After each game, we’ll be highlighting three defensive and three offensive players and looking in detail at their performance. We’ll wrap up today with the offense:
Cookwomble
It clearly wasn’t part of the plan for Brady Cook to be called into action, especially in a situation where the starter Tyrod Taylor left the game with the Jets already 21-0 down. So, the game was basically over before it started and the Jets never looked like a threat to score enough offensive points to make it close.
In the end, Cook led the Jets to one field goal, although he did also get them into the red zone two other times, only to then throw an interception each time.
It was never going to be easy for Cook to step into the game for his first NFL snaps with limited preparation and he made a predictably slow start as was 2-for-9 with an interception, a sack and a fumbled snap in the first half.
From that point onwards, he settled down a little bit and was 12-for-21 for 147 yards in the second half. However, he had another interception, another fumble and was sacked five more times.
Furthermore, 77 of those yards came on the Jets’ last two drives which saw Miami playing a soft prevent-style defense with some backups in the game (one of whom, Ethan Bonner, intercepted him having only played 67 snaps all season prior to this game).
Still, he was able to make a few decent completions for his showreel, the best of which was probably this one.
Cook’s limitations were most apparent on third down as the Jets went just 1-for-12 with Cook finding a wide open Mason Taylor in the flat for 11 on 3rd-and-2. These third down struggles meant that the Jets had zero first downs at the two minute warning in the first half.
While Cook was sacked six times, as noted, two of these were plays where he easily should have been able to scramble for positive yards but failed to reach the line of scrimmage. It was jarring to see Cook, who rushed for 100 yards a few times in college, looking so athletically limited.
His ball placement, arm strength and mechanics were also lacking at times, as Cook had a deer-in-the-headlights air to him on everything other than simple one-read throws off a three step drop. He even rushed most of his dump-offs and the least said about this throw the better.
Still, in his defense, Cook’s numbers would have looked much better if the Jets didn’t drop six passes. If he has to start a game with a full week of preparation, he will likely be a lot more comfortable and they can tailor the game to his skill-set.
There wasn’t much here to convince anyone that his ceiling is anything other than career backup, though. We’ll see how he fares if he gets another shot.
Clear Isaiah, Full hearts, CAN’T LOSE
Isaiah Williams was a rare bright spot from Sunday’s game, albeit mainly for his special teams contributions. He had his second touchdown return of the season when he took a punt back 78 yards in the second quarter and could be headed to the pro bowl based on his current numbers.
What about his offensive contributions, though? Williams has forced his way into the rotation ahead of the likes of Tyler Johnson and Arian Smith and played 33 snaps on Sunday.
While he only had two catches on three targets, Williams at least made some contributions. He came up just short of the marker on one short pass for a gain of nine and made this difficult low grab for 15 late in the game.
The lone unsuccessful target came as he was open underneath but Cook saw it late and tried to force it into traffic.
Williams has also quietly done a solid job as a blocker, which speaks to his consistency of effort at just 185 pounds.
Since he’s under contract for next year, Williams will obviously be back with the Jets. It makes sense for them to continue to see if he can be more than just a return man for them.
Making a Metch of things
After a hot start, the shine has gone off John Metchie III somewhat over the past two weeks. He had caught 14 of his first 15 passes this season and had nine catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns in the previous two games, but his catch rate over these latest two games has been just 50 percent as he has dropped three passes and averaged just 3.3 yards per target.
Those numbers were even lower until late in Sunday’s game, in which he had just seven yards on his first six targets. At least he showed some character to bounce back with two late grabs including this one.
For the second week in a row, Metchie had a really bad red zone drop – this one coming on what should have been a walk-in touchdown. That would have been Cook’s first career touchdown pass and who knows if and when he will get another shot.
Metchie also didn’t help Cook out much on his first interception, which Cook never should have thrown because Metchie wasn’t open, but the pair weren’t on the same page so Metchie couldn’t compete for the ball.
With a month left in the season, Metchie needs to bounce back if he wants to prove himself worthy of consideration for a role next year. Don’t count him out, though, because he’s overcome worse things in his past.
Previously: Three on D: Williams, Saunders, J. Clark