The NY Jets 2020 Passing Game Struggles in 2020

  New York Jets' 2020 passing struggles.

It goes without saying that the NY Jets  fielded an ineffective offense in 2020. They failed to establish an identity and really struggled in the passing game. The Jets ranked 31st in passing yards at 174 yards per game and also ranked 31st with 6.4 yards per pass attempt. Their team passer rating between Sam Darnold and Joe Flacco (75.9) was 30th in the league.

The Jets' inefficiency was due to several factors. Let's take a look and see where the passing game went wrong.

Winning matchups on the outside

The No. 1 issue was the Jets' inability to win 1-on-1 matchups on the outside. They were ranked 30th in the league in completion percentage against man-to-man defense (57.4%).

Too many times against man coverage there was no place to go with the football. With the exception of Jamison Crowder, who often won matchups in the slot (thus keeping him around was a priority), man coverage gave the Jets issues on the outside all season. The quarterbacks were often either hurried/sacked against man coverage as the Jets WR on the outside failed to get open downfield.

Here's an example against the Bills where there is nothing Darnold can do. No one gets separation and Sam has no place to go with the football.

Here is a 2-play sequence on the goal line vs the Cardinals.

Look at the separation by the Jets' wide receivers. It doesn't seem like Joe Flacco has too many options on where to go with the football. On the first play, he tries to hit a covered Smith and on the 2nd Flacco tries to hit Crowder on the wheel. NO WR is open in both situations and they have to settle for a field goal. You figure Mims with his size could be a factor but there wasn't too many sightings of him in the red zone.

QB DECISION MAKING

The #2 issue in the passing game was Sam Darnold's decision making at times. Sam is talented but at times made decisions to run instead of keeping plays alive I the pocket. At times Sam either would miss reads or try to run too often rather than stay in the pocket , slide and make a throw. This was evident on some  occasions. Once he masters this trait his career will take off. 

Here's a few examples:

 3rd and 6 vs the Bills

 The Jets get cover 3 pre snap and it doesn't change post snap. They have 2 verts on the outside which one may have been a dig and then Crowder sitting over the middle. If Sam reads it he should be working the in route as Crowder becomes wide open vs cover 3. He slides to his left he could make this throw, but he tries to scramble and throws it late and it gets picked off by Milano. Also, think maybe someone messed up a route because my bet is a WR maybe should have run a dig. But again, he tries to run and the ball gets picked off. 

Here is the film that goes with the play:

2nd and 5 vs The 49ers.

The Defense is in 1/4,1/4 half which is a base defense the 49ers run to the field. Sam should be working the bottom side as both route combinations are excellent and this should be an easy completion. Sam works to the cover 2 side when based on leverage and coverage he  should have not even been looking at. Easy completion turns into a 3rd and 5 situation.

Here is the film that goes with the play.

 It's 3rd and 3 vs the 49ers and the 49ers go Bear cover 1. To me as an NFL QB, you have to have the option to check this to slants on both sides. Very tough to run the football inside vs this look. They try and get stuffed as the 49ers extra front defender makes the tackle.

No gain and are forced to punt

Here's a 3rd and 3 vs the Dolphins, The Jets put Crowder in the backfield and they get man coverage. Crowder runs a wheel and is wide open and Sam takes off for no reason. If he stays in the pocket and delivers the ball it's a 40 yard gain and probably a touchdown. Again, these small plays within the game can be costly. Sam should have been reading the wr in route which was double covered to the RB in man coverage. Crowder is in the backfield for that reason.  He misses the read and eventually the drive fails.  At this point it's a 13-3 game and he gets the first down but the point is make that read and throw as an NFL QB. Too many times, Sam didn't keep plays alive and was very skittish in the pocket and missed key opportunities. That to me is his biggest flaw, his inability to manipulate the pocket.

