better than Ammendola, whose effort was easily recovered.

Jarrod Wilson had a penalty on the play anyway as he left his position before the ball was kicked.

Earlier on in the game, Ammendola - who made one from 59 yards in warm-ups - had also made a 31-yarder and kicked two touchbacks. One of his other kickoffs was returned from deep in the end zone by Cordarrelle Patterson, while another was deliberately laid up short and fielded by the upback who they stopped short of the 25.

Ammendola also had a potentially costly extra point miss, although the Jets later made up that point with a successful two-point conversion. His kick, which hit the upright, sounded like it was deflected.

Morstead again did a solid job of punting. He punted four times with three of them being 54, 56 and 59 yards and the other landed inside the 10. He did outkick his coverage once, leading to a 15-yard return. Braden Mann could be back after the bye, so it will be interesting to see what the Jets do.

Congratulations to Isaiah Williams, who - at 28 - and on his 11th pro franchise, finally was on the field for the first NFL snaps of his career yesterday (the two field goals and missed extra point).

Kick coverage - Put a Pinn in it

The Jets were again without Jeff Smith this week, so Jason Pinnock got his chance to be a gunner with Isaiah Dunn inactive. He did a good job of getting downfield to force a fair catch inside the 10 while Justin Hardee dropped behind the return man so he couldn't leave it.

Another punt ended up inside the 10 as once again Hardee got down and caused some chaos with the vice and return man colliding. If the ball had just made contact with either of them, the Jets would have had the ball near the goal line.

Hardee continues to be a pest every week, as he blew up another return that was stopped for a short gain although he didn't finish the tackle and also had a special teams tackle on a kickoff, although he did overpursue on one punt that was returned.

Pinnock, Wilson and Jamien Sherwood were also credited with tackles on kickoffs and Trevon Wesco, Sharrod Neasman and Del'Shawn Phillips made tackles on punts.

Return game - A slice of Tevin

As we noted from Friday's practice, the Jets had moved Tevin Coleman into the main kick returner role but this paid off when he ripped off a 65-yard return to set up the Jets' first touchdown.

Key blocks to free Coleman to get into the open field were thrown by Kenny Yeboah and Phillips, plus an excellent double-team by Sherwood and Wesco. Ryan Griffin also made a good block downfield and Coleman was extremely close to staying in bounds and going on to score after beating the last defender.

Coleman's other kick return was also solid, as he broke a tackle to take it out near the 30-yard line.

Braxton Berrios didn't get a chance to return any punts as he took a fair catch on one and the only other one was shanked out of bounds.

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