The Jets never make things easy for the Pats offense and this game was no exception. Featuring a good deal of Cover 3, the Jets played fairly conservative this time around, but when they picked up the pressure in the second half they had some success.
The difference though was Tom Brady, who was calm in the face of pressure all night, delivering strikes to the holes in the zones with remarkable consistency.
Here are my notes from the All-22 rewatch, offense edition:
Jets opened in off-man coverage and Brady-LaFell took advantage with two comeback routes in a row. Brady’s passes were a little high though.
Jets were in a Cover-3 on Vereen’s first touchdown with five guys across the field at about five yards depth. Seemed like they would allow the short stuff then plan on coming downhill with big hits. The problem – the back left safety bit on Wright underneath leaving Vereen wide open. Big mental mistake, and one that really came back to haunt the Jets at the end.
Second possession was a three-and-out but a nice hard run by Jonas Grey. Third down saw the same kind of coverage as Vereen’s touchdown, with the Jets dropping 7 in zone coverage. It seems like the Jets were also a little more respectful of the Pats deep passing game than they have been in year’s past. And certainly more than other opponents have been earlier this year.
Really vanilla coverages and not much aggression by the Jets so far. Has to be due to their lack of good cover corners. They’re playing some man on the Pats’ third possession but it’s off-man that’s supported with underneath zone coverage.
Here’s the Jets’ third down zone coverage, only rushing three. This one goes incomplete downfield to LaFell for the Pats second-straight three and out.
Jets send five guys on the first play of the fourth drive, but the protection holds and Brady easily lofts a perfect pass to Edelman for their first first down in three possessions.
The Jets’ zone coverage continues to work well early as Brady has a pass deflected at the line on second down. However there isn’t much pressure so it seems like Brady is finding a comfort level in the pocket.
Same coverage on third down and Brady finally finds the hole in the coverage, connecting with Gronk for a first down. Pinpoint throw, solid pocket. Drive continues…
Play-action comes next and the Jets pay for it because their linebackers aren’t dropping this time. Brady finds LaFell, showing good patience under a bit of pressure. As of now, the Jets defense certainly isn’t in his head like they often can be.
Gotta tip the hat to the pass protection so far. Those are some good rushers and Brady has all the time he needs. I think the Jets wanted to just rely on their guys winning the matchups instead of the usual deception of “who’s coming, who’s dropping”. They weren’t winning against our rag tag band of OL anti-heroes.
As Greg Bedard pointed out in his film review Jordan Devey has to have better awareness after just sprinting downfield, not realizing that the called screen to Shane Vereen had been blown up. Inexperience shows there.
Vereen’s second touchdown below and as you can see, the Jets drop 9 into coverage including four guys around Gronk. Brady waits and finds Vereen for the TD.
Brady really found his stride against the Jets zones on this drive, calmly taking his time and delivering pinpoint throws to the holes in the zones.
Final drive of the first half and the Jets start to send some more pressure, blitzing Davis and dropping Richardson into a short zone. Finally some more Rex-like defense. Then comes an LB/S blitz on the next down but Brady finds LaFell for the first down.
Great throw by Brady on the next down with pressure in his face as he finds Gronk for 20 yards. Jets rushed just four but finally got Wilkerson through as he beat Devey.
After a PI call the Pats get a 1st-and-10 at the 12 with :23 second left. First down – Jets drop eight, Brady can’t find a hole. Second down – Jets get a free rusher off the edge, forcing Brady to scramble and throw it away. Then Devey takes the retalitory penalty and we’re kicking a field goal headed into the half. Missed opportunity there, but good defense by the Jets.
Linebacker blitzes are continuing in the second half, along with Sheldon Richardson dropping into short zones. Brady’s on in this one though.
Third-and-3 and we’re seeing two deep safeties. Very surprised by this, especially from the Jets. Brady has time and finds Edelman for the first.
Just not a whole lot going on in the run game, only enough to keep the Jets aware of it. But this game was all about Brady and the passing game. Makes it even more befuddling that they tried to run on the last possession of the game. But we’ll get to that…
I don’t know how you defend the quick hand off to Edelman in motion. One of these days a defensive end is going to read it and clean Edelman’s clock, but for now it looks unstoppable.
Jets hold the Pats to a field goal 3rd-and-9, again running the three-deep, five-under coverage with just three rushing. Brady finds the hole but they come up just a couple yards short.
Jets force a three-and-out on the next drive, with their pressure finally winning some one-on-ones. Cannon gets beat on third down and Brady has to rush his throw to Amendola, who was open. Would prefer not to see Cannon rotating in at tackle any more, and definitely not at guard.
Another three-and-out due to pressure when the Jets sent 6 then an Edelman drop. On third down pressure is again a factor as Solder gets beat off the edge just enough to get Brady off rhythm. Jets pressure coming through in the clutch here in the second half.
Jets sending pressure again on the Pats final touchdown drive but Brady is right on the money three times in a row to get the Pats inside the 10 yard line.
But then two penalties back them out to the 19. That would’ve been a major storyline had Amendola not made a spectacular touchdown grab. Have to be more disciplined that close to the end zone with the game on the line.
Now the final Pats possession – three straight handoffs to Shane Vereen that netted one total yard. I don’t know why they didn’t throw here. Brady was so on fire in this game, put the game in his hands.
Oh well, Chris Jones came through in the end.
