Over the course of today, we’ll be breaking down the performance of every player that took the field in the Jets’ preseason game against the Giants. We’ll now move on to look at offense and will cover the special teams later on.
Quarterbacks – All we are saying is give Peasley a chance
As promised, Adrian Martinez moved ahead of Peasley in the rotation for this week’s game.
Martinez averaged less than five yards per attempt as he didn’t have any real success down the field with his best play predictably being made with his legs on a 20-yard scramble.
His best pass was over the middle for 16 on the play before the Jets’ lone touchdown.
Taking over at halftime, the undrafted rookie Andrew Peasley had slightly better numbers for yards per attempt but he completed less than half of his passes and more than half of the yardage came on his deep completion in the fourth quarter.
Other than that, Peasley was inaccurate all day and the Jets didn’t manage to score with him at the helm. He had one other good play where he managed to get a throw out to the back on third down despite being under heavy pressure.
Neither of these two looks anywhere close to ready for real NFL action so if one of them is retained on the practice squad that will probably just be for scout team continuity and with an eye on development in the future.
If the Jets are in a situation where they need someone other than Aaron Rodgers or Tyrod Taylor to be ready, you can probably expect them to move for a veteran.
Running Backs – A Xazavian has been born to you
Israel Abanikanda got the start and all the headlines after his 45-yard touchdown run proved to be all the Jets needed to win the game. He ended up with 89 yards on 10 touches and his touchdown run, which was really down to poor tackling more than anything else, wasn’t his only good play. Perhaps more encouraging than his running was the one time he picked up the blitz.
Abanikanda doesn’t look likely to crack the top three at this position though, so even if he does make the 53-man roster he’ll be inactive for a while.
Xazavian Valladay won’t get many headlines and isn’t likely to be retained but he actually had one more yard from scrimmage than Abanikanda, albeit on twice as many touches. He accounted for five first downs, one on a short yardage conversion and the rest on catches, breaking a few tackles and converting twice on third and long.
Valladay only averaged two yards per carry, though, and had a bad drop on third down in the fourth quarter.
Deon Jackson also saw action but his five touches netted just four yards. He also gave up a sack and a pressure with some poor pass protection.
Offensive Line – Glaser Focused
The Jets used 10 offensive linemen on Saturday night but unfortunately two of them, possibly even the two most likely to contribute this year, left the game injured; Max Mitchell and Xavier Newman.
Newman started at left guard and had one good pulling block on the first series but missed a second level block and then left the game. Mitchell had a good backside seal early but then let his man shed his block for a run stuff. On the second series he couldn’t sustain his block on another outside run and was holding his shoulder at the end of the play. A few plays later, his man got off his block to the inside and sacked the quarterback as he was forced to step up due to pressure off the other edge. Mitchell left the game after that play.
For the other eight, versatility was the theme of the day, as virtually everyone was moved around so they could play at more than one position.
The exception to that was Brady Latham who once again filled in at center for most of the second half. The Jets seem keen to keep developing him at that position and he has shown progress in the role. In this game he drove his man off the line on one play and sealed him off on another. He did have some negative plays including a low snap and a half-sack surrendered, though.
Carter Warren saw action at both tackle positions and had some good run blocks early on but then got beaten for a couple of pressures, one of which led to a sack.
Chris Glaser played guard and center and his run blocking was solid on balance, but he had a bad snap that almost led to a safety and allowed one pressure.
Kohl Levao led the Jets in offensive snaps once again, although that may not have been the original plan because he replaced Newman early on. He had mixed results as a run blocker and gave up a pressure on a stunt but made one nice block on a screen.
For the second week in a row, undrafted rookie Willie Tyler really struggled. He gave up a half-sack and a pressure in pass protection and allowed his man to get off his block to make a play against the run multiple times. His best block, as he pulled to the right, came late in the game.
Austin Deculus had a couple of solid run blocks and not too many mistakes in the running game but he gave up several pressures, mostly around the outside.
Obinna Eze also struggled, although he did have two good run blocks. Eze was beaten on a spin move for a quarterback hit and gave up one other pressure and he also whiffed badly on three blocks in space that led to plays being blown up.
Finally, we got our first look at Jake Hanson in preseason, as he played both at guard and center. Hanson had one play where he was blown up and the play was stuffed for a loss. Otherwise, he was comfortable in pass protection and made good contributions in the running game, controlling his man well at the point of attack a number of times.
Wide Receivers – What can Brownlee do for you?
With the passing game not getting much done, Jason Brownlee was the only receiver to catch more than one pass. His three catches included a 16-yarder over the middle and a short conversion on 3rd-and-5. He also could have had a pass interference flag on a deep ball.
Brandon Smith once again stood out by coming down with a deep ball and doing a great job of getting two feet inbounds. He also had a nice block on Abanikanda’s touchdown run.
Lance McCutcheon got off to a good start with a decent block but didn’t record a catch on two targets.
Draft pick Malachi Corley has had an underwhelming preseason. In this game, his only catch was a screen pass on 2nd-and-5 on which he almost got to the marker. He also missed two blocks, got called for a holding penalty and had another low catch correctly overturned because he didn’t keep it off the turf.
Isaiah Winstead didn’t catch a pass on two targets but did at least draw an illegal contact penalty to give the Jets a first down.
Undrafted rookie Tyler Harrell saw action but wasn’t targeted.
Tight Ends – Lincoln Memorial
The lack of production from this group has been disappointing in preseason and once again, each of these players just caught one pass each.
Undrafted rookie Lincoln Sefcik had the pick of the bunch as he caught a 12-yard pass that he had to wrench away from the defender as it easily could have been intercepted. He also had one play where he didn’t sustain his block.
Anthony Firkser caught a short pass underneath and had another one go off his fingertips as he dived for a wide throw. He had a couple of good blocks on the edge but let his man get off his block to make one play.
Zack Kuntz had a nine-yard catch underneath but when he had a chance to make a big catch down the seam it went right through his hands. To his credit, he actually had three good run blocks but he simply hasn’t developed into the kind of pass catching threat the Jets thought they’d drafted.
Kenny Yeboah is the most likely of these four to make the final roster, almost by default. He got injured in this game though, after one play where he made a good block on the edge and another where he caught a short pass for a first down.
Ultimately, tight end might be the most likely position for the Jets to explore a waiver claim.
We’ll be back with more on the special teams later…