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 Eagles. We’ll start with a look at offense and will cover the defense and special teams later on.
Quarterbacks – Speedy Gonzalez
Undrafted rookie Brady Cook played the first half and ended up with 99 passing yards on 13 of 19 completions. He was pretty ineffective until completing four of six passes on the last drive of the first half to set up a field goal on the two minute drill.
Cook threw a bad interception and had a couple of passes dropped where he didn’t put any touch on the ball, but settled nicely and had a few good downfield completions.
Adrian Martinez had an awful start, as the Eagles’ 6-3 lead soon became 19-3 after he lost a fumble and threw a bad interception. He ended up 7-for-14 for 86 yards and probably would have led the Jets to a successful comeback win had he not been let down by penalties and drops at the end.
You got the sense Martinez could have more success if he took off and ran more often, but he probably wants to (or has been told he needs to) prove he can operate within the system without freewheeling. In the comeback, he had a few plays where he used his athleticism to avoid sacks and keep plays alive, which are probably his best traits.
He did score on a two-point conversion, again using his legs after nobody was open.
(Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor did not play)
Running Backs – ‘fili Boned
Kene Nwangwu got the start and produced reasonably well as a runner with 29 yards on six carries. However, he was targeted four times in the passing game and had three catches for minus-one yards and a drop. Two other runs for 13 yards were negated by holding penalties.
UDFA Donovan Edwards has lost momentum since the Packers game but did score the touchdown to make it 19-17. Unfortunately, he was then ruled short on the two-point conversion, although it looked possible the ball broke the plane.
He started slowly with just seven yards on his first five carries, but then had two runs of 10+ yards, albeit that one was negated by a hold. He ended up with 37 yards on 11 touches.
His fellow UDFA Lawrance Toafili was arguably more impressive as he had 38 yards on seven carries, including a 19-yard touchdown run where he slipped three tackles, and two short yardage conversions.
Toafili picked up the blitz successfully a couple of times but Edwards gave up a couple of pressures.
(Breece Hall, Braylon Allen and Isaiah Davis did not play).
Offensive Line – A Fornadel in the side
Armand Membou, Max Mitchell and Xavier Newman should be on the final roster but all three saw action on the first three series, all of which ended in a three-and-out.
It would be nice to be able to point to some real positives from Membou but he lost leverage and tackled his man to the ground to draw a flag for holding and then later had a false start. Perhaps his best block of the day saw him get out to the second level and even on that one he could easily have been flagged for illegal hands to the face because he inadvertently took the linebacker’s helmet off.
Mitchell and Newman also had negatives as Mitchell was beaten around the edge for a pressure and missed a block on a screen pass and Newman had a holding penalty. Each had one good run block though.
The other starters were center Liam Fornadel and Kohl Levao at right guard, who each played the whole game. Levao was a mixed bag as he had a couple of driving run blocks early on but also gave up a few pressures. Fornadel was better in pass protection and had a consistent game as a run blocker. He looks like a potentially useful backup center.
When Mitchell, Membou and Newman departed, Marquis Hayes entered at left guard, with Samuel Jackson at left tackle and Carter Warren at right tackle.
Hayes had a couple of good blocks on the move and one where he climbed to the second level but also gave up a couple of pressures. The pattern with Jackson was the same as in the previous two preseason games, as he gave up a handful of pressures off the edge, including a strip sack, but had a few good run blocks, including on Edwards’ touchdown.
Warren had another poor performance, including getting beaten for a sack. Toafili’s touchdown was a result of Warren’s man getting to him near the line of scrimmage but missing the tackle.
Each of those three had a penalty with Hayes being called for holding and Warren and Jackson false-starting.
(The other four starters plus Josh Myers, Chukwuma Okorafor and Leander Wiegand did not play).
Wide Receivers – Jamaal à la tête
There were some good performances from wide receiver this week, with a competitive battle at the bottom end of the depth chart between Brandon Smith, Quentin Skinner and Jamaal Pritchett, who combined for 136 of the Jets’ 185 passing yards.
Smith had three more catches, including two first down catches down the field. He’ll be disappointed he couldn’t keep hold of another pass that the cornerback managed to strip away at the catch-point, but it was a strong preseason campaign for the second year in a row.
Skinner was unlucky that his fourth down catch in the last minute was called back because he had momentarily grabbed the cornerback’s facemask as he broke away to get separation. That would have set up a field goal attempt to potentially win the game.
Prior to that, he had three catches with two downfield first downs and also drew two first downs via penalty. One of his catches was a low throw that he scooped up well as he went to ground.
It’s also noticeable that Skinner has an eye for details that perhaps other receivers sometimes lack. Hustling to get the ball to the official to spot it during the two minute drill and his touchdown saving tackle on Martinez’s fumble (while others stood around not even realizing it was a live ball) are examples of this.
As for Pritchett, who led the Jets with 54 yards on four catches, he had three first downs including two where he made sensational juke moves to avoid a couple of tacklers in the open field.
Rookie Arian Smith has shown less than those three in preseason, but his spot as a drafted player is safe and the potential is obvious because he’s been close to a couple of big plays. In this game, his only target was through his hands in traffic, but wouldn’t necessarily be considered a drop because it was fired into a tight window. He did pick up a first down on a jet sweep.
Malachi Corley has shown absolutely nothing in preseason and will be lucky to end up on a practice squad somewhere. The only target he had in this game was intercepted and, it’s difficult to say for sure but there’s a question over whether he could have ran a better route and been able to compete for the ball.
Pokey Wilson didn’t register a catch but did draw a defensive hold on one play. He missed his block on one run though.
Finally, UDFA Dymere Miller had a good highlight as he made his first preseason catch and slipped a tackle to turn it upfield for a 24-yard play.
(Irv Charles, who is on the PUP list, and Allen Lazard, Garrett Wilson, Tyler Johnson, Xavier Gipson and Josh Reynolds did not play)
Tight Ends – Slack Zack
Jeremy Ruckert saw brief action, perhaps suggesting his roster spot is not yet secure. He caught two short passes but otherwise made no impact. Andrew Beck also saw action and wasn’t targeted. The pair combined well to lead the way on Smith’s end around.
Stone Smartt had a short catch on the two-minute drill but failed to get out of bounds. However, he had a couple of positive run blocks, just about getting enough of his man on Edwards’ touchdown run.
Zack Kuntz had a chance to be a hero when the Jets had 1st-and-10 on the 42, down by two in the closing stages. However, the first down pass into the flat was incomplete as he tried to make a one-handed catch and he had a clear drop on third down.
Kuntz, who did have one short catch, also let himself down as a blocker as he got beaten a couple of times in pass protection and let a guy run right past him for a clean hit on a quarterback.
Finally, Neal Johnson was targeted once but the pass was high and off his hands.
(Mason Taylor did not play).
We’ll be back with more on the defense and special teams later…