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The Jets have made this position completely invisible


joewilly12

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The Jets have made this position completely invisible

 

Austin Seferian-Jenkins has been a focal point in practice this week. The Jets tight end has been running new routes, getting a ton of passes thrown his way and making the defense be aware of where he lines up on every snap.

That’s because he has been running the Patriots offense as part of the scout team this week, posing as Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett.

As a Jets tight end, it has been a fun experience for him to be a featured part of an offense. It’s something Jets tight ends usually don’t get to experience. While the Patriots have made the tight end a huge part of their offense this decade, first with Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez and now with Gronkowski and Bennett, the Jets basically ignore the position.

The Jets tight ends have the fewest catches (4), targets (8), receiving yards (30) and snaps (499) in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus data. A Jets tight end has not caught a touchdown pass since Kellen Davis caught one in Week 7 in Oakland last year. That pass was thrown by Geno Smith and is the only tight end touchdown in the last two years, meaning Ryan Fitzpatrick has not thrown one touchdown pass to a tight end.

“Schematically, it’s some of the things we have,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said when asked why the tight end is not a bigger part of his offense. “Our tight ends do different things than [the Patriots’] tight ends for the most part. And our scheme is different. It works out differently. If we had two tight ends like that to feature full-time, I think we’d make amends to that. But our tight ends block more. We ask them to do more in blocking.”

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Martellus Bennett and Rob Gronkowski at Patriots practicePhoto: AP

This is the second straight season the tight end has been an afterthought for the Jets. Under Bowles and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey in 2015, the tight ends had a league-low eight catches. It was a little easier to explain away last year, though, when the offense was operating at a high level. The Jets could point to the production of Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker and say they were just using the best weapons they have.

This year it makes little sense. The offense has sputtered with poor quarterback play and an injured Decker missing most of the year. In their last game, the Jets gave Bryce Petty his first NFL start. You would think a tight end might be a player a young quarterback could lean on. The Jets did not even play Seferian-Jenkins, their best receiving option in the game. Bowles said it was because they had a lot of run-heavy packages in the offense that Seferian-Jenkins did not fit into.

Bowles was asked this week whether the lack of using a tight end is a philosophical decision or based on their personnel.

“A little of both,” he said.

Jets fans gained hope that the tight end might be used more when the team claimed Seferian-Jenkins off waivers in September from the Buccaneers. In his first game with the Jets, he caught two passes for 17 yards (“I beat all the other tight ends for the year,” he points out with a smile) against the Steelers, but he also suffered a high-ankle sprain in that game. That led to him being inactive for the next three games. He played 19 snaps against the Dolphins, but was thrown to just once, but the ball was intercepted. Against the Rams, he was active but never got on the field.

“I’m patiently waiting,” Seferian-Jenkins said. “I’m working hard and when I get my opportunity I know I’m going to break through in a big way.”

Seferian-Jenkins believes the tight end can be used in this offense.

“I think the tight end can definitely be utilized in this offense,” he said. “I think they want to utilize the tight end in this offense. I think it’s a matter of time and everyone getting comfortable with each other. I’ve only been here for six or seven weeks and I was hurt for three of them, so the chemistry was off.”

For now, he is emulating Gronkowski, whose status is unknown for Sunday’s game, and Bennett in practice. That duo has combined for 64 catches this season.

“I love playing football and playing catch,” Seferian-Jenkins said of playing on the scout team. “I get paid to do this so why not run around and catch more footballs and turn the coaches heads like, ‘ hold on, this guy can do this.’ I look at it as an opportunity.”

Opportunities are hard to come by for Jets tight ends.

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The TE in general is a dying position around the league. 

the Gailey system doesn't use a TE it uses a big slot WR like Quincy Enunwa.   Q was supposed to be WR3 behind Bmarsh and Decker. I don't have a problem with the lack of TE and without a QB it's probably an academic point.

 

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1 hour ago, bitonti said:

The TE in general is a dying position around the league. 

the Gailey system doesn't use a TE it uses a big slot WR like Quincy Enunwa.   Q was supposed to be WR3 behind Bmarsh and Decker. I don't have a problem with the lack of TE and without a QB it's probably an academic point.

 

Totally disagree many teams utilize the TE. 

