Bryce Petty and the Jets lost another game this past week, to the suddenly surging Dolphins in embarrassing fashion. While Petty made mistakes, he wasn’t as bad as the score would indicate. Let’s examine his good plays from this game:
This is a second and ten play in the first quarter, with the Dolphins showing a two deep safety look to start the play. Once, Petty gets behind the center, the Dolphins show their hand with a blitz, and subsequent single high safety look. Petty realizes this change, and calls for an audible, which is exactly the call he needs to make in this situation. Once the Dolphins show single high safety, with a corner blitz, Petty knows he has a one on one match up with Robbie Anderson on a crossing route, and that is a battle the speedy receiver should win. Notice the positioning of the safety on this play, because this helps Anderson in the long run. The safety is positioned inside of Anderson, to prevent the short crossing route, as assumed hot route from Petty with the blitz being recognized. However, the audible has called for a deep crossing route, so Anderson runs by the safety and then turns for the crossing route. At this point, Anderson makes close to a ninety degree turn, while the defender is forced to make a turn in excess if a hundred and thirty degrees. The extra turn radius helps out Anderson because it slows down the defender, allowing for separation. Petty throws an absolute laser of a throw to Anderson, who runs it in for the TD. The Dolphins are relying on the blitz getting to Petty before the longer routes have a time to develop, but the offensive line held up well for this play (not the case in other situations) and they paid for it. For the last couple of games, we’ve harped about how Petty needs to see a last minute defensive change, and realize the consequences, and he does so marvelously on this example. Prior to the defensive change, this route would not work because there would be a safety near Anderson, but once that safety moved, Petty correctly surmises that the middle of the field would be open.
This is great play recognition by Petty. The situation is second and thirteen, with the Dolphins showing a two deep safety look. The pre-snap movement indicates man coverage as the defender moves with Enunwa. On most plays, this is a give away that it’s man coverage, because the defense has pre-set notions on which defenders they want to cover certain receivers. However, the Dolphins are actually trying to trick the young QB, but he doesn’t fall for it. Assuming man coverage, Petty’s first read is correct in Austin Seferain-Jenkins because his defender is lined up well inside of him. Robby Anderson running the shallow crossing route should create a pick play on the defender playing Jenkins, allowing for an easy pass to the TE. However, the Dolphins disguised their zone coverage with the looks of man coverage, and switch into it as the play develops. Bryce Petty does a great job of standing in the pocket and reversing course, as he looks at Jenkins, Anderson, and then Marshall. The read on this play is the middle linebacker, who is running back in the middle of the field. If the LB breaks off towards Marshall, then the deep pass to Enunwa is open, and if he does not, then the pass to Marshall is open. Petty throws a very nice pass to Marshall, who runs around a bit to get back to the same yard marker as to where he caught the ball initially. This is an excellent example of going through progressions, and understanding the defense at it’s core. Petty doesn’t panic in the pocket once his pre-snap read is proven to be false, and picks apart the defense. It’s also a very good play design by Gailey because Powell is open for the quick pass as well in case Petty needs to check down in the face of a pass rusher.
This is a first and ten play in the first quarter with the Dolpins in a single high safety look. This play also does not count because there was an illegal hands to the face penalty on Ben Ijalana, which negated this pass. The Dolphins are in press man coverage across the board, and the second safety is coming into the box to play the run. This pass shows excellent timing with Marshall, as the ball was perfectly placed in the correct time (I believe even the broadcast booth mentioned it) as it almost functions as a back shoulder pass. It’s a comeback route, and Petty throws this pass before Marshall even makes his cut. If there is anything Petty can learn from Fitzpatrick, it’s these types of throws where he has to anticipate his receiver getting open. Fitzpatrick’s biggest strength (and partial weakness) is his ability to anticipate throwing lanes, which he was forced to do because of his lack of arm strength. Petty does not have this problem, but it’s an extremely useful weapon to be able to make these types of throws against press man coverage. He should also learn with back shoulder throws as well, as he develops more timing with his receivers. The only other thing to note on this play is the second safety. Notice the hesitation of the safety when Petty does a little play action fake while he’s backing up, which opens up the passing lane further for Marshall. The play action made sure the safety couldn’t jump the passing lane to Marshall, and played a sizable part in the success of this play. Although, the penalty negates this play, it is here because it shows good anticipation from Petty (throwing a receiver open) and timing with Marshall.
