The curious case of Joe Tippmann

Edition #450

Good morning ☕

Not only do we have another game this coming weekend, but we also have some joint practices to look forward to this week, as the Jets head down to Carolina to face off against the Panthers.

I don’t know if there are any studies out there, but I always seem to associate joint practices with a higher risk of injury. So this week I’m just looking for some health, followed by more health.

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First, we’re going to get into some camp notes from the weekend.

🤕 Garrett Wilson is expected back on Tuesday. Carl Lawson had some back tightness but it’s not considered serious. Bryce Hall has a minor hamstring injury and will miss a little time. Quincy Williams and Laken Tomlinson both left practice with injuries, but both should be fine. Jermaine Johnson also left but that was purely precaution. He’ll be fine.

🔄 The Jets made a couple of moves at linebacker signing LB Nick Vigil and LB Sam Eguavoen and cutting LB Hamsah Nasirildeen and LB Maalik Hall. This is purely based on the numbers game. Hamsah and Maalik got injured and won’t be back for a couple of weeks, Jets needed linebackers in the building as they’re carrying a few more injuries in that position (Cheralus, Surratt and now Quincy)

😬 There was a collective inhale of breath on Saturday as Aaron Rodgers came up limping after being stood on. Fortunately, he came was fine and he arguably had his best practice of the off-season on Sunday. Apart from the last play of the scrimmage where Sauce Gardner did Sauce Gardner things (below).

💥 What this angle doesn’t show is that Sauce saw this so early he came off his own coverage to pick this off. It also doesn’t show that DJ Reed had outstanding coverage on Davis and if Sauce doesn’t pick it, it’s likely a PBU anyway. Fortunately for Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, we won’t be going up against Sauce Gardner and DJ Reed during the regular season.

8️⃣4️⃣ Corey Davis is quickly becoming a favourite target of Rodgers, he made numerous catches over the weekend and is making a bit of a living over the middle. Lazard had another drop, which makes 5-6 this camp so far. Obviously, Lazard and Rodgers have a history, and Davis isn’t immune to the odd drop, but if Davis keeps up this camp performance, he’s going to get plenty of targets.

2️⃣ Zach Wilson finished 9-12 yesterday and one of those incompletions was a spike. It’s really steady progress for Zach. But that big completion in the game, followed by a couple of good days of practice. You build that confidence one brick at a time, and dare I say it…I’m actually looking forward to seeing him again against Carolina.

👍 Accountability. That’s the word we’ve all wanted to associate with the Jets for a while. Hardman appeared to run the wrong route on one pass play this weekend and a quick pass from Rodgers fell incomplete…Rodgers let him know about it. Hardman later said that Rodgers changes his hand signals constantly, just to make sure receivers are paying attention and are locked in.

💪 This will surprise absolutely nobody. Bryce Huff had another sack yesterday. There’s no way I’m dealing him if I want to be serious about a Championship run, that’s just me.

🌟 Couple more standouts from camp. Nick Bawden is quietly having a good camp. Jason Brownlee continues to make catches. The trio of Ruckert, Uzomah and Conklin are having a great camp. Hardman is slowly coming along and he and Rodgers are going to be lethal in the short and intermediate game. Hardman said himself that they are still working on that deep ball connection.

STAT ZONE 📊

Here are some stats that we didn’t get to on Friday, following the game.

The Jets generated 7 pressures on the night. Will McDonald IV (2 on 16 pass rush snaps), Ifeadi Odenigbo ( 2 on 20), Micheal Clemons (1 on 13), Deslin Alexandre (1 on 14), Bryce Huff (1 on 16).

The two touchdowns the Browns scored were recorded against Craig James (CB) and Zaire Barnes (LB). Jets only recorded 1 PBU and that was Brandin Echols.

The highest-graded coverage player was Claudin Cherelus with an 88.5. We mentioned this on TJW a week or two ago, Jets coaching staff love Cherelus.

“Yeah, Tip had a really strong game against Cleveland. I thought he did a really nice job. It was a pleasant surprise. Obviously, out on the practice field and with all the different things that are going on, there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs, especially for a rookie, so we were looking forward to seeing him on the field and so it was a pleasant surprise. He held his own. Won a lot of his one-on-ones, and did a really nice job communicating. Assignment wise was really good, so he did a really nice job, so hopefully he can continue to stack it, bring it to practice, keep stacking great days, and see where it takes him.” - Robert Saleh on Tippmann

Social media is an interesting place at the best of times, but last week I found myself scrolling and shaking my head more than normal.

Most of that was related to Joe Tippmann takes. I saw Jets fans calling him a bust, criticising Joe Douglas for taking him over John Michael Schmitz and everything in between.

