The Jets suffered a brutal loss to the Eagles this past Sunday, mainly due to the mistakes made by Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brandon Marshall, along with a non existent running game. The offense had numerous opportunities to get back in the game, but one mistake after another cost the Jets a shot at victory. This review is going to be longer than usual, because the Jets made a whopping 58 passes in the game. Unfortunately, most of it is going to be in the bad magic category.
1)
This is the first pass of the game (on 2nd and long) with 5 wide formation and as per the norm last week, there is the WR clear out up top, with an out route, and a secondary out route afterwards. Fitzpatrick makes a nice read, and throws to Kerley for a 7 yard gain (which made it 3 and medium long). On the whole, this play isn’t amazing. However, the play is highlighted here mainly to show the defense that was used by Philly. It should be somewhat familiar, because Rex Ryan has used this against Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in the past few years. It’s essentially a 3-3-5 defense, with all the LBs falling into coverage. The purpose of this defense is to take away short slants and cuts as much as possible, and dare the QB to beat them deep. Marshall at the bottom of the screen is triple teamed. However, notice the CB and safety at the top of the screen. They are both sitting hedging their bets that this is a short pass, and hardly respect the WR clear out. With only 3 men rushing, the much better outcome for the Jets on this play was for Fitz to hold the ball, because the WR on the clear out is going to fly by the CB and be wide open. However, the Fitzpatrick most likely didn’t anticipate this coverage to start the game and took the short route.
2)
This is a play run during the 2 minute drive that led to the TD. It’s a great play by Enunwa, and a good read by Fitzpatrick, but a horrible throw. Since two positives here will outweigh the negative, it’ll be good magic. The coverage in this one is fairly simple, the Eagles rush 4, and drop others into coverage. They overload one side even when they rush 4 to create one on one matchups, but the line seems to hold up. The initial read is to Marshall, and he’s open, but Fitzpatrick moves onto Enunwa who was also open. However, this is a horrible throw, sailing left, but saved because Enunwa makes a great adjustment and catches the ball. One sign that permeates through this game (except a few spots) is the lack of Fitzpatrick moving up or sideways in the pocket. The entire first half, the Eagles barely rushed more than 4, which allowed ample space for Fitzpatrick to move up or sideways in pockets, yet he hesitated away from it. Even this throw is marred by his landing foot hitting the LG, when he had plenty of space to move around in the pocket. It’s corrected briefly in the second half, when Fitzpatrick moves around in the pocket and even does some rushing.
3)
The play is a good illustration on how to beat man coverage with speed. In this case, the Eagles are playing man across the field and jamming at the line of scrimmage. There is even a man LB on the RB. This one is evident to the Jets as soon as Enunwa runs across and his man follows him, so it’s man coverage across the board. Smith runs a great route here, and makes a great plant and turn for the comeback route, creating separation. On the outside, the whole point of this route is to have the CB turn his hips, so recovery is that much harder. Notice the plants from both Kerley and Smith, almost identical and create separation because it’s a sudden stop and come back. On the other side, notice the bad route by Enunwa. He gives away his route before actually making it, because it’s not a sudden stop, it’s slow and predictable, giving his CB a chance to recover had the throw been going to him. It’s a good read, good throw by Fitzpatrick as well.
4)
The play is run in the hurry up offense during the 2 minute warning, and the Jets caught the Eagles not completely set. The Eagles rush 4, but all the receivers run deep routes which causes the LBs running back to be effectively taken out of the play. It’s a very good throw by Fitzpatrick, and a good catch by Marshall, however, by the sideline, the correct play would’ve been to to go out of bounds. There is Enunwa running a crossing route on the play as well that will eventually get open. The one thing that could be concerning about this pass is that it’s a one read pass, Fitzpatrick was locked in on Marshall the entire way.
5)
The Eagles once again go to a zone coverage near the end zone, and it burns them. This is almost a disaster play, because with no timeouts and about 10 seconds on the clock, Fitzpatrick is surrounded by Eagles, but he moves up in the pocket again, and gets off a good throw to Marshall. The main play here is made by Marshall, because he notices the hole in the zone, and stop his route and comes back, allowing Fitzpatrick to make this throw. It’s a nice throw and catch and the first TD. Also, notice the miscue at the bottom of the screen where Devin Smith and Kerley run into each other, effectively taking both of them out of the play. It likely stems from Smith not playing much with the team because of his injury. In this one, Smith needs to be the one crossing further downfield because he’s the one further down the field at the line of scrimmage.
