Scout’s Eye: Finding The Defensive Breakdowns

The Jets chose to double Robert Quinn instead of DeMarcus Lawrence on the long Robby Anderson touchdown reception. Lawrence was able to force Sam Darnold to step forward in the pocket, but there was no push from the inside by either Antwaun Woods or Maliek Collins to affect the throw. Both Jets receivers ran double moves on the outside against Byron Jones and Chidobe Awuzie. Darnold made the right choice in the direction he went, being that Awuzie reacted to Anderson's move and was off balance and stumbling on the coverage. It didn't help matters that Xavier Woods was down low in the box with Jeff Heath playing the high safety.

Nice play design by Kellen Moore on third down to get Ezekiel Elliott in the flat one-on-one against Neville Hewitt. Moore knew that he was going to get man coverage on the play and was able to sneak Elliott underneath, making Hewitt have to run through the trash. The two-man pick coming inside would have worked had Hewitt taken a deeper drop. Instead he stepped up, which allowed him to get under them. If Elliott was able to make a clean catch, he could have out run Hewitt, who was able to knock him off balance while Marcus Maye was able to finish him off.

Dak Prescott reminded Tavon Austin pre-snap to move up on the line, but when Jason Witten switched from the right to the left it's his responsibility to adjust back. The problem was that Austin had his back to Witten and was looking at the coverage once he settled in next to Cam Fleming. Austin might have never noticed Witten coming across thus, he covered him up along the line of scrimmage. Regardless, it was a huge mistake because it wiped out a 15-yard gain off an excellent route and catch from him.

Adam Gase had an answer for Kris Richard and his "Robber" defense. Richard tried to take away the underneath routes by playing Jeff Heath in the middle of the field. Heath attacked a crossing route by Jamison Crowder, but it opened up space behind him -- which allowed Demaryius Thomas the opportunity to work Byron Jones to the inside. The Jets picked up the twist, which allowed Darnold a clean pocket in order to make the throw to Thomas for a sizeable gain.

Just a poor adjustment by Michael Gallup on a third down ball that was a little high from Dak Prescott. Gallup executed the route well, which bought him separation from Darryl Roberts -- but it appeared that his hands were out of place and he didn't close them fast enough in order to secure the pass. It was a ball that should have been caught and resulted in a fresh set of downs inside the Jets' red zone. Instead, they had to settle for a field goal from Brett Maher.

The Cowboys had been having success getting guys home off twist stunts during the early part of the season. Robert Quinn was able to occupy two blockers, but Antwaun Woods was unable to take his path tight enough to get to Sam Darnold. If Woods would have been able to come down inside, he would have been right on top of Darnold. Instead, he was wide and it allowed Darnold enough space to adjust back to his right and fire the ball to Jamison Crowder on the crossing route. Xavier Woods was late to react to Crowder, which didn't help matters.

I still don't know how Dak Prescott was able to get the ball to Cedrick Wilson with Neville Hewitt bearing down on him. The play was initially designed for Prescott to throw the ball to Ezekiel Elliott on the wheel route, but he couldn't separate from Tarell Basham. Prescott was forced to move to his left with really no window to throw in. Wilson did a nice job adjusting to the throw with Darryl Roberts all over him.

The Jets didn't run the ball well at all in this game with LeVeon Bell, but the one run they did have was on Robert Quinn. Defensively, they had all the front side gaps accounted for. Quinn, coming from the backside, wasn't square to the line and overran the play -- which allowed Bell to make the cut. Joe Thomas tried to rally from the backside as well, but he wasn't able to get his arms around Bell's legs in order to make the tackle.

Liked what I saw from Brandon Knight in his first start in the NFL. Pass blocking technique with his set/punch was outstanding. He did a nice job of playing with balance and when he had to make adjustments with Zack Martin he was able to without any issues. If there was an area to his game where he did struggle it was in the running game. He just doesn't have the lower body power to get successful movement down after down. He tends to catch blocks instead of being able to position himself in order to drive his man off the ball. His inability to cut off Quinnen Williams on the backside affected the lack of success on the 4th down run by Dak Prescott.

Outstanding coverage by the secondary allowed Robert Quinn to get home on his first sack. Everyone picked up a man, which kept Sam Darnold from throwing the ball. Darnold wanted to go underneath to Darmaryius Thomas, but Jaylon Smith was right there. Maliek Collins also did a nice job of getting pressure up the middle, which forced Darnold to pull the ball down. Once he did that, it was all Quinn needed to work back to him. Quinn appeared to be out of the play, but second effort on his part allowed him to defeat Kelvin Beachum and capture Darnold.

Dak Prescott got a couple of really nice blocks at the point of attack on the quarterback draw. Connor Williams was able to force Leonard Williams to the outside, which allowed Ezekiel Elliott the clean path to the inside to pick up Blake Cashman. Elliott's block was so effective that it also took Neville Hewitt out of the play. Hewitt tried to move around the block in order to get to Prescott, but he was too late arriving and Prescott just powered into the end zone.

There was nothing wrong with the operation on the Brett Maher missed field goal. The snap from L.P. Ladouceur was perfect. Chris Jones didn't even have to spin the ball in order to get the laces away. What I did notice was that Maher started his step a tick early, then had to reset himself. Maher appeared to regain his balance, then went through with the kick. The timing miscue helped contribute to the miss.