Here are three plays from Sunday’s 35-27 Jets loss to the Panthers that we took a closer look at on the coaches’ tape:
Third quarter, 5:52 left, Jets have the ball, first-and-10 from the their 46
The Jets were trailing 12-10 and had not gotten much done on their first two drives of the second half. Then, they hit this big play.
The Jets lined up with Robby Anderson split to the right and Jermaine Kearse to the left, but fairly close to the tackle. They had two tight ends lined up as wings on the line. Josh McCown was in shotgun with a running back to his right.
The Panthers were in their base 4-3 personnel. Eric Tomlinson, lined up on the left wing, motioned halfway down the line and then back just before the snap.
At the snap, the Panthers were in zone coverage and every Jets receiver was covered. McCown, feeling the pocket beginning to collapse, rolled to his right. He spotted Anderson, who had run a sideline route. Safety Kurt Coleman was on Anderson, but McCown saw that with Coleman taking Anderson there was no safety behind them.
McCown pointed for Anderson to go deep and then unleashed a beautiful long pass for a 54-yard touchdown and a 17-12 lead.
Fourth quarter, 12:16 left, Jets have the ball, second-and-11 from their 45
The Jets had taken a 20-18 lead on their previous drive and the defense had just forced a three-and-out. If the Jets could score a touchdown here, the Panthers would be in trouble. Instead, disaster struck.
The Jets had one wide receiver lined up to the left and one to the right. Tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins was in the left slot. Running backs Lawrence Thomas and Eli McGuire were in an offset I-formation right behind McCown.
The Panthers were in a base 4-3 look. Just before the snap, Seferian-Jenkins motioned in tight to the line. Panthers safety Kurt Coleman, on the defense’s left, showed he was blitzing.
Coleman’s movement caused confusion on the Jets’ line. It appears right tackle Brandon Shell saw Coleman coming and went to block him since he was the widest man on the line. Guard Brian Winters blocked down on the nose tackle along with center Wes Johnson. That created a huge hole in the middle of the line that defensive end Wes Horton ran through. Either Winters should have picked up Horton or Shell should have blocked him and let a back take Coleman. Someone screwed up.
The only Jet between Horton and McCown was McGuire, an obvious mismatch. McCown had not taken a very deep drop so Horton was on top of him quickly. Thomas, the fullback, had gone to the right of the formation and was close to the line. McCown spotted him as Horton was grabbing him and tried to throw it toward him. Instead the ball popped out, Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly picked it up and ran 34 yards for the touchdown and a 26-20 Panthers lead after the two-point conversion.
Fourth quarter, 10:09 left, Jets have the ball, fourth-and-12 from their 23
The Jets went three-and-out on the possession after McCown’s fumble, setting up this punt.
The Panthers had a double vice on the left on Jets gunner Terrence Brooks and a single on the right on Rashard Robinson. Lachlan Edwards did not get a booming kick off. It did not have much hang-time and returner Kaelin Clay did not have to move to catch the ball.
The Jets outside gunners – Brooks and Robinson – overran the play. That left long snapper Thomas Hennessy as the only one close to Clay as he began to run. Clay spun his way out of Hennessy’s tackle. Eric Tomlinson made a diving attempt, but did not have a good angle on Clay, who the raced past Edwards and beat Josh Martin in a foot race to the end zone.
The touchdown gave Carolina a 32-20 lead and finished off the Jets.