6)
The Eagles changed their approach for the opening drive of the third quarter. Presuming the Jets might rush a bit more as a halftime adjustment, they ran a 4 man front. The Jets make a good call with a play action pass rolling out to the right. Smith again shows excellent ability on the comeback route to create separation. It’s a good throw and catch that leads to a first down. The interesting aspect of this play is the reaction of the safety to Smith’s side. From his perspective, Smith sped by him (at that point could’ve been a go route) and the safety didn’t flinch, showing the lack of respect for Fitzpatrick’s deep ball accuracy.
7)
The play is reminiscent of the game against the Colts, where the spread system helped out with a simple read. The Eagles continued to send 4 men again, and the read on this play is simple. If the CB on Marshall goes with Marshall, then throw to Powell for easy yardage. If the CB on Marshall bails towards Powell, throw to Marshall. It’s a good call and execution.
8)
While this play is going to be read first, this is a good adjustment from the the Bad Magic play 6 (which occurred first in the game flow) and shows good adjustment. The Eagles went to a 4 man front, and dropped everyone in coverage, with a LB lingering on Kerley. Fitzpatrick makes the throw that he did not make in that instance, and gets rewarded with a first down. It’s a not a one read throw, Kerley seems to be a decoy on this play, so if the LB jumps the Smith route, the next option seems to be a pass to Marshall on the other side of the field.
9)
Brandon Marshall makes this play, but this is an excellent play set up. The Eagles are in zone in the red zone, and Marshall runs a slant route. The read for Fitzpatrick is simple, if the LB in the middle of the field bites, then throw to Kerley behind him. If the LB stays back, throw to Marshall and see if he can run the ball in. There is only one read on the play, and it’s the LB’s reaction. A good read and throw by Fitzpatrick to bring the Jets back within 10 points.
10)
This play is here to highlight the positioning of a back shoulder pass and the correct timing to under-throw the ball so the defender has a chance to make a catch. There are two deep passes to Devin Smith that were under-thrown, but you will notice that the trajectory of those passes were to the inside, along with the fact that Smith had a step on his defender in both instances. That’s a case where it’s impossible to make an adjustment because you have to go through the CB to make the adjustment. Notice where Marshall is in this case, he’s parallel with the CB, so there is nothing impeding him from making the adjustment, and the CB slides right by. Also notice the position of the ball, it’s towards him and not on the inside track. This one is here, just to disprove the theory of Smith having to adjust to the pass on the deep passes that will be in Bad Magic. This is a good throw and read by Fitzpatrick and a very good catch by Marshall.
Magician’s Assistants Fail:
1)
This is a good read by Fitzpatrick, but Enunwa makes a bad drop on first down here. The play isn’t huge, and most likely gains about 4 yards, but at this point the Jets needed to sustain drives and this drop didn’t help. Enunwa, decides to imitate Stephen Hill and jump for no reason to catch the ball. The dropped ball also hurts because if all things stand, the next play would’ve provided them with a first down had the Jets gained about 3-4 yards on this play.
2)
Quincy Enunwa shows up again with a bad play, and this time it’s in blocking. This play is set up to get about 6-7 yards with Marshall running down the sideline. The play call and the pass execution is fine, however, Enunwa misses his initial block. Remember the narrative about blocking early on these WR screen plays from last week? Well in this case, Enunwa tries to sell the route too much, and the safety doesn’t bite at all, because it’s a quick pass. While the pass is being thrown, Enunwa is still trying to sell the route, which allows the safety to just run past him. The correct movement for Enunwa here was to hesitate off the line (even at the risk of drawing in the safety) and then engaging the safety, but his inexperience showed again. Another bad play here by Marshall, as he fumbles the ball backwards, turning what should be about a 2 yard gain into an 8 yard loss. The play resulted in a 3rd and 17, at which point it was just a matter of where Quigley was going to punt from.