This is a second and two play in the second quarter, with the Dolphins showing a single high safety in press man coverage. Remember the play from earlier where the defender moved with the man in motion, and then they went into zone coverage. Well in this case, they remain with the man coverage. This is a great read by Petty because the Dolphins are playing press coverage, and he only has three receivers, with one of them being a TE. Notice the position of the defender after Enunwa runs in motion, he’s about a yard or so outside of him because he has no protection to that side. He knows there is a linebacker in the middle to protect him to the inside. Petty does a couple of good things on this play. The first is that, his first look is towards Marshall (as we have seen from the last few reviews- single high safety in press coverage- means take a deep shot in most college spread systems) but realizes that he’s well covered. The look towards Marshall also sends the safety towards the receiver as well. Petty goes through his progression and gets to Enunwa streaking across the field, and hits him in stride, which allows him to keep his momentum going forward, and then break off a big run. Enunwa almost runs for the TD, but gets tackled by his shoelaces as he’s sprinting towards the end zone. Remember the look Petty gave towards Marshall on this play, and how it moved the safety? That would have been important because if the middle linebacker decides to stick to Enunwa and his route, Austin Seferian-Jenkins would be open for the pass. The safety moving would have put him at a bad angle to make a play on the ball. While it doesn’t have an effect on this play because the linebacker doesn’t go for Enunwa, it’s a small detail that can go a long way in Petty’s future. The other thing to note on this play is the blitz pickup by Matt Forte on this play, as he gets pounded for stepping in front of the defender, but does his job.
This is a first and twenty play late in the second quarter, as the Jets embark on a rare two minute drive. The Dolphins are in a two deep safety look and playing well off the ball in the middle of the field, while playing press coverage on the outside. Petty realizes that the middle of the field is probably the spot to find an open receiver, and he finds Charone Peake in the middle for a ten yard gain. This is just a good pre-snap read by Petty, and also not rushing throws in a two minute offense. The defense was willing to concede the middle of the field on this throwing, trying to bait the young QB into throwing a bad pass in an attempt to convert the twenty yards all at once. Petty shows good poise and takes what was given to him. The throw isn’t anything special, standard throw that any college QB should be able to make. It’s just a good read by Petty at the line, and not getting too greedy. It’s a good thing that Petty seems to be targeting Peake, because he is another young receiver the Jets should be excited about. Peake had his second highest target total of the season in this game. Look for Peake to get more targets as the season moves into the final phase.
This is a third and ten play in the second quarter, and the Dolphins are showing a two deep safety look with man coverage. The Dolphins are banking on this pass going to Quincy Enunwa because they commit a safety over the top towards him (he moves up prior to the snap) as well as linebacker on the other side of the field dropping back into coverage. However, Petty is locked into Robby Anderson on this play from the start. It’s actually a good recognition by Petty because this is a single high safety look, with Anderson’s defender playing back. This usually indicates that the defender doesn’t have help over the top, therefore is willing to give up some space with the intention of protecting the deep pass. Anderson runs an absolutely wonderful route here to get open. Notice that Anderson runs past the first down marker without any signs of slowing down, which immediately causes the defender to turn his hips and run down the field. Anderson, then does a quick turn and is wide open for the comeback route, and Petty makes an excellent throw. Petty has one more read on this play, which is the defender on Charone Peake. If the defender wanders towards Anderson, then the play is to Peake going down the middle, before the safety comes into play. However, the defender on Peake goes with the receiver, opening up the pass for Anderson. Last week, Anderson made a mistake by not going out of bounds in a two minute drill, costing the team precious time on the clock. Apparently, coaches had a talk with him, because he doesn’t even try to make a move on this play, and goes right for the sidelines. This is a clutch throw by Petty from the far hash marks to the other side of the field. One of the reasons the Dolphins are playing away from Anderson on this play is because a comeback or out route in this case is a tough throw due to the distance. For example, Fitzpatrick would have to make this decision quicker, which may cause the defender on Peake to jump the route.
This is the very next play, first and ten with the Dolphins showing a two deep safety look. Petty makes the wrong read on this pass, but his arm makes up for it. The pre-snap read should have indicated that the left side of the formation had a much better chance of being open with defenders playing off. However, Petty makes the wrong read by focusing in on Enunwa on this play because Petty wants a sideline throw to conserve time. The Dolphins show a defender lined up about eight yards off, and slanting to the outside, as well as linebacker near Enunwa. This should have been the ultimate sign to move away from Enunwa, but Petty does not heed. The other side of the field is definitely open, and would have been a much better option. However, Petty makes an amazing throw with this pass to the receiver. The Dolphins had this play defended perfectly and they still got beat. It’s an extremely risky throw because it’s double coverage (triple if you factor in the sidelines) with very little space to fit in a throw, but Petty makes the play. There has been some labels of a gunslinger about Petty and this is a good example. He has a great arm and he shows it off here but takes a risk that he did not need to take.
