Jets Passing Offense Film Review – Week 3 (Chiefs) Bad Magic

Last week was not kind to Ryan Fitzpatrick, as he had one of the worst performances at QB in the history of the league, with six interceptions.  Let’s see how this unfolded:

Bad Magic:

1) 

The Jets have four receivers and a tight end on this empty backfield play.  The Chiefs show man coverage with a single high safety.  The biggest problem on this play is that Fitzpatrick has his mind made up on the receiver even before the ball is snapped, because he’s completely locked in on Decker.  Quincy Enunwa is breaking open for an easy completion, and if that doesn’t work out, Brandon Marshall also has the chance to be open on this play.  However, Ryan Fitzpatrick stares down Decker on this play, and then air mails this throw, so no one had a chance of catching this pass.

2) 

This play happens on 3rd and 12, and Fitzpatrick chooses to go to an underneath route when they needed 12 yards for the first down.  The Jets have to design a pass that is better than this, especially when the defender on Jalin Marshall is so far off the line of scrimmage.  While this is a completion for decent yardage, this is considered a failure because Jalin Marshall’s match-up is much better in this situation.  While running a spread offense, the QB has to take advantage of match-ups that are favorable, something Fitzpatrick did consistently last week against the Bills.  In this case however, he locked into Brandon Marshall as the option, and it resulted in a punt.

3) 

The Jets are backed up near their goal line on a 3rd and 3 play, and Fitzpatrick makes a good decision.  He has Quincy Enunwa open for a pass, but by that time he has committed to running the ball.  He gets the first down, and it would have gone as a good play, but he fumbles the ball at the end.  The Jets are lucky to grab the ball, as Fitzpatrick pounces on the ball, but it’s a horrible fumble considering it wasn’t a tremendous tackle to begin with.  He shows a good ability to step up in the pocket, but he can’t fumble this deep in their own zone.

4) 

The Chiefs line up in a 2 deep safety look, and the Jets counter with a mid range slant route to Marshall.  Brandon Marshall is somewhat well covered on this play, but he does have inside positioning on his defender.  However, this is just a horrible throw by Fitzpatrick as it is behind Marshall and low, and falls for an incomplete pass.  This pass needs to be more towards the middle of the field and lead his WR, instead the ball goes right towards the trailing defender.  The pass is woefully inaccurate.

5) 

Unfortunately, the first of many interceptions for Ryan Fitzpatrick on the day.  The Jets line up with three WRs to the right, one to the left, and a RB on this play, while the Chiefs counter with a single high safety shading heavily over to the left side of the formation.  The Chiefs also bring a blitz, but this a head scratching throw by the QB, because he throws this right to the receiver that is the best covered on this play.  Quincy Enunwa is running downfield, and seems like a much better emergency option against a safety coming over from the other side of the field.  You have to give the Chiefs credit on this one, because the pre-snap look most likely confused Fitzpatrick, as the safety that was lined up all the way on the other side of the field ran across as the play developed.  However, it’s still no excuse for a terrible throw and interception.

6) 

On this play, the Jets empty out the backfield and the Chiefs counter with a single high safety look.  The Chiefs play man coverage, but Fitzpatrick fails to check on the right side of this formation, as both Eric Decker and Kellen Davis are open for fairly easy passes.  He steps up in the pocket, and misfires a throw to Enunwa on the play, as it falls for an incomplete pass.  Fitzpatrick has to recognize the distance between Decker and his defender, especially knowing the route, and take advantage of it, instead of waiting for Enunwa to clear the traffic jam in the middle.  This is both a recognition and execution failure by Fitzpatrick.

