Inside the New York Jets Film Room: Back to the Basics

Nov 9, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan talks with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium. The Jets defeated the Steelers 20-13. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Good afternoon and happy Thursday Jets fans. Time to go inside the film room.

This week we are getting back to the basics a little bit, to take a look at what was so puzzling on Monday night against the Dolphins. There has been a lot of talk about the game plan. Why did the Jets run the football so much? Aren’t they supposed to be a running team by trade? Why was it so successful in the first half, but not in the second half.

We are going to take a look at it, in pictures, to illustrated what everyone has been talking about. This is a little bit for maybe our younger readers as well, that might not follow all of the analysis that they see on the TV. This one is directed at you guys. They talk about the Jets trying to run the ball when there are eight or nine “in the box”. What are these talking heads talking about, and what does it look like? Stick with me, Jets fans, I am going to show you. It will seem obvious and you will wonder what Marty Mornhinweg was thinking about.

The box is an area on the defensive side of the ball, directly opposite the offensive linemen and about five yards deep. In other words, it is the area that the defense will typically align the linemen, the linebackers, and possibly sneak in blitzing defensive backs from time to time. The quarterback takes a look at this to see how many defenders are “in the box”, and that tells him if he can run the football, or throw it, and where he would make that throw.

That is typically how it works, but as you all know, the New York Jets are not very typical.

Let’s look at some pictures to see what I mean.

The first play we are going to take a look at is from the first quarter. The Jets were in the midst of what turned out to be a half of football where they rushed for over 200 yards. This one turned all of our heads, when Chris Johnson ran it for 47 yards. Let’s see what he was looking at:

It’s simple, take a look at how many Dolphins are in the box, and how many Jets are in the box. It’s an even six against six. Here, there are no bodies left unblocked, and the Jets easily execute a strong run play to Johnson, good for 47 yards.

Football really isn’t complicated. There were enough Jets to block the Dolphins, so a run play made sense.

The next play was actually the second play of the second quarter. The Jets were on the move, in Dolphins territory with a first and ten from the Dolphins 38.

Take a look in the box this time, what do you see? Six Dolphins, and six Jets. What was the result? Chris Johnson takes it over the right side for 10 yards.

Easy concept so far? It’s just simple math. You can have a successful run play if there are enough blockers to account for all of the defensive players.

Now we move into the second half, where the perplexing part of the game began. We see where the Jets persisted, and persisted with the run, despite the fact that it was destined to fail.

This one was from late in the third quarter. Look here. On this one, even if you include fullback John Conner, the Jets have seven guys up front. For the Dolphins, there are eight guys in the box, and the ninth is creeping up. The Jets could have called an audible and checked to a quick pass, such as a slant. Instead, they run it, despite not having enough guys to block the defense, and Chris Johnson gains two yards.

Had the Jets made a simple adjustment, the play would have been much more successful. But our Jets don’t do that sort of thing, I guess.