3RD DOWN INEFFICIENCY

The 3rd problem with the passing game is the Jets  were last in the league in 3rd down efficiency. They just didn't make plays on 3rd down. Several factors contributed to the lack of success. I often thought teams baited the Jets into quick throws.  This caused the Jets to throw  the ball either hot or relied on screens and passes behind the line of scrimmage and hoped their WR can beat people in space. It didn't work out too often as the simulated pressure from double mug looks and other pressure looks often forced quick throws. It's tough to  make a living throwing hot or balls behind the line of scrimmage on 3rd down.

Here are a few examples of the breakdowns in one game vs the Bills:

#1 vs Bills 3rd and 4  Darnold misses Mims, bad read, throws it late incomplete,  settle for a field goal

#2 vs Bills 3rd and 11 Darnold hits Mims, ball behind him, costs him space in the open field. They end up short by a yard.

#3  vs Bills 3rd and 10 The Jets slide protect, Fans steps inside, back doesn't scan across-could have kept solid 1/2 man because no double mug look. Bad protection poor throw, Have to punt

#4 vs Bills 3rd and 13. Bills go 4 to a side, no one blocks the ss, sack end of drive.

Here is some film with it:

In week 12, the 2nd time the Jets played the Miami Dolphins, The Jets went with a different strategy than their first meeting. The Jets QB was under constant pressure all game in the first meeting and in the 2nd meeting ran a tremendous amount of full slide 7 man protections. At times they kept 2 tight ends in the backfield. They used  this protection on 9/13 snaps. That only puts 3 wr into routes. The result was a 3-13 efficiency on 3rd down.  As the game went on the Dolphins recognized this rushed 4 the last 7 3rd down situations. They adapted and did an excellent job defensively. 

Here's the protection:

Here's one of the results of going max, the Dolphins were able to double Crowder and it caused a huge interception late in the game. 

The last 6 3rd downs against the Dolphins,  they were o for 6 and much of it had to do with going max protection and running 3 man patterns against 6/7 man coverage concepts.

RUNNING BACK MATCHUPS

Another problem with the Jets running back situation in the passing game was limited. Their biggest reception total was 16 by Frank Gore and Ty Johnson with 16. There were too many times when these guys had to make plays in the open field and were tackled easily and not able to get the first down. They also didn't garner too much attention when they were split out which didn't open the middle of the field in empty situations. Adding Tevin Coleman and Michael Carter to the mix will definitely improve the passing game in that area. You put Crowder in one slot and Coleman in the other, teams will have issues.

PASS PROTECTION ISSUES

The last reason for the inefficiency in the passing game was that the protection wasn't good at times. Sacks aren't always the offensive line's fault but there were some breakdowns during the year.

The Jets were sacked 43 times in 2020 and that ranked 24th in the league. As many people like to blame the Offensive line, many of the sacks can be attributed to other factors. Out of the 43 sacks here is the breakdown as to who was at fault on each one.

SACK BREAKDOWN:

17 sacks  were situations where an offensive lineman was beat 1x1 by an opponent.

6 sacks were situations where a running back was beat 1x1 by an opponent and missed his block.

14 sacks were on the qb for either holding the ball too long or not maneuvering the pocket well enough or missing a hot read in the passing game.

***Here's an example where the ball should be out. Sam should be reading that it's  man free with no middle of the field option. He can't throw the seem and should hit the dig on time. It's open. If he throws it, it's a completion and 5 a yard gain. Instead it's a sack and poor decision. The offensive line takes the blame but it's all on the QB. At least get rid of the ball and it's 2nd and 10 but instead it becomes 2nd and 15. I can't attest to the read progression on the front side but if he read the backside he also had the comeback route. He's looking at Herndon which is the last person he should be looking to throw the football to in this situation.  This is  bad football decision by the quarterback and 100% on him***

6 sacks were on pass rush games or line stunts where the game caused the sack.

This is just my opinion as I don't know the schemes and exactly nor what the protection was or  who they were throwing hot off of. So, roughly a little more than half was the fault of the offensive line. I think too much blame was cast on them at times as their were several other reasons for the failures in the passing game.

All in all, the Jets passing game had some serious deficiencies in 2020. They did an excellent job adding some key pieces and you should see a major improvement in 2021.