7) 

Kellen Davis goes in motion on this play, with no corresponding player movement from the Chiefs, indicating zone coverage on this play, as the Chiefs are also in 2 deep safety look.  Fitzpatrick recognizes the zone coverage, and locks in on Quincy Enunwa, running in the middle.  The Chiefs are in zone, and as soon as his defender hands off Enunwa, Fitzpatrick makes the throw to his now open WR.  However, it’s just a horrible throw, behind the receiver and low again, and it falls for an incomplete pass.  These are the kinds of passes that almost all NFL QBs have to complete on a consistent basis, because they had the right route against the right coverage, and still ended up with an incomplete pass.

8) 

The Jets come out with four WRs, and a RB on this third down play in the red zone.  The Chiefs match-up Brandon Marshall on top with a corner back, and a LB playing the underneath route.  Brandon Marshall finds a soft part of the defense and is momentarily open but it’s a terrible throw by Fitzpatrick as the ball goes over Marshall’s head.  On a critical third down play, Fitzpatrick has to do a better job of allowing his play maker to have a chance at the ball.

9) 

The Jets have four WRs on this play, with Brandon Marshall being the sole receiver to the left side of the formation.  This play highlights some of the biggest weaknesses with Fitzpatrick, because he’s locked onto Marshall from the start of this play.  He does a head fake to the right (before anything develops on the right side) and then turns around and fires to Marshall who is running a double stop and go, faking a back shoulder pass.  He is definitely open for the pass, but Fitzpatrick misses the throw badly and it falls for an incomplete pass.  The worst part about this play of course is that if Fitzpatrick had looked towards the other side with legitimate intent to scan the field, he would have seen an open Enunwa and a wide open Decker for a pass.   Fitzpatrick has limitations both physically and mentally, and he showed them off on this play.

10) 

This is another one read pass for anyone keeping score at home.  From the onset, this pass is going to Brandon Marshall, and it’s not without merit because he’s definitely open on this play.  He is a good two steps ahead of his defender, when Fitzpatrick decides to throw this ball.  However, for some unforeseen reason, he decides to throw a back shoulder pass on a play where the CB is trailing, thus nailing the CB in the back with the pass.  The whole point of a back shoulder pass is that the coverage is step for step with the receiver, but the WR can react faster to an under thrown pass and create separation.  It makes no sense to throw a back shoulder pass when the WR is actually running by the defender.  Just a horrible decision by Fitzpatrick.

11) 

A first down play from the six yard line, and the Jets are lucky this wasn’t intercepted.  The Jets have three receivers to the right, the Chiefs have four defenders in the area, so it probably wasn’t the right time for a lob pass.  Eric Berry almost makes a great interception on this play, but the ball falls incomplete.   Fitzpatrick wasn’t under pressure to throw this ball, so he was much better served to wait and see if anything else opened up.  This is another example of Fitzpatrick having his mind made up before the snap, and the Jets were fortunate to walk away with a second shot at the end zone after this.

12) 

Ofcourse, the good luck didn’t last for too long, because this is the very next play.  While this will go down as a tipped interception, this should have been picked off straight because Fitzpatrick throws it right to the defender.   Remember the drop by Marshall in the red zone when the Jets stacked WRs?  They have the exact same set up, with a chance for a quick pass strike here, but Fitzpatrick goes away from that, and throws it into traffic for Marshall.  Eric Decker set up the easy pass for Fitzpatrick to Marshall, but it goes ignored to the left of the formation.   Just a horrible read and throw by Fitzpatrick.

13) 

On this play, the Jets are spread out with five receivers, while the Chiefs are in a 2 deep safety look.  Fitzpatrick does a good job of stepping up in the pocket, but he floats this pass too much for Decker and it’s just out of his reach.  He had a step on his defender and Fitzpatrick needs to hit this pass but he over-throws this pass slightly.  For a QB that doesn’t have the strongest arm, he has to get these touch passes perfectly, and in this case, he fails.

