Inside the Jets vs. Patriots Film Room: Offense

It’s Wednesday morning Jets fans, and it’s time to look at the tape. This morning we will go over the offensive video, and this afternoon, as always, JETSerious will look at the defensive tape. We will break down some tape, and talk about what went well, and what might not have gone so well.

This week’s game was diverse, with a lot to talk about, so we will try and get to a lot. Let’s get right to it.

DUSTIN KELLER Welcome back to the team, Dustin Keller. He was active in the game against the Colts, but he looked like his old self against the Patriots on Sunday. He was finding the holes, making excellent cuts, and showing himself as the security blanket that Mark Sanchez has missed, recording 7 catches for 93 yards and 1 TD. He made catches in traffic, in soft spots in the defense, and took over in the middle of the field at times for the Jets. There was one particular catch he made in the second quarter where he made the catch over the middle, and makes a spin move that leaves the defender lying on the ground.  Nice to have him back.

JEREMY KERLEY

Jeremy Kerley and Mark Sanchez are starting to put something good together. Mark is bringing out the talent and turing Kerley into a number 2, borderline number 1 wide receiver. All game long, they worked the post corner route to perfection, Jeremy breaking free, and Mark laying it in there beautifully every time. Here’s a look at one:

Kerley is lined up in the slot (circled), and is going to run a post/corner route, as indicated by the arrow. In layman’s terms, his initial move is going to be towards the goal post, and then he is going to break it to the outside. He will run to the corner. Let’s move forward.

Kerley has gone into his post pattern, indicated again by the circle. But look at the line in black. Instead of continuing to the post, Kerley makes it a double move, breaking the pattern to the corner. Then comes a great throw by Mark, outlined by the red line. As Jeremy makes his break, Sanchez unloads the ball to a spot. The spot is the corner, by the 20 yard line. The timing is perfect, as Kerley gets to the 20 at the same time as the ball. The result?

26 yards later, a beautiful pitch and catch, and that’s another Jets, FIRST DOWN!

Mark and Jeremy hooked up on several plays like this one throughout the ball game. They are getting seriously good chemistry going on between them, and as long as they stay healthy it will only get better.

CHAZ SCHILENS Chaz was disappointing yesterday. Not only did he not appear in the boxscore, he didn’t appear there because he dropped balls all over the field. He wasn’t getting good position on the defensive backs, and simply couldn’t catch the ball. Even when the playcalling was ridiculous, Chaz could have come through, but he didn’t. What am I talking about? The third and two from the three yard line. I am not going to go back through the awkward playcalling at times, we all lived through it on Sunday. The spread formation and slant pass on third and two from the three was curious to say the least, but fact is that Chaz should have made the catch.

STEPHEN HILL Stephen Hill is becoming a better receiver with each route he runs. His routes are crisp, and he is becoming a presence on the football field. The late game drop, though, was inexcusable. Hill still has a habit of letting the ball come into his body far too much, instead of catching the ball with his hands. In the picture is the late game drop. He let the ball come into his body, and started to run before securing the catch. As we all know that is a lethal combination for a wide receiver. If he can cure these two problems, he will be on his way to eventually becoming an elite receiver. You can say whatever you like about Mark Sanchez, but when he hits the reciver between his two digits, the guy has to make the catch. End of story.

OFFENSIVE LINE

The line looked good for the most part. It had better a few weeks since the Patriots had given up 100 yards on the ground, and the Jets reached that number. Give the Jets credit, despite the secondary of New England, the Jets worked hard at running the football, and it paid dividends at times. Was it perfect? Of course it wasn’t. But what it was, was good enough to give Mark a chance to work off of play action, which is where he excels.

In the passing game, they did perform well also. Although they did give up four sacks, Sanchez did have many clean pockets to make his throws, and it showed, with a 25-37 passing day. Sanchez had time. The worst day on the line had to be the performance of Brandon Moore. At times he started to show age, especially on the last play of the game, where he gotten blown by with ease. Mark should have protected the football obviously, but he really didn’t have a chance on the play, partially because of Moore. Austin Howard had some difficult moments as well, but that is to be expected as he is still learning. All in all, it wasn’t a bad day for the offensive line.

Trun the page and we will talk about everyone’s favorite quarterback to talk about.

MARK SANCHEZ

Time to talk about everybody’s favorite QB. Either you love him, or you hate him, but he certainly is a topic in this area, and with this fanbase. It’s for good reason of course, as he is the starting QB, so let’s hit it.

He had a good day, did Mark. 25-37 for 328 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT is not a bad stat line by any means. He made some big time throws. He also had his head scratching moments which make Jets fan go insane, and want him off the team. Let’s get into some specifics.

We won’t go into the Hill interception, it’s too ugly to talk about. Terrible throw on all levels. We also won’t look at the final play of the game. No, Mark Sanchez had no time on the play, but Mark has to protect the football, and get ready for the next down. As soon as there is a guy in his face, he has to tuck that ball in and protect it, and he didn’t. Let’s look at a couple of throws.

Earlier, we took a look at a throw to Kerley. Next, I want to take a look at a specific throw to Dustin Keller. What we are going to take a look at is the touchdown pass. See below:

Look at the small window that Sanchez has to put that ball into. There are three defenders in the area, marked with the numbers. And, there is a Jet in the lane, Jeremy Kerley. He is threading this ball between three defenders, and Kerley. We all saw the result, perfect throw, TD.

Let’s actually go back to early in the game, on the first drive for the Jets. On back to back plays, the Jets run a seam route in the slot, first to Kerley, and then to Stephen Hill. Let’s compare the results, and you will see why Mark drives people nuts. First the Kerley play:

Jeremy Kerley is lined up in the slot, indicated by the green circle. He will run up the seam, which is shown by the green arrow. The two key defenders are circled in red, the linebacker lined up against Jeremy, and the safety help over the top. The LB is obviously a mismatch, but he has safety help over the top. Mark has to place the ball carefully, putting it over the top of the linebacker and in front of the safety. Take a look:

Mark Sanchez makes a perfect throw, right between the two defenders. It’s a 24 yard hookup, and a first down for the New York Jets. Now, take a look at the very next play:

This time, Stephen Hill is lined up in the slot to the left of Mark Sanchez. Stephen Hill is going to run a similar route to Kerley, as indicated by the green line. He is going to start the route as a corner route, and then break it to the inside, and find a soft spot in the zone. Here is a wide open 6’4″ receiver, can Mark hit him?

No he can not, as he actually overthrows Hill. That is a difficult task when throwing to a receiver of that size. See what I mean? One play before, he makes a beautiful throw to Kerley, and then the next play, makes a terrible throw to Stephen Hill. So it was a good day for Mark Sanchez, but still imperfect.

That’s how you could describe the day for the offense. It was very good, but just not good enough in the end.

Stay tuned this afternoon as JETSerious breaks down the defensive film.