GGN Chalkboard: Jets Cruise Past Dolphins Pt. 2

The Jets started off the second half  the right way. They marched down the field, passing and running pretty much at ease. It was capped off by a nice running play that was set up by solid blocking from our o line.

The play itself is simple. A power run to the left, probably on paper supposed to go over the guard tackle gap in between Brick and Carpenter.

Flipping this around to the back you see how simple it really was. A bunch of double teams on each side. To me the big blocks are in no particular order: Brick's, Davis's, and then Mangold's. Brick is one on one and rather than trying to force his man outside, shoves his man inside, using the momentum against him and effectively pushing him out of the play. Davis has the seal block on the outside to open a hole inside. Mangold cuts his man down at the point which leads to a dogpile not allowing the entire right side of the line any chance of getting backside pressure down the line of scrimmage. Bohanan has the easiest job, hit the first body that makes it near the line of scrimmage.

You can see Mangold's cut block and the the pile of bodies caught in the middle. Meanwhile Davis seals the edge perfectly. The double team on the left turns into a slide block which allows Carpenter a go at the MLB. Brick has effectively moved his guy 3 positions left opening a giant hole. Meanwhile Bohanan has a free hole and shot at the first linebacker. Miss and the play may get stopped short. A solid block will do here.

Bohanon stalemates the linebacker, allowing a small cut back lane that Stacy uses to get into the end zone. Perfect blocking here.

The Jets put up a ton of rushing yards this game. As much as you want to praise Ivory, the O line allowing him to get to the second level without being touched means he's got a full head of steam into the linebackers. That makes him tough to take down with only one man. Ivory's vision in this game was hit or miss at times, but the line was opening huge holes all day.

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Which brings us to the Fitz pick. Gailey, for reasons he probably can't explain, went to the air attack on a few drives. With Fitz not looking particular sharp on several drives and Ivory pummeling the Phins into submission, there was no real reason to switch things up. It ended up with a 3rd and 10 where Fitz displays his lack of checking the WR over the middle routes in favor of the deep routes.

The Jets faced a long third down and ran a 3 man route. The blocking was good, meaning Fitz had time to look for a wideout. The three routes, one over the middle, and two long routes. Gee, Gailey, you know we've been doing well all season in the middle of the field, why not try to run 10 yard routes and let the WR do the work to get a first?

The defense is in cover one lurk again. The middle linebacker is the middle of the field watching for a crossing routes, with the rest of the defense in man. The Phins send 6 men at Fitz.

Now we get to the point where it's fair to rip Fitz. Look at Decker, and where his man is. I get there's a lurking linebacker, but Decker has enough speed a semi floated ball over the linebacker easily gets a first. Decker is behind the linebacker and more importantly his one on one defender is still 10 yards away. I'd expect a QB to complete this pass without too much fanfare. Instead Fitz goes full YOLO again and throws it to Smith.

It's solid coverage... up until the point Smith turns his shoulders and gets a full on hockey shoulder check from the defender. For some reason no PI is called as Smith gets put on his rear and the defender easily makes the interception.

Just to be that guy: it's not like the officials weren't in position for this one either. I've highlighted the ones who were nearest to the play.

Going full circle here: Gailey needs to stop dialing up so many fly routes and start running more things across the middle. Then again, as you see here, even when one is open Fitz loves his deep passes and rarely misses a chance to test one on one with his WR. If only he had the arm for it.

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Things got scary quick for the Jets. The Dolphins scored two drives later and all the momentum seemed to swing their way. This pass play that went for the second touchdown more than likely is on Cro. But to be honest, I'm not sure how much was scheme and how much was on him not playing it well.

To set it up the Phins faced second and 10 from the 10.They lined up with bunch formation left and a single WR right. The back is to the right of Tannehill. The run a five WR pattern with a combination of corner and slant routes.

