I figured it would be a good idea to centralize and detail why the Jets offense has been more effective, and bust a few of myths about what has happened the last couple of weeks vs the first 6 Games. People seem to want to place all of the blame or success on one thing, but it’s a myriad of reasons. 1. Mike LaFleur in the Booth. -The play calls LaFleur is making have not been different. However, his feel for the flow of the game and the timing of the play calls has absolutely been better, as have his adjustments. Whether this is because he sees better from up there, there are less distractions, or both, his feel for game flow is much improved. 2. The Offensive Line. -The Offensive Line has developed chemistry and finally some efficiency. From zone runs to pass protection to even the timing on screens, the line has more or less steadily improved. Neither the poor early play nor the improvement should be a surprise to anyone who thinks about it; I made a post about their lack of experience both together and in general right before the season started. There are still weak points, particularly Greg Van Roten, and to some degree Morgan Moses, but the others have been solid to good lately. You have to include better overall blocking performances from the TE’s and RB’s over the past couple of weeks as well. Maybe it's just optimism, but you'd like to hope that if they can string together 6-7 games to close out the season with the intended starting O-Line, you can really see a good unit coming to life. 3. The Skill Players. -In the first 6 games, the inexperience of many of the skill players was on display. Adjusting themselves into a new league, a new scheme, and a new roster of teammates was a challenge. The last few games have been a significant improvement for Moore and Carter in particular. Carter is on a 3 game streak averaging 117 Scrimmage yards/game. Moore is on a 2 game streak averaging 76 receiving yards/game. Both have had multiple TD games in the last 2 weeks. Even Ty Johnson has seemingly erased his drop issues and has a 2 game streak averaging 74 scrimmage yards/game. This has been done largely without Corey Davis who, for his flaws, is still a good player. The Jets have averaged 2 drops per game: Davis (5) Johnson (3) and Carter (2) being the primary issue over games 1-6. However, in the past 2 games, Johnson (0) Carter (1) and injured Davis has been replaced by Moore as #1 receiver who has (0). A drop from a TE or #3 WR is one thing but consistent drops from the skill players who lead the team in touches is a real problem, and it looks a lot better right now. 4. Zach Wilson. -Wilson is as much to blame as anyone else for the 1st six games, but not more than the rest. He was just one part of the total issue. His negative habits were primarily accuracy issues with short passes, a tendency to always look for the bigger play, an over-confidence in both his arm and athleticism, and locking onto Corey Davis. It’s hard to fully blame him for some of this, because early in the year ineffective run game, drops, and a poor pass blocking unit clearly messed with his post snap decision making. Aside from that, he is a rookie, and however much football IQ he has, or how much of a tape dog he is, there is just still so much he hadn't and still hasn't seen live before. This is always going to lead to mistakes. It's interesting to note that in addition to football, Wilson played basketball, soccer and ran track. The athleticism and touch that he developed in these sports clearly translated into his QB style and skillset. 5. Mike White. -White has been better than anyone could have expected. He most valuable traits are his pre and post snap processing, his efficiency progressing through reads, and his short range accuracy. He is actually very accurate mid range as well, but the caveat that I've seen is that it must be a low trajectory throw in the intermediate to have that success. He is also more poised and confident than one would have expected for a player in his position. White was a noted pitcher in high school, and it's interesting to see that the types of throws he excels at correspond to his pitching background in a very much same-but-opposite way that Wilson's correspond with his background as a point guard. 6. The Opposing Defenses. -I think this a huge point that we haven't talked about yet. The Jets first 6 Defensive opponents were Bill Belichick x2 (69yo), Phil Snow (65yo), Vic Fangio (63yo), Dean Pees (72yo), and Mike Vrabel (46yo). If you made a list of the most tenured and respected defensive coaches in all of football, you’d have half the list right there aside from Vrabel. When you take a look at the pure experience, it's pretty wild. Experience as a DC or HC prior to 2021: The Zach Wilson Matchups: -Belichick (NE) x2: 35 years -Dean Pees (ATL): 32 years -Phil Snow (CAR: 27 years -Vic Fangio (DEN): 25 years -Mike Vrabel (TEN): 4 years Which one do you think he beat? The Mike White/Josh Johnson Matchups: -Lou Anarumo (CIN): 5 years+ 1 Interim DC -Matt Eberflus (IND): 11 years If you go to guys like Belichick, Fangio, Pees and Snow and say "This week you gotta beat a Rookie OC, Rookie Playcaller, Rookie QB, an OL with very little experience together and a slew of inexperienced skill players all in a brand new scheme..." What do you think their reactions would be? If they hadn't made a name for themselves out of beating up on any of those situations, do you really think they would have lasted for 20 or even 30+ year careers as coordinators or coaches? When you step back and think about it, what else should anyone have really expected so far? All of the early issues from Points 1-4 are practically a given when you have the youth and inexperience both on the field and on the sideline that the Jets have right now. Throw in Point 6 on top of all of those... It's a brutal way to start the season to be honest.
