An interesting article from the Newark Star Ledger. Though mostly about Jaws and NFL films, it does have the breakdown near the end of the 3 running plays against New England and what went wrong. Enjoy!!! http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2008/09/jaws_still_dealing_with_tape_e.html Jaws Still Dealing With Tape: Ex-quarterback Ron Jaworski now a top NFL analyst Posted by mmehta September 21, 2008 07:32AM The ultimate football nerd will tell you about his 32 concussions (unofficially), five broken fingers, swollen tongue and shattered leg a little bit later. Right now, Ron Jaworski wants to show you something. Sitting in his second-floor office at NFL Films in Mount Laurel, he pops in a videotape of the Jets' 19-10 loss to the New England Patriots last week, kills the lights, props his feet on his desk, and eases into his chair with the clicker in his right hand. "Alright guys," Jaworski says with a smile two football fields wide. "Here's the truth serum!" Nicknamed "Jaws" long ago by a neighbor who quickly realized his mouth was impossible to shut, the 57-year-old Jaworski has spawned a generation of football geeks by unlocking the mystery of blitz packages, combination routes and pre-snap shifts as a Monday Night Football broadcaster and longtime ESPN analyst. Jaworski, a mainstay on ESPN's "State Farm NFL Matchup" that brings the X's and O's into living rooms, has morphed into a football phenomenon with his energetic and analytical style. "He's very much a shot and a beer kind of guy," said Greg Cosell, who has produced the Matchup show for NFL Films since its inception 24 years ago. "He never comes across as if he's lecturing. He speaks to everybody the same whether it's the janitor or the president of a company." Jaworski looks like he has been pumped with 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, playfully shouting behind his glasses at the 36-inch television, dissecting the Jets before their primetime showdown against the San Diego Chargers tomorrow night. His mannerisms -- you probably know someone who does a killer Jaws impersonation -- have taken on a life of their own. The gritty, gutsy former quarterback who led the 1980 Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl spends about 20 hours a week breaking down the official coaches tape. After each game, the road team delivers the game tape to the NFL Films facility in South Jersey, which includes every play from the overhead camera (a k a -- "The All 22" since it shows every player on the field) and the end zone angle. Jaworski and Cosell review the tapes of select games and collaborate with analyst Merril Hoge for the show that airs on Sunday mornings. "This is unique stuff, man," Jaworski says. "Tuesday, I'll look at some tape. Wednesday, some tape. Thursday, some tape. We tape the show Friday morning." He studies every block, every blitz, every breakdown. Over and over. "There are plays that we look at maybe 100 times," Jaworski says. "We try to get it right... It used to be only for the hardcore football fans. But the game keeps growing. People have an insatiable appetite for more of this stuff." In other words, he has embraced the nerd label. "Yeah, that's what I am," Jaworski says proudly. "Who else is going to sit in front of the TV and look at football for 6-8 straight hours? And this isn't TV TV. This is football TV. There's no play-by-play. There's no close-ups. It's pretty boring." HE CAN'T STOP TALKING He got whacked pretty good. When Jaworski was hit in the jaw that Sunday afternoon back in 1980, he bit down hard and split his tongue. Blood was pouring out of his mouth and down his jersey. He was taken to the Eagles locker room to get stitched up when his wife, Liz, rushed in. "Oh my God," she said. "I thought you were dying!" A few minutes later, the backup quarterback was injured. The punter was loosening up on the sidelines when Jaworski, who started 116 consecutive games at quarterback -- an NFL record until Brett Favre broke it -- took one for the team. "I'm in the huddle trying to call the play," says Jaworski, laughing at the memory. "But I can't even talk! I couldn't get the damn words out, you know! Damn tongue started swelling up! Pretty hard to put ice on your tongue." He battered nearly every body part over 17 years with the Rams, Eagles, Dolphins and Chiefs. He retired after the 1989 season and hooked on with NFL Films, where he began breaking down tape for the Matchup show in 1992. "Some guys on TV talk and talk, but the credibility is not there," says Jets fullback Tony Richardson. "He has it. He can diagram certain plays and coverages and explain it in layman's terms. That stuff is amazing." Along the way, Jaworski turned down several NFL coaching opportunities, wary of the daily grind. "We don't scratch the surface of what coaches do," Jaworski says. "As good as we think we are, they got 30 people doing what we're doing with their clickers." Jaworski doesn't have any extra time to spare anyway. When he's not dissecting game tapes or flying across the country for his Monday Night Football gig, he's part owner of the Arena League champion Philadelphia Soul and a motivational speaker. "I'll take a mini vacation," he says. "But I'm not one to be laying on the beach." Teaching football has always been his primary focus. "He's a likeable guy," says former NFL general manager Charlie Casserly, who now works for CBS. "He's human. He's got an honest passion. He gives you good information, so you say, 'You know what? I learned something.'" EXAMINING A JET FAILURE Inside the film room, where everything is