The Jets lined up in what I think is cover 4. Let me explain: originally I thought it was man to man, but Davis ran to the sideline away from a man to an all ready covered guy plus Revis barely reacts to a WR cutting across his face. Cromartie played this deep the hole way as if he was expecting help underneath that would come from a zone scheme.

One man goes over the middle and two routes are run along toward the left sideline. Below you see Skrine taking the underneath out route, Cro playing well off the WR and Davis running to a spot. That's why I'd say it's a zone coverage here that gets exploited because Cro never stepped up, perhaps worried about a deeper route and hoping for help underneath. Problem was Skrine was already taken and Davis was too far away.

Tannehill throws a pass that gets over Skrine's head and beats Cro by about a stride and a half. Cro two years ago may have made a miraculous pick, but I'm starting to wonder if he's lost a step or two and thus is missing plays by just that little bit.

Either way, I think this is one scheme that probably gets put in the "Do not try again" folder.

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The defense, in it's best Lee Corso impression, said not so fast a few drives later. They ended up calling back a Dolphins TD due to a pick block, which eventually led to a 4th down try. A few things before we get started. The Jets on all interceptions this year have had heat on the QB. That's pretty much how they've gotten picks. On plays they don't, we've seen big plays. The rush here deserves a ton of credit.

Miami lines up with two WR in the slot or tight to the formation to the left of Tannehill, and a sole WR to the right. The Dolphins figuring out at this point the Jets really love to blitz on third and fourth down decide to protect their QB by only running a three man pattern.

Let's just say it was not effective at all. The Jets pretty much run a sell out blitz with only 4 people either in man formation or watching for a route from the back or a QB scramble. The coverage is tight on any WR and the rush is pretty much instantaneous as you see below.

With guys at his feet, Tanny decides to test Revis island for reception. Revis is dead on Landry's hip and perhaps getting a bit physical, he sees the ball and starts to jostle with Landry for it.

That phsyciallity sends Landry to the turf and an interception. Could there have been a flag on the play? Sure, but the refs already let a body check go, so this seemed about fair for what they were calling.

The Jets defense is best when it's attacking in my opinion. If they can get pressure on a QB they have the right guys to make QB's pay. Perhaps most unsettling is that the Eagles offensive line shut down the Jets pass rush. How they did it, I don't know, but the complete opposite happened this week. If the Jets are to be successful this year, that pass rush must be consistent week to week and play to play. Here you see the results when it's on.

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One wasn't enough for the defense though. They needed to get another pick to seal the deal. Luckily the pass rush again was great and once again led to an interception.

Miami once again faced 4th down and 10. Just like the previous play, Miami tried to help out the offensive line by only running a 4 man route and keeping 6 in to block. Miami lined up in 3 wide right with one left. Two guys ran deep fly routes, with the slot WR running a box out route and the other running a skinny post.

The Jets, sticking true to theme, sent the house. I circled Skrine below because he had a whale of a game and how the defense was stacked behind him. IT's a simple man to man across the board. The only person who gets open is the box out route really, and that's more because of the distance the safety had to travel.

Below the pressure is already starting to cave in the pocket a bit. You can see the middle out route would be open, but it's a question mark of will you get a first down or whether you end up short and the game over anyway.

Tannehill goes full Fitz here and throws it up to the one on one up top as the pressure really starts to mount. At this point, Williams has his back turned to the play and is trying to wait for the WR to make a move.

Sensing the pass Williams whips his head around, exactly at the time the ball leaves Tannehill's hands.While the pressure never truly gets to Tannehill in the form of physical contact, it causes enough havoc to warrant throwing the ball a bit earlier. Williams here gets a ton of credit, he stayed perfectly in step, turned around and stole the ball from the WR. Granted the pass was too far in bounds, but you can't argue with any facet of the defense on this play.

That does it for this edition. Hope you all enjoy the bye week, I'll probably have some sort of chalkboard up next week, whether it be more of a learning chalkboard, or going over the film from the Washington game.