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:
Jelani Hammer
With Mason Taylor ruled out again during the week, Jelani Woods got another opportunity to show what he brings to the table, as he was in the game for 22 snaps.
This play, despite being just a four-yard gain, was particularly notable because it was Woods’ first catch since his rookie season in 2022.
As before, though, his main role was as a blocker and he for the most part made good contributions in this area. However, his consistency wasn’t there as he had two bad negative plays.
On one, he let his man come off his block from the slot to get in on a stop on the edge. The other one saw him allow his man to penetrate to enable a red zone run to be bottled up.
With one game to go, the Jets could easily opt to leave Taylor on the shelf and give Woods another chance to put some good moments on film, but considering the fanfare he arrived with, the Woods addition has been a total non-event.
I’m Just Kene
It’s easy to forget that Kene Nwangwu is a running back by trade, since he plays such a prominent role in the return game. However, on Sunday, Breece Hall and Isaiah Davis were ruled out for the rest of the game within minutes of each other in the fourth quarter, so Nwangwu and Khalil Herbert got to split the rest of the workload.
Nwangwu was the more effective of the two, picking up a couple of first downs. His first three carries netted a healthy 26 yards, including 16 on this run where he was totally untouched but showed good burst.
His last three carries were less effective, netting five yards, but he at least showed he can be a competent backup by averaging over five per carry overall, on a day when he also averaged 28.5 yards per kickoff return.
Three issues prevent Nwangwu from consideration for a bigger role, though. One is that he is so good in the return game, you want to keep him available for that. There’s a good chance Nwangwu will end the season as the league leader in kickoff return average if he can register four legal returns on Sunday. Reason number two is his inability to stay healthy, even when only playing special teams. The final reason is he lacks experience as a pass protector.
That last reason showed up on 4th-and-goal on the Jets’ final possession as Brady Cook threw incomplete under pressure from a blitz Nwangwu failed to pick up.
Nwangwu is out of contract at the end of the year, but – despite his durability concerns – he’d be a nice piece to retain. That would be 99 percent for his special teams contributions though.
Feeling like a Newman
One thing we’ve learned very little about this year is the standard of the Jets’ offensive line depth. When Alijah Vera-Tucker’s injury reduced the Jets from a strong top six to a weaker-but-still-solid five, their depth was compromised. It didn’t matter, though, as all five starters have started every game to date.
Heading into this game, Max Mitchell (who has also had some good moments in jumbo sets) had played seven offensive line snaps and Xavier Newman had played 10. However, John Simpson’s fourth quarter injury gave Newman the first chance for any non-starter to play a significant amount of snaps (21) all season.
On the whole, he fitted in quite well with the other four starters. Most of his run blocking assignments were carried out competently with his best block on the long Nwangwu run. His lone negative saw him (and Joe Tippmann) beaten on this run stuff.
In pass protection, Newman just about held up. He was half-beaten twice and there was one play where his man blew past him with a spin move but Josh Myers was right there to pick him up. The only pressure he allowed came on a stunt where he was a step slow in getting across to pick it up.
There was an encouraging moment here, though, which saw him go looking for work so he could light up a pass rusher.
On the whole, Newman had mixed results but it wasn’t too bad. As slotting a backup into a unit that had developed over the course of the season goes, this was pretty close to seamless.
If Simpson’s injury was significant, perhaps Newman will get a start on Sunday so we can assess him further.
Previously: Three on D: Page, Watts, J. Clark