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25 minutes ago, johnnysd said:

I do not think it is a big deal. The offense gets players WIDE open all the time, yet we do not have a QB in Fitzloser that can take advantage of it. Q takes the role of a TE often. This is a QB issue not a TE issue

Right. Our receivers frequently struggle to separate. Go back and watch the Chiefs game. Funny how this same QB put up very big numbers last year. Last year, guys were getting open and plays were being made. This season, the offense is stalling for a number of reasons, and it is not primarily a product of a QB who is missing guys running wild and freely through opposing secondaries as you claim. This offense is constantly backed up deep in its own territory, put in second and third and longs by penalties, leads the league in dropped passes, and seems to always be playing catch up. They get pass happy in the red zone and far too often put themselves in situations where they are forcing throws into a condensed field. And they make the same damn mistakes over and over and over.....

 

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12 hours ago, joewilly12 said:

The TE is the new wave NFL any fool can see this the big pass catchers are getting the job done anyone who disagrees is crazy guys like Gronlk,Graham,Reed and many more are game changers. 

Reed can ball & is making Plays all over the field. 

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17 hours ago, bitonti said:

The TE in general is a dying position around the league. 

the Gailey system doesn't use a TE it uses a big slot WR like Quincy Enunwa.   Q was supposed to be WR3 behind Bmarsh and Decker. I don't have a problem with the lack of TE and without a QB it's probably an academic point.

 

You see Reed's catch yesterday for the Redskins?  From Gronk, to Witten, to Graham, to Reed, to Bennett, to Ertz, to Eifert, to a whole bunch more on teams who know how to use the TE position, TEs matter.  I could not disagree with your post more.  TEs make huge plays every week in the NFL.  On teams which know how to draft one and employ them in a coherent offensive scheme.

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19 minutes ago, Jetster said:

Reed can ball & is making Plays all over the field. 

 

Just now, munchmemory said:

You see Reed's catch yesterday for the Redskins?  From Gronk, to Witten, to Graham, to Reed, to Bennett, to Ertz, to Eifert, to a whole bunch more on teams who know how to use the TE position.  I could not disagree with your post more.  TEs make huge plays every week in the NFL.  On teams which know how to draft one and employ them in a coherent offensive scheme.

Exactly!!!!!!!!

Those in denial must see stuff differently.ironically we haven't won a damn thing in years but some agree with the situations this team creates for themselves. 

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1 hour ago, munchmemory said:

You see Reed's catch yesterday for the Redskins?  From Gronk, to Witten, to Graham, to Reed, to Bennett, to Ertz, to Eifert, to a whole bunch more on teams who know how to use the TE position, TEs matter.  I could not disagree with your post more.  TEs make huge plays every week in the NFL.  On teams which know how to draft one and employ them in a coherent offensive scheme.

Agreed. I have no clue what games he is watching to up with that conclusion.

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14 hours ago, joewilly12 said:

The TE is the new wave NFL any fool can see this the big pass catchers are getting the job done anyone who disagrees is crazy guys like Gronlk,Graham,Reed and many more are game changers. 

To be fair Enunwa sort of fills that role for us as the big physical pass catcher but yes a real TE would be nice.

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when was the last time the jets did have a good pass catching te?  the last one i can recall is johnny mitchell.  it's not just a gailey thing, it's the way the jets have been for quite some time.  it wasn't so bad last season because decker was in the mix and helped both marshall and enunwa.  those jet receivers are pretty big and sort of fill the role of a pass catching te.  also consider the amount of passes actually caught during the season.  maybe 350 completions?  with marshall, decker, and enunwa each catching around 100 passes that leaves 50 to be split between the running backs, te and other receivers.

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TEs do make a huge difference and add a whole new element to an offense. It creates a ton of mismatches that are hard for secondary's to scheme around.

With that being said, it is rare to find a good pass catching TE. There are only a handful in today's game that can get it done. Reed, Gronk, Graham, Witten, Olsen, walker and Eifert.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

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4 hours ago, drdetroit said:

Don't know why this organization is so dumb when it comes to TE's.  The Chargers have this past generation's best tight end (Antonio Gates) and the NFL's next best Tight End  (Hunter Henry) meanwhile we can't get a professional TE on the roster.

Gates and Tony G. rewrote the TE position.  Both guys were huge, fast and could jump a mile.  Impossible to guard without fouling.

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