It was a rough game for the Jets defense in Week 8 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Fortunately for the Jets, one of the few times the unit stepped up was when it needed a stop to close out the game late in the fourth quarter.
The Bengals started their final drive with a quick first down. Then the Jets got their stop to end the game.
On first down, the Jets ran a Tampa 2 type coverage. It is a Cover 2 defense. There are two deep safeties with zone coverage underneath. Jamien Sherwood’s job is to defend the hole in the middle of the field between the two safeties.
Joe Flacco’s first look is to Ja’Marr Chase over the middle of the field. Flacco looks like he’s loading and about to throw the ball to Chase.
Instead, Flacco decides to target Andrei Iosivas who is breaking between the second and third levels of the defense. This isn’t the easiest throw because Sherwood is in decent position to drop deep.
Flacco also has to put the ball a bit behind Iosivas to avoid leading the receiver into a big hit from Tony Adams.
Putting the ball behind Iosivas, however, leaves Sherwood in position to make a play and break up the pass.
Should Flacco have just shown to Chase? It’s tough to say. This is the type of thing that is easy to Monday morning (Thursday evening?) quarterback. The Jets defense had to execute at a high level here, or this is a completion. It isn’t just a completion. It’s a completion that puts the Bengals into field goal range and probably wins the game.
On the other hand, Chase was open for positive yardage on first down. The Bengals still had all three timeouts and 45 seconds on the clock. They were probably less than 20 yards from field goal range at this point. So maybe the money in the bank throw to Chase was better.
It’s up for debate.
We move on to second down where the Bengals try a run. It’s not a terrible idea. The Bengals had all three timeouts and had gashed the Jets in the run game to this point to the tune of over 8 yards per attempt.
The Jets are also playing the pass with two safeties back.
The Bengals have a blocker for every Jets defender near the line of scrimmage.
The Jets need somebody to win a one on one. Fortunately for them, Quinnen Williams does just that.
That one yard gain brought up third and nine.
Flacco is back to pass and initially looks right.
I’m not even sure he gets to the top of his drop before his head turns. It turns because of the pass rush.
The Jets start the play with three of the four defensive lineman on the right side of the offensive formation (left side of the defense).
Quinnen Williams occupies the center.
The Bengals don’t really communicate and end up with both a guard and a tackle blocking Micheal Clemons.
This leaves a gaping hole for Jermaine Johnson to shoot through.
Flacco’s head turns. He seems to look to his left, the opposite of where he initially began reading the play.
This play actually could have gotten a bit ugly for the Jets.
The Jets have a double team on Ja’Marr Chase on this play. Tony Adams has help over the top with Brandon Stephens in coverage.
Stephens’ help is to the inside. That means he has to stay outside Chase. He cannot get beaten to the outside.
However, Stephens does allow Chase to get inside him to create a window.
The pressure is just too much for Flacco to be able to accurately throw a ball this far into this tight of a window, though, and it falls incomplete.
That brings us to fourth and nine. The game is on the line.
I think the Bengals do the Jets a real service here sticking Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on the end of the line on each side. This makes it easy to double team both with safety help.
Flacco’s first read is Chase who is taken away.
Next he looks to Andrei Iosivas who is breaking to the middle of the field with Jarvis Brownlee Jr. trailing him.
Flacco tries to throw it low and away from Brownlee where his receiver has the best chance to grab it.
It’s just too tight of a window, though. Brownlee is in good coverage. The pass is incomplete, and the Jets seal their first win of 2025.