Jets Film Mashup: 2017 QB Protection Report Part 2

Welcome back, everyone. Yesterday, I took my first dive into examining the sacks allowed by the Jets in 2017 and determining the main offenders. Today, we’ll continue on this wonderful journey of reliving Jets blunders!

Bear with me here! I know it is an optimistic time in Jets history, but I hope that this review helps better shape your perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of the Jets offensive line. To balance out the negativity, I’ll provide a couple good plays as well.

This is not an exact science, but just one observer’s opinion. Feel free to have a differing opinion on who the culprits are, and do let me know your perspective!

SACKS: Week 3 (W vs. MIA) & 4 (W vs. JAX)

2ND & 7 AT NYJ 28 (Q1 - MIA 0, NYJ 0)

(14:17) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at NYJ 17 for -11 yards (C.Wake).

It doesn’t take more than one look to find the culprit here. It’s right tackle Brandon Shell. Cameron Wake gets a phenomenal first step on Shell and uses great drive in his lower body to maintain leverage and continue on his path to McCown. With Wake playing far outside as the 4-3 end (9 tech), he has a clear path to McCown, so Shell needs to get out and seal the edge quicker.

Culprit: Shell (2-0) (Season total of: Sacks primarily responsible for - Sacks partially responsible for)

Source: 1v1 edge loss (Season total: 3)

3RD & 9 AT MIA 39 (Q1 - MIA 0, NYJ 0)

(1:35) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at MIA 44 for -5 yards (A.Branch).

Shell is victimized by Wake for the second time in this quarter, in an almost identical manner. Dakota Dozier takes partial blame for allowing penetration and letting his man disengage to finish the sack.

Culprit: Shell (3-0)

Accomplice: Dozier (0-1)

Source: 1v1 edge loss (4)

POSITIVE PLAY:

The Jets began to send help Shell’s way after the first quarter. Here, Austin Seferian-Jenkins lines up beside him. Though ASJ runs a route here, his presence forces Wake to line up further outside. With much more room to set himself and defend the edge, Shell does a far better job here. A combination of a good adjustment from the coaches and the player. (Unfortunately, this was an incompletion.)

3RD & 10 AT JAX 40 (Q2 - JAX 7, NYJ 7)

(13:13) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at JAX 45 for -5 yards (B.Church).

In the previous breakdown, two of the five sacks studied were via a defensive back blitz. Here is another one. Jaguars safety Barry Church, standing up over Wesley Johnson, fakes a drop into coverage before blitzing. He attacks the A gap vacated by Brian Winters, who overlooked the potential of the blitz and went to help to his right. A well-designed blitz by Jacksonville that fooled Winters.

Culprit: Winters (1-0)

Source: DB blitz (3)

2ND & 6 AT JAX 21 (Q2 - JAX 10, NYJ 7)

(1:29) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at JAX 30 for -9 yards (Y.Ngakoue).

The Jets have five wide; the Jags man up with two deep safeties and bring a simple four man rush. Yannick Ngakoue beats Beachum in the same manner Wake beat Shell earlier. Lined up far outside as a 9-tech, He swipes away Beachum’s punch and gets to McCown with a great finish.

Culprit: Beachum (1-0)

Source: 1v1 edge loss (5)

1ST & 10 AT JAX 42 (Q2 - JAX 10, NYJ 10)

(:43) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at NYJ 48 for -10 yards (Y.Ngakoue). FUMBLES (Y.Ngakoue) [Y.Ngakoue], and recovers at NYJ 48.

Just like Shell against Miami, Beachum is beat with the same move by the same player from the same position. More so than the last one, though, this was a nasty move by Ngakoue. McCown fumbles, but recovers.

Culprit: Beachum (2-0)

Source: 1v1 edge loss (6)

2ND & 20 AT NYJ 48 (Q2 - JAX 10, NYJ 10)

(:37) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at NYJ 40 for -8 yards (C.Campbell).

First off, credit to Bilal Powell for taking an absolute missile from Telvin Smith; reminiscent of taking a charge in a basketball game. The protection here looks fine until Calais Campbell, who lined up as a 3-tech and initially engaged James Carpenter, switches to Wesley Johnson and basically throws him into McCown’s lap.

Culprit: Johnson (1-0)

Source: 1v1 interior loss (1)

1ST & 10 AT NYJ 39 (Q4 - JAX 20, NYJ 20)

(:21) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at NYJ 31 for -8 yards (D.Fowler). FUMBLES (D.Fowler) [D.Fowler], and recovers at NYJ 31. J.McCown to NYJ 31 for no gain (D.Fowler).

The Jets allow another pressure from a wide 4-3 end. This time it’s Dante Fowler Jr. matched up against Brent Qvale. Edge defenders like Fowler get drafted in the top ten because of “bend” and “burst,” and all of that is on display here. For the second time, McCown is able to recover his own fumble.

Theoretically you can always blame a quarterback for fumbling the ball, but when the defender is making contact in approximately 2.2 seconds (the fastest time to throw average in 2017 was 2.42 seconds), it is very hard to blame the quarterback.

Culprit: Qvale (2-0)

Source: 1v1 edge loss (7)

DAMAGE CONTROL REPORT

Total sacks: 12

Culprits:

Brandon Shell - 3

Coverage - 2

Brent Qvale - 2

Kelvin Beachum - 2

Matt Forte - 1

Josh McCown - 1

Effective Blitz - 1

Wesley Johnson - 1

Brian Winters - 1

Accomplices:

Josh McCown - 1

Brandon Shell - 1

Brent Qvale - 1

Matt Forte - 1

Dakota Dozier - 1

Sources:

1v1 edge loss: 7

DB blitz: 3

QB stepped up into sack (forced by coverage/pressure): 1

1v1 interior loss: 1

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Things were a lot less complicated in this breakdown. In the previous edition, a lot of the sacks were tough to decipher, and I settled on chalking up two as coverage sacks (one of them partially on a well-called blitz as well) and one on McCown. Things were not as difficult to figure out over Weeks 3-4. These were blatant 1-on-1 losses. However, I do like how the Jets adjusted, for the most part. In both the Miami and Jacksonville games, they shifted help towards the areas that needed it once issues became consistent in those areas.