Film Breakdown: Week 1 Passing Game

[JetNation]

The Jets roared to a victory in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns, and newcomer Ryan Fitzpatrick guided them to 31 points, a feat they accomplished once all of last year.  While Fitzpatrick is not the savior, he can be a steady hand at QB, and the weapons around him are some of the best Jets’ fans have seen in years.  The much lamented passing game of the Jets showed some life this week, and there were numerous reasons for it.   Let’s take a look at some of the game film from Week 1 to dissect the play of Fitzpatrick as well as the passing game:

The Good Magic

This is an excellent play call and execution here on numerous fronts.  First and foremost, this is a great blitz pickup by Bilal Powell, as he slides over from the left side to the right and takes out the blitzing LB.  Sans the blitz pickup, there is a good chance the LB gets to Fitzpatrick before he can make a throw.  Given the extra time, Fitzpatrick steps up in the pocket, and throws a dart to Decker as he’s breaking in, and is perfectly placed.  This play also highlights the benefits of having 4 or more WRs out on the field, as Quincy Enunwa holds the safety with a deep post route, preventing the Brown’s play maker from jumping down into Decker.  If this was a 3 WR set with a slower TE running out of the formation, the LB would’ve been better equipped the handle the receiver, and the free roaming safety would’ve been able to try and make a play on the ball earlier.  Overall, this is an excellent set up by the coaching staff, and excellent execution.  

 

The Jets started off the game somewhat conservatively, but decided to open up the deep passing game in the second quarter.  This was the second of three consecutive deep passes, and one of the best completions of the game.  In this instance, the Browns are only rushing 4, and drop everyone else into coverage.  With Bilal Powell staying home for blitz protection, this is a bad matchup for the Jets in theory, but the design of this play is impeccable.  Fitzpatrick is reading from his left to right, with Marshall on his left side.  On first read, Marshall is covered well on the outside by the CB, a LB has dropped into the inside zone, and the free safety is shading towards him as well.  So there are three Browns dedicated to limiting Marshall here, which negates the personnell advantage they gained by having the Jets keep an extra blitz protector.   This is probably one of the biggest advantages of having a No. 1 WR even when it doesn’t show up in the box score.  The rest of the receivers are under man coverage, with a lingering LB in the middle, but everyone avoids running into the middle.  The second aspect of this play call is the options provided in read.  Fitzpatrick’s second read is the safety that is shading towards Marshall.  If the safety is slanted towards Marshall, then he has one on one matchup with Owusu and he can take a shot.  However, if the safety is moving towards Owusu, then there are two out routes underneath which were both open as safety valves that opened up in time of his third read.   Chris Owusu gets inside leverage on star CB Joe Haden, and gains a step on him down the field, and Fitzpatrick places a throw perfectly into his hands.  The pass is also placed over the head of Owusu, preventing the CB from trying to jump the route.  This is another example of great play calling mixed with excellent execution.  

 

These are somewhat simple plays, but highlight a couple of things about Brandon Marshall that stand out.  The first play is a simple roll out from Fitzpatrick, and he has two defenders on that side to deal with.  There is one on one coverage with Marshall, and a safety creeping in.  However, offensive coordinator Chan Gailey designed a TE roll out from the other side of the formation to lure in the safety, and Marshall makes a great cut.  The read is simple, if the safety stays atop and plays Marshall, the Jets have a free 6 yard pass to the TE.  If the safety runs up to the TE, then take advantage of the one on one matchup.  The part of the play that is foreign to the Jets in recent years is that Marshall comes back to the ball, high points it, rather than waiting back, and risk having Haden knock it out as he tries to catch it.  It’s a simple thing, but it helps out the QB immensely, rather than waiting back for the ball like so many ghosts of years past.  The second play is actually an excellent defense by the Browns.  They have man coverage, with a safety over the top, and they actually cover everyone on this play.  There is no one that is really open on this play, and they have a blitzer coming right at Fitzpatrick with a free shot.  The main read appears to be Decker in the middle, but the LB is there step for step with him, almost baiting a throw as he tries to gain inside leverage, with a safety over the top.  Fitzpatrick improvises with a throw that is essentially out of bounds, one of those vaunted “only my man can catch it throws” that we often hear about in other team’s broadcasts, and Marshall makes a great play on the ball.  For years, the Jets have lacked fundamentals when it comes to catching the ball, but Marshall shows a great example of how to catch a ball that is going out of bounds.  Brandon is dragging his feet when the ball is a good 3 yards away, instead of catching the ball first and then hoping to land inbounds.  In most years, this is a ball that falls incomplete for sure as we see the WR land with one foot on the chalk.  

