Gang Green Nation
A 20 yard gain on a screen pass from Baker Mayfield to Sterling Shepard late in the fourth quarter of the Jets’ Week 3 loss put the Tampa Bay Buccaneers within comfortable range of a game-winning field goal (or at least as comfortable as a team could be after Will McDonald’s previous heroics).
Watching the game live, something seemed off to me about the Jets defense so I jumped straight to this play when the NFL posted the film.
Presnap, the Jets have loaded the line of scrimmage with eight defenders.
At the snap, all eight players rush the passer.
Now without any other information, that sounds all well and good. The Jets are a defense based on trying to get to the quarterback by blitzing. With the game on the line, you’d expect them to send a big blitz.
There’s a big problem with this, though. The Jets send so many blitzers that they don’t have enough guys in coverage. To the right side of the offensive formation, there are three eligible receivers going out on patterns. There are only two defenders in coverage on that side of the field.
No matter what play the Bucs ran, there was going to be a wide open receiver. Two defenders can’t cover three pass catchers.
Another problem is the Jets defenders aren’t pressing. In fact they are more than 10 yards off the receivers at the snap.
This makes no sense. The first reaction a veteran quarterback like Baker Mayfield will have to seeing an all out blitz is look for an outlet receiver who is open quickly. You have to try and take that away as a defense. The Jets are handing it to him on a silver platter covering three receivers with two defenders and providing a massive cushion.
The offense runs a screen pass, which is an ideal play to run in this scenario. In all honesty, though, anything the offense ran should work.
Braiden McGregor tries to read the play and tackle Shepard, but the play is predictably a success.
This play is so bad for the Jets that I have to wonder whether somebody mistook their assignment. The call as presented here is so structurally unsound it’s ridiculous. It’s a guaranteed big play unless the pass rush gets to the quarterback immediately, the offense commits an error, or somebody on the defense makes a superhuman play.
Whatever the reason, this play sure was costly for the Jets.
