Special Teams Review: Jets-Giants

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

Let's review the key contributions...

Kicking game - Who could ask for Mor?

The kicking game was huge in Sunday's game with kicker Greg Zuerlein making the game-tying and game-winning kicks on a day when Giants kicker Graham Gano missed two field goals for the Giants.

Punts were a massive factor too. The teams combined for more punts (24) than points (23) and over a thousand yards of punt yardage.

Jets punter Thomas Morstead tied a franchise regular season record with 11 punts and set the all-time franchise record with 529 gross punt yards. This wasn't all him outkicking his coverage either, as he incredibly landed three punts inside the five yard line and didn't register a touchback.

He did well to get the ball down cleanly on Zuerlein's game winner too and dealt well with a low Thomas Hennessy snap on one punt. Hennessy also allowed a pressure on one Morstead punt.

Zuerlein also had two touchbacks on his three kickoffs. His other one was a low squib kick returned from the goal line.

On the two Gano misses, the Jets didn't get clean pressure on the first, but they executed superbly on the late one which saw Will McDonald jump over the long snapper to put Gano under pressure. It's likely he'd have blocked it if it was down the middle.

The Jets also tried to get a punt block all day, to their detriment when Micheal Clemons jumped offside on 4th-and-5 late in the game. On earlier punts, McDonald and Echols had got close and Clemons had shoved his blocker into the Giants' punter.

Kick coverage - Surratt's how I roll

The Jets gave up 56 yards on punt returns this week as it was noticeable that the Jets were without their two best gunners. Brandin Echols and Bryce Hall took on the gunner role and while Echols forced a couple of fair catches, he also overpursued twice and had a missed tackle.

The player who really stood out for the Jets was Chazz Surratt who was credited with three tackles including an outstanding open field tackle. Jeremy Ruckert, Hennessy and Jamien Sherwood were also credited with two tackles each.

Sam Eguavoen was credited with a tackle but overpursued once and had a missed tackle. Hennessy also overpursued once.

Ashtyn Davis was credited with a tackle and a forced fumble near the sideline but the ball went harmlessly out of bounds.

The only kickoff return on the day was stopped at about the 25 anyway by Surratt and Sherwood.

Return game - Gipping the Script

Although the Giants punted 13 times, Xavier Gipson only got a chance to return three. Four went out of bounds, two were downed and three were fair caught in tricky conditions. He ended up with 20 yards and a long of 10.

Gipson fielded one tough rolling kick and took it upfield, but another rolled past him for about 10-15 extra yards.

Hall was beaten multiple times by the gunner to prevent a possible return. Davis was also beaten once.

Gipson's only kickoff return of the day was just a 22-yarder as Davis missed his block.

With Randall Cobb inactive and Mecole Hardman traded, the Jets used DJ Reed to fair catch a punt when Gipson was dealing with an injury.

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...