Gang Green Nation
Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill left Monday night’s game early in the third quarter with a dislocated knee. Hill was giving the Jets problems up to that point registering 6 catches for 67 yards in just over a half. The Jets helped him along the way making it easy with some of their coverage approaches.
Let’s go to Miami’s first offensive drive of the game. It’s 3rd and 7. The Dolphins put Hill into the slot. The Jets are showing blitz at the line of scrimmage.
The closest Jets defender is Michael Carter II, but he is bailing at the snap to take a safety role.
The Jets bring pressure from the left side of the defensive formation, but there’s literally nobody near Hill off the snap. Carter is way deep.
Even though the Jets get Tony Adams as a free runner at the quarterback blitzing off the edge, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t cover the other team’s number one receiver on a key down, it’s going to be a quick pitch and catch to move the chains.
I know your inclination might be to say that Carter got the wrong playcall.
It’s just that we have been seeing a lot of these breakdowns in the Jets defense. The plays I have highlighted over the last three weeks are only a few where the Jets haven’t accounted for receivers. If this is not how these plays are designed, there seems to be a lot of confusion in the defensive backfield about what the calls entail. I think at some point this level of confusion has to be pinned on the coaching staff.
We can now move forward to the play where Hill suffered his injury. It’s another third down play. Hill ends up matched up in man coverage against…Malachi Moore.
The Dolphins’ formation is a tip off to Tua Tagovailoa that the Jets are in man coverage. On the bottom of the screen, the Dolphins have sent out running back De’Von Achane. Jamien Sherwood followed him out there. Sherwood is a linebacker, not a cornerback. It’s an odd spot to be, but it would make sense in man coverage since linebackers cover running backs. So we have a presnap indicator.
It isn’t an easy spot for the Jets defense. With Michael Carter II out injured, the Jets are low on bodies. They have four safeties in the game at this point along with two cornerbacks in a big dime package.
Still you can’t ask Malachi Moore to cover this. It isn’t fair to put a rookie safety into this sort of matchup. He covers this about as well as the Jets could have asked, but Tagovailoa is going to Hill ten times out of ten when he sees this matchup presnap. An on time and accurate throw will give Moore no chance.
Moore’s hit leads to an unfortunate injury for Hill. The result of the play was a first down aided by a poor matchup choice by the...
