New York Jets Special Teams Foibles

In the past two games, the New York Jets have had two punts blocked. Was it the fault of the players, or the scheme? In this GIF Breakdown, we'll investigate.

This first punt block by the Buffalo Bills is fairly straightforward. Simply put, Jaiquawn Jarrett got bull-rushed by Boobie Dixon. How's this possible, considering Jarrett was able to bring the massive Ben Roethlisberger down two weeks previously? This GIF doesn't show it well, but Dixon was able to get under Jarrett, and at that point, it was all over. In football, the low man wins because of the enormous advantage in leverage. Once Jarrett allowed Dixon to get that upward thrust, in which Dixon could use every muscle in his body to throw Jarrett off, it was game over.

One other point of something that bothered me was the gunner on the top of the screen trying for an inside release. He's easily stonewalled by the defenders. It's usually better for the gunners to try and get the outside release, because it clears open the inside for the linemen to get downfield. If he isn't containing the edge, you'll often see the returner outrunning everyone along the sideline.

In the first GIF, I circled the guy who made the block, but if you look behind him, you can see a defender looping around before attacking from a different position. It's easier to see this in the second GIF, but I wanted you to be able to see the gunners as well. This may actually be the first time Tanner Purdum, the longsnapper, has made such a mistake. Purdum looks up and has his eyes on this looping defender. He then gets blindsided from his right side by a lineman, who pushes him into the guy to his left. At that point, the defender disengages and has a free shot at the punter. If Purdum looks up and to his right, instead of straight ahead where he thinks the looping defender will be, he probably doesn't get so caught unaware.