Three on O: Wilson, Tippmann, Gipson

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:

G-Dub be good to me

In the final reckoning, Garrett Wilson had a nice game with five catches for over 100 yards. This was a nice performance from him, especially after he was desperate to bounce back from the key mistake against the Steelers where he tipped the ball into the air and Beanie Bishop intercepted it and ran it down to the one-yard line.

However, this was a really weird game for him.

First of all, he wasn't targeted at all in the first 20 minutes of the game. Other wide receivers might not have reacted so well to that, especially in a game where they were publicly so keen to get back on the horse.

Secondly, entering into this game, he had 46 catches of which 11 were behind the line of scrimmage and 20 were past the line of scrimmage and between the numbers.

In this game, everything was outside the numbers and literally all five of his catches had a high degree of difficulty.

He actually had four of the five 20+ yard plays by the Jets on Sunday. His first one set up an early touchdown on a long crossing route:

He had two diving catches, one on a deep ball where he was interfered with anyway and another over the shoulder on a go-route and this was a great contested catch on a back shoulder throw:

Wilson ended up with just nine yards after the catch, a season low and easily could have put up monster numbers if they also fed him some short passes like they usually do. In the Vikings game, for example, all of his 13 catches were less than 10 yards down the field. In this game only one of his five catches was (and that was a tough leaping toe-tapping sideline catch too).

For this to be their pre-game plan for Wilson seems unlikely, so it must have been just the way things turned out. When the Jets got Adams, it was thought that he would work the outsides and free up Wilson to do damage over the middle but, whether this was a deliberate change-up or not, that's not what the Jets did in this game.

Ultimately, it would have been a quiet game for Wilson if he only caught one or two of those passes, which nobody would have blamed him too much for, so it's a credit to his talent that he was able to turn this into a big game.

Wilson gave the Jets 113 yards and also drew a flag for a first down in the first quarter. On the final drive, though, he was unable to secure a catch near midfield which might have set up a chance at a Hail Mary attempt. On the play he actually caught the ball but likely needed to squeeze it for a beat longer to demonstrate control. As it was, he had the ball stripped away as he was already trying to scramble to his feet so they could clock it.

It's difficult to predict what you're going to get from Wilson from week to week or even quarter to quarter right now. He can clearly be successful in a variety of ways - maybe it's up to everyone else to step up.

Touching Tipps

Watching Joe Tippmann's contributions in this game was very interesting. They had him making reach blocks the majority of the time in the running game. This is something he generally does well - here's an example:

Watching Tippmann do this - and finding a center who can make these blocks is the holy grail for scouting departments around the country - he does a consistent job of beating his man to the spot and getting to his outside shoulder to slow down his lateral pursuit. He did allow his man to fall off the reach block a couple of times to get in on the play but didn't have issues with the defensive player beating him there, which is what you usually see from young centers.

All of Breece Hall's best runs came to the outside so Tippmann's contribution, while important, didn't really make or break the play. He did do a good job at the point of attack on some runs that went for positive yardage between the tackles though and they ran behind him for a touchdown and two first downs in short yardage situations.

Aside from the reach blocks and the short yardage, Tippmann sealed off his man well on one play and had two cut blocks in the running game, one of which was missed and the other of which he executed well.

In the passing game, Tippmann only gave up one pressure. He allowed Rodgers to be hit on this play, but he still completed the deep throw to Wilson.

There were a couple of other negatives from Tippmann though. He had a fumble when his snap didn't make it to Rodgers and was illegally downfield on a pass (although Morgan Moses was announced as the guilty party). You also have to wonder if Tippmann was at fault for the protection scheme that saw Rodgers sacked by a free rusher while all three interior linemen blocked the same player.

On the whole, Tippmann has been starting for long enough that he's proven he can do a solid job in this role. Only one penalty so far after having eight last season is another good sign. Nevertheless, there are still things he can improve upon and hopefully he can demonstrate even more growth.

X Flies

It was a big game for Xavier Gipson who had a touchdown catch and one of his best games as a return man ever.

While we're focused on offense here, let's touch on his special teams contributions where he had a 40-yard punt return and alertly came up to field a deflected punt in traffic rather than let it bounce and potentially roll deep into Jets' territory. However, he also took a fair catch on a punt where there was literally nobody within 20 yards of him.

As for his offensive contributions, even with the touchdown - which, despite what the announcer said, was not his first ever scrimmage touchdown because he scored on an end around against the Texans last season - he actually barely had a role.

Gipson played just six snaps, making it the fourth time this year that he's played six or less snaps in a game. Also notable was the fact that Malachi Corley, who rarely sees action, also played six snaps.

The Jets tipped their hand a little with these two as Corley made some good run blocking contributions while they passed the ball all six times that Gipson was in the game.

Here was his touchdown, which was a tight window throw and a difficult catch low to the ground:

Gipson looked like a big potential offensive contributor last year but the Davante Adams trade has made it even less likely that he or Corley will have a regular role. Maybe the rumored Mike Williams trade could change this but it's good that he's been making plays in the return game to justify his existence, especially after the Jets led Brandon Codrington go to Buffalo in a trade.

One final question: Where has the jet sweep/end around gone from the Jets playbook? The Jets handed the ball to a wide receiver 12 times last season (including eight times to Gipson, who had 68 yards and a touchdown). This year? Wilson has one carry and that's it.

In his last year in Green Bay, Rodgers' team handed to a wide receiver (usually Christian Watson) 10 times and got 91 yards and two scores out of it. So, it's not a Rodgers thing.

Is it a Nate Hackett thing? (Even though he's no longer calling plays, this is still his system). It seems not. The Packers ran eight receiver runs in 2021 with Allen Lazard having the most success.

Whether or not the Jets use Gipson more in the weeks to come, the jet sweep/end around/pop pass is a good example of the kind of plays the Jets haven't been using and could add a bit of variance to a stale offensive attack if they can get some offensive rhythm.

Previously: Three on D: Surratt, Reddick, Monroe