14) 

This is a broken play from the start, because there is a blitz and a free man running at Fitzpatrick.  He makes a great move to avoid the blitzing LB, and step up in the pocket, but then fires a very misguided attempt at heroism with a throw into the end zone, which promptly gets picked off.  Enunwa is the closest target, but this pass goes over him and into the waiting arms of a defender.  Many Jet fans will ridicule Geno Smith’s behind the back fumble because he was trying to do too much, but this is much in the same type of play.  There was no need to throw this ill advised throw into the end zone, and it ended up being an interception.  Sometimes, it’s better to cut your losses and survive for another play.

15) 

On this play, Enunwa is open down the middle of the field, but Fitzpatrick just makes a bad throw, and it’s behind the intended target.  Enunwa has a chance for a big gain, but this is just a terrible throw, especially since guys like Forte and Marshall seemed to also be open on this play.  Fitzpatrick is locked into Enunwa from the start of this play, but he has to make a better throw on this play.

16) 

Quincy Enunwa is again open on this play, but Ryan Fitzpatrick is late with the throw, and then promptly air mails it over everyone’s head.  He has a somewhat clean pocket and is looking in the vicinity of Enunwa, but doesn’t pull the trigger on the throw early, and then runs towards the pressure, causing him to throw off-balance on this throw.

17) 

The art of a screen pass from the school of Christian Hackenberg.  This is exactly the type of screen pass that earns criticism for Hackenberg, and Fitzpatrick does a good impression here.  He barely sells this screen pass, and then makes a horrible throw that is popped up and nearly intercepted.  Notice the lineman that realize it’s a screen pass and go directly towards the RB in this case.  It’s a poor set up and execution by the Jets.

18) 

Another example of Fitzpatrick being absolutely locked in on a receiver from the snap.  The Chiefs are in two deep safety look at this point.  He is staring down Eric Decker from the start of this play, and then inexplicably waits until the safety comes into play before he makes his throw.  It’s just a terrible throw, when he had other options open underneath, including Enunwa.  This is another pass the Jets were lucky that it fell incomplete instead of an interception.

19) 

We have one near interception, followed by another near interception.  This another play just staring down Eric Decker the entire way, as he’s somewhat well covered on this play, but Fitzpatrick throws to him anyway.  Brandon Marshall and the RB had a chance to be open on the other side of the field, but Fitzpatrick was determined to throw this ball to Decker, and almost pays for it.  He over-throws the ball again, and the safety behind Decker almost picks it off.  Just a horrible play all around for Fitzpatrick.

20) 

This is just a flat out bad throw.  This is another one where he is staring down a receiver from the onset, and you can see how the safety is following his eyes towards Marshall.  Brandon Marshall was well covered on this play, so naturally Fitzpatrick decides to throw it into traffic anyway.

21) 

The cherry on top of this performance.  A horrible throw again, as if the defender had an invisibility cloak.  The RB is running a wheel route on this play, and Fitzpatrick decides to throw it to the trailing LB, so he can run it back for a Pick 6.  There are other guys open on this play, but this is another locked in syndrome play.

22) 

Since the only fitting way to end this game was an interception, Ryan Fitzpatrick obliged by throwing another one.  Brandon Marshall has one on one coverage against his defender down the sideline, so Ryan Fitzpatrick throws it right to the defender.  He gives no chance for Marshall to make a play on the ball because this is sent right to the corner back on this play.

Conclusion:

This is the worst QB performance I have seen, because it was a constant stream of bad decisions and bad throws during this game.  Even if you go and read our College Scouting Report on Christian Hackenberg, he doesn’t look nearly as bad as Ryan Fitzpatrick did in Week 3.  This was one of those all time worst performances, and it could have easily been worse.  There was a legitimate chance of 10 interceptions in the game, as Fitzpatrick just didn’t have it

Fitzpatrick Grade:  Detained

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Alvin

I write film reviews for the Tennessee Titans as well as here on JetNation. I'm a realtor in Nashville as my day job (So if you are ever looking to move to the Music City - let me know), but I like to break down film as a hobby. My Titans Website: http://anatomyoftitans.com/

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