This play is just a good throw by Fitzpatrick, as he reads from the left for Owusu on a go route, and then settles on Decker as the next read.  The play design is fairly simple, as the only other option seems to be a cutting Enunwa, but in a zone defense that would’ve been a tough throw.  The Browns make a mistake when the CB assumes he has help on the inside, thus hesitates when Decker cuts inside, and Fitzpatrick burns them for a TD.  The throw is placed extremely well, towards the back of the end zone.  

This fade is probably the best fade pass thrown by the Jets since Santonio Holmes’ catch in the playoffs against the Patriots.  On this play, Joe Haden has perfect coverage, forcing a perfect throw and catch as the only viable option, and it was executed to perfection.   Notice the subtle step inside by Marshall creating space between him and Haden, preventing Haden from being aggressive on the throw.   Fitzpatrick also throws this pass to Marshall’s back shoulder, which alleviates some of the risk on this play.  After the inside move by Marshall, Haden is in recovery mode, and his body is rotating to his left when the ball is in the air.  For Haden to make a play on the ball, he either has to do a complete 360 degree turn to his left, or stop his momentum, turn back the other way before the ball arrives.  In this case, that does not play a big part because the distance between them, and the location of the ball made that aspect mute.  However, the secondary aspect of them taking advantage of his positioning is very interesting, and one of the subtle fundamentals that seem improved from years past.   The throw is intentionally high, and Marshall uses his size and leaping ability to rip it out of the air for the TD.

Bad Magic

 

Not everything went right for the Jets on offense in Week 1, and there were some instances where the limitations of Fitzpatrick showed up.  The first such instance was this deep pass overthrow to Eric Decker down the sideline.  Decker is facing man coverage with no safety in sight, gets a step on his man, and in NFL terms is open for the pass.  The pass protection was decent, and Fitzpatrick steps to the side in the pocket to make the throw, but sails it over the intended receiver.  The read progression on this throw is fine, as Marshall is in tight coverage, with safety help over the top, so both receivers to Fitzpatrick’s left are in single coverage.  The underneath route to the TE is open in this instance as well, so going deep and overthrowing the pass is a missed opportunity in this case.   

The pass is a 2011-2014 Jets QB throw.  This was the third of three straight passes down the field, and the Browns were waiting for it.  Browns safety Gibson baits Fitzpatrick to make the throw, and he places the ball well short of Marshall.  This is where his lack of arm strength comes into play, and allows the safety to get back in the play, because Fitzpatrick can’t zip the pass from the far hash mark across the field without some loft on the ball.  In theory, this ball needs to be placed about 4 yards further down the field where Marshall makes his cut or be thrown earlier so the safety can’t get back towards it.  The progression read on the play is fine, Marshall has one on one coverage and beats his man with the late out route, but this interception is all on the QB’s arm.  Marshall ofcourse makes a great play in grabbing the football from Gibson to save the day.  

This was a disastrous play waiting to happen, that thankfully fell incomplete.  This is the type of interception we’ve seen from Geno Smith over the last couple of years, where the undercutting LB jumps the route and runs the other way.  The play is a disaster in all the forms, because the Browns have great coverage on the receivers, and no one is running open.  However, the urgency in which Fitzpatrick throws the ball is baffling.  The right side of the line has walled off the Browns, and the lone LB coming to his face is being taken on by the RB.  He had more time than his internal clock told, and almost makes a grave mistake.  This is quite possibly the worst throw by Fitzpatrick in the game, as it’s an easy pick 6 if the LB can hold onto the ball.  

