Preseason BGA: Jets v Redskins – Part One (Offense)
Disclaimer: All analysis was taken from the TV coverage, so at times it may have been hard to identify players or what was happening, because I was limited by their footage. However, I have tried to be as accurate as possible and apologize for any inaccuracies or omissions (which I am happy to correct).
BGA is back! And this time it’s preseasonal. After the jump, catch my analysis of the performance by the Jets defense in the game against the Redskins on Friday night, including – but not limited to – comments on John Conner, Vladimir Ducasse and Mark Sanchez.
Offense
What’s wrong with Sanchez? – HHH
Whatever the answer is, you can certainly ask the same question about Chad Henne, Jay Cutler and Brett Favre after this week. All three (amongst others) were worse than Sanchez.
I’ll analyze his perfomance further down.
On the one successful drive by Sanchez (ending with the Keller TD), how many of the Redskins’ #2s and/or #1s were on the field? – Ben Nevis
Kedrick Golston was the only starter still in. He was in the game (as Mark Sanchez will attest) for the second half of that drive. However, Albert Haynesworth was also in and he’s obviously a starter-level player that is coming off the bench as punishment for his offseason attitude. Other than that, it was all second stringers, including such guys as Lorenzo Armstrong, Chris Horton and HB Blades who have been battling for a starting spot and should be key contributors this year. Any suggestion that it was against third stringers is just plain wrong, because the only third stringer that I saw in the game was Howard Green (on the last two plays of the drive only).
I’m curious about Sanchez. I know you’re limited to TV coverage, so i understand that it may be difficult to analyze his reads and decision making. – JetObsessed28
Okay, so we were all happy with his final drive, where he went 6-8-60-TD, but since that was “against third stringers” let’s analyze everything he did before that. Was he really that bad?
1. Playaction quick slant to Braylon Edwards. On the money, first down.
2. Playaction out pattern to Jerricho Cotchery. On the money, first down.
3. Nothing was on, so wisely took a sack, even stepping up to minimize the loss.
4. Threw an out pattern to LaDainian Tomlinson, who was split out wide on third down. DeAngelo Hall jumped the route and almost intercepted, although it would have been a difficult catch.
5. Checkdown to Tony Richardson for a short gain on the rollout.
6. Good throw down the seam, bobbled and dropped by Jeff Cumberland who showed poor technique turning back for the ball over the wrong shoulder.
7. Threw way behind Santonio Holmes on an out pattern where they appeared to get their wires crossed. Would have been a completion if Holmes ran the route he was expecting, but who knows which of them was at fault?
8. Took a shot deep off a playaction fake and overthrew Edwards, who wasn’t really open. A safe incompletion.
9. Checked down to Dustin Keller underneath.
10. Out pattern to Edwards for a first down. Nice throw.
11. Threw to Cotchery in the endzone. Right on the numbers, but a defender appeared to break up the pass.
12. Good protection, threw interception. Had Tomlinson open in the flat, but it was 3rd and 8, so that wouldn’t have guaranteed a first down. Sanchez expected DeAngelo Hall to follow Edwards to the back of the endzone, but the safety took him and Hall jumped the route.
13. Threw incompletion wide to the flat.
14. Again had nothing on, so had no choice but to eat the ball.
15. Threw a good quick toss to Holmes, who caught the ball on the run and made good yardage before losing a fumble.
16. Threw a WR screen to the outside to Cotchery.
Not including the TD drive, he dropped back to pass 16 times, made two bad decisions, four good throws for first downs, two good throws that weren’t caught and checked down a couple of times. That wasn’t so terrible, was it?
O-line play, especially with Woody, Slauson/Ducasse, and the 2nd stringers. – JetObsessed28
The offensive line actually played very well in the first half. The running game was getting good penetration, as every single run in the first quarter went for 4 yards or more, which is a winning formula. The whole unit was pretty much in synch, although Ben Hartsock did miss a block on the outside on a play that went for a loss in the second quarter.
The protection wasn’t as bad as some people have made out, at least not before Vladimir Ducasse entered the game. On the first sack, they intentionally left a guy unblocked because they were looking for a quick screen to Keller. He didn’t get turned around quickly enough and Sanchez decided it would be better to eat the ball than to throw it anyway and trust him to be ready for it. There were some lapses though. D’Brickashaw Ferguson got beaten by an inside move and got called for a hold and Damien Woody was backpedalling off-balance when his man got past him to sack Sanchez, who might have been able to step up to avoid the rush if Brandon Moore didn’t get blown up on the same play. Other than that, until Ducasse got in the game, Sanchez was pretty well protected.