unfiltered, Jaworski has one simple rule when analyzing players: "It's never personal," he admits. "It's just what I see." A couple days after Jets coaches were vilified for their conservative play-calling on a first-and-goal situation against the Patriots, Jaworski takes a closer look. First and goal from the 3-yard line. Play. Favre hands off to Thomas Jones. One-yard gain. From the end zone angle, right tackle Damien Woody's inability to block Patriots lineman Ty Warren proves to be the play killer. Warren's penetration forces Richardson to try to block him rather than take aim at a linebacker. Jones abruptly cuts back to his left, where he is bottled up. Pause. "Woody whiffs!" Jaworski says. "He whiffs on Ty Warren! Look at that! Do something!... So now Jones has got to cut back. So this one's on Woody. You want to run behind Richardson, hell of a lead blocker. But because Woody whiffs, Ty Warren is right in the hole. It's almost like he thought he was going to submarine Warren and he didn't. If Damien Woody gets his block, Jones follows Richardson and probably scores. It's that simple." Second and goal from the 2-yard line. Play. Favre hands off to Jones. One-yard gain. The All-22 camera shows safety Rodney Harrison coming off the right edge untouched to tackle Jones. Pause. "They're just selling out," Jaworski says of the Patriots. "They're not even playing pass. Rodney just times it perfectly to the point where he was almost offsides. That's the guy you can't account for.... Now (Woody) gets the block (on Warren). If he would have gotten the block on the first play... I would have come back with the same damn play." Third and goal from the 1-yard line. "Jaws," Cosell asks, "In your mind, is this automatically a pass play?" "No!" Jaworski says. "There's no automatic. When coaches put a game plan together, they look at every matchup. Every matchup! My feeling has always been this: Right now, this has to be your best play. When you get in crunch time -- third and goal from the 1 -- give me your best play!" Play. Favre hands off to Jones. 2-yard loss. Pause. The far end zone camera shows left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson getting trampled by Richard Seymour, which gives Jones no chance on the left side. "Well..." Jaworski says. "This one obviously wasn't their best play." Jaworski questions the decision to run to the left side, but doesn't second-guess coach Eric Mangini's three consecutive run plays. In fact... "I would have run the ball on fourth down, too," Jaworski says. "I'm a little bit surprised Eric didn't go for it. He's one of those guys who likes to send a message. One of those confidence things." Jaworski shakes his head and runs through the rest of the Jets offensive plays, pointing out nuances of Favre's second game with his new team. Nearly 90 minutes later, he's finished. Time to examine last Monday night's Eagles-Cowboys thriller. Time to move on. Jaworski sips his morning cup of coffee. "Let's get that Eagles game on here!" he says. "Where's that tape?" M.A. Mehta may be reached at mmehta@starledger.com.
The best pure analyst on television. He needs to do playoff games too. His ability to break down the QB is better than anyone else.
You can't run a power set if your tackles aren't up to the job. This failure was purely on the edge of the line where Warren and Seymour overmatched Woody and D-Brick. The second down play was obviously on the coaching because the Pats flipped the coin and sold out on the run and that's what the Jets chose to do.
I really like Jaws too. The only thing that annoys me about him is his tone of voice - I dunno, he just has this weird pattern of voice tone that gets to me.
^^ I go even further on the coaching side--Favre must have seen this and he was given no options to take advantage of it. Why should one limit their own possibilities? Its idiotic and no decent strategist would put themselves in such a position. Regarding jaws, yeah, helluva job.
Going for it on fourth down might have resulted in a TD, but if not it would have been a healthy nudge in the field position game, where the Jets were behind all game.
I like jaworski too even though he is not exactly Morgan Freeman in the voice dept. and I respect the 116 straight starts at QB.
right on eric. shotty said favre has 'tons of options and input' but shotty only talked about how favre has input in pre-game planning but on the 'heavy goalline package', favre can only change the play in the huddle, not on the los. i garuantee the next time we are at first and goal with our heavy package look for favre to audiable to a TE. care to guess which one?
Jaws is enjoyable and his preparation is appreciated but when you have an ass like Tony Cornhole and a play by play man that does inform you of what's going on the field while Cornhole is going on and on, the broadcast is not enjoyable.
What people fail to mention is that on first and second down during that series D'Brick owned Seymour, blowing him off the LOS. He definitely got blown up on third down though. So did Mangold and Faneca.
Ah just wait to Schobel meets the Brick. The thing is to be championship team you need championship caliber players not just medicore players which is what Brick is no matter what you wish to say. If you look back to the 06 draft we took Brick & KC OTH Denver took Cutler (who was rejected by our management after there great QB tour) & Marshall. Now who do you think did better us or them?
Wow, I didn't realize they got Marshall in the 4th round of that draft. Talk about a 4th round steal ... Obviously I'd love to have both those guys on the Jets.