The play was a good call by offensive coordinator Gailey, and is a great read by Fitzpatrick.  All the other WRs are well covered as the Browns only rushed three, and dropped everyone back into coverage near the red zone.  If Fitzpatrick lobs the ball towards the end zone, this is an easy touchdown, but he tries to throw it on a line, and it gets tipped by draftnik favorite Barkevious Mingo near the end zone.  The lack of arch on the ball is puzzling because there is no pressure around Fitzpatrick when the pass is thrown.  This play also highlights the effects of having a QB that is mobile change the defensive play calling.  Fitzpatrick has 4 lineman in front of him with only one Brown lineman staying in front of him.  This is a play on 3rd and 5 where Geno Smith could have walked for the first down, but it also means that the Browns would’ve held back more people in the middle to prevent a run. 

Overall, it was a good game offensively for the Jets with Fitzpatrick making some very good plays and some plays where he was lucky to get the ball back.  I doubt any Jets fan thinks of Fitzpatrick as a savior, and most are resigned to the fact that he is a game manager that could have good games if a few things break right (as it did on Sunday) or a bad game if a few things break wrong.  The debut was certainly a success, but not without some faults and concerns about arm strength.  The biggest factor in the passing game has been the dominance and fundamental skills of Marshall just overpowering a very good CB in Haden and helping alleviate the impact of some mistakes.  

 

[Maxman]

Good job here by @win4ever!

[TJ]

Good job here by @win4ever!

Yes, yes it was!

[jetsons]

I have just a little different take...

O the 1st bad magic ex., Decker originally appears to be running a fly pattern (as he is running outside of the #'s) and then cuts it into a semi post by drifting towards the middle of the field (running on the inside of the #'s).  When Fitzpatrick released the ball Decker was still running the fly (outside #'s), if decker continued on the fly pattern it would have hit him right in the hands, Decker sees the trajectory of the ball and attempts to get back into position but was too late. 

On the 2nd bad magic ex., the Browns were playing a zone with a CB 1 on 1 with Marshall.  The safety Gipson was up near the line playing the inside WR with inside help.  As the WR passed him on the slant he released him and ran back about 10-12yrds into underneath coverage on the outside part of the field.  Fitzpatrick had already released a perfectly thrown ball to a wide open Marshall but never saw Gipson running back into position where he ultimately intercepted the ball.

Overall those 2 plays were not totally Fitzpatrick's fault, the 1st Decker cut the route & the 2nd was a good defensive play by Gipson.

I like these posts that you do, very informative and well displayed... Good Job  

Edited September 17, 2015 by jetsons

[AFJF]

Great breakdown.

[win4ever]

Good job here by @win4ever!

Thanks.

Yes, yes it was!

Thanks.

I have just a little different take...

O the 1st bad magic ex., Decker originally appears to be running a fly pattern (as he is running outside of the #'s) and then cuts it into a semi post by drifting towards the middle of the field (running on the inside of the #'s).  When Fitzpatrick released the ball Decker was still running the fly (outside #'s), if decker continued on the fly pattern it would have hit him right in the hands, Decker sees the trajectory of the ball and attempts to get back into position but was too late. 

On the 2nd bad magic ex., the Browns were playing a zone with a CB 1 on 1 with Marshall.  The safety Gipson was up near the line playing the inside WR with inside help.  As the WR passed him on the slant he released him and ran back about 10-12yrds into underneath coverage on the outside part of the field.  Fitzpatrick had already released a perfectly thrown ball to a wide open Marshall but never saw Gipson running back into position where he ultimately intercepted the ball.

Overall those 2 plays were not totally Fitzpatrick's fault, the 1st Decker cut the route & the 2nd was a good defensive play by Gipson.

I like these posts that you do, very informative and well displayed... Good Job  

Thanks.  

On the first one, I think the pass over the head is on purpose by Fitzpatrick though.  You see the same thing on the pass to Owusu deep, he places the ball over the head to avoid the safety and prevent the cornerback from jumping the inside position.  On this play, the CB has inside position, so he placed the ball over Decker's head, essentially using Decker as a barrier to the ball.  If it's a straight deep pass, then there is less margin for error.  However, in this case, he overthrew the pass.  I think I saw Devin Smith make a catch like that against MSU like that as well, where the QB places the ball over the head and to the outside, on a CB with inside position, and unless it's severely under thrown, the CB can't do much with it.  Ofcourse, it also relies on the WR having the ability to adjust on the route.  

