Gregg Williams’s New York Jets defense failed miserably against Andy Reid‘s Kansas City Chiefs deception-ladened offense.
Long gone are the days of the ground-and-pound football teams. The Tennessee Titans can feature a power-rushing style featuring Derrick Henry, but these days, that’ll never suffice as the prominent offensive idea.
It’s a high-flying, pass-happy league that rewards aggressiveness and, most importantly, deception.
Since the advent of the stringent defensive back coverage rules a decade and a half ago, little by little, the NFL has welcomed more college principles. First, the wildcat hit the scene. That turned into heavy read-option teams featuring Robert Griffin III, Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick, and now anything that can threaten the defense’s edge provides a ridiculous offensive advantage.
No offensive mind has benefited more from the new style than Andy Reid. His Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs do things that have been emulated leaguewide, and, more incredibly, the stuff Reid implemented two years ago is still going strong.
Gregg Williams’s New York Jets defense had no chance against the Chiefs’ deception last Sunday.
The Chiefs’ second play of the game showcased Reid’s favorite piece of deception: the backfield crossing motion.
The wildcat brought jet motion to the professional ranks for good. Previously, jet motion would be used from time to time, but it was considered far too dangerous to use on a consistent basis.
Defenders would take slobberknock little guys that close to the line of scrimmage while trying to stretch the edge. It’s also why the read-option wasn’t prevalent.
Today, with the physicality down, quarterbacks such as Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson can run zone-read concepts all game without great fear of injury and coaches like Reid can use jet motion to an incredible degree.
Mahomes found Tyreek Hill on a slant for 13 yards with jet motion and a tight end flash contrasting one another:
Part of the Jets’ biggest problem on defense is the lack of pattern-matching. If Williams preached and implemented pattern-matching with more enthusiasm, the cornerback would have stuck with and followed Hill’s slant. There’s no reason to be that far off the receiver when there’s no No. 2 read threatening his zone.
The play-action holds the inside linebackers and the rest is entirely too easy thanks to backfield deception.
The next play features a great play-call from Reid. On a second-and-1 situation, he goes to the air which is playing with house money. Yet again, he dials up his favorite behind-the-play action: the backfield cross-motion:
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Greg Williams has more excuses than Adam Gase but Greg Williams history of his entire career wears out his welcome. He should be fired after Gase