Maybe Elijah wasn’t open at all yesterday but he should have been Zach’s top look with Garrett Wilson being covered like a blanket by All-Pro Jaire Alexander.
I don’t mind what he said. He’s one of our most explosive players. There is 0 reason for him not to be schemed open for at least 3-4 targets a game — that’s on MLF to figure it out. even something as simple where he goes in motion and right into the flat to get a mismatch somewhere
GW was blanketed and dropped two balls yet MLF keeps force feeding him the ball. MLF needs to scheme him open.
Let’s see what comes of this. Squeaky wheels get the grease so maybe this opens a discussion about featuring him a little more. Or maybe they’re holding him back for the stretch run , keeping some stuff off film for later in the season.
why is it such a big deal is Moore is just the #3 WR. He was a 2nd Rd pick. Corey Davis is a former Top 10 pick getting lots of money and has more experience. Garret Wilson is a TOP 10 pick. If the Jets thought he was a X WR, they wouldn't have drafted Garret. His comment is selfish and comes at the worst time when they just came off a franchise changing win. I like Moore alot but never expected him to be a superstar. His stat line will be what is it, a 500-700 year average and that is fine.
It’s obvious a lot of y’all never played wide receiver. It’s incredibly frustrating to feel like you’re winning your matchup all day but the ball doesn’t find you, for whatever reason … that feeling only gets worse when it happens game after game. There’s nothing selfish about him feeling this way.
Wanting the ball when you're open is a trait of winners. Wining about not getting the ball when you're open, while the TEAM wins, is a loser move. Should have just shut his mouth and enjoyed the win. Keep working hard and if he's consistently open, the ball will eventually find him.
X factor discusses Moore in the slot on their podcast this morning. They make some really interesting points. Nania briefly talked a bit about why he was sold on Moore being on the outside because of his numbers last year but then he said he has changed his opinion as he sees limitations in Moore being on the outside because of his size. They make the case that G. Wilson's ability to high point balls will make him better on the outside and allow Moore to use his fast cuts to create separation form the slot. This might be the long term plan. Wilson playing primarily from the slot in college and being a rookie likely has been playing out of the slot to reduce his learning curve and that as he gets more comfortable and learns the offense and different positions better he might transition to the outside in the long term. Not to mention Wilson was putting up some huge production from the slot even with the drops. Those are all really good points. Everyone here is really young and learning the offense, learning to play together and learning what works for them. Zach is young and so is MLF. They are all just getting to know each other. the future is bright and I am sure MLF will continue to look for ways to put these players in better positions. We just might need a bit of patience and Moore might need some too.
Some interesting stats from X factor on the Jets personnel usage against GB. https://jetsxfactor.com/2022/10/17/ny-jets-offense-huge-change-packers/ Here is the Jets’ personnel distribution against Green Bay: 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR): 20 plays (37.7%) 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR): 18 plays (34.0%) 21 personnel (2 RB, 1 TE, 2 WR): 8 plays (15.1%) 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TE, 1 WR): 4 plays (7.5%) 22 personnel (2 RB, 2 TE, 1 WR): 2 plays (3.8%) 02 personnel (0 RB, 2 TE, 3 RD): 1 play (1.9%) Jets’ 11 personnel usage this season: Week 1 vs. BAL: 59 plays (74.7%) Week 2 at CLE: 45 plays (68.2%) Week 3 vs. CIN: 64 plays (84.2%) Week 4 at PIT: 46 plays (68.7%) Week 5 vs. MIA: 32 plays (57.1%) Week 6 at GB: 20 plays (37.7%)
Are you sure they're lining Moore as the X? The X is generally the big wide receiver whose on the line and has to fight through press coverage. Cory Davis is generally the X receiver for the Jets. I think you mean that Moore is playing the Z receiver (the outside receiver who starts off behind the line of scrimmage and is therefore tougher to press) and that Wilson is in the slot (I think Y generally refers to an inline tight end). Well, the reason Moore is playing the Z is because Wilson's a rookie with a limited understanding of the offense, so it makes sense that Wilson would start off playing the slot so he can focus on just one position and as he improves and learns the Z and then maybe play Wilson more in the Z and Moore in the slot. I think what's being lost here is that in the last 2 games the Jets used a lot more 1-2 personnel with 1 RB, 2 TEs and only 2 WRs on the field. Over these games, the Jets have been using a combination of either 2 backs and 1 TE or 1 back and 2 or more TEs a lot more than most NFL teams. In particular, against the packers the Jets had 3 WRs on the field for only about 40% of plays (mostly in the 1st half) and for the other 60% had 2 WRs or less (1 WR only on about 12% of plays). Because Davis is bigger and a better blocker he's generally getting 1 of the WR slots leaving only 1 WR slot for either Moore or Wilson. This is why Moore is complaining right now. This is one of the reasons that Moore and Wilson's production has been down the past few games. I think the Jets are using this strategy because they've been playing teams with very good cornerbacks and strong pass defenses. When you play a team with good cornerbacks and strong pass defenses, it makes sense to go big (to take one of their CBs off the field) and either run the ball with strong blocking from your TEs, or create mismatches by having your TEs and RBs go out and run routes and create mismatches with LBs. When the Jets play teams with weaker CBs and weaker pass defenses, I expect that they'll be using less 12 personnel and there will be more WRs on the field. Football is a game of matchups and very few teams have as much talent at TE, RB and WR as the Jets do and that allows them to radically alter the offense for different defenses and that's what they've been doing and been very successful with lately. Fear not - when they go back to teams with weaker CBs and pass defenses, I expect that we'll see a lot more of Wilson and Moore and they'll have some breakout games.
He made a fairly innocuous comment out of frustration, it happens … he said he’s not going to belabor the issue so we shouldn’t either
I think that's likely too, but the Jets might just throw a curve ball and try more 3 WR sets in the first half and see how Denver responds and then switch to more 1-2 personnel in the 2nd half. I think that's what they did with the Packers.
Thanks! Great post! This is the kind of posts I came to TGG looking for: to explain things that I didn't understand. This makes a lot of sense.
If it weren't for dropped passes last year, I think that Zach would already have had a 300 yard game. I can't find a site that lists dropped passes per game and his passing yards per game, but he had 297 passing yards against the Titans. Were any passes dropped in that game? The bottom line is that there are three factors that have prevented that. One, Saleh and MLF are trying to groom Zach in a certain way. They're trying not to put pressure on him to win or to have to carry the team, so they are trying to win with running the ball and D. Last year they couldn't do that with Flacco, White, and Johnson, they couldn't do that. They had to throw the ball around and hope for the best. They're also trying to get him to be more careful with the ball. Also, don't forget that there is a lot of pressure on Saleh from the fanbase and the media to start winning. The best way they can do that right now is to play more conservatively, i.e., run the ball, play defense, play solid STs, and keep the number of passing attempts down. Two, with the state of the OL and injuries, they're not going to risk Zach getting seriously injured letting him stand back there and throw the ball 30-40 times a game. Three, due to injuries, Zach has missed games, and they have brought him along slowly after he recovered from his injuries. I believe that he would have already had several 300 yard games if Brian Daboll was his HC or if he had a veteran OC and HC who weren't learning on the job themselves. He will have his 300 yard games when the OL gets solidified and the pressure on Saleh to win has eased off.
