Quick Fix: Jacksonville gets chunk'd on
All through last season, the Jets would have passages of solid play only to have a big play by the opposition completely swing momentum in the other direction. This often had ramifications beyond the seven points added to the other team's score, as the Jets had a tendency to respond to such plays with despondent body language and all energy and effort temporarily sapped from their performance.
In today's game, the Jets found themselves on the other end of that equation as they had seven plays of at least 20 yards, including three of over 40 yards. By contrast, the Jaguars only had two plays of over 15 yards - a dump-off that went for 28 yards and a read-option keeper that went for 27.
Big plays accounted for both of the Jets touchdowns on the day and the big plays in general also played a part in terms of demoralizing the Jaguars which led to the Jets seeing more sustained success in the trenches later on in the game as they gained in confidence.
Ironically, though, the third longest play of the day - Robby Anderson's 41-yard catch - was immediately followed by Myles Jack's defensive score on the next snap, which flipped a game in which the Jets were well in control in the fourth quarter and about to add to their lead in a two-possession game.
From that point on, the game was destined to go down to the wire and the Jets were lucky to pull it out. Had they lost, it would have been the first time since 1999 that they led a game by more than one score in the fourth quarter and still lost.
Let's take a look at each of the biggest plays and review how they went down.
Here's the play that led Bilal Powell's touchdown:
Obviously there was some major stroke of fortune here, with Powell going down untouched and then getting up to run unchallenged through an oblivious secondary. However, this play is still worth reviewing because it was so well blocked ... with one exception.
The run popped almost perfectly with several players executing their blocks perfectly. Eric Tomlinson and Brent Qvale drove their men to the inside, with Tomlinson deserving extra credit for holding Calais Campbell at bay as he tried to stretch one of his long limbs out to corral Powell.
On the outside, Austin Seferian-Jenkins initially helps Tomlinson out with a double-team but then peels off to kick another defender to the outside. Fullback Lawrence Thomas lights up his target on the move and Brian Winters makes a good block pulling to the right.
One player didn't execute as well, which can sometimes submarine a play like this even where five other guys nail their assignments. On this occasion, it's Wesley Johnson, who doesn't make his second level block and that allows his man to get to Powell in the hole.
However, Powell somehow contorts his body and is untouched, which means he's able to get up and carry on running after everyone else stops. Bizarrely, had Johnson executed his block perfectly, Powell hits the second level cleanly, but probably gets taken down for a 10-12 yard gain by one of the defensive backs. For once, this blown assignment actually worked out in the Jets' favor.
Powell's next big run - which set up a field goal - is a totally different animal, as it only really requires two players to execute their blocks well to spring him out to the second level:
This is an example of what we discussed last week - divide-and-conquer or stretching out the defense to create space. The initial flow to the right gets everyone moving in that direction which enables the right side of the line to use a natural leverage advantage to push their men upfield and out of the middle. Johnson just has has to prevent his man from leveraging back into the running lane at the point of attack and then once James Carpenter makes a clean second level block, Powell is able to burst into the clear.
Elijah McGuire's touchdown worked in a similar fashion:
On this play, it pops perfectly because three players all make second level blocks pretty much simultaneously. Again, the initial flow spreads out the defensive line and gives McGuire a clean cutback lane.
It's arguably Winters that makes the key block again, getting out to the second level to slow up Myles Jack and spring McGuire into the clear. Seferian-Jenkins also does well again, picking up a block on the outside and sealing his man off to the outside. Carpenter also hits his man cleanly at the second level, albeit that McGuire picks a different lane. This one also requires some individual talent on McGuire's part as he side-steps a tackle attempt at the second level.
It wasn't just the running game that created big plays though. The Jets also hit on a chunk play in the passing game, as Josh McCown hit Robby Anderson deep:
There's not much in the way of technical aspects to analyze here. Anderson just blows by AJ Bouye with pure speed and McCown puts an accurate throw on him. Maybe some of the earlier runs and short passes would have played their part in terms of the Jaguars needing guys closer to the line of scrimmage to help out in the box.
The overriding point here is that some really well-executed plays helped the Jets quickly score some points rather than forcing them to try and string drives together which would require them to execute well on several plays in a row.
Over the course of the game, the Jets probably lost more battles than they won in the trenches, but -for once - they were the ones landing the big blows to help them come away with the win.
Tomorrow morning, I'll focus on a key aspect of the defensive gameplan and we'll be providing game analysis throughout the day.