Inside the Film Room: The Big Play: Oakland Raiders vs New York Jets

Dec 8, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets free safety Antonio Allen (39) blocks a punt by Oakland Raiders punter Marquette King (7) and returns it for a touchdown in the first half during the game at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday morning, Jets fans, and we are going “Inside the Film Room”. However, we are doing it a little bit different this week.

Instead of taking a look at one guy, like Geno Smith, or taking a look at a regular unit, like the offense or defense, we are going to look at the play that opened the lead up for the Jets. Why that is so different this time is that we are taking a look at a special teams play.

That’s right, we are going to break down the Antonio Allen (right) blocked punt/recovery for a touchdown. The design by Ben Kotwica, Jets’ special teams coach, was actually quite creative, and caused the “A” gap to be wide open for Allen.

Let’s take a look at the play, starting with the formation:

Here they are, set in punt formation. The key players are circled, two Jets and one Raider. The Jets’ player to the left is Ellis Lankster, and the player next to him is the one who made the play, Antonio Allen. The Raiders’ player that was targeted was the long snapper.

Coach Kotwica, according to Antonio Allen, pointed out on film how the snapper could be beaten, based on how he comes out of his snap to set up and block. Here’s what they did: they took Lankster and ran him in front of the snapper, while Allen shot up the gap to his left. Look at how it developed in the next shot:

As Lankster came across the snapper’s face, and Allen hits the gap, the snapper is not sure where to go with his attention. So he ends up nudging both of them. He gives a little push to Lankster, and barely a finger on Allen. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he knew that his help would take Lankster, which it did, and he was trying to make his way back to Allen after touching Lankster.

No chance, Antonio Allen is gone far too fast.

Antonio Allen is all alone, in the punter’s face so quickly that he almost catches the punt. He makes the block……

Antonio makes the recovery of his own block, and scores the touchdown. The Jets open the lead to 20-3, and they never look back.

In a day when the defense was down, and the offense hadn’t broken the game open yet, a well designed play by the special teams took the team forward for the win.