That was based on 10 practices. Some padded, some not. This was based on an unofficial depth chart and the fact that the coach is making him earn his reps, running him with the third team. So to summarise, it was based on very little.

Tippmann played 46 snaps against the Cleveland Browns, and here are his final numbers:

46 total snaps
22 run-blocking snaps
24 pass-blocking snaps
0 sacks
0 pressures
100% pass-blocking efficiency
0 bad snaps

As we’ll do during the season, I’ll always share the PFF numbers. They awarded him an 82.9 grade for his pass-blocking and 64.0 for his run-blocking. But on second viewing, that run-block grade is harsh. As a unit, the Jets didn’t block very well, but as an individual, as Saleh said in his summary…he won a lot of his one-on-one battles.

This is a combo block, but Tippmann absolutely fires off the ball and drives this defender. That fire off the ball was evident all night, and technically his footwork, hand placement, everything, was absolutely spot on.

This run doesn’t amount to anything, but Tippmann does his job running his defender up-field and flipping his hips to seal the outside which is where the runs are designed to go. This is a case of the Jets not blocking very well, but Tippmann doing a fine job.

Another play here where technically it’s a very good rep for Tippmann. Gets his body around to seal the lane and as a result, the Jets pick up some good yards. It’s also a good rep for Adam Pankey (#62).

Here’s the big completion to Taylor, and while he does get pushed back a little bit, he gives Zach time to come off his first read and step up to deliver the most explosive play of the game.

You don’t tend to see a lot of stunts in the pre-season, but Tippmann keeps his head here and picks up the stunt, giving the Qb the time to make the throw and complete the pass. In all the other clips he shows the technique, in this one, he shows the awareness.

Thoughts: Overall, I thought Tippmann was the best offensive lineman on the field, but either team. He was good in both facets of the game and while we have to maintain the context that he was facing 2nd and 3rd string defensive tackles, you can only play what’s in front of you. I still think Connor McGovern will start but there’s a lot of pre-season left and if Tippmann continues to perform at this level, he’s going to give Robert Saleh a tough decision to make.

COACH TALK 🔊

“Yeah, I think it comes naturally with comfort. Obviously, the offence is learning something new, you could feel the defence – I feel the defence is moving very fast, but it comes with time and continuity and being in the same system over and over and over again and doing the same things over and over again, but I do feel like our team, it feels fast for sure and hopefully, it just gets faster.” - On the team speed.

“Yeah, he’s come along really well. He is going to get some preseason time. It’s the first game. We were trying our best. I think we sat like 32 guys, so we’re trying our best to make sure we pace this the right way and also use it as an opportunity to get a look at a lot of really young guys, which was beneficial, but he had a great OTA, he’s having a really nice camp, so I am really looking forward to him getting on the field and seeing him in game action.” On Jeremy Ruckert, his camp and why he didn’t play in the first preseason game.

“Rotation. You guys know how we operate. You might take the first play. It doesn’t mean you’re a starter. It just means you’re part of a group. I think we got 10 starters, at least, on this football team, but he’s earned the right to be in there and get more reps, what he’s competing for is more time. It doesn’t mean that he’s supplementing or taking someone’s job because the way these guys work together is so unique, but he definitely wants to be on the field more and he’s done a lot to change his body. He’s done a lot to work his way in, so he’s earning everything that he’s getting.” - On Jermaine Johnson and whether he’s a starter.

“Yeah, I think he’s a couple weeks out.” - On Duane Brown

“I like him. He’s got a great mindset to him. He’s kind of a veteran mindset to him in that he’s composed, he’s very business-like, approaches everything. He has a plan. His day-to-day, his moment-to-moment operation is like a veteran. He just knows how to take care of his body, prepare, all the different things that we ask those guys to do. Credit to him. He had all kinds of space and I think he probably got a little excited, but he might still be running if he can feel that one clean. Maybe he knew it and he saw it and he just got a little excited, but no doubt that we’d have the confidence to put him back there again and let him go do it. He’s been doing everything right and I know he’s salivating as his next stop.” - On Xavier Gipson and what it showed that he came back after the muffed punt.

“No, I know. Coach’s best friend is a player that’s got versatility. We’ve had them, but he is special. He doesn’t get caught up in, “God, if I play this position, I’m going to lose money, or that position. How can I help the team? How can I be on the field? How can I be my best?” At the same time, I know he what he wants, I know exactly what he wants, I’m not going to talk about it here, but he’s willing to sacrifice that to help this football team get to where it needs to go and I think because of it guys like him are priceless. Just absolutely love him, love his mindset, love the way he plays the game and those guys are always, like I said, they’re coaches best friend.” On if he’s ever been around a player as versatile as AVT.