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Jets need to get these two areas going . . .
The New York Jets had no sacks against a Colts offensive line with a backup right guard and right tackle. That isn’t what you are looking for, and they better get this going this week against Minnesota. Not only is Kirk Cousins good, but he has more weapons than Andrew Luck had at his disposal.
Luck’s #1 receiver, T.Y. Hilton, didn’t play, and then he lost two more receivers during the game. Cousins comes to town with one of the best starting duos in the league – Stephen Diggs and Adam Thielen to go along with tight end Kyle Rudolph. If the Jets let Cousins sit back there, like they did Luck, they could be in trouble on Sunday . . .
Something else that needs to be fixed are the blown coverages.
I want to say one thing before I continue – when it comes to blown coverages, it seems to be a league-wide epidemic. I’m sure many of you saw the Kansas City-New England games last night.
If you are watching the San Francisco-Green Bay game, a lot of that going on in this contest also.
I’ve never seen a season with so many blown coverages. I think it’s a combination of things. First off, the offensive coordinators are being very creative with their funky formations. Also there is a shortage of top-shelf corners and safeties, and those are positions usually have a lot of injuries, and there isn’t great depth at those spots. And obviously the rules favor the receivers.
The Colts also had issues with blown coverages, like on Chris Herndon’s 32-yard TD in the third quarter down the left sideline, nobody covered him.
On the Colts’ late TD that made it 42-34, the only dender in the area of the receiver, Chester Rogers, running a shallow cross, was nose tackle Mike Pennel, on a zone blitz. Obviously this reception was the fault of a 340-pound nose tackle, but it’s hard for me to know which defensive back to blame since nobody was near Rogers.
Also in the fourth quarter, tight end Eric Swoope was wide open in the back left corner of the end zone for a TD. Darron Lee looked like he should have been covering him, but didn’t follow him, perhaps thinking somebody else would cover him, but the safety, Terrence Brooks, was in the middle of the end zone, nowhere near that area.
On Eric Ebron’s 18-yard TD down the right seam in the third quarter, he was wide open. This was in back of Avery Williamson and Marcus Maye was playing deep in that area and was in the vincinity, but I will cut Maye slack on this play. Cornerback Daryl Roberts let a receiver go by him down the right sideline, so Maye had to account for him, and this took him away from the right seam where Ebron was running.
The Jets better get this fixed with games coming up against Cousins, Tom Brady (twice) and Aaron Rodgers, or they are asking for trouble.
October 15, 2018
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