New York Jets vs Philadelphia Eagles Quick Hits

The final game of the preseason pits the Jets against the Eagles in their annual meeting. Starting jobs and roster spots were on the line. How did it play out?

The Jets defeated the Eagles 27-20 with a strong effort on both sides of the ball. The defense got pressure early and often and shut down the Eagles offense for the most part while the offense moved the ball well despite a couple of turnovers and another clock management mistake at halftime. All in all it appears the Jets have more depth than most people think.

1) Dominant defense – It was reinforced tonight that not only do the Jets have a very talented defense they are extremely deep as well. Leger Douzable got consistent pressure and recorded a sack. Ricky Sapp played the run and the pass well and had a strip sack as well as being consistently in the backfield including a key pressure on a 4th and 4 with 4 minutes to go. Antonio Garay got up the field and was disruptive against the run and pass, recovering a fumble and registering a quarterback hit. Jaiquawn Jarrett made his old team pay for cutting him with an extremely strong game where he showed coverage ability with a good pass defense, a couple of tackles against the run and 3 good blitzes. He did get beat by Bryce Brown for an 8 yard completion in coverage. Antonio Allen was also an effective blitzer blowing up a screen play and pressuring Foles in a few double safety blitzes but got beat a couple of times in coverage which has been a theme, however he redeemed himself undercutting a route for a pick-6 to seal the game with 2 minutes left. Lansanah forced an incompletion with a nice hit as well as another stick on a run play and Bellore held the edge on an off tackle run and pressured up the middle a few times. Isaiah Trufant covered extremely well breaking up a couple of passes.Philadelphia was able to put together a 16 play drive for a touchdown and 2 point conversion in the 3rd quarter while Matt Barkley was in the game.

2) The Matt Simms Show – With Mark Sanchez out with a shoulder injury and Geno Smith not playing Matt Simms stepped up and had a pretty good game going 33/44 for 285 yards. His passes were accurate for the most part and he threw five screen passes that all had good timing. He had a beautiful 19 play drive that ate up 10 minutes and culminated in a touchdown in the late 3rd to early 4th quarter. His first pass of the game should have been intercepted and brought back for a touchdown but was dropped and he had two others in the second half, one of which was in the red zone. The two-minute drill was also a failure as 25 seconds were wasted getting to the line and running a 4th and 1 play and missing out on points when the ball was knocked out of his hands and ruled a fumble and Simms did not react well thus he could not spike the ball in time. He did a very nice job tonight and will make the decision with McElroy very interesting because Simms probably will not make it to the practice squad if cut. He is not an NFL starter yet he is facing all backups against a very vanilla defense and made some mistakes that could have been game changing.

Another potential weapon for the New York Jets, Lehigh WR Ryan Spadola.

3) The best of the rest of the offense – Khalil Bell looked the part tonight. He ran hard and had a nice burst as well as nice vision running 19 times for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns including an 8 yard Wildcat run for a touchdown. Bell had a very nice catch out of the backfield for a 1st down where he somehow kept the ball from hitting the ground. He might be able to contribute while Goodson is suspended. Mossis Madu had 9 carries for 33 yards but also had 5 receptions for 32 yards mostly on screens. Michael Campbell flashed nicely with 5 catches for 90 yards including a 41 yard catch. Ryan Spadola has 6 catches for 47 yards including a 29 yard back shoulder catch but he did fumble in the first half. Zach Rogers had 4 catches for 40 yards which included a terrific catch and run where he stopped in the zone, pivoted backwards then jukes the cornerback for 23 yards but also a bad drop. Rogers had a great, heads-up block to let Simms runs for a first down on a 3rd and 8. Hopefully Rogers and Campbell can be stashed on the practice squad. Obomanu had 3 catches for 24 yards with a drop. Vlad Ducasse played well making a few key blocks including one on Bell’s touchdown run.

4) Worst of the rest on offense – Mohamed Massaquoi was invisible.  Brian Winters had a few miscues especially early when he whiffed on his man for a sack then looked confused and got beat the next play. He also couldn’t get downfield fast enough to help out on a screen and may have been responsible for a jailbreak sack up the middle it was he or Schlauderaff. He did run block well and built confidence as the half wore on. Jason Smith was brought in to be a jumbo tight end for mostly short-yardage running downs and that is lucky for him because he got beaten by speed rushers at least 3 times. Winters played at left guard while Ducasse lined up on the right with Colon resting. Konrad Reuland had 6 catches for 30 yards but also a drop, a fumble lost and allowed himself to be dragged out-of-bounds stopping the clock while the Jets were trying to run it down.

5) Special Teams – Dan Carpenter had touchbacks on all of his kickoffs as well as a 45 yard field goal that snuck inside the right goalpost. It would have been good from 50 yards. Nick Folk hit a 28 yard chip shot. I don’t like Kyle Wilson back returning kickoffs or punts because he has no burst or elusiveness. He fast but not electric like a kick returner needs to be.  Neither Rogers nor Edwards Jr. were able to take advantage as they decided to settle for fair catches and touchbacks instead of trying to make an impression. Rogers muffed a punt with 45 seconds left that turned into a Philadelphia touchdown. Malone was uneven with a good punt and a poor one. Spadola had a nice special teams tackle helping his push for the roster.

6) Injuries – No major injuries noticed.