GGN Chalkboard: Recapping Jets vs. Titans

Let's be honest. That wasn't a great game by any means for the Jets. What makes it worse was just how poor the mistakes were on the big plays. Between poor decisions, positioning and everything else, this whole game made me cringe when I went over the film. So let's do it and get this game in the rear view where it belongs. To the offensive game tape we go.

So the first pick is a simple two man route that was designed for max protection for Geno. Sure enough the Titans ran a blitz but not a jailhouse blitz. This meant that a few Titans were free in coverage and ended up not having to cover anyone. I'm not saying this was a poor pass, but Geno obviously tried to force one instead of hurling it away or taking a sack. Here's the set up and routes:

The corners are in man to man coverage and locked on the WR's. Underneath the Titans run a middle zone taking away any underneath routes, while the deep man is in cover one. It's very similar to the scheme we've highlighted here on the chalkboard numerous times, one the Jets run a lot. Ironically the Jets have a great blocking scheme for the Titans blitz, but don't have enough guys in the pattern to cause issues for the secondary. While there's little pressure on Geno, there's no big opening for a pass.

Now it must be said, there was a small opening for the pass but the linebacker is what causes this play to go south quickly.

Taking a look at this play Geno has only one guy that's somewhat open. Holmes is covered perfectly and totally out of the play. The linebacker that's short of Hill forces Geno to float the ball rather than fire a direct bullet. That allows the defense to jump the route in front of Hill. Looking at the set up, Geno does have an open man there based on positiing, but the ball takes too long to get there and allows the man to make the play. This is one of those passes Geno's at fault not for decisions but for the actual pass.

A good pass here and it's a big play. The problem is he has struggled with the deep ball. One thing I have noticed is Geno is not good throwing deep. There's no rhyme or reason to it. He has the arm. It's just he's not good at it yet. This is probably the key to his development. If he doesn't learn how, then he will never succeed.

Let's move on to the second Geno pick. This is a straight up yikes ball. Make no mistake, this is a timing route with Holmes and that's where Geno wants to go. Problem: it is perfectly covered. Here's the set up. Holmes is on an island with the three WR's on the right running a bunch concept that actually works somewhat well. Still Geno is set on throwing to Holmes.

Sure, you hope Holmes can make the move and shake the defender but this is an example of a QB locking on a target. Never did I see Geno look for a target on the other side, nor entertain the possibility. Holmes tries to fight for it but the CB has the position and takes the ball from Holmes. Holmes never really had a shot with this one, so it's hard to blame him on this pass for not getting it out of the CB's hands. It's good defense and a QB locking on.

Check out the WR on the opposite side whose wide open. If Geno had looked his way a second earlier, it's an easy 3-4 yards plus any running after the catch. But he's already made his mind up probably in the presnap read. I'd like to say this is a read error but I have a feeling it's him locking on to a guy. It's just a rookie mistake, but still needs to be addressed.

And now I present good Geno:

Here's the play set up: it's a crossing route over the left side. Cumberland runs a corner route while the WR runs an in route. Geno makes a good read and better throw, so let's get that out of the way.

Check out the window below: it's not big. It's just a really solid pass leading Cumberland upfield. Good stuff from Geno, it's stuff like this that gives us all hope.

Two guys are around there but Geno does a good job putting it into a tight area. Too far forward and the short defender can get a hand on it. Too far behind and we've seen the result.  Again, I hope we see more of this moving forward, especially on the deeper passes.

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Let's go to the defense: Warning this gets ugly fast and stays that way.

First play is the TD pass. It's simply blown coverage. Jets are in man to man and the Titans go with a similar blocking concept to a previous example of the Jets.  It's a mass protection scheme where just about everyone is blocking but two guys. Here's the only routes being run:

That's it. Two routes.  Harris totally whiffs on his man and knows it almost right away.

And the end result is really ugly, the only good part was how well the other coverage was on the WR going to the flat. Below is the end result a wide, wide open target:

As per our rules: David Harris YOU REALLY BLEW IT.

The next play is the second TD, and realistically it's not a really bad coverage at first. And then the field monster gobbles up Cromartie. The Jets are in man to man with a zone underneath. (Very similar to the coverage the Titans used on the first pick against Geno) The offensive set up is a zone buster. The idea is to confuse the zone by running multiple men into the same zone and splitting them off. The only route that really designed to beat a man to man is the route against Cro which is a 5 step out that turns into an in route.

On the break of the route Cro falls down, leaving the WR wide open. This is just bad luck partially but also Cro trying to jump the route. Not quite sure how badly I felt about this one at the time, but I think that Cro just got a bit unlucky trying to make a play.

The LB does his best to get there from the middle zone, but it's a really easy throw from Locker for 6. That's not really going to be worthy of a YOU BLEW IT because of the field... but you know what Cromartie... YOU BLEW IT. Sometimes you blame it on the field, sometimes on the player. I go with the player on this one.

Onto another TD pass. This time Walls is a victim of a man who has a movie that describes him perfectly: Hurt Locker. (Get it? No... then moving on) The WR's are all running deep routes into the end zone with only a few seconds left. Only one guy manages to mess up the coverage, which is man to man.

Walls completely loses his man and focus on this play. He commits the ultimate sin and turns his body completely away from the play and leaves the WR free to catch the ball. Simply this is bad, bad coverage, not in terms of necessarily losing a man, but playing the man himself. You can see the end result below.

If you click to embiggen you can see that Walls is completely out of position. He's turned, meaning that the WR can move in all but one direction and be open. The pass was perfect, but realistically even a pass that was lower and towards the sideline should be 6. Walls simply got caught flat footed and doesn't have the skills of Revis to recover. Ugh.

Oh yeah: you guessed it: Walls: YOU BLEW IT!

Last one and it's the clincher. This is simply not playing to the whistle and losing track of your man. It's also a great job of a QB creating something by using his feet so kudos to Fitz. The routes are pretty basic. A levels concept with deep route on one side and comeback route on the other. So where does this go wrong?

Really what happens is Cro gets caught looking at the play in front of him instead of the WR. It's not awful coverage at first, but the QB makes a nice play and buy some time, which allows the WR to get a step on Cro.

Look at how much room he has. At this point you can see Cro turn his shoulders and plant, which allows the WR to run right by him. Even the ref couldn't help Cro here as he gets burnt. That's a play that you hate to see as Cro when game film comes up. There's no other player really out of position or not doing his job.

So yeah Cro YOU BLEW IT..... AGAIN!

Ugh, well this is been demoralizing to be honest. A lot of mistakes here that aren't caused by the Titans offense but by the defense just not executing. On offense,  is more of the same from Geno and the Jets.  A lot of QB errors, some rookie, some bizarre. (Going around the back for whatever reason.) Let's hope for our sake they rebound this week.

Anyway, if you have a specific question for me about this game or the past games,  let me know in the comments. If there's anything you want to know for a new Chalkboard also let me know.