Special Teams Review: Jets-Titans

We've been breaking down this week's game. We conclude today's postgame analysis with a look at the special teams.

Let's review the key contributions...

Kicking game - The Jase to the Bottom

The Jets' kicking situation has been a constant concern since Nick Folk signed for Atlanta and it was Jason Sanders who got his first shot at regular season work. After sneaking an extra point and a short field goal inside the right upright, he woefully shanked a 54 yarder and fans must have been thinking here we go again.

However, he settled well after that, with another extra point and 51 and 52 yard field goals which were all right down the middle. Kicking two 50+ yard field goals in the same game is so rare in Jets history that only Folk, Greg Zuerlein and Chandler Catanzaro have ever done it and these two were both good by several yards.

Whether it was enough to alleviate the concerns from his shaky start remains to be seen but his kickoffs weren't particularly impressive either. Three were touchbacks, but on two of these he was most likely trying to get it returned from as close to the goal line as possible. The others were fielded at the 5, 10 and 12 yard line.

Of those last three, the one fielded at the 10 wasn't bad because it bounced in the landing zone. However, the one fielded at the 12 - while it also hit the landing zone, was sailing out of bounds and only a lucky bounce prevented that from being brought out to the 40.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the operation on any of Sanders' kicks, including the one he missed, but he made a bad connection on that so he may have slipped during his run-up or something. Also, a feature of the Titans' kick rush was that they sent constant pressure off Armand Membou's edge and he didn't really make an effort to prevent that so Sanders needed to hurry to get the kick off each time.

Punter Austin McNamara only had to punt three times and did a good job as he had one from midfield downed at the two, and another caused chaos as the vice and return man collided. On his other punt, which came on fourth and short, he was knocked over on an interior rush as Thomas Hennessy got beaten. That could have been a running into the kicker penalty.

Kick coverage - Stigger and Better than ever!

Qwan'tez Stiggers had a monster game with three splash plays. As noted, the return man and vice colliding on one of McNamara's punts and it was Stiggers who caused this by driving the vice back. He also downed one of McNamara's other punts at the goal line and recovered the fumble when Marcelino McCrary-Ball punched the ball out on a kickoff return.

Arian Smith also made a good play from the gunner position, tacking the return man for a five-yard loss as he couldn't make it across the field, but even that only came as Stiggers beat his man downfield to force the return man in Smith's direction.

The Jets had two kickoffs returned with Malachi Moore forcing the return man out at the 32 on one and Nahshon Wright doing likewise at the 27 on the other. Isaiah Davis and Braiden McGregor were blocked out of the play on one of those.

McGregor also missed a tackle before McCrary-Ball's punch-out, as did Dane Belton.

Return game - Can't believe my Isaiahs

Tennessee punted seven times with a poor net average of less than 34 yards, although Isaiah Williams didn't have much to do with that. He only returned two, albeit for 15 and 14 yards.

The other five were three touchbacks, a fair catch and a shank out of bounds. On all of the touchbacks, Williams tried - and in some cases was able - to dupe Titans players into thinking he was going to catch the ball near the 10-yard line. Two could easily have been downed at the goal line but got unlucky bounces.

On the fair catch, Wright got beaten by the gunner, although he did a better job on one of his returns and made a good block. Stiggers did a good job on the gunner on the other one.

With Kene Nwangwu scratched on Friday, the Jets had Williams and Smith back to return kickoffs, but they didn't get any chances. The first one headed towards Smith near the sideline but he left it to bounce out of bounds, which was a smart decision to give the Jets the ball at the 40 to start their first drive. Williams misjudged the next one and it bounced in front of him so he fielded it in the end zone and didn't attempt a return. That bounce in the landing zone meant the Jets had to start at their 20 on that drive.

The only other Titans kickoff was the onside kick, on which Garrett Wilson bailed out Davis by recovering the loose ball after Davis aggressively tried to catch the bouncing ball.

We'll be back with the 3-on-D and 3-on-O over the next few days...