The second one, there is no one else on that side of the field, so Gibson was bound to go back.  I think both the OC and Fitz assumed that the WR crossing route was going to take everyone away from the left side, but Gibson released and went back.  The ball is still underthrown, he had another 3-4 yards to work with, although Gibson makes a great play on it (and he's one of those safeties that is great at picking the ball), but I think he should've realized that Gibson was lurking in the area.  In this instance, it looks like he just under-estimated Gibson, because if that's Pryor out there, that's an easy catch.  It is a great play by Gibson, but Fitz shares the blame for under throwing that pass, although part of the problem there is his arm strength.  He's can't zip it like a strong armed QB across the hash, so there is an extra lag for the ball to reach downfield.  It's a great read though.  

Great breakdown.

Thanks.  

[Jetster]

These are perfect examples of a QB who has to make up for arm strength by throwing a pass with less air under it. You can see how Fitz has to torque himself to get that speed on the ball which unfortunately gets thrown a little flat to get some zip.

What will be interesting to see because I just haven't seen enough games with Fitz at QB is can he apply touch to the ball? When you need to wind up as much as he does, I'm sure it's harder to throw with touch or loft. 

I'm curious, is this the most offensive talent that Fitz has played with? Marshall & Decker is a pretty damn good combination at one & two. Owusu looks to be gaining a lot of confidence, now we have Smith coming back who clearly moved right into the 3rd WR in camp. Ivory is running like his hairs on fire (Monday night football could be his reemergence), fans know of Ivory but most haven't seen how violent he runs. Ivory is OLD SCHOOL NFL, I don't care what team your a fan of when you see a RB that puts his pads down & secondary players don't like to take them on it's just special. My buddies a Pats fan & he says he loves to watch Ivory run. Bilals a very steady all around back (had some beautiful blitz pick ups on Sunday. Just imagine that Kerley is crying for snaps & he was once our best WR. I think Enunwa has a chance to make plays too. No chance in hell that any other team are as good at blocking as those 3 WRs (Marshall, Decker, Enunwa). It's gonna be a fun interesting year.

[NYs Stepchild]

If that ball to Powell was thrown over any other LB it's a TD. Mingo has like an 8 foot reach, and needed every inch of it.

[#27TheDominator]

If that ball to Powell was thrown over any other LB it's a TD. Mingo has like an 8 foot reach, and needed every inch of it.

Yeah.  In hindsight it is pretty easy to see it should have been arced over, but what can you do?  At the time it happened I was surprised he threw it so hard.  It seemed like he ran up and ripped it.  Seemed odd for such a short pass at the time.  I don't have a problem with the overthrow to Decker.  Seemed like a timing/communication thing.  They really haven't played together that much.  You are going to have some misses when you are throwing before breaks and relying on your WRs to be on the same page about option routes.  The offense looked pretty good, but I'm not sure how much of that was Cleveland.  Brandon Marshall is a horse.  He is open even when he isn't.

[win4ever]

Yeah, there is another angle on the Decker missed pass, and he comes out of his delivery like a pitcher trying to overthrow the ball.  From the times I remember watching him in years past, he's fine with short and intermediate passes, and he has good placement on balls thrown down the field as well (albeit tends to loft it a bit), but his issues are the outs to the other hash mark, like most QBs that don't have a strong arm.  This allows the CBs to sometimes undercut the ball, and leads to interceptions.  

The talent around him last year were pretty similar actually to what we have.  Andre Johnson was still a very good WR (I'll say equivalent of Decker, maybe a bit better) and Hopkins has turned into a good No. 1 as well.  They also had Arian Foster at RB and he's also a good pass catcher out of the backfield.   However, they didn't has as much depth as you would like, so if Smith turns out to be good, then this might be the most talent he's worked with.  Otherwise, talent seems pretty similar between the offenses last year for the Texans and us this year.  

