QuickFix: Special Teams Analysis (Week 13 - Kansas City)
After some costly breakdowns in almost all of their recent losses, the Jets held up quite well on special teams this week.
Let's review everything that went down:
Kick coverage - Lach-out blow
After last week's disaster, and having placed a priority on containing Tyreek Hill in the return game, it was disappointing to see Hill set up the Chiefs second touchdown on this play:
On the play, Thomas Hennessy once again got down the middle first, but allowed Hill to elude him. Julian Stanford and David Bass struggled to get off blocks and Neal Sterling missed the tackle and lost outside contain. Luckily, punter Lachlan Edwards was there to knock Hill out of bounds this week.
Apart from this play, the Jets did quite well in kick coverage, with Josh Martin leading the way with three tackles. Stanford and Jordan Jenkins also had good tackles, but Lawrence Thomas had a missed tackle.
ArDarius Stewart had an unnecessary roughness penalty after he scrapped with his blocker at the end of a coverage play.
Kicking game - Top Cat
Other than the above play, Edwards only punted once, putting a kick from near midfield out of bounds at the 14-yard line. Bruce Carter was driven back into Edwards in punt protection.
Chandler Catanzaro got a ton of work, though, making three extra points and four second half field goals. One of the field goals didn't count because the Chiefs were penalized for a personal foul and the Jets ended up getting a touchdown instead.
On kickoffs, Catanzaro had three touchbacks and one low squib kick.
With the Chiefs punting, Elijah McGuire applied pressure on the punt rush. Debutante Obum Gwacham also featured on that unit.
Return game - Almost, but Nat quite
It was somewhat surprising to see Jojo Natson keep his job after two shaky games, but the Jets have indicated they're happy with him so far. He fair caught both punts this week and was stopped near the 20 on both kickoff returns, although he very nearly broke one of those, coming off a good Eric Tomlinson block.
Buster Skrine forced Natson into one of those fair catches after he was burned by the gunner.
Previously: Reviewing the rotations.