Going to add to this. Personnel groupings are also significantly different. Much less 12 personnel (2 TE sets) and much more 10 personnel (1 RB, 4 WRs) I have been pounding the table (or my keyboard) to limit the amount of snaps in 12 personnel for weeks and it looks like MLF is finally doing it.
Yes I noticed this as well although I forgot to include it as talking point. I actually think it's more of a result of in game adjustments than game planning though, which his vantage point from the both seems to have helped with.
Whatever caused it, thank God for it because this team does not have the personnel for 2 TE sets at all. They barely have the personnel for 11 lmao.
Overall great post, Max. The only thing I disagree with is your first point. I think there is a big difference in the play calling. For one thing we didn't see the trick plays early, but we did see a lot of runs up the gut, which we see less of now. While I agree that his timing of when to call the plays has improved as has the offense's execution of them, I still think there are differences in the play calling over the last two games from what was called the first 6 games. I don't remember who, but one of the beat writers pointed out that LaFleur was seeking to exploit the weakness of the opposing secondary in the 1st Qtr. of games. He didn't do that in White's first start, and I don't think he did that against the Colts either. Instead, he called some plays that should lead to easy completions to help White settle in and his and the offense's confidence to grow. He did the same thing when Josh Johnson came into the game vs the Colts. IMO he NEVER did that with Zach in the first 6 games.
There were shot plays called early in both Cincy and Indy, Mike White just didn't take the shots, he took the underneath throws. And as far as trick plays, it's a little difficult to call a trick play when you're consistently going 3 and out, or 4 and pick. Also don't forget, Crowder is the key piece in all of these trick plays, and he didn't play for the first 3 weeks and was in on limited snaps in games 4+5.
The biggest difference is LaFluer is passing the ball on 1st down early in the game. Rather than sticking to the run and getting in 3rd and longs he has been calling short pass plays on 1st down early in the game. Essentially he is setting up the run by being efficient passing the ball. This has made the offense much more efficient. But, it is improvement by everyone. The OL, RBs, WRs, QB, Moore being healthy and ML making adjustments. Improvement in one area snowballs and makes everyones job easier.
Even though there were shot plays, he still had plays for easy completions for White and Johnson that he never did for Zach. I'm sure there must be trick plays that don't involve Crowder. If not, there's still a problem with LaFleur.
Good stuff. Hopefully LeFleur is going to be a good OC as he continues to learn. I have faith in him despite some awful play callings earlier. NC brought up a great point about trick plays and Max brought up some valid points. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks. One thing that I am noticing more is Carter and Johnson has been effective under White, and sometimes we have to get others involved.
I would say point 2 followed by point 4 mostly. A QB who gets the ball out quicker does help make the OLINE look better. Overall very good analysis and the Jets offense will be tested against the Bills.
While I do agree that many factors are at play here, my honest belief is that the move to the booth has made the biggest difference. Lafleur is now coaching in a controlled environment with a view of the enitre field in a room he feels most comfortable. Two games in a row the offense has looked great with two backup QBs. I understand why he initially wanted to be on the sideline with his rookie QB, but it started to piss me off when he didn't make the change after realizing he was hurting this team and hurting his QB. I'm glad he made the move. Better late than never
Great post. Good thing we didn't fire him last month. Looking forward to seeing the 2nd half + of the season
Actually like much of the convo in this thread because it’s likely all these factors that everyone has said. I’ll like to expound on the TE’s thing…I believe it was a ton of 2 WR/2 TE personnel to protect Zach because the line was so shoddy. But with that, there aren’t many WR’s in the field running routes. In addition, I believe Kroft missed the first Mike White game so it was mostly a ton of Griffin but instead of Kroft, there was more 3 WR sets especially on first down. They both are decent blockers but Griffin def isn’t the receiving threat that Kroft is, and Kroft isn’t that great himself. - We’ve seen more utilization of RB screens and using Carter and Ty out the backfield that has helped moved the chains. The Jets really do have 4 backs who have solid pass catching ability out of the backfield.
Trying to protect Zach is partially the reason the offense was so predictable and couldn't get anything going. A quick pass game will neutralize a pass rush and make the OL look better (just look at MW the last 2 games) but Zach has yet to prove he can execute that.
The reason the offense had been better is 100% because of the QB. Since Zach went out hurt White and Johnson have told themselves, "just take what the defense gives me". It's not super natural. They're just not trying to do any of the "HERO" plays like Zach continually tries to do. And honestly my feeling and belief is Zach is seeing this right now and when he gets back he'll adjust to taking what the defense leaves open? Like Saleh said, Zach doesn't know how to play boring football. He never really did at BYU. That was all excitement that showcased Zachs arm talent. There will come a time when Zach will be able to play that type of football but it's not right now. Right now... If he just takes what the defense gives him he'll build confidence and that's when that off script football will come in handy.....