Slauson showed a real improvement this week, looking stronger and more mobile, no doubt gaining in confidence as he gets to grip with the scheme. He showed an ability to pull and open holes for the runner, notably throwing the key block on Tomlinson’s 43 yard run. He also handled himself one-on-one against Haynesworth on a few occasions and then double teamed him with Ferguson to seal the edge and spring Tomlinson for another 15 yards to the outside.
For Ducasse, it was a different story, as he looked a bit lost out there. The team actually drove for a TD with him in there and he did a decent job on a couple of successful early runs, on one play chipping two guys to open a lane for a nine yard run that was called back for what appeared to be a phantom hold. He also just about managed to cope in a one-on-one situation with Haynesworth, but was beaten easily inside by Kedrick Golston on the play where Sanchez hurt his shoulder. There was one time when he pulled but missed his block and the run got stuffed and another time when he blocked the same man as Wayne Hunter and a blitzer came free for a sack. His problem this week was that he would make the initial block, but fail to sustain it. If anything, his footwork is better than his hand placement right now.
For the second string, they made one change, elevating Dan Gay to Right Tackle, replacing Mike Turkovich who was the weak link in the past two games. Gay is not as strong as Turkovich, but did a much better job of staying in front of his man, which turned Ducasse into the weak link. In fact, Turkovich’s poor play may have masked Ducasse’s struggles in the first two games, as there was at least one example of Ducasse getting beaten, but not giving up the sack because Turkovich’s man got there first.
The second string offensive line was not good. Aside from Ducasse’s struggles, Rob Turner uncharacteristically missed a block on the play where Joe McKnight fumbled. Slauson’s man also got to the QB for the clinching strip sack, but that was after the QB had stepped up to avoid an unblocked defender, due to a bad decision in blitz pickup by Jason Davis.
Did we miss Faneca when Vlad let Sanchez get the old pancake routine? – Andy
Only because it made us feel nostalgic for last year, when Faneca let the same thing happen several times (including memorably at the end of the Miami game when the Jets had driven down to the ten yard line for a potential winning score).
All I read from most of the jet fans was Faneca was easily replaceable. I don’t think so. – reality jet fan
Maybe he isn’t, but they did have to replace him. Have you seen him this preseason? He is really struggling, just like he did for most of last year.
So far, Slauson has done okay and at a fraction of the cost. The fact that Ducasse isn’t ready has little bearing on the decision to get rid of Faneca if Slauson gets the job anyway.
Any REAL Jet fan knew he (Faneca) made Mangold and Brick better. – Andy
Yes, he did, absolutely. Does that mean he should still be playing if he is washed up? No. Based on what I’ve seen this preseason, he could be.
Everyone blames Schotty, I personally blame the QB, however if Schotty does not use play action this year I will personally fire him. You wanna create space and confuse the D, ram the ball down their throats till they stack the box then fake the run and throw it over their heads for the win! – Jetsfan29
They actually successfully used play action on the first pass of the game and then again on the same drive. In the second quarter, they used it to take a shot downfield and there were a few more in the second half, including on the TD drive. I expect them to use it even more during the season, but it certainly isn’t something they have overlooked.
How was the terminator? It looked like he dropped a few passes and I didn’t notice any big blocks. Is he really worth carrying at the expense of someone else? Did he at least play well on special teams? – MM
Let’s actually start by saying just how good Tony Richardson was again. After last year, I really felt like Richardson had lost a step, but he has really responded to the competition and will deservingly be the starter to begin the season. (In addition, who was that guy wearing 81 that was driving his man back, aggressively fighting in the trenches and sustaining blocks, because it sure as heck didn’t look like Dustin Keller.)
Onto Conner. He didn’t do much in this game that I could single out that he did really well, but over the course of the three preseason games, he has definitely shown that he has the potential to be a terrific heir apparent. He did drop two passes in the flat, although both were well off target and probably wouldn’t have gained any yards. On special teams he wasn’t really around the football, but his role is more of a wedgebuster/blocker anyway. He did down a punt inside the ten. As a lead blocker he didn’t make any punishing blocks this week, but didn’t noticeably miss his block either.
I think it was more than the Redskins 8th Ranked Pass D, and 10th Overall D, that gave our offense problems and plus with Shanahan running things I expected it to improve, so I think it more of the Redskins playing good D, than the Jets playing horrible O, what did you see? – nyckage
The first string offense wasn’t that horrible. They only scored 6 first half points, but still had almost 200 yards, which is acceptable enough and the team did average five yards per carry, even taking into account the backups. In terms of great defense, you’re right to point out that the Redskins are no slouches and I guess you have to give credit for Hall making two good plays on the ball and to the defender who stripped the ball free from Holmes. Without those two turnovers, the Jets perhaps score 16 first half points, which I’d be more than happy with most weeks.
