One of the most discussed plays from the Jets’ Week 12 loss to the Baltimore Ravens came in the third quarter. Trailing 10-7, the Jets decided to go for it on a fourth and two from their own 42 yard line. The play failed. Jets head coach Aaron Glenn offered a breakdown of what went wrong.
> Aaron Glenn was asked about Breece Hall not being on the field for 4th and 2 yesterday and how he manages the Jets’ personnel rotations: “We trust all of our guys that we have that’s on the field. You look at Isaiah and you look at his yards per carry, he’s doing a really good job running the ball, too. I think he’s also a threat with the ball in his hands, also. And then, with the receivers that we have out there, we trust those guys to go make plays. I think AD did a hell of a job making a move on their corner and actually winning on that. He didn’t get the ball, the ball went towards Metch, but man, even in that situation, we trust Metch to go and win that one-on-one situation. The guys that we have on the field, we trust those guys to go out there and make plays. We know for a fact they can make plays for us.”
As we discussed yesterday, the lack of Breece Hall on the field on that play [is tough to defend](/new-york-jets-news/89560/the-jets-usage-of-breece-hall-and-isaiah-davis-is-difficult-to-understand).
Let’s dive a bit deeper into the rest of the play, though, to see what went wrong.
The Jets start the play by motioning Isaiah Williams across the formation.
He’s followed by a Baltimore defender, Marlon Humphrey, signaling that the Ravens are likely in man coverage.
Before the snap, Kyle Hamilton walks his way down to the line of scrimmage to show blitz.
The Jets end up directing their blocking scheme in Hamilton’s direction. Their protection ultimately has their five offensive linemen keying on the two defensive tackles, the two edge rushers, and Hamilton.
Let’s rewind a bit. We know the Ravens are likely in man coverage across the board. They have one deep safety. If Hamilton blitzes, the one on one matchups are easy to see. Notably, Isaiah Davis will be covered by Roquan Smith.
The passing play the Jets call appears to be a half field read for Tyrod Taylor. On many passing plays, the quarterback makes presnap reads of the matchups and the defensive call and picks which side of the field has a route combination more likely to beat the defense.
If Hamilton is indeed blitzing, a quick slant to Williams from the slot should be open since Smith’s coverage on Davis will draw him away from a help position.
However, at the snap, Hamilton does not blitz. He is covering Davis.
Smith is instead staying in the middle of the field to help on in breaking routes. Horizontal routes can be very difficult to cover in man to man defense. If the coverage defender plays with inside leverage, he is exposed to an outside break by a receiver. If the defender plays with outside leverage, he is exposed to an inside break by the receiver. By leaving Smith as a help defender in the middle of the field, Humphrey can play outside leverage and funnel Williams into Smith’s area. The window Taylor is expecting isn’t there.
Taylor has to move onto his next read, which is John Metchie. Metchie has a one on one on the outside against Nate Wiggins. Metchie had a solid game so Taylor decides to let it go.
As Glenn mentioned, Adonai Mitchell gets open running an in breaking route. Because he lined up all the way on the outside, he isn’t near Smith’s help. He did get open.
As always, I offer the normal caveats. I wasn’t in the huddle and don’t know how the Jets are coached to run this play. I’m guessing from Glenn’s comment, he believes Tyrod might have picked the wrong side of the field to read. My sense is that he’s probably right. Tyrod and the Jets might have thought Hamilton was blitzing, which would have left Williams open on the right side of the offensive formation. Had they known that Hamilton wasn’t blitzing, and Smith would be in the middle of the field, he might have decided to go to the left side instead, where Mitchell’s in breaking route would be tough to defend in man coverage.
Unfortunately, the play failed. Taylor and Metchie were not on the same page, and the Jets gave Baltimore the ball back in great field position.
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