Key advanced metrics for New York Jets offense in 23-16 win over Cleveland Browns

Despite defeating the 10-win Browns, a few concerning issues emerged on the offensive side of the ball for the New York Jets. Some good, some bad for Mekhi Becton in a tough matchup Mekhi Becton has held his own against some difficult opponents this season, holding up well against players like Nick Bosa, Justin Houston, Bradley Chubb, Frank Clark, and Joey Bosa. This past Sunday, Becton drew perhaps his most fearsome matchup of the season in Myles Garrett, and the results were mixed. In one phase, he did some great things. In the other, there was trouble. As a run blocker, Becton had a strong game against Cleveland. His 72.1 run blocking grade at Pro Football Focus ranked eighth-best among left tackles in Week 16, and it is the third-best mark posted by a left tackle against Garrett and the Browns this season. However, Becton had a rough game in pass protection, allowing four pressures (tying his season-high) over 38 protection snaps for a pressure rate of 10.5%. Becton allowed one sack to Garrett and should have given up another on a play in which Garrett stripped the ball from Sam Darnold, but the officials ruled that play as an incomplete pass, seemingly the incorrect call (that play still counts as a pressure). Becton also had two false start penalties. On the plus side, I think it is worth mentioning how Becton has yet to have a truly abysmal game. There have been games in which he has struggled in protection, like this one, but whenever that has been the case, he was great in the run game. On the other hand, Becton has had a few games in which his run blocking was not all that great, and in those, his protection was excellent. This level of consistency is fantastic for a 21-year-old rookie who many thought would be a "project" type of player, one who would have major growing pains and need a lot of time to hit his ceiling. Instead, Becton has looked ready to go from the jump. His level of play this year has set a tremendous floor for his career. If he doesn't get any better at all, he is already solid. With minor refinements to his technique, he has the potential to be as good as any offensive lineman in the league. The George Fant roller coaster continues After a good game against the Rams, Fant fell back down with a poor game against the Browns. Like Becton, Fant allowed four pressures over 38 protection snaps, including a sack allowed to Olivier Vernon. He posted the fifth-worst pass blocking grade (47.1) at PFF among right tackles in Week 16. Fant has fallen off after a decent start. From Weeks 1-9 (8 games for Fant), Fant had an overall PFF grade of 65.2 that ranked 24th out of 35 right tackles. Since Week 10 (5 games for Fant), Fant's grade has dropped to 55.5, ranking 28th out of 31 right tackles. Over his first six starts at right tackle, Fant allowed a 5.3% pressure rate, equal to the 2020 league average for all tackles. Over his past five starts at right tackle, that rate has risen to 8.3%. He had two starts at left tackle, allowing an 8.7% rate over that span. Bringing back Fant as the starting right tackle at his $9.4 million price tag once seemed like a rather easy decision. Now, it is starting to seem more plausible that Joe Douglas and the Jets could decide that they would rather search for a replacement who is capable of providing more than just competence. Personally, I like Fant's progress this season compared to where he was in Seattle, and I think that he has played a bit closer to average-level than his PFF grades suggest. I still lean towards keeping him, but I am growing increasingly comfortable with the idea of moving on. The Jets' best approach will probably be to keep Fant around while remaining on the lookout for an upgrade, pouncing on the opportunity if it presents itself. If an upgrade is found, Fant's contract can be easily escaped. If not, he's fine for one more year. The roster has much bigger holes than Fant at right tackle. It will be interesting to see whether Douglas believes the same. One key thing to keep in mind regarding Fant is that it appears he was very much a Douglas-led signing. As Douglas' first free agent signing of the 2020 league year, and as an unheralded backup offensive lineman (Douglas' primary position of interest) given an unexpectedly large deal to fill the Jets' gaping right tackle hole, most signs point to the Fant signing being one largely spearheaded by Douglas based on the development potential that he saw from Fant on film. If this is the case, the general manager could easily lean heavily towards sticking with Fant as the starting right tackle. Connor McGovern does a decent job McGovern allowed three pressures over his 38 protection snaps, but those losses were not all that damaging, as evidenced by his solid pass blocking grade of 67.5 that ranked 14th among centers in Week 16. McGovern's overall grade of 59.4 for the game ranked 17th. Since Week 9, McGovern owns a 69.5 overall grade at Pro Football Focus, ninth-best among 32 qualified centers over that span. Prior to Week 9, he had a 50.1 overall grade, which ranked 30th. In his film breakdowns, Joe Blewett has also seen progress from McGovern, so it certainly appears he is starting to look like the player the Jets thought they were getting. Pat Elflein and Josh Andrews continue to struggle Pat Elflein received some social media hype for a nice pancake block or two, but he still didn't play well. Elflein allowed three pressures and earned a pass blocking grade of 38.5 that ranked third-worst among left tackles in Week 16, while his run blocking grade of 59.0 ranked 21st. He is a bit Brian Winters-esque in that he pulls out the eye-popping nasty finish every once in a while that tricks some into overlooking how inconsistent he is overall. Josh Andrews allowed four pressures over 26 protection snaps until he left the game with a groin injury and was replaced by Conor McDermott, who earned an atrocious 39.1 overall PFF grade over 26 total snaps. Former Jets star Sheldon Richardson shifted between both sides of the interior and bullied Elflein, Andrews, and McDermott on his way to season-highs of five pressures and nine total tackles. Jamison Crowder puts in a unique performance Jamison Crowder did it all against Cleveland. He threw a 43-yard touchdown to Braxton Berrios, rushed for a 14-yard first down, and caught seven of nine targets for 92 yards, two first downs, and a touchdown. Crowder became just the second player in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to post 90+ receiving yards, 40+ passing yards, and 10+ rushing yards in a game. The only other player to do it is David Patten, who accomplished it for the Patriots in Week 6 of 2001. On the season, Crowder sits at fifth in the NFL with an average of 42.5 receiving yards per game out of the slot. Signs of a pulse from Chris Herndon For the first time all season, Chris Herndon has had back-to-back decent performances. After catching 3-of-4 targets for 48 yards and three first downs against the Rams, Herndon again looked solid against the Browns, pulling in all four of his targets for 34 yards, two first downs, and a touchdown. Over his previous eight games prior to this two-game set, Herndon had caught only four passes on six targets for 44 yards, an average of 5.5 yards per game. He was playing quite a bit, too, averaging 17.1 routes run per game. His lack of production can be blamed on numerous things, but ultimately, it is mostly his own fault. He simply hasn't created much separation as a route-runner, while his propensity for drops and fumbles early in the season likely reduced the amount of confidence that his quarterbacks have in him. It's too late for Herndon to erase the tight end position as a need for the Jets - a couple of decent games aren't enough to erase how quiet he has been for the majority of the year - but he will most likely be back next season, so any signs of promise that he can provide are welcome. He is slowly starting to look more like the promising rookie that we saw in 2018.