True, but that could've been a huge disaster.  I think I was more miffed that he didn't run there, easy first down, only one DT in the area and 4 OL just standing there to block him out.  

 

 

Yeah, hopefully the timing gets better, especially on the deep routes.  Otherwise, he looked pretty good for a new team and first game.  

[win4ever]

Ok, I screwed up the reply method there, lol, and can't delete it.  

[NYs Stepchild]

Besides divisional games, I don't think we play a good defense all year. We're forcing mismatches. Forcing teams to make a choice on whether to cover Marshall/Decker with a slot corner, or to cover Owusu, or soon Smith with a slot corner on the outside, or to drop safeties deep, in witch case we run them over. Then we're getting the ball out extremely quickly. I'm loving this offense already.

As long as the defense does it's job. I don't want to see Fitz having to come from behind.

Edited September 18, 2015 by NYs Stepchild

[NYs Stepchild]

Marshall, and Decker are much more versatile than AJ, and Hopkins, and Gailey is a chess master. He's tailored this offense to the talent. O'Brien is an idiot. 

Also playing with the lead makes all the difference to a QB like Fitz. Stay patient. Force them to make a choice, and make the proper read.  

This defense is like another weapon for the offense as long as you see the big picture. I think these coaches see that big picture. We'll find out.

[shotzy]

This is a great thread. Thank you for doing this.

I hope you keep this up all season

 

[Jetster]

Marshall, and Decker are much more versatile than AJ, and Hopkins, and Gailey is a chess master. He's tailored this offense to the talent. O'Brien is an idiot. 

Also playing with the lead makes all the difference to a QB like Fitz. Stay patient. Force them to make a choice, and make the proper read.  

This defense is like another weapon for the offense as long as you see the big picture. I think these coaches see that big picture. We'll find out.

I completely agree with you, Decker is much better than the older Andre at THIS POINT of their careers. Many people said Johnson looked old & slow vs the Bills.

while I think Hopkins is a very good receiver & getting better, Brandon Marshall is a BEAST & is in the top 5 over the last 3 years in red zone TDs, one of the most important stats in football. You score TDs in the redzone your chances of winning sky rocket.

i also think Owusu & Smith playing with Decker & Marshall could be special! Your forcing teams to play their 3rd & 4th CBs, not many teams have that quality depth to cover 2 of the FASTEST GUYS on our team! You look at other teams with speedy WRs, they are usually a 1 or a 2. We could see some long TDs this year from those guys with the attention that needs to be paid to Decker, Marshall, and don't forget having to play up to contain Ivory.

I think deep down Bowles & Gailey are giddy over the possibilities including using Enunwa in the H back role. The field that last year was shrunk down is now a field that's WIDE OPEN comparatively. And against a top 5 secondary like the Browns it showed. The Brownies defense is no walkover. I saw them play teams tough last year.

 

 

[Maxman]

This is a great thread. Thank you for doing this.

I hope you keep this up all season

 

I hope he does as well.  

[win4ever]

This is a great thread. Thank you for doing this.

I hope you keep this up all season

 

Thanks, yeah I plan on doing this for most of the weeks.

Marshall, and Decker are much more versatile than AJ, and Hopkins, and Gailey is a chess master. He's tailored this offense to the talent. O'Brien is an idiot. 

Also playing with the lead makes all the difference to a QB like Fitz. Stay patient. Force them to make a choice, and make the proper read.  

This defense is like another weapon for the offense as long as you see the big picture. I think these coaches see that big picture. We'll find out.

I agree on AJ being a step slower, but of the 4, I take Hopkins first even for just this season.  He's not as a physical freak as Marshall, but I love his game, and I think at this point in their careers, Hopkins is a better player.  On a ranking basis, I would say Hopkins, Marshall, Decker, Johnson.  I also think Foster last year was better than any RB we have on our roster right now, because he is a great pass catcher along with runner.  It's the third option for us that could really make a difference, because if Smith or Owusu can step up, then our weapons are definitely better.  

I hope he does as well.  

Lol me too.  

[BigRy56]

The Jets offense hasn't looked that competent in almost a decade. It's amazing what a halfway intelligent quarterback can do for an offense.