Jets' Kick Coverage: What Happened?
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Izzo was the primary culprit on Ginn's second TD.
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Mike Westhoff’s kick coverage unit betrayed him against his former club. Giving up two touchdowns in a season is one thing but giving up two in the same quarter is ridiculous.
Ted Ginn has blazing speed and is a significantly better kick returner than wide receiver but he is no Dante Hall.
Ginn had never returned a kickoff in the NFL for a touchdown before yesterday and averaged a decent, not great, 22.2 yards per return. He is not very shifty and will not make many miss in the open field but if you give him some space to run he will run away from tacklers.
On his first touchdown Miami set up for a return left and had most of its blockers on that side of the field. The Jets’ coverage unit stayed in their lanes initially but overcommitted to that side prematurely.
Ginn changed direction on a dime and ran up the right side, catching the Jets out of position. Danny Woodhead was the wide man on that side and took a bad angle to the ball.
Woodhead did not gauge Ginn’s speed well otherwise he would have taken a wider angle. The same is true for Wallace Wright and Donald Strickland who appeared to have angles but Ginn ran right by them.
Ginn’s second touchdown was embarrassing. Miami ran the same return and the Jets still could not stop it.
The Jets had Ginn dead to rights but could not finish the play. Special team’s ace Larry Izzo had him lined up and whiffed on the tackle. Back up linebacker Ryan Fowler missed as well and Ginn was off to the races.
He got around Woodhead’s side again and outraced Strickland down the sideline for a second time but it is hard to blame either when this play should have been snuffed out before it began.
I have little scouting on Fowler but Izzo was brought in for his special team’s prowess and grabbing air when your target is right in front of you is unacceptable. He needs to break down with more control and cannot be caught lunging when the return man makes a stutter move.
The special teams unit now joins the offense and defense as groups, which cannot seem to play consistently under Rex Ryan. Although Westhoff has full autonomy over this unit and remains one of the best in the league, it is mystifying why this coverage unit all of a sudden forgot how to cover a kick.
Date Posted: 11/2/2009
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