Jets vs. Titans: PFF Signature Stats of the Week

Friend of GGN, Andrew sent over his weekly highlights from Pro Football Focus of the Jets' victory over the Titans.

Offense

Ryan Fitzpatrick wasn't forced to do much as he only completed 1 pass outside the numbers that traveled more than 10 yards in the air.

I think Fitzpatrick got off to an erratic start, but he made some big plays that changed the game. The touchdown where he adjusted on the fly and quick snapped when nobody covered Brandon Marshall stood out, but even before then he got the ball quickly to Marshall on a key third down play when he recognized the coverage was too soft. The touchdown pass to Eric Decker was also a really nice throw.

Stevan Ridley may finally start to be getting healthy as he accrued the same rushing grade as Chris Ivory on 16 less carries. (Forced 3 Missed Tackles with 20 yards after contact.)

I'm not sure how good Ridley was, but this was the first game as a Jet where he averaged more than 1.3 yards per rush. He did seem a bit more explosive. This is worth watching. If Ridley really is getting healthy, and Bilal Powell is blossoming (two HUGE ifs), this could become a really potent backfield.

While Fitzpatrick was hurried 14 times on 39 dropbacks, he was not hit once excluding the 1 sack allowed.

All year you hear announcers praise the offensive line because the Jets do not allow a lot of sacks, but I think a lot of it has been Fitzpatrick's ability to move within the pocket and find scrambling lanes. I didn't think the protection was that bad in this game, though. Sometimes an offensive line doesn't need to stonewall the pass rush to be effective. They work in conjunction with the quarterback. A tackle might push a rusher wide, and the quarterback has to read it and step up in the pocket.

James Carpenter had his lowest graded game of the season, grading negatively in run blocking as well as allowing 2 hurries and a sack.

I thought on the first viewing that on the whole the offensive line played an effective game. I'll be interested to see what comes up watching a second time. Perhaps these numbers indicate the unit's play was not as strong as I thought.

Defense

In addition to his 3 sacks, Mo Wilkerson added another 3 hurries and a QB hit to lead all 3-4 DE's in total pressure in Week 14. Not only was Wilkerson disruptive in the pass game, he also tallied 5 stops to lead the NFL at his position in Week 14. (The number of solo defensive tackles made which constitute an offensive failure)

Wilkerson's monster season has kind of flown under the radar. He is among the league leaders in sacks, though, and has been superb against the run. I think the vote for Team MVP is a two man race between Wilkerson and Brandon Marshall.

While Buster Skrine had a pick, he had rough day in coverage allowing 6 catches for 70 yards on 11 targets.

I had a feeling Skrine's counting stats in coverage wouldn't look so hot, but it seemed like he got beaten a couple of times late in the fourth quarter. I'm not sure this is necessarily an indication he played poorly. The interception he made was much more important, and it apparently came on a play where he was supposed to blitz. He broke it off after reading the play.

Calvin Pryor graded positively in all 3 facets of Run Defense, Pass Coverage and Pass Rush. He led all Safeties in QB hurries in Week 14 with 2.

You have to give Pryor an assist on a pair of sacks. Twice he generated a pressure that made Marcus Mariota step into another defender eluding Pryor.