Jets Video Rewind

Real life intruded this week, which has really stretched the publishing schedule.  Last night I baby-sat (sans wife) our friend's practically still-in-the-wrapper three-week-old son.  Given that our first is on the way in just a few more months, I needed the practice.  The bad news is that this even further delayed things with the blog; the good news is I only dropped him twice and none of the damage will likely be permanent. 

Just kidding, J & P. 

The end result, and I'm not going to lie to you, is that this week's video rewind is a little half-hearted.  Still some things we can learn though.

First things first -- Gocong.  He was definitely on the field more against the Jets than he has been before.  I did a first-half snap count and had him on the field for 17 plays, with the Eagles in nickel for 11.  Different teams call for different strategies, but remember that he started the year playing only about one-third of the snaps.

There's not a whole lot of dipsy-do to Gocong's game, but I love the way he comes up the fill the hole now.  When he gets a running start on a lead blocker, man, he destroys the guy.  It's not just fullbacks, either, there was one play where an offensive lineman pulled around the outside to lead out Thomas Jones and Gocong just stopped him in his tracks, forcing Jones to take an early cutback.  Eagles fans are going to like the way this guy plays the game as he continues to get more comfortable playing LB out there.

Speaking of cutbacks, those first two running plays...  A number of guys got out of their gaps on both plays, so you can't pin it on any one player, but Jevon Kearse had the toughest time with them.  On the first play, Kearse came flying upfield, so when Jones cut back he was able to blow through Kearse's spot in the line.  There should have been a linebacker there anyway, but Kearse ended up being the closest guy to the play. 

On the next play though, the exact same thing happened, but this time Kearse said, "uh-uh, you're not cutting inside me again," so he fought his way back towards the line.  Unfortunately, Jones saw this and this time he just looped around Kearse the long way.  The impressive part of that play is that it was Kearse who chased him down on the sideline.  Still, tough way for a guy to begin the game.

Bigger picture, I think we saw in this game how teams are going to have to try to go at the Eagles' run defense.  This mistakes in this game were mostly just overpursuit, so not anything too worrisome, but the Jets demonstrated that you can have some success if you commit enough guys to control the DTs and then attack the defensive ends.  We've seen this in the past (remember Trotter's famous line about the team's undersized DEs last year) but with the rest of the run D working so well, teams almost have no choice but to keep going at it.  If the DTs are soaking up all those blockers, the linebackers are going to have to make those plays.

Speaking of the tackles, Johnson changed his rotation this game.  I didn't keep a close count of it, but gone was the two-line approach he's used up to now with Bunk / Patterson starting and Howard / Reagor in on passing downs.  Instead it was a three-man rotation with the starters and LaJuan Ramsey, who sort of came out of nowhere for this game.  Johnson said after the game he felt like he needed Ramsey's size out there, but isn't that why we have Kimo Von Oelhoffen?  The depth chart hasn't changed, so maybe this was a one-week thing to remind Howard, Reagor and VO that combining for three tackles so far as a group isn't getting it done.

The one thing I REALLY hope we don't see is a permanent shortening of the DT rotation.  These guys are doing such a nice job out there, the last thing we need to do is fall into the trap of wearing them down again with too many snaps.

As for the rest of the defense, the biggest thing we're seeing five weeks into the season is that the young guys are really getting better.  Sean Considine is a much better blitzer than he was a year ago, both in hiding his intention and timing his jump.  Joselio Hanson no longer scares me as much when he's on the field -- he's starting to look more and more like Rod Hood out there. 

The only negative is that Gaither hasn't made quite the jump I've been hoping to see yet.  It could just be that he's on a temporary plateau waiting for the next breakthrough.  If you're a Penn State fan, remember the transition Poz had to go through his senior season after he moved into the middle before he figured out the angles in there.

Two more quick defensive thoughts: 1) Trent Cole cannot get a holding call, which, given that he's #2 in the league in sacks and all, is incredibly annoying; and 2) that pass interference call on Spikes wasn't as bad a decision as it looked.  If Spikes had gotten there a step sooner he would have made a legal jam on a receiver within five yards of the line of scrimmage.  He was just a little slow.

On the offensive side, of course the big question was formation and protection.  The Eagles really mixed things up.  The first drive only last two plays, so we can't tell very much, but the second drive went nine plays before Akers converted a field goal.  On this series, the Eagles stayed mostly with their traditional look of one tight end and single back or I-formation. 

The third drive, which lasted 17(!) plays before the Akers missed field goal, was when things got crazy:

1. Two tight ends left, one right
2. Two tight ends left, one right
3. Double tight end / wing (or H-back)
4. Double tight end / wing
5. Tight end right
6. Tight end right
7. Two tight ends split
8. Tight end right
9. Two tight ends right
10. Bunch left (outside WR runs immediate route, middle guy Baskett blocks for a count and then releases, tight end stays in to block)
11. Three tight ends right
12. TE / WR tight on right side (WR blocks/releases, TE stays to block -- also, Westbrook chipped on left side)
13. One tight end left, two right
14. Tight end right
15. Two tight ends split
16. No tight ends
17. Bunch left, same blocking pattern as #10

Had Jamaal Jackson stayed on his first block even half a second longer on the Westbrook TD run that was called back, Andrews wouldn't have had to hold that man and the drive would have been perfect.

In other areas, the Jets clearly spent the entire week working on screen defense.  The Eagles tried to run screens to Westbrook on both the second and third drives when they reached the red zone and both times the Jets were all over it.  They're going to have to put that away for a little while down there in the shadow of the goal posts. 

On the fourth series, there was one notable play on a deep completion to Curtis where the Jets showed blitz pre-snap, Donovan made a blocking adjustment and Westbrook came forward to yell at the linemen about where he would be picking someone up.  It was good communication and it worked perfectly.

Speaking of communication, on the Curtis touchdown play Donovan audibled to a route package that had both his outside receivers running slants.  The signal for this was, um, a slanted arm across his chest. 

I really hope our audible signals are actually more complicated than that.

As for the Eagles' struggles in the red zone, I know everyone's looking for big-picture explanations, but some times it's as simple as guys just not making plays:

First series -- TD to Curtis

Second series -- Avant open in end zone and if McNabb puts six more inches on that ball it's a touchdown

Third series -- If Jackson holds his first block for a second that Westbrook TD counts

Fourth series -- Curtis was interfered with in the end zone and the refs -- who may not have realized their penalty flags could be reused so they didn't have to save them for something REALLY blatant -- didn't call it

As for how much they passed versus ran in the red zone, keep in mind that a couple of those passes were screens to Westbrook, which are basically running plays.  Also, the Andrews holding call put them in second-and-20, so the run was basically out there.  Sometimes, stuff happens.

Now we get to see what the Eagles can do against a much stiffer defense this week.

Oh right, the Jets' D is actually only one spot worse than Da Bears.