In-Depth Analysis: Special teams (Week 3 v Miami)
The special teams units made some useful contributions to the Jets' first win of the season yesterday. However, there were still a few mistakes that could have been costly.
Return game - Jeremy Kerley makes his long-awaited return
The most important contribution from the punt return unit this week was to sniff out the fake punt which ended up being intercepted by Terrence Brooks. Brooks made a nice play on the ball, but actually it would have been better to knock it down because that was obviously fourth down so he cost the Jets about 20 yards of field position.
With Kalif Raymond now back on the practice squad, Jeremy Kerley was back in the familiar role of returning punts. However, he did a pretty good job with a couple of nice returns and some good decision making in terms of when to come up and catch the ball and when to leave it.
He made one mistake though, going across the field and giving ground, while also setting up two teammates to get flagged. That ended up costing the Jets about 20 yards.
It was Julian Stanford and Darryl Roberts with the penalties, although the referee called out Morris Claiborne's number on the latter.
Interestingly, ArDarius Stewart was back to return the first kick-off, but it was a touchback. Stewart returned just 10 kick-offs for a 19 yards per return average in college and hadn't been used in the role in preseason. As this was Miami's only kick-off it's impossible to know whether he was going to handle this job full time or rotate with someone else.
Kicking game - Catman Hook
Chandler Catanzaro missed his first field goal of the season on a 45-yarder that initially appeared to be deflected but perhaps wasn't and just hooked wide in the wind. He bounced back to hit his next two though and also had four touchbacks.
Punter Lachlan Edwards had perhaps his most consistent game as a pro, posting a net average of 46 yards per punt and landing three inside the 20, including two that were fair caught inside the 10 and one where he was under pressure but still kicked it out of bounds at the 15. He also got the return man backpedalling with a huge first punt.
Edwards was under pressure on two of his punts which wasn't helped by a slightly wide snap from long snapper Thomas Hennessy on one of them. It looked like Brooks, Stanford and Darron Lee were to blame for allowing the pressure.
Kick coverage - Bruce Pristine
Bruce Carter was the only player to register multiple special teams tackles this week, with one of them on a squibbed kick-off by Catanzaro bring the return man down inside his own 20. You'll notice he also did a good job of recognizing the fake punt and keeping outside leverage on his man so there was no chance to run for a first down.
Brooks, Lawrence Thomas and Juston Burris were also credited with tackles. Burris and Charone Peake each had good plays from the gunner position and Marcus Williams did a good job in contain on one punt return.
There were once again no missed tackles from anyone on special teams this week, as this unit seems to be performing pretty well. However, it will be a blow if Josh Martin's injury keeps him out, even though Rontez Miles is about to return.