Three on O: Long, Anderson, Herndon
After each game, we're going to highlight three defensive and three offensive players and look in detail at their performance. We'll wrap up today with the offense:
Longing for more
While the entire Jets' offensive line has been inconsistent in the running game, at least Spencer Long had shown solid pass protection in the first two games. However, in the last two games, he's been responsible for some interior pressure, including a sack in each game.
On Sunday he was late to react on a couple of stunts, one of which led to a sack and another which saw Sam Darnold take a big hit. He also had one where he picked up the stunt, only to be driven off his spot and back into the quarterback. Here was the sack:
There was one other play where Long was driven back into the backfield and one where interior pressure flushed Darnold from the pocket.
In the running game, Long didn't get much work this week as the Jets only ran the ball 12 times. He had a couple of good blocks at the point of attack, but also gave up penetration a few times, including on one run stuff.
Long also had a penalty for the second week in a row, but this one really wasn't on him. Darnold hesitated before throwing a screen to Bilal Powell because the defense had sniffed it out. As a result, Long was too far downfield when he caught it.
Whichever way you slice it, Spencer Long has been an upgrade over last year's starter Wesley Johnson. Each of his games so far have been graded higher than Johnson's average grade for 2017. However, Long is earning a lot more money and the fans would have expected him to elevate the line more than he has.
Robby Angersome
Robby Anderson continues to be frustrated over not being involved enough in the offense. He was overthrown on a play where he burned all-pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey over the top and many people have picked up on the fact that he was open underneath on the 4th-and-1 deep incompletion to Quincy Enunwa.
However, the missed opportunity which vexed Anderson the most was on this two-point conversion:
As you can see, Anderson turns around at the goal line and is open but Darnold has already looked elsewhere by then. The ball should already be on the way before Anderson turns, but Darnold is perhaps reluctant to make that throw because he doesn't trust him to do that.
While he doesn't remonstrate demonstrably, Anderson's body language does seem to suggest he was surprised not to receive the ball there.
Anderson otherwise had just two catches on six targets; one on an underneath pass where he was tackled immediately and the other on a 12-yard out pattern on 2nd-and-18.
Unlike last week, Anderson didn't get many blocking assignments this week. In fact, the Jets only ran the ball six times with him in the game.
Insane in the methane
Although it didn't count, tight end Chris Herndon made the best highlight reel play of the day with this spectacular juggling catch:
His impact was otherwise minimal, as he was only targeted one other time. In fact, he arguably wasn't even targeted on that play because it was the one where Darnold appeared to be throwing the ball away but Herndon ran under it and caught it over by the sideline for an 18-yard gain. Still, that was a nice opportunistic moment from the athletic rookie.
As already mentioned in the special teams review, Herndon's blocking in the return game was poor, as he allowed his man to blow up a couple of returns.
In the running game, he didn't get much work - as with Anderson - but there was one play where his man was able to shed his block to stuff a run.
From what we've seen so far, Herndon looks like a threat to make some big plays this year, but he needs to play with more consistency to be a really useful contributor.
PREVIOUSLY: 3-on-D: Williams, Johnson, Maye