Three on O: Anderson, Dozier, Herndon
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:
Therein lies the Rob
For a change, Robby Anderson led the Jets in receiving as each of his four receptions (for 48 yards) went for a first down. That's actually an improvement on the early part of the season, as he previously only had nine first downs on 23 catches. Last year, 57% of his receptions went for a first down.
Once again, however, the Jets did a decent job of getting Anderson involved in the first half, but his production dried up after half time. For the year, Anderson has 15 receptions for 301 yards and three touchdowns in the first half but only 12 catches for 115 yards and no touchdowns in the second half.
Anderson has an impressive 75 percent catch rate on passes thrown between 10 and 20 yards past the line of scrimmage so that's perhaps something they should do more of. He was able to exploit a big cushion on a long out and broke back for the ball nicely on this play:
Anderson was unsuccessfully targeted three times - twice on overthrown deep balls. On one of those plays, he had half a step and a perfect pass would've been a touchdown. The other was thrown prematurely due to pressure and never had a chance. The other unsuccessful target was thrown too far out in front of him on a crossing route, again due to pressure.
It's interesting to compare Anderson with Keelan Cole, as both were viewed as fantasy sleepers during the offseason but have been disappointing in terms of their statistical output. Cole has 31 catches for 391 yards and Anderson has 416 yards on 27 catches. They each have three touchdowns. The difference is that Cole has fallen out of favor and had some issues with dropped passes. Anderson on the other hand has still been getting plenty of playing time - other than in those games he missed while injured - but only has two drops.
It will be interesting to see how the Jags and Jets decide to treat these young receivers next year but Anderson will at least get some chances to boost his production over the final month. Will the Jets be smarter about how they opt to get him involved though?
It Doze without saying
With Spencer Long a late scratch due to illness, Dakota Dozier had to fill in at left guard and had some struggles. Then again, he graded out better than James Carpenter did in either of the games where Jonotthan Harrison was at center and he wasn't far behind Long's grade from last week.
Dozier was only responsible for one pressure and it came on this play where he actually slowed Jurrell Casey up adequately to enable a successful completion, even though Casey was eventually able to get off the block cleanly:
That's not to suggest Dozier was otherwise flawless in pass protection. He also got beaten and called for a hold on the play where Brian Winters was beaten for a sack and there were one or two unit-wide issues in picking up blitzes and stunts.
As a run blocker, Dozier missed a couple of blocks in space because he took bad angles. He also didn't get out in front of a screen pass fast enough, leading to it being blown up. On a couple of plays, including that one, he initially double-teamed before peeling off into space, but he stayed on the double-team block a beat too long, so perhaps that's fixable.
Still, he had a few good run blocks, including one seal block at the point of attack and one effective second level block on the move.
Hern-ing his stripes
Chris Herndon had a disappointing game this week, with just two catches. However, he would have led the Jets in receiving yards had his 28-yard catch not been called back due to an offensive penalty.
He ended up with 31 yards on his two catches, showing some abilities after the catch on this play:
In contrast to Anderson, the Jets tried to force it to Herndon more in the second half. In all, he was unsuccessfully targeted four times, but three of these saw the pass broken up by a defensive back.
As a blocker, Herndon got out in front of Trenton Cannon on an option run, but got beaten around the edge for a hit in pass protection. Overall, he continues to be a more consistent blocker than he was earlier in the year, though.
Herndon might have a shot at the all-rookie team. He leads all rookie tight ends with 28 catches and although Mark Andrews has 39 more yards, he also has one less touchdown. He's also ahead of the other main contender, Dallas Goedert.
PREVIOUSLY: 3-on-D: Luvu, Lee, Williams