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 Panthers. We’ll wrap up now with a look at the special teams units.
Kicking – Austin Powers
Austin Seibert had a game winner last week and, this week, he accounted for 80 percent of the Jets’ scoring as he made all four of his field goal attempts, including a 52-yarder.
That was despite the fact that both Lincoln Sefcik and Zack Kuntz allowed pressure off the edge.
Seibert, who added one touchback, looks pretty good and would be a nice security blanket to retain on the practice squad with Greg Zuerlein having missed a few games here and there over the years, but there’s probably more chance he gets claimed by another team.
Zuerlein handled the duties in the first half as he made a field goal and had a touchback.
Thomas Morstead only punted twice. One was a 47-yarder with no return and the other was a 59-yarder fielded inside the 10 and returned just five yards. Braelon Allen allowed pressure on one of those punts.
On the punt rush, Irv Charles got a clean pressure up the middle and may have deflected the punt, which was fair-caught 43 yards down the field. If he didn’t get a touch on it, there was a possibility of a running into the kicker penalty.
The Panthers had one kickoff that bounced short of the landing zone, giving the Jets automatic possession at the 40.
Kick Coverage – Qwan’ but not forgotten
The Jets opened up with Brandin Echols and Qwan’tez Stiggers as their primary gunners this week. Could this be a sign that Charles has one of those spots locked up and there is competition between these two for the other spot?
They actually combined well on Morstead’s first punt as Stiggers got downfield really well. He didn’t complete the tackle, but slowed his man up enough that Echols was able to clean up.
On the next punt, the return man called for a fair catch and Stiggers put pressure on the vice who collided with him as he caught it. That could easily have created a muff.
While he wasn’t used as a gunner, Charles got off a block to make a good stop on a kickoff at the 22.
Anthony Firkser also made a tackle on a kickoff, cleaning up after Braiden McGregor and Xazavian Valladay missed tackles. While he didn’t make the play, McGregor was impressive getting down there.
Shemar Bartholomew and Jason Brownlee were also credited with special teams tackles. Bartholomew made his at the 25 but Brownlee got dragged up to the 33.
Return Game – Good Cod!
Undrafted rookie Brandon Codrington stole the show again with a 63-yard kickoff return, a 15-yard punt return where he broke three tackles and a 31-yard return where he again pulled a Houdini act and could have gone the distance if he managed to tightrope the sideline.
The final punt return was set up by a good double team from the vices Jarius Monroe and Kendall Sheffield. Anthony Hines and Bartholomew also did well not to get flagged on that one.
Other players who made good blocks on Codrington’s returns included Jackson Sirmon, Lance McCutcheon and Valladay.
Codrington also took a fair catch under pressure after the gunner beat Brandon Smith down the field.
Aside from Codrington, Malachi Corley took one kickoff out to the 30, breaking one tackle and Isaiah Davis had a fair catch and punt returns of five and nine yards.
Valladay and Qwan’tez Stiggers missed their blocks as Davis was stopped on the first punt return but Stiggers did a great job of walling off the gunner on the next one.
The fair catch Davis took was on the possibly deflected punt and looked like a bad decision because he had plenty of room even though at least one player was unblocked getting downfield. He probably wishes he could have that one back.