Plays of the game
Here are a selection of plays from the Bengals game that had me off my feet.
🗽 Good morning Jets fans. It’s Tuesday, the good vibes from Sunday are still rolling and we have a football game in just 48 hours. It may be tough on the players, but I love a Sunday/Thursday turnaround when you’re coming off the back of a victory. I want more!
Some key bits to mention today. The NFL trade deadline is 4 pm EST, I released my primer yesterday afternoon, and we’ll see what we do over the next few hours. If you missed that piece you can read it HERE.
One player I didn’t mention in that article is Tevin Coleman, who due to the depth the Jets have at the RB position may be moved before the deadline today. With the Titans losing Henry, could they be interested? Even after signing AP, I think there could be something there.
As I released that yesterday I was scrambling for a topic today, and having caught whatever new illness my daughter brought back from nursery, the creative juices were running on fumes. So I thought I’d go back and pick out some of my favorite plays from Sunday’s game. Who doesn’t want to relive those moments?
AVT is a bad man!
Play #1:
🏈 Every single week you can pick out a number of plays that highlight the skills of AVT, especially in the run game. Usually, I just pick out one, but on this occasion, I’m going to pick out four, because why not. Shouldn’t we celebrate a first-round rookie who’s already playing close to a pro-bowl level?
Here AVT does enough to disrupt the defensive lineman so he has to dive at Carter and if that wasn’t good enough, he gets out in space and puts Von Bell on his ass, allowing Carter to get the first down and keep the drive alive. It’s an outstanding play by a player full of confidence.
Play #2:
🏈 Show me a perfectly designed and executed play. Oh look, here’s one.
I love absolutely everything about this play, but the one thing I love more than anything is the blocking. It allows Michael Carter to find a lane into the end-zone and there are three players here that stand out.
#11 - Denzel Mims explodes out his stance and pops Jessie Bates a yard or two back into the end zone. Without the impact of this hit, Bates meets Carter around the 4-5 yard line instead of the 2-yard line. It’s a key block that will go unappreciated in a lot of circles.
#81 - Tyler Kroft takes Chidobe Awuzie for a ride. He completely clears out and seals the outside, making contact at the five-yard line and sending Chidobe 2 yards into the end-zone.
#75 - AVT pulls around to the left, he shows that balance and speed as a move lineman and seals the inside against Logan Wilson who can do absolutely nothing to shed the vice grip of the Jets lineman.
Play #3:
🏈 Just another example of how good AVT is on the move. Here is he pulling again, this time to the right-hand side. He locates Germaine Pratt who was in the perfect position to tackle Carter, and knocks him a yard back to eliminate any chance the OLB had of making a play. It’s elite movement blocking and it springs Michael Carter for a 15-yard run.
Play #4:
🏈 This is a great throw and a great catch by Berrios. But, take a look at AVT who gets caught a little bit by the speed of the rusher. Instead of panicking, he extends and pushes the rusher with such force, the defender would score a perfect 10 in a diving competition. It gave White just enough time to get the play off, and 7 points are the result.
Hustle
🏈 I just love this play and that’s a strange thing to say when you consider it’s a negative play for the Jets.
The effort here by Jets rookie Elijah Moore to get back is phenomenal, it looked like a pick-six all the way and according to Next Gen Stats, Moore raced 63 yards to make that tackle.
Not only was it a TD-saving tackle in the moment, the Jets defense actually made a stand and kept the Bengals off the board.
Not only does Moore get back, but you’ll see Denzel Mims (#11) and Jamison Crowder (#82) busting a lung to get back as well. This is the kind of hustle that makes a statement to your fans, your teammates, and your coaches. Loved it!
Extra Effort
🏈 Michael Carter has RB1 potential and nobody can convince me otherwise. I won’t hear it, the boy has everything you can ask for.
77 yards on the ground with a score, and 95 years through the air as well. He has the contact, the elusiveness, the hands, the vision, he has it all.
This is a play that I loved from yesterday. He turns what would be a 3 yard gain into a 13 yard gain, just by refusing to go down. He keeps his legs churning. He now has 109 rushing yards after contact which is around 1.5 extra yards per carry. I think we’d take that from a 4th round selection.
PF-WHat
Let me just preface this by saying I subscribe to PFF, I think some of their work is excellent and it offers a good base to start an evaluation. It should never be used as a complete evaluation tool because at the end of the day, the grades are being handed out by people who work there, people have their own tendencies and prejudices and people make mistakes.
Saying that I couldn’t believe they had Sam Darnold rated as the best QB from week 8 and Mike White didn’t make the top 10.
You read that correctly, Sam Darnold who completed 54.2% of his passes for 0 TD’s and just 129 yards was deemed to have been the top=performing QB of the week. And, Mike White who completed 82.2% of his passes for 405 yards and 3 TD’s didn’t make the top 10.
They need to take a look at how they analyze, because if they keep putting out things like that, they’ll quickly lose the confidence of everyone who subscribes to the platform.
News & Notes
🏈 The LA Rums pulled off a trade that almost seems unfair to the rest of the league. They traded a 2nd and 3rd round pick for Von Miller, pairing the 8-time pro-bowler with Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey.
🏈 After losing Derrick Henry, the Tennessee Titans decided to sign Adrian Peterson. Henry is expected to miss between 6-10 weeks. A huge loss for the Titans and my fantasy football team.
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