Three on O: Rodgers, Tippmann, Allen

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:

Time to start Aaron it out?

This week, Aaron Rodgers completed 18 of 30 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns. This week we're going to take the unconventional approach of focusing on all the incompletions.

Intentional grounding. Not on the same page with Garrett Wilson, nowhere near complete.
Pass out to Breece Hall in the flat was out in front of him as the timing was thrown off by Hall having to get through traffic.
Braelon Allen drop in the flat. Harold Landry may have slightly deflected this but it still should have been caught.
Timing route with the defensive player's head not turned, zipped into Garrett Wilson but he couldn't get his hands up in time and it bounced out of bounds off his shoulder pad.
Dump to Jeremy Ruckert under pressure is short and Ruckert bends down to get his hands on it but can't scoop it up.
A first down anyway due to roughing but almost a connection over the middle on a Mike Williams diving catch attempt.
Threw a bit behind Allen in the flat and he got one hand to it but couldn't make the catch.
Another dump-off to Ruckert that was low and he bent down to get his hands to it but couldn't scoop it up.
Conklin open in the flat but this one was batted down at the line.
Via hand signals, quick pass to Lazard rather than a hand-off but he dropped it.
Fade to Ruckert in the end zone but, as the announcers noted, Rodgers threw back pylon while Ruckert slowed down and couldn't get to it.
Low throw to Wilson over the middle but he couldn't come up with the diving catch.
Deep shot to Lazard who had the step but it was slightly overthrown.

These 13 plays included three drops, five more plays where the receiver got his hands on the ball and three where the throw was slightly out in front (but at least it was safe).

If you can just clean up some of these things, that 18-for-30 could easily become 22-for-31. And it might even become 25-for-31. Or on an exceptional day, it could even have been 28-for-31. And then you're realistically looking at 200, 250 or 300 yards.

Rodgers is throwing it to the right guys, putting the ball in the right spots - or almost in the right spots - and executing in the red zone. It's exciting to see good quarterback play that could potentially become great when we're usually clutching at straws to see where bad quarterback play might become adequate.

In fact, it may be that they spent the whole game trying to find it and then did actually it at the end because he started off 13-for-25 but then went 5-for-5 on the final drive. What if that carries over into the next game? WHAT THEN?!?!

Since this section has been focusing on all of the negatives from the passing game, albeit with a positive and optimistic angle, let's wrap up by looking at something positive. Here's one of three beautiful downfield touch passes from Rodgers (with the other two being the touchdown to Hall and the leaping catch by Williams):

Pay attention here to how Rodgers leans back as he's releasing the throw. This is creating an arm angle to get the throw off cleanly and put some air under it so that Wilson can run under the ball for an easy catch despite the defender being right on his back.

We'll see as the season goes along whether Rodgers is still capable of putting up monster numbers, or even needs to for the Jets to be successful. While he hasn't done so thus far, the signs are there that the chemistry is building and the offense has yet to reach its full potential.

Just the Tipp

The offensive line was good this week and Joe Tippmann had one of the best individual performances, even though he allowed a sack when Harold Landry stunted inside and he didn't pick it up.

What's even more encouraging than how the second-year player is progressing, however, is the way he's working in tandem with his guards. This is already starting to look like a line that's getting in synch.

Here's an example of that, as he and John Simpson drive their man back with a deadly combo block to give Allen a chance to cut back for six yards. This was a rare successful run for the Jets in the first half, as they otherwise had just 11 yards on seven other carries.

Here's another play where Simpson and Tippmann combined well together as Tippmann controls the nose tackle and gets an assist from Simpson so he can bury him and Simpson can climb to the second level. Hall finds a crease for positive yardage.

It still wasn't very consistent after halftime. Hall burst for a 30-yarder and Allen for a 20-yard touchdown on plays where the line blocked well, but otherwise they combined to average 2.4 yards on 12 other carries. However, they will be popping more and more runs if they can block like they did on some of these successful plays with more consistency.

In addition, getting out in front of screen passes was something all three guards had success with this week.

There can be no question that the fact the guards have been healthy instead of changing (and getting less and less experienced) on a weekly basis will have helped Tippmann and, of course, the Rodgers factor is playing a role in everyone being on the same page in protection. Tippmann is already starting to look like the kind of guy who can anchor a solid unit for years to come though, and that's exciting.

Get on your knees and Brae

Allen's two-touchdown performance warrants another look as he rushed seven times for 33 yards and caught two passes for 23 yards.

The rookie didn't actually have much success running the ball throughout the day. He had only gained 13 yards on six carries before his game-winning touchdown which saw him essentially untouched on a well-blocked 20-yard off-tackle run. His previous four carries had netted just three yards.

Allen's two catches included an 11-yarder as he lined up at wide receiver and caught the ball on the outside and this beautifully designed 12-yard touchdown on which he built up a head of steam and followed his blocking well to finish strong.

That wrapped up a scoring drive on which the Jets went five-wide a few times with Allen on the outside and also ran some two-back plays with Hall and Allen both in.

It's clear that Allen runs with impetus and offers a good change of pace from Hall, who once again had a slow start with just nine yards on six carries in the first half.

As noted, Allen had a drop and another incompletion that was off his hand as he perhaps didn't anticipate how Rodgers was going to lead him to the outside. He's also only stayed in to pass protect once so far this year. So there are things to work on.

Nevertheless, you have to be encouraged with what the rookie has provided to date. It will be interesting to see if his role continues to grow.

Previously: Three on D: McDonald, Gardner, Sherwood