Content available exclusively for subscribers
He went there.
“They out-schemed us, out-efforted us,” Jets receiver Allen Lazard said.
Garrett Wilson was asked if he agreed with Lazard’s comment.
“If Allen said it, it’s probably true,” Wilson said. “I love Allen.”
The “out-efforted” part isn’t that newsworthy to me. It’s hard to quantify that.
The newsworthy part is him saying, “they out-schemed us.”
Unless I’m mistaken, this is the first time a Jets player has questioned the team’s X’s and O’s publicly this season.
It’s a gutsy move by a player, but Lazard has some security, in the first year of a four-year, $44 million contract with $22 million guaranteed.
They really can’t get out of the contract until after the 2024-25 season without a big cap hit.
Also, he’s a former Green Bay teammate and close friend of Aaron Rodgers, so he kind of has favored nation status right now at 1 Jets Drive.
He can say this and get away with this. A backup receiver or linebacker couldn’t.
And it’s hard to argue with his point.
Dolphins defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, one of the best in the business, won the chess match with Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
Fangio’s creative pressure packages gave the Jets offensive line fits. The communication on the Jets offensive line dealing with stunts and twists wasn’t very good.
Throughout the game, the announcers were making excuses for the Jets’ offensive line, because of all the injuries the Jets have suffered and all the different O-Line combinations.
But you know what, when you look at the players starting today on the Jets line, it’s not like they were starting a bunch of undrafted free agents.
You had Mekhi Becton at left tackle, a former first-round pick, you had Laken Tomlinson at left guard, a former first-round pick, you have Joe Tippman, the best center in the 2023 draft in the middle, and Billy Turner, with 76 NFL starts at right tackle.
Granted you have journeyman Jake Hanson at right guard, but based on the pedigree of the other four starters, it should not have been as bad as it was.
But part of this was Fangio winning the chess game. The Jets just didn’t do a very good job of playcalling to counter what the Dolphins were doing on defense.
The Jets looked like the 2022 Denver offense, leaving you wanting more from a play-calling standpoint.
On the other side of the ball, Miami’s head coach/offensive coordinator won the chess match against Jets co-defensive coordinators Jeff Ulbrich and Robert Saleh.
Some wonder if Miami’s offense would struggle today without superstar receiver Tyreek Hill and two starting offensive linemen, center Connor Williams and guard Robert Hunt.
And when you consider the Jets’ strength is their defensive line, many thought that Tua Tagovailoa would be running for his life in this game.
Didn’t happen.
In fact, Tua completed his first 13 passes of the game.
For some reason, the Jets defensive coaches didn’t match up Sauce Gardner with speedy Jaylen Waddle, the #1 receiver with Hill out. They had the corners stay on one side, and D.J. Reed didn’t have the speed to consistently keep up with Waddle, who caught a long tD pass. Bad chess.
The truth hurts.
Lazard was right.
The Jets were out-schemed.
December 17, 2023
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Monday.