3)
This is a good read, and a very good throw by Fitzpatrick, however Marshall makes a colossal blunder and throws away the ball trying to lateral. The Eagles showed blitz but only rushed 4, but the offensive line held up, and Marshall finds a hole in the zone. The reason why he tries to lateral the ball is just befuddling. For one, he’s trying to lateral the ball to Cumberland, who probably can’t tell the difference between a football and a shoe at this point. Secondly, he’s trying to lateral the ball to Cumberland who probably won’t even run past the where Marshall is even if he manages to catch the ball. The Eagles are bailing out on all of these passes on defense.
4)
This is a very good play design, a good read by Fitzpatrick, and a good throw. Marshall makes a horrible play on this, and it leads to an interception. From the tape, it looks like he expected a hit while in the air and short armed the ball. The read on this play is simple, if Marshall’s CB goes with him, then the out route concept comes into play and it’s a good 5 yard gain. In this case, the CB on Marshall hesitates, so the correct read is the throw to Marshall, and Fitzpatrick makes it. Another play, that would’ve resulted not only in a first down, but also put the Jets in FG range. Just another terrible play by Marshall.
1)
This play is a completion and an almost first down, however there is plenty of downside to play. For one, Fitzpatrick only makes one read on this play and it’s to Kerley. He has much better options on the other side of the field, yet didn’t even look over there. The best play is the pass to Powell with space in front of him, however, since this is a completion, this is nitpicking (It’s barely a completion, and had it been ruled a first down, most likely would’ve been challenged). Brandon Marshall has every reason to complain on this throw as well, because he’s being held far after the 5 yards from scrimmage point.
2)
The play happens on 3rd and 8, and there are two main culprits on the play. The first, and possibly biggest culprit, here is James Carpenter. The Eagles LB fakes him out by pretending to stop and being in coverage, which somehow prompts Carpenter to completely move off the block, turn around and try to assist others, leaving the LB a clear route right up the middle to the QB. The second factor in this one is Fitzpatrick, turns away from the hit, and is late with the throw. In an another angle, Fitzpatrick doesn’t follow through with the pass because he sees the LB and the throw drifts on him. If Fitzpatrick follows through on this ball, it’s an easy completion. Notice Marshall in the slot being held the entire way down the field. The Eagles are again playing man coverage right up at the line and daring the Jets to beat them deep. Gailey has the right play call in this case with Enunwa running deep, but Fitzpatrick misses him. The only real option when the defense is playing man coverage is to either throw passes deep or have quick twitch athletes that can separate off the line quickly and create space. This is the missed pass that led to the punt that was returned for a TD.
3)
This is a baffling read by Fitzpatrick, and another one where it’s just one read. The play call is very reminiscent of the game against the Colts, outside WR runs the clear out, slot WR runs the out route. This play occurs on 3rd and 2, and the Eagles are only rushing 3 players, and the pocket is about as clean as it’s going to get, yet Fitzpatrick rushes the throw to Kerley, one of the few guys that is actually well covered in this play. There is Enunwa and Powell open for easy slant throws that should get the first down. It’s a terrible read because there is almost no way this pass is going to end in a good spot. Either you overthrow the shortest guy on the field, or you give a prime opportunity for the LB to have a pick 6. Again, defense rushing just 3.
4)
Another baffling read by Fitzpatrick. The Eagles are rushing 3, and there is absolutely no need to get rid of this ball into traffic and high towards the shortest guy on the field trying to make an acrobatic catch. The catch is the one where his foot wasn’t inbound and the Jets challenged and lost. Brandon Marshall is wide open in the middle of the field, yet this read was simply to Kerley and a bad throw as well. Marshall has a much better chance of a catch, open in the middle of the field, and with minimal rushers, yet this is a hurried throw on 3rd and 8 that gets the Jets off the field again. Infact, there is a decent chance Fitzpatrick could just slide to the right and have open field ahead of him, forcing the defense to come up and defend a run, and if they don’t, actually run for a first down. This was one of the worst options on the board, and Fitzpatrick picked it.
5)
The Eagles rush three on this play, and keep the LBs back, with a double team on Marshall with a LB and CB. Nick Mangold absolutely gets killed on this play, and allows his man a run at the QB, but it makes Fitzpatrick step up in the pocket. This is one of the few times he actually steps up in the pocket and makes a huge difference on this play. Unfortunately, for the Jets he’s not that good throwing across his body and completely misses a wide open Smith. It’s a good read by Fitzpatrick because it’s a zone defense, and Smith found the hole in the zone, but an atrocious throw. Philly switched to zone coverage on this play and the TD to Marshall after the Jets had burned them on a comeback route and a back shoulder throw in man coverage. The Jets in the previous two games have thrown back shoulder passes to Marshall in the redzone for TDs, hence it’s an adjustment to tape. However, it doesn’t work out because Smith found a crease in the zone. Fitzpatrick moving also caused the safeties to freeze as well.
