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Jets vs. Bengals: Here Is a Breakdown of Big Second Half Plays

In the first half everything looked to be going well. In the second half, it went to hell. A long throw on 3rd down, a TD on a running play, AJ Green making Revis look silly and Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing an INT were all part of the reason the second half stunk as bad as it did.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Let's start off with a non scoring play but a huge play in the game. Let's talk about 3rd and 19 where the Jets gave up 50 plus yards. I'm going to be that guy and say Marcus Williams was bad, but that's not the reason this play worked. Why? Because the Todd Bowles should have called a timeout. The Jets simply were not ready for any play. I usually start Gifs at the snap, but left in the pre snap to show the confusion/lack of alignment the Jets showed before the play.

That's just plain awful. It's a 4 man route, with three deep and one underneath route coming from the backfield. Take a look at the gif above and notice how many Jets are milling about. Williams is a good few yards from the WR.

The Jets play conservatively rushing only the linemen with a cover 4 (2 safeties and 2 corners playing deep). The pass rush is non existent, the safety on Williams side is actually on the opposite side of the field, and Marcus is already being beaten.

We know the rest, LaFell gets wide open and makes an easy catch. This is on coaching/players to get the playcall and get lined up quickly.

Check out the GIF below and you see how Leo doesn't even rush at the QB, he just kind of jogs in and really gives no effort. The Jets showed a complete lack of awareness on this play, something that  will cause smart teams like the Pats to take advantage.

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Eventually that play led to the Bengals second TD. It wasn't a terrible job by anyone in particular other than Gilchrist for getting run over, but a perfect playcall for the alignment the Jets were in. This is a perfect example of how a team can see something on film and call a play based off of how the Jets aligned in a similar formation earlier in the game.

The Bengals align with 3 Wide receivers split fairly evenly along the left side of the formation. Both a TE and RB line up to the right of the QB.  I hesitate to call it a counter, as it's more of a straight power rush with zone blocking.

The Jets align with a huge hole on the left side. The outside man must contain but there's a big distance between him and the nearest DL. Harris has gap responsibility but the formation means he has a distance to cover.

Two key blocks are made near the line of scrimmage. Lawrence Thomas forces the play inside, but doesn't get off his block at all. Harris try to fill the gap but gets taken out by a lineman getting to the second level.

At the point of attack, you see the two blocks as Hill snakes his way through the "natural" hole the defense left.

The two blocks were perfect and neither Harris nor Lawrence could make a play.

Hill manages to get a head of steam and truck our safety for the score. There's not much really to say other than a great call on offense and great execution by the offensive line. Sometimes you just get beat by a good playcall and execution.

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Let's take a look at the play that was crucial late in the game. Revis and Green were opposite each other all game and much has been made of how badly Green owned Revis. This play shows just that.

Bengals faced a third and long and needed a decent play to get into comfortable field goal range. They lined up with two backs and three split wide, two to the left of Dalton with Green to the right. Green runs at a 45 to the inside, and then runs a square out pattern where he shuffles to the outside after his cut.

Revis doesn't get physical at the line, instead opting for a trail coverage. In fact, Revis only gets a hand on him a few times including as he makes the cut. At no time was Revis truly burnt per se. He was in close proximity the whole time, just never truly shutting down the route and trailing it. Meanwhile he has help over the top from the safety, so not sure why he doesn't get physical at the line.

Revis may have been at worst a full step or two behind Green. Not enough to say he got beaten horrendously but enough that there was a clear window for the pass. The safety never had a chance to do anything but watch.

Plays like this are what have to concern us as Jets fans. Revis didn't bump him, played tight coverage throughout and still got beat. Perhaps this is the end of Revis Island or it could be just a really bad game. Time will tell, but time is also starting to work against Revis.

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For all the people that hate Fitzpatrick as a Jets starter, have at this one. It's a bad pass plain and simple. But let's also keep it in perspective. Two plays before Marshall dropped a wide open pass across the middle of the field that would have put the Jets 20 or so yards from field goal territory with 30 seconds left in the game. The next pass was tipped at the line. Desperation time is an understatement on third down this late in the game.

The Jets line up with 5 wide outs, 3 split to the right and 2 to the left. The right is the side that will be targeted, with the Jets running a flood concept with a deep route clearing two underneath out routes. Decker runs the longer of the two. The other side of the field runs routes, but they look like routes you call just to keep the defense honest.

Speaking of the defense, it's a max coverage with man underneath, a player in the hole and two deep safeties. It's a combination of cover two lurk with man coverage underneath. Decker already has the man on the inside, so the route should be open when he makes the cut.

Decker makes his cut and has now created a window for a sideline pass. To be fair to Fitz here, if he goes long to the outside either Decker is a sitting duck for the safety or the safety can jump the route. Still there should be enough time for the pass to get there and Decker to get out of bounds.

Fitz under throws the route, keeping him in bounds and allowing the man coverage to sneak underneath to pick off the pass.

The decision was good in theory, the pass was pretty poor if we are being fair, and the game was lost. Overall the pick is on Fitz, but this coming two plays after the Marshall drop makes me less upset at Fitzpatrick for the poor pass. I'm probably in the minority on that though.

This was ugly. I'm glad I don't have to review this every week.