This is a second and ten play with the Dolphins showing two deep safety, and there is about 30 seconds left on the clock. The Dolphins are conceding the middle of the field on this one, as you see both outside receivers double covered. In fact, it’s the same coverage given to Enunwa on the last play, as they hope Petty tries his luck again. Petty instead makes a good read and realizes that the middle of the field is open and takes the pass to Charone Peake again. There is a deeper route developing behind Peake with Enunwa, but Petty doesn’t risk it being this close to field goal range.
This is a second and nineteen situation, with the Dolphins playing a two deep safety look. They are playing a deep zone coverage, mainly because of the down and distance, and Petty doesn’t fall into the trap. Petty’s initial read is Austin Seferian-Jenkins on this play if they are playing man coverage. However, it becomes clear that they are in zone coverage, so Petty moves onto the cutting Enunwa to pick up yards and make the third down more reasonable. Enunwa does a great job of fighting for yards and moving up field on this run after the catch. This play can almost qualify for the “Petty Friends” article because Enunwa does great work here after the catch. It is here mainly because Petty recognizes coverage on this play and goes to his secondary read instead of trying to push it.
The most famous play of the night, one that will live in infamy in future parodies about the Jets on national TV broadcasts. This is a third and five play to start the fourth quarter, and the Dolphins are showing a single high safety look. Single high safety look with press man coverage almost always indicates that the Jets are going for the deep pass on the outside. Petty makes a beautiful outside shoulder pass to Anderson, who makes a great play on this ball as well. This pass is extremely hard to defend because of Petty’s propensity to take deep shots with Anderson. The defender doesn’t have help over the top, so his hips are turned to run up the field, taking him out of position to make a play on the ball. This is one pass that Petty needs to learn from Fitzpatrick because it could be a huge weapon for him. Under pressure, this is absolutely a great throw by Petty, and catch by Anderson.
Who do you blame on this play? Ben Ijalana, Wesley Johnson and Eric Tomlinson. The reason this play turns horrible is because Petty changes the snap count, and calls for a quick snap. Why? He caught the Dolphins in a mistake, and wanted to take advantage. The Dolphins are switching safeties, with one safety running back, while the other safety doesn’t correlate. This means that two safeties are in the same area, rending one of them useless. Also, the safety is coming from Petty’s left side, while the safety to move is on Petty’s right side, which is also Anderson’s side. Petty doesn’t want the Dolphins to set up in a two deep wide safety look, because then he has to call an audible late in the play clock. Petty rushes the snap count (whatever magic word calls for the snap in the shotgun) which throws off everyone else on the line of scrimmage. This is a direct manifestation of the lack of experience on this offensive line, because they just haven’t played with the QB often enough. Petty was injured for a large chunk of the season, which meant that he didn’t practice with the team, further diminishing his familiarity with the line, and vice versa. QBs calling for quick snaps is prevalent around the league, so much so, that good QBs like Brady will fake a quick snap count to try and bait the defense to show their hands. It’s deplorable that the line didn’t block well enough on this play and Petty got injured. The biggest culprit is Eric Tomlinson, who doesn’t block anyone on this play and looks dumbfounded that the ball is snapped. The other culprit is actually the entire offensive line, because they failed to slide their protection. All of them had to block the defender to their left (except Tomlinson) and this would have been a fine play. However, the LT lets the outside defensive end go, instead choosing the block the inside defender, and the guard follows suit. The center, Wesley Johnson doesn’t slide back because the Dolphins backed out of a blitz, so he stood there protecting thin air. James Carpenter froze on the play as well, but his man had nothing to do with this play, especially since Ben Ijalana decided to block him instead of the outside defender. This is just a horrible play from Ijalana, because at least Tomlinson isn’t really a blocker and more of a receiver.
Petty played well in this game, and started off extremely well. He does get a lot of help from Powell in this game (as you will see in the Petty’s Friends” article) but there are also some glaring mishaps from his receivers, especially Brandon Marshall. Petty showed good signs in reading the defense, and he seemed to improve a bit in reading defenses while the play was in motion. As usual, he did a good job of going through his progressions, especially noteworthy when facing such a ferocious pass rush with a makeshift offensive line. It’s a shame he got injured in this game, because he did so while making a very good pre-snap read. It’ll be exciting to see Petty face the Patriots next week, as they will try to give him disguised formations to throw him off. It’ll be a good barometer on how far Petty’s play recognition has progressed.
Forum Questions:
A) Who do you blame for the sack?
B) Which was your favorite Petty throw?
Article Schedule: Due to time conflicts, the Petty’s Friends article will be posted tomorrow, and the Petty Crimes one the following day.
For people not enrolled in rehab programs: A Fitzpatrick film breakdown article will be posted later today at 6 pm EST.
