Jets Film Mashup: 2017 QB Protection Report Part 4

Welcome back everyone! We advance to part four of our recap of every single Jets sack allowed in 2017, this time looking at Weeks 7 and 8 in Miami and in New Jersey against the Falcons.

Remember, this is not meant to bring a dark cloud over an enthusiastic time of Jets history! 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 have been and will continue to provide good plays as well.

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

Previous breakdowns: Parts 1, 2, 3

SACKS: Weeks 7 (L @ Miami Dolphins) & 8 (L vs. Atlanta Falcons)

2ND & 9 AT NYJ 40 (Q1 - NYJ 7, MIA 7)

(4:23) J.McCown sacked at NYJ 30 for -10 yards (C.Wake).

If you read breakdown number two, you know that perennial Jets killer Cameron Wake was primarily responsible for 2 sacks in the game. Well, as you are about to see, he is far from finished with the Jets.

Jets slide protection left to get McCown a designed rollout to the right. He’ll have three primary passing options here.

As you’ll see below, all three of Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Jermaine Kearse, and ArDarius Stewart run poor routes. Seferian-Jenkins runs a rounded route that is easily tracked. Kearse’s corner runs the curl for him. Stewart’s underneath route to the flat is impeded by Brent Qvale, who is shoved by Ndamukong Suh.

Wake, unblocked, finishes the sack; covering Stewart while pursuing McCown at the same time. McCown probably should have thrown this one away instead of looking to escape and create. Great play by Wake.

The main reason for this sack was the combination of good coverage and ineffective routes. McCown and Qvale in particular get partial blame; Qvale for throwing off Stewart’s route and McCown for not throwing the ball away when he had about 2 full seconds to realize the play was broken.

Culprit: Coverage sack (4-1) (Season total of: sacks primarily responsible for - sacks partially responsible for)

Accomplices: McCown (2-2), Qvale (2-2)

Source: QB stepped/escaped into sack (Season total: 4)

3RD & 10 AT NYJ 25 (Q4 - NYJ 28, MIA 21)

(10:33) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at NYJ 15 for -10 yards (sack split by C.Wake and N.Suh).

Keep in mind it’s 3rd and 10 here, so McCown has his eyes on the sticks. Simple 4 man rush for Miami, the Jets have five wide.

The Jets block this pretty well, but for some reason McCown feels the need to ditch the pocket after less than 2 seconds. He gets too cute and takes an awful 10 yard sack.

Part of the reason he takes this is the situation, but McCown deserves all the blame for this one. This isn’t an “eat it for no gain and move on” sack, it’s a 10 yard sack, and he has plenty of time to get rid of this. This sack played a big role in giving Miami the field position to tie the game on their next drive.

Let’s take a look at what McCown was seeing when he ditched the pocket.

Not a favorable look, right? However, if McCown waited just a split-second longer, he had a wide open ArDarius Stewart at the top of the screen.

Even if it probably would not have netted a first down, it would be at least 15 yards better than what McCown eventually settled on. Blame is on McCown for taking this one, and I can’t even blame the coverage since he abandoned a relatively clean pocked in about 1.7 seconds.

Culprit: McCown (3-2)

Source: QB stepped/escaped into sack (5)

3RD & 6 AT NYJ 40 (Q4 - NYJ 28, MIA 28)

(4:24) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at NYJ 31 for -9 yards (C.Wake). Penalty on NYJ, Illegal Motion, declined.

Empty backfield for the Jets with four wide left and Eric Tomlinson in-line to the right. (The Jets actually got called for illegal motion on this play; I believe on the setback Matt Forte)

Eric Tomlinson is smoked by Wake (who contributes to his 5th sack against the Jets); I can’t tell if he was supposed to block and release here or if he just tried to improvise after getting obliterated. Either way, Wake has a clear path to McCown due to Tomlinson’s inept block and brings the QB down before he has a chance to react. The Dolphins also brought a blitzing DB who had a clear path as well.

Another note to keep in mind on this play is that McCown might have changed the protection. I can’t assign him responsibility without knowing for sure, but he might have plotted his own doom here:

Culprit: Tomlinson (1-0)

Source: 1v1 edge loss (10)

2ND & 6 AT ATL 43 (Q3 - ATL 13, NYJ 17)

(8:34) J.McCown sacked at 50 for -7 yards (D.Trufant). Penalty on NYJ-K.Beachum, Offensive Holding, declined.

