Three on O: Moses, Rodgers, Hall
After each game, we'll be highlighting three defensive and three offensive players and looking in detail at their performance. We'll wrap up today with the offense:
Moses returns
It was hoped that Morgan Moses' return would boost the Jets' struggling running game and that proved to be the case. Having averaged 50 yards per game in the two games he missed, the Jets have now averaged 106 yards per game in his four starts.
The Jets are currently fourth worst in the NFL in terms of rushing yards but if they averaged 106 yards per week for the whole season, they be middle of the pack.
Moses made a good impact on plays like this, which you may recognize as the play we christened "The Ghost Fullback" a few weeks ago.
He was good in the passing game too, as he didn't give up any pressure and contributed here as a screen blocker.
He wasn't flawless though, even in the running game. The Jets had one play where they ran the ball from the three-yard line and he whiffed on his block so his man stuffed the run in the hole. He also had a holding penalty and a false start.
It is good to have Moses back and he does represent a clear upgrade over Olu Fashanu at this stage of their respective careers. Hopefully the starting five can continue to gel and be even better than this as a group now that they are intact once more.
'Ron Target
Aaron Rodgers had his best game as a Jet so far, although it is worrying to see him come up short on the final drive for the third week in a row. His red zone efficiency (4-for-9 for 17 yards and one touchdown) needs to be better too.
While he ended up with just under 300 yards, it's fair to point out that 52 of those came on the Hail Mary pass to Allen Lazard. Then again, he could have had more. The Jets dropped three passes and a late 13-yard completion was negated by a holding penalty.
The Hail Mary arguably wasn't even the most incredible completion to Lazard on this day. This tight window throw was phenomenal.
Unfortunately, after that pass, every time the Jets tried to get something going it was disrupted by a penalty. So rather than stay in rhythm, Rodgers only got to throw six more passes of which he completed just three for 13 yards.
Rodgers is getting a lesson in how frustrating it is to be a New York Jet when everything seems to be going against you. However, he needs to elevate his game to lift the team above that ingrained malaise.
Let's hope the Davante Adams trade is the first step towards that happening.
Hall is not as it seems
The Jets got a huge game out of Breece Hall, which in recent years would usually translate to a win. He rushed for 113 yards and also caught five passes for 56 yards.
It was good to see Hall getting some upfield momentum to enable him to run through tacklers and burst into the clear, which hadn't been happening in recent games.
The Jets had good success with this toss play on outside runs and Hall picked up a big gain here.
Some analysts have suggested he should have been able to cut back and score on this play but it's hard to say. There were a few plays where he went laterally rather than trusting himself to hit a gap hard though. You'll recall last year that he was dancing around a bit too much in the middle of the season but started producing once he became more direct so, while he's not there yet, hopefully he's working towards a realization that this is how he can be at his most effective.
Hall's contributions in the passing game were also good. The Jets executed a couple of screen passes well and he also had a good downfield catch up the seam.
Again, though, he wasn't perfect. He dropped a 3rd down pass in the red zone early on and there were a couple of plays, including another one in the red zone, where he probably could have read the coverage better. Arguably Rodgers opted not to check it down to him a few times when he should have too, though.
It feels like they are progressing towards Hall having a more dynamic role in the passing game, though, so hopefully this is somewhere that will develop over the course of the year.
Previously: Three on D: Clemons, Davis, Oliver