Three on O: Wilson, Smith, Simpson

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:

Going against prevailing Wilson

Garrett Wilson can't complain that he wasn't involved in the offense enough on Sunday. He was targeted 23 times. While records of targets have only been kept since 1999, this makes Wilson tied for the third-most ever recorded.

Data from NGS suggests that Wilson was open a lot - and, of course, it's a big sample size. His average separation was 3.6 yards, which is higher than his total for the season as a whole (3.2) and much higher than for last season (2.5).

Of course, he ended up with 13 catches for 101 yards and a touchdown, but you'll recall a few weeks ago we reviewed Aaron Rodgers by breaking down all of his incompletions to demonstrate how he was close to a much bigger statistical performance. So let's take the same approach with Wilson and his 10 unsuccessful targets here:

The timing was off and the throw was wide as Wilson did have separation breaking to the outside, but too late (16 yards downfield);
Almost a completion, off Wilson's hands as he made a diving attempt (21);
The pick six, as Rodgers admitted he "lost the angle" and Wilson didn't seem open even if Andrew Van Ginkel didn't drop into the passing lane (8);
Slant pattern, thrown behind Wilson. Timing or how Rodgers expected Wilson to run his route clearly off (6);
Thrown behind Wilson downfield as he slipped. Rodgers clearly expecting him to sit in the open area but he kept running (14);
This one actually landed closer to Allen Lazard but Rodgers was trying to go downfield on a play that got extended. The throw was disrupted as Rodgers was hit and fell well short of Wilson, who again slipped (33);
Wilson makes the diving catch but replay assistance determined it hit the turf (7);
Back shoulder throw, once again the timing is off and Wilson slips as he tries to come back to the ball (20);
Double move for a potential game-winning 41-yard touchdown is overthrown as heavy pressure disrupts Rodgers' throw (25);
Comeback route falls well short as Rodgers is again hit as he threw (13).

Clearly here there were several plays which would have been successful with better timing, pass protection or no loss of footing on the slippery turf.

If Wilson caught most of those, he'd be up around 200+ and with the potential for yards after the catch it could have been a spectacular output. They shouldn't be throwing 23 passes to one guy (and, in fact, 41 passes to just three guys) so a guy like Mike Williams has just four targets in over 50 snaps though, so we'll see how the approach develops.

Let's not end this section without at least highlighting a positive from Wilson, as he made this spectacular diving catch.

This was an interesting play because he lined up in the backfield. Later on, they had him in the backfield again and he almost scored on a screen pass. He looked frustrated not to have scored and you'll recall a similar thing happened in the Pats game but Rodgers made a point of getting him his touchdown right after. Sure enough, in this game, Rodgers went to him again and he drew a pass interference flag, then went to him again for the score.

Tyron Whiffs

Tyron Smith has been off to a solid start but something interesting happened on Sunday. Check out these three plays:

First he whiffs on a screen block and his man makes the play to stop Wilson for a short gain. A good block there creates an easy first down.

On this play, he tried and failed to make a reach block and his man helped blow up the run in the hole.

On this one, Smith is badly beaten around the edge and doesn't get much help from Breece Hall. The resulting pressure affects Rodgers' attempt to connect with Wilson.

Interestingly, these plays were all on the same series as the Jets went 3-and-out on their second possession. This might be one of the worst series of Smith's career and he almost single-handedly caused the 3-and-out that contributed to the Jets' slow start. Rodgers was intercepted on possessions three and four - his first ever two-interception first quarter.

Even more interesting is that fact that Smith still graded out solidly despite this awful series. So basically he was lights out for the rest of the game, especially in pass protection where he didn't allow any other pressures.

Hopefully this lapse is an aberration that won't happen again.

Simp-ly the best!

According to PFF, John Simpson has played an NFL high 212 snaps at guard this year without giving up a sack. It seems difficult to justify not crediting a sack to him on this play though.

That was bad, although he did slip on the turf, but - much like Smith - there was a lot to like about the rest of Simpson's performance.

He didn't really give up any pressure apart from on the above play, which when Aaron Rodgers dropped back 57 times, is actually quite impressive.

The Jets didn't run the ball well for the second game in a row, which is a clear problem, but they basically abandoned the running game for much of the times so they didn't have that many running plays and the ones they did have that didn't work were primarily down to errors from the tight ends Jeremy Ruckert and Brenden Bates.

Simpson's run blocking grades have been bizarrely consistent this year, as he's posted an average grade in all five games. So, he hasn't had a bad game yet...but hasn't had a good one either.

Ironically, last year, Simpson was more hit and miss and hardly ever had an average game. He mostly had either good games and bad games based on his run blocking grades. In that regard, a series of consistent games in a row might be a good sign and we'll see if he starts to post some better grades once the offensive line gels as a unit and the running game gets going.

The Bills game should, in theory, be one in which the Jets can get their running game going again. We'll see if that holds up and what kind of role Simpson will play in that.

Previously: Three on D: Adams, Thomas, Taylor