Three on O: Brownlee, Hall, Tippmann

After each game, we'll be highlighting three defensive and three offensive players and looking in detail at their performance. We'll wrap up today with the offense:

A Jase in the hole

Friday's game represented the NFL debut for undrafted rookie Jason Brownlee and he started and was in the game for every snap apart from one.

While Brownlee wasn't targeted much, he did well with the opportunities he did get and ended up with 20 yards on two catches. It's worth noting that Randall Cobb only has 20 yards on three catches for the entire season.

Brownlee's best play arguably was one which didn't count. The Jets accepted an offside penalty rather than declining it, even though the yardage would have been the same and Brownlee was robbed of his first NFL catch.

Ignoring the penalty and just focusing on what Brownlee executed, he ran a sharp out-breaking route and held onto the ball despite the hit from the cornerback as the ball arrived.

This was a rare first-drive conversion and would have been a rare third down converted by pass, but since it was converted by penalty, the Jets still went 0-for-8 to start the game, extending the streak of 11 from last week. (They did at least convert five of their last six).

Neither of Brownlee's other catches went for a first down but they were still good plays. He picked up 12 on a quick slant and eight on a play that got extended where he was able to leak to an open area near the sideline.

It was good to see Brownlee get an opportunity and the Jets should probably prioritize getting a longer look at him over the remaining six games.

Pride comes before a Hall

The pattern continued on Friday that when Breece Hall has a big day, they win. He didn't on Friday, and they didn't win.

Hall had a career-high seven catches but only racked up 24 yards on these plays, with just two first downs. This was Hall's best play:

Other than that play, Hall had just 11 yards on his other six catches. This is a sure sign the Jets' opponents are anticipating them looking for him on dump-off passes since they can't get the running game going.

The Jets abandoned the run pretty early, as Hall had just seven carries for 25 yards and Dalvin Cook only carried the ball once. Hall bounced runs of 11 and seven to the outside but couldn't do anything up the middle. Other than those two plays, he had just seven yards on his other five carries.

After the game, Robert Saleh noted that Hall is looking for big plays and not picking up the tough yardage the team needs from him as a result. There were a few examples of him going down on first contact just shy of the marker.

The numbers bear this out too. In 2022, the lowest yards per carry after contact figure he had in any game was 2.59. However, he's only beaten that in four of 11 games this year and only once since week five.

One positive from Hall is that he's stayed in to block 32 times and only given up one pressure this season. However, he's averaging just 2.5 yards per carry without Alijah Vera-Tucker in the lineup and the Jets would like to see him step up more often.

It will be interesting to see how Hall responds to Saleh's constructive criticism.

The Tipp of the Iceberg

Let's check in on rookie Joe Tippmann, who has now started four games at right guard and four at center.

On an offensive line which keeps changing personnel and struggling as a unit, Tippmann has been a steadying influence and one of the team's most consistent performers and that was the case on Friday too.

As noted, the Jets basically abandoned the run but Tippmann did neutralize his man well at the point of attack on Hall's two best runs. He wasn't perfect though, as he whiffed on a second level block on one play and got thrown to the ground on this one.

In pass protection, Tippmann was basically flawless, posting a total shutout in terms of pressure allowed for the fourth time this season. He also displayed some good instincts in terms of picking up stunts or helping out teammates as the spare man.

The lone negative in pass protection was a holding penalty on Jerome Baker. On 3rd-and-4, Baker jumped offside so if Tippmann didn't hold him it would be a free play and certain first down. However, you can't really fault Tippmann for instinctively pulling Baker down when he was about to get a clean hit on Tim Boyle thanks to his head start.

Looking over Tippmann's grades, he's been better as a pass protector since moving to center, but not quite as good as a run blocker. However, the latter issue is probably affected by the personnel alongside him as the right guard has kept changing. Then again, the former issue could be more to do with him getting comfortable at the NFL level rather than the positional change.

Wes Schweitzer is set to return soon and let's not forget that the Jets were originally going to put Schweitzer into the starting line-up ahead of Tippmann when Vera-Tucker got hurt. However, with Tippmann having settled in nicely, it would make more sense for him to stay where he is and Schweitzer to take over at right guard.

Hopefully, the rookie can elevate his game to another level with experienced veterans either side of him.

Finally, it's worth noting that John Michael Schmitz has started nine games and is grading out worse than Tippmann so far. Schmitz, who the Jets passed on to take Tippmann, has given up three sacks to Tippmann's one.

Previously: Three on D: Clemons, Reed, Adams