The Jets only send two receivers on this play, both on the left side. Eric Tomlinson releases deep out of the backfield and Jermaine Kearse runs what looks like a deep curl. Neither gets separation quickly enough. Here’s what McCown is looking at by the time he decides to escape:

McCown tries to improvise and ends up downed.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins gets the blame for this one. He tries to help Dakota Dozier to his left and loses track of his responsibilities, and that leaves the DB with free room to get to McCown; ASJ then got in McCown’s way after he evaded the sack. I split the blame between coverage and ASJ here.

Culprits: Coverage sack (5-1), Seferian-Jenkins (1-0)

Source: QB stepped/escaped into sack (6)

3RD & 9 AT ATL 23 (Q4 - ATL 16, NYJ 17)

(15:00) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at ATL 30 for -7 yards (sack split by G.Jarrett and D.Poe).

The Falcons’ 3-tech tackles run a stunt on James Carpenter and Wesley Johnson; they pick it up but still allow strong penetration. McCown just eats it on 3rd & 9.

Only about 2.0 seconds had passed by the time McCown decided to take the sack, and with most of the Jets’ routes downfield, the play hadn’t had a chance to fully develop. Carpenter and Johnson share blame.

Culprits: Johnson (2-0), Carpenter (2-0)

Source: Stunt (2)

2ND & 10 AT ATL 30 (Q4 - ATL 22, NYJ 17)

(10:09) (Shotgun) J.McCown sacked at ATL 36 for -6 yards (T.McKinley). FUMBLES (T.McKinley) [T.McKinley], recovered by NYJ-J.Carpenter at ATL 37. J.Carpenter to ATL 37 for no gain (G.Jarrett). ATL-A.Rubin was injured during the play.

Five sacks have been shown on this report so far and not one features a tackle smoked off the edge! After Jets tackles were tagged as culprits for 10 sacks allowed over the first six weeks, we haven’t had a single tackle named the culprit on this report.

Well, that changes here. Brent Qvale is too patient with Takkarist McKinley, who has a full head of steam and easily ducks under Qvale for the strip sack.

Culprit: Qvale (3-2)

Source: 1v1 edge loss (11)

POSITIVE PLAYS OF THE DAY

On a 24 yard pass to Robby Anderson that eventually led to a field goal, three projected 2017 starters had nice pass protection reps. Kelvin Beachum, James Carpenter, and Brian Winters all allow McCown comfort in the pocket. McCown does still take a big shot (was called a roughing the passer), courtesy of pressure allowed by now-former Jet Wesley Johnson.

A good old-fashioned, gritty, hard-nosed goal line battle. While I think the main reason for this touchdown was the Dolphins nose tackle (#97 Jordan Phillips) giving up position up the middle by diving through the A-gap, there are a lot of efforts to like from the Jets O-Line here. In particular, my favorite here is Brian Winters, doing a good job sealing off the path for McCown to the goal line.

DAMAGE CONTROL REPORT

Season total sacks: 25

Culprits:

Brandon Shell - 5

Coverage - 5 * - Quick note on coverage sacks; when I assign one of these, I’m only referencing the overall lack of targets. The reason for the coverage sack could be bad receiver play, good defensive play, a bad play call, etc; but instead of blaming 4 receivers or the coaches (unless one individual is directly responsible) I just assign it as an overall coverage sack.

Kelvin Beachum - 3

Brent Qvale - 3

Josh McCown - 3

James Carpenter - 2

Wesley Johnson - 2

Matt Forte - 1

Effective Blitz - 1

Brian Winters - 1

Robby Anderson - 1

Jermaine Kearse - 1

Eric Tomlinson - 1

Austin Seferian-Jenkins - 1

Accomplices:

Josh McCown - 2

Brent Qvale - 2

Brandon Shell - 1

Matt Forte - 1

Dakota Dozier - 1

Coverage - 1

Effective Blitz - 1

Sources:

1v1 edge loss: 11

QB escaped into sack (forced by coverage/collapsed pocket): 6

DB blitz: 3

1v1 interior loss: 2

Stunt: 2

Botched receiver play: 1

This was a unique breakdown. Of the six sacks, only one was tagged as a 1v1 loss for one of the starting offensive linemen, compared to eleven over the first six weeks. We had unblocked defenders, odd route designs that resulted in no open targets, and some questionable decisions by McCown. This was probably the hardest of the four breakdowns in terms of assigning blame, since there were so many moving parts in most of these sacks.

What do you think? What did you see on these sacks that I might have missed?

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