Three on O: McGuire, Shell, Leggett
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:
Give me McGuire love
Nobody was sure how much of a role Elijah McGuire would have after he was only just activated from the injured reserve list, but he played a significant role and arguably proved he deserves even more of a role.
McGuire's nine touches generated 60 yards, but it could have been even more. On the play where he slipped out of a tackle in the flat and drew a face mask penalty, you can see clearly that he could have made a lot more than 15 yards:
Other than the face mask penalty, McGuire accounted for four first downs, including three in the fourth quarter.
We've known for some time that McGuire had advanced receiving and route running skills for a running back and he displayed these on a slant route, after which he broke a tackle to gain 20 yards. He also picked up 15 on a screen pass. However, one pass as he was wide open at the marker was out of his reach and almost intercepted.
As a runner, he already showed some signs of the burst and decisiveness that should be ideal for the Jets' running game, although his longest run - a 14-yarder - came up short of a first down on a 3rd-and-long draw play.
Here, on 3rd-and-4, is a great example of McGuire showing quick feet, patience and vision to find a lane to keep the drive alive:
One aspect of McGuire's game that is sure to earn him more reps is the fact that the team trusts him in blitz pickup situations. This should lead to more touches in due course.
Shell freezes over
After a very solid first half of the season that saw him hold his own against players such as Myles Garrett and Von Miller, Brandon Shell was looking to build on that in the second half. Unfortunately, he had easily his roughest game of the year against a player who had been struggling in Cameron Wake.
Wake, who entered the game with just one sack, turned back the clock by blowing past Shell several times, including on two sacks to triple his annual total.
Shell actually held up well in the first quarter but then was beaten several times over the rest of the game, including on one play that led to another sack that was negated by a penalty.
This was one of the biggest plays in the whole game, as the Jets ran their only red zone snap of the day. Wake bent the edge to get around Shell and his sack, followed by a penalty and a dropped pass, led to Jason Myers missing the game-tying field goal:
Shell actually made some good contributions in the running game with a couple of nice third quarter blocks and a good combo block with Brian Winters in the fourth quarter. Shell and Winters didn't always work well together though - on one play Winters was shoved back into Shell, enabling the edge rusher to loop underneath for a hit on Darnold.
Shell also had a costly late hit penalty after Darnold's first interception, which helped the otherwise anemic Dolphins offense to open the scoring with a field goal.
Hopefully this was just a blip from Shell, but he does have some things to work on after Wake was able to exploit him on a regular basis.
Too Leggett to quit
Quietly, Jordan Leggett's role has increased after he was inactive in week two. Once the Jets again had four healthy tight ends, Leggett was still getting reps and now that Neal Sterling is out again, this week saw him play a career-high 33 snaps. So, how did he get on?
Considering the book on Leggett coming out of college was a pass catching threat, his production has been disappointing, with just 29 yards on five catches (with one touchdown).
In this game, his only catch was a dump-off that he turned upfield for a six-yard gain. He was targeted one other time on a downfield corner route out of the slot where he didn't really get much separation from a linebacker and the pass was out of his reach.
However, what has kept Leggett in the lineup is that he's been better than advertised as a run blocker. He's easily grading out better than the Jets' three other tight ends and made a few more good contributions in Sunday's game.
On the first drive of the second half alone, Leggett made a good run block on three different plays, although he did lose leverage on a fourth. Here was an well-executed second level block which could have led to a huge gain had Isaiah Crowell been able to hit the hole a bit faster and break the initial tackle:
The fact that Leggett has been a better blocker than Chris Herndon is a bit of a poisoned challis because it means he'll often be the inline guy in two-or-three tight end sets and perhaps isn't getting the same opportunities to make plays down the field in the passing game as a result.
However, Leggett's blocking is encouraging and - as with McGuire - he's earning his spot on the field, which should naturally lead to more touches and production in the long run.
PREVIOUSLY: 3-on-D: Attaochu, Adams, Shepherd