6)
As with the other plays to open the second half, the Eagles stick with the 4 man front. The initial pass play here is to Smith on the comeback route and he’s open. However, a LB is in zone coverage, so it would need to be a pretty good pass to get it over the LB and before the CB recovers. Fitzpatrick hesitates on the throw, and then sees Enunwa cutting across the field, and misses him high. However, the pocket was protected, and there is no one in front of Enunwa. This was a pass that was better served in front of Enunwa and trying to chase it down than a throw down the middle that he had to adjust to (not that it mattered since it was too high).
7)
This is a play that’s been debated on the message boards as to who gets the blame. In review, the blame should go to Fitzpatrick in this case. The Eagles send a rare blitz in this case, and the Jets pick it up, with Powell having an excellent block coming across the formation. The initial read on this play is Kerley, with Marshall running the clear out from the slot. However, Fitzpatrick panics at the blitzer from the left side, and essentially throws this ball up to the one on one matchup. Kerley is open for a sizable gain if Fitzpatrick didn’t throw this ball up. Much of the debate stems from the idea of Smith adjusting to the ball. However, at the separation level he’s at, this is a ball that is much better suited to be in front of him. For Smith to adjust, on an under-thrown pass, he has to go through the CB because the CB is a step behind him, and has the inside track. If this pass is thrown right at Smith, then it’s a better adjustment possibility, but with an inside throw, Smith has to go through the CB to get to the ball while also slowing down. It’s a terrible read and a bad throw by Fitzpatrick.
8)
This is basically a carbon copy issue of the previous play on this list. Again, Smith has a step on the CB, and the throw here is to be in front of the WR. It’s harder to adjust to the ball, when you have to slow down and also go to the inside track. Even a back shoulder throw here is better, but this is terrible ball placement by Fitzpatrick who gets a clean pocket again. The CB makes a great play on the ball because the ball is essentially throw right to him. This is the second straight throw in which the ball was placed on the inside and floated. Two terrible deep throws to Smith.
9)
This is quite possibly the worst throw of the game for Fitzpatrick. He has a clean pocket as the Eagles rush just 4, while the Jets keep the TE and the RB back for protection. There is absolutely no need to chuck this ball deep into double coverage in the middle of the field. Enunwa is running towards a hole in the coverage, and should be a decent opportunity to pick up big yards. From another angle, it’s clear that Fitzpatrick is only making one read on this play, locks with Smith the entire way down the field. Notice how the safety is mirroring Fitzpatrick’s head and doesn’t move away from the center of the field. The call on this play is to have Enunwa bait the safety away from the center of the field, and have Smith run the route behind him on a one on one matchup. However, Fitzpatrick is locked in on Smith and makes a misread when the safety stays back on Enunwa, missing an easier throw for big yardage. And to make matters worse, Fitzpatrick floats the ball deep, and is extremely lucky this ball wasn’t intercepted.
10)
The result of the play is actually a completion and gains 5 yards, but this is a horrible throw that cost the Jets a first down (they eventually got it on a scramble by Fitzpatrick). There is no reason for this throw to be near the grass, as Cumberland is wide open with yards ahead of him. The need to go down to the grass to catch the ball cost yards when the Jets desperately needed to gain chunk yards. The Jets are down 17 points at the start of the 4th quarter and placed at a pace that indicated they were the ones up in this game.
11)
Remember this play? The same play was highlighted last week twice (one on an Enunwa drop, and the other a completion to Decker). The play call works again, and it’s the same read. The first read is Kerley behind Enunwa, and if he’s covered, go to Enunwa across the field with both outside WR running clear outs. However, the throw is behind Kerley (one that could’ve been caught) and forces an incompletion. This is another throw that needs to be throw on point in front of him because he has inside position on the WR, thus the CB can’t go through him to get the ball. It’s a good read, but horrible throw by Fitzpatrick.
