Wednesday Film Review

🗽Good morning Jets fans. Hope everyone is having a good start to their week. I’ll be busy watching the Knicks and Rangers highlights this morning, trying to squeeze them in before work. But let’s get straight into today’s post.

Today I planned to look at Ashtyn Davis, but after turning on the all-22 there wasn’t a lot to get excited about. So instead, I thought I’d really focus in on one play in particular and try and explain how I’m reading the set-up.

So the play I’m going to concentrate on is the Goedert touchdown. Jets are largely in a traditional cover one with Ashtyn Davis as the deep middle fielder. I’ve highlighted a few key aspects on this play that in my mind are important.

First, you have Bryce Hall at the top with shaded inside leverage. He can use the sideline to his advantage and playing Smith like this means there are really only two routes, a fly route, and a comeback. On the play, Smith runs a comeback and Hall is absolutely all over it.

You then have Michael Carter II playing man-to-man coverage with the slot receiver, funneling him inside to where he has help from the linebacker and deep safety. At the bottom, you have Javelin Guidry playing the TE in man to man and then you have Riley playing the RB. The running back stays in to block so Riley drops back.

Then you have the two key elements of this play. You have CJ Mosley matched up in man-to-man with Goedert so he’s likely follows him wherever he goes but I’ve highlighted that underneath hole section as a danger area in this alignment because as soon as the ball is snapped, Davis is dropping back as that deep center fielder.

The Eagles have three receivers (Smith, Watkins & Goedert) lined up to one side of the formation so Davis is shaded over that way, which is exactly what you’d expect to see pre-snap.

Now let’s just watch how the play unfolds. I went back to watch this 15-20 times to try and get a good idea of what was going on.

Now this is only my interpretation and I don’t know the specifics of the play call but here’s what I’m seeing. Bryce Hall, Javelin Guidry and Michael Carter II all play this extremely well. Guidry and Carter II funnel their receivers inside to their help while maintaining tight coverage, Hall pins his receiver and basically takes him out of the game.

So let’s just have a quick look at how things look post-snap.

It’s a nice play design by the Eagles. Running an out route with the tight end to the bottom of the formation clears out the corner for Goedert. The dig route by Watkins does just enough to freeze Ashtyn Davis who’s still shading over there. When I was watching I was asking myself if Davis should have diagnosed this a little earlier and got a better break on Goedert? Potentially, he takes a couple of steps back to the left and that likely causes him to not be able to get over in time. Minshew never looks over to the right, his reads seem to be left to right, so it’s Guidry’s man first and then Goedert.

The only real issue I have for Davis there is his tackling and the angle he takes. If he goes a little flatter and wraps the ball carrier, he likely brings Dallas down short of the end zone. If he diagnoses it slightly earlier and breaks off of that Watkins dig route a split second quicker, then maybe he can make a play on the ball as Minshew almost floats it to Goedert. He shows good closing speed, but it’s that instinct that was slightly missing on this one in my opinion.

But let’s talk about CJ. Now I’m going to start by saying this is a rough matchup for Mosley, being asked to turn and run with a guy like Goedert isn’t easy, you can clearly see in the video that the Philly TE has an extra gear that Mosley just doesn’t have.

The issue for Mosley is that he takes a step forward on the PA and then moves laterally instead of vertically after the snap, this leaves him flat-footed and Dallas moves inside which twists Mosley around. It’s only when you watch it from the end-zone angle that you can see the movement and how Goedert gets open.

It’s a nice play design by the Eagles, and maybe this is just personnel and chalking it up to a bad matchup for Mosley. When you see it from this angle and see how Minshew never looks to his right, you can’t help but think that Davis is a little late to recognize and get over.

Draft Prospect - Quick Hit

Chad Muma - Wyoming - Linebacker

If you follow me on Twitter you probably already know that I’m high on Chad Muma. He’s a guy I’ve watched a fair bit this year and it’s impossible to not be impressed. He’s 6’3 and 240lbs with speed and instincts. He was the 3rd highest graded PFF linebacker in college football last season, finishing with 104 tackles and 3 INT’s. His missed tackle percentage of 8.1% is also a better rate than both Nakobe Dean and Devin Lloyd, the top two linebackers in the draft. He’s a serious talent, he’s not as good as those guys…I’m definitely not saying that, but he just shouts Saleh linebacker to me. Keep a close eye on him.

• Texas linebacker DeMarvion Overshown has decided to head back to the forty acres instead of declaring for the draft. He was seen as a 2nd round talent.

• Here are some names of players who have declared already:

  • Matt Corral, QB, Ole Miss

  • Justyn Ross, WR, Clemson

  • Jalen McKenzie, OT, USC

  • DeMarvin Leal, DT, Texas A&M

  • Kayvon Thibodeaux, DE, Oregon

  • George Karlaftis, DE, Purdue

  • Nik Bonitto, LB, Oklahoma