It seems like Sanchez is locking in on LT every time they split him out wide and go empty back. Am I mistaken? – Oli3268
They don’t split him out wide very often and Sanchez only really looked for him once in that situation (on the play where Hall jumped the route). Did he lock in on him? Not really, as he appeared to go through his progressions first, which was already something he improved upon over the course of last season. He just underestimated Hall’s speed (twice). In fact, on the Hall interception, Sanchez could have thrown to Tomlinson in the flat, but chose to throw the riskier pass to Keller. The sample size is probably too small to make a judgement, because there was also the interception against the Giants and the poor timing in the short passing game in Carolina to take into account.
Check back for part two later tonight.
24 Responses to Preseason BGA: Jets v Redskins – Part One (Offense)
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So to summarize- everyone just CALM DOWN about the Jets struggles. It seems like the o-line struggles were mainly linked to Ducasse, and like you said Faneca is doing just as poorly so we might as well get someone slightly better and much younger for much less cost. And while Sanchez still needs to improve it does seem like his decision making has gotten better (like him stepping up to lose less yardage on coverage sacks).
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I don’t trust sanchez yet but I do think with time and experience he will be a good quarter back.
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Any O linemen coming off waivers that may be worthwhile as insurance should Slauson go down (or does lack of chemistry and expense (except after wk 1), leave this as a non-option? We can’t let Vlad develop at the peril of the Sanchize!
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p.s. assuming Bent, that Tanny has sent you you’re usual stipend, for the outstanding analysis and insights you’re providing to Rex and staff!
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Excellent recap as always Bent.
My only concern with the offense is the sloppiness, which is probably a good thing, since those things can be fixed. I realize the Jets are running a vanilla offense, but the defenses they are playing against are also running a vanilla defense. So they should be able to execute basic passing plays with their eyes closed at this point, and it just hasn’t looked that smooth. The running game has a very consistent aspect of the offense, but I would have hoped that by the third pre-season game, the offense overall would have been a bit less sloppy and a bit more consistent.
But that’s not all on Sanchez, either. Hopefully, they’re all just saving it up for the regular season.
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I guess it’s better to be sloppy in the preseason than to just not have much talent at all…
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Informative as always, Bent. Thanks. I think you are underplaying Sanchez’s stuggles a bit. He did not look comfortable in the pocket and seemed hesitant. On pass 3, it looked like Keller failed to make a hot read but Sanchez hesitated in stepping up. I think he could have turned that into a short gain instead of a short loss. On pass 11 Sanchez threw the ball up when a low throw would have kept the ball away from the defender. Not a bad throw, but not a perfect one. Also a good play by the defense. On pass 14 Sanchez held the ball too long. It was hard to tell whether there was anybody open but even if there wasn’t, Sanchez needs to learn to throw the ball away. The checkdowns were also a couple seconds late, which prevented the receivers from getting much after the catch.
I distinctly remember Slauson pulling and springing Tomlinson on the long run. That gave me a warm feeling.
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Good to hear Slauson is doing better. I haven’t been able to see any PS action since week one.
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2009 – when King Rex decreed, “Henceforth, we will only ground and pound!” Schotty, bow low to Cally, and sin no more.
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In part two, I would like you to spell out “BGA” and stop assuming that everyone knows what this acronym stands for!
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Bent says:
Funnily enough, I already did. Honestly!
You’ll have to wait for the explanation when it’s published tonight, but it will make sense when you read it.
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Bent—
Great job—thanks!
I think you’re right, by the way, and we won’t be missing Faneca this season. As you know, for most of last season, AF was just awful, so awful he almost got Sanchez killed on more than one occasion. And you’re right: this preseason, AF seems done.
Slauson should do a fine job for us, and once Ducasse is developed (which may take a season or so), he could be quite solid.
My concern is that there are other starters on the O line who have been giving up monster sacks. Not that this will necessarily continue into the regular season, but these guys have left our QB out there to die.
Anyway, thanks again, Bent.
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Jetsjetsjets says:
Great job as usual Bent!
Food for thought. What if Callahan started to develop ducasse as a tackle? This is undoubtedly Woody’s last year as a Jet, and his pass protection is becoming less and less reliable. Slauson looks good at LG so what if Callahan started to work with Ducasse at RT to become Woody’s heir?
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Bent says:
I think that will happen. Maybe he will get some reps there tonight.
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Good points about the offense. Sanchez has to start making better decisions. They just need to stick to their identity and run the ball as many times as possible, play great defense, and just have Sanchez manage the game.
WE got beat…