12)
A tipped interception is usually just bad luck, and most times there isn’t much the QB can do about this. However, the errors of this play are too big to ignore. First of all, the Jets are already in FG range to make this a one score game. Second, Fitzpatrick stares down Marshall the entire way, and doesn’t make any other reads. The CB with safety help undercuts the route from Marshall, so there is a chance the CB can make a play on this ball even if Fitzpatrick’s pass isn’t deflected, which shows a lack of respect for the deep pass option here. If Fitzpatrick made another read, he has a wide open receiver on the other side, with an easy first down. Fitzpatrick also moved into the way of the block (from another angle) as the Eagles had blitzed on this play, but the RG had pushed the eventual tipper (Blair) to what should’ve been the right side of Fitzpatrick. However, at the onset of the blitz, Fitzpatrick moves right into the lane of the DE, which gives him a better shot at the tip. All in all, a terrible play by Fitzpatrick.
13)
This play is atrocious, especially given the circumstances, the time, and the need for a score with no timeouts left. Fitzpatrick has two receivers wide open, and somehow turns this into an incompletion. There is a WR on the right side that isn’t even covered for an easy 10 yards, as well as the ability to go out of bounds, yet Fitzpatrick ignores that side of the field. Second, Powell is also wide open, and should gain about 4-5 yards before being able to go out of bounds, yet Fitzpatrick misses him as well. The Jets were down 10 at this point, and needed to score quickly before attempting an onside kick. Nick Folk bailed them out with an excellent kick, but this a horrible play.
Defensive Concept From The Eagles: The Eagles had a very good scheme for this game. They employed a 3-3-5 defense, with a LB mirroring the RB. Then they lined up their three down lineman as wide as possible, and essentially took out the guards from play on most downs. The wide positioning meant the guards couldn’t help on the outside as much without tripping over the tackles, and the DEs are going wide around the edge. The DT then attacks Mangold straight up, forcing a Jets guard to commit to double teaming the DT. However, in most cases the guards were left useless on 3 man rushes. The only real way to beat this coverage is to have a running QB, or a patient QB that can move around in the pocket and wait until a pass opens up. Fitzpatrick is neither of these QBs. Countless times as the examples show, Fitzpatrick didn’t step up, move around, or run when there was plenty of space available. And numerous times, Fitzpatrick threw a pass that didn’t need to be made because he had time to let other routes come open. The defensive plan is great in the sense that it forces the QB to be patient (and not rely on his internal clock as much). By rushing three, and also accounting for the QB, the defense has a 3 man advantage on the receivers running around, hence why the screen game didn’t work at all. They had a LB mirror the RB on most plays that stayed home no matter what the progression of the play. The Eagles then switched to a 4 man front in the second half, for unknown reasons, and the Jets had much more success driving down the field. Fitzpatrick and the offensive line seemed absolutely dazed by the three man rush in the first half, and this is something that the Bills will be looking into as well if Fitzpatrick is the QB at that point.
Fitzpatrick: He looked overmatched in this game, made some terrible reads and throws and is the first clearly bad game this season. However, the two games prior to this game featured a plethora of turnovers from the defense that helped shorten the field for the Jets. There was a consistent theme of Fitzpatrick locking onto the first read, that should be worrisome to most fans. His lack of mobility is a major concern because he has to operate in the middle of the field. His ability to throw down the field is heavily compromised by his arm and deep pass accuracy. The Eagles decided to flood the middle of the field with LBs, forcing short throws and swarming to the ball. Another negative aspect from this game was time management. Far too many times, the Jets lined up quickly, only to have Fitzpatrick imitate an audiobook behind the line of scrimmage and snap the ball with around 5 seconds left on the clock. That aspect of the game might an error by both the coaching staff and Fitzpatrick. However, it is something that needs to be addressed because the Jets left a lot of time go by before plays, which eventually cost them in the end.
The biggest takeaway from this game is the horrible mistakes in the passing game, with the two main culprits being Brandon Marshall and Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Eagles also provided a very good game plan of stopping the Jets attack, because Fitzpatrick is limited in what he can do. The Eagles had man coverage on the RB, and man coverage on all the WRs, while having a 3 man rush for most of the first half. This eliminated screen passes, and also with the LBs dropping back into coverage, dared the Jets to throw the ball deep. Once the team was up 24, the Eagles resorted to a 4 man front, and tried to funnel everything to the middle of the field hoping the Jets would eventually make a mistake, which they made, far too often.
