The New York Jets’ preseason opener was filled with interesting numbers to dissect.
Here are a few numbers that caught my attention, starting with one that hints at an identity shift for the Jets’ offense.
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Gap run rate on the rise
This offseason, we speculated whether the Jets’ additions of Morgan Moses, John Simpson, and Tyron Smith signaled that they want to rely more heavily on gap-blocking concepts in the run game than they did in the past.
It was only one preseason game, but Saturday was our first sign that changes may indeed be coming to the Jets’ run game.
According to Pro Football Focus’ tracking, 14 of the Jets’ 27 designed rush attempts against Washington were classified as gap-concept runs, a 51.9% rate. This is a noticeable increase over the Jets’ 42.9% rate in the 2023 regular season (ranked 17th out of 32 teams) and an even larger increase over their 37.2% rate in the 2023 preseason (which would have ranked 25th in the regular season).
In the 2023 regular season, the NFL average was 44.6%. A gap rate of 51.9% would have ranked eighth-highest, slotting between the Ravens and Cardinals.
It is well known that NFL teams do not like to show much of their actual game plan in the preseason, so this one game is hardly enough to definitively state anything about the Jets’ offensive plans. Still, it is interesting to see that the Jets are already increasing their reliance on gap-blocking concepts, just as their offseason moves suggested they would.
Xavier Newman flashes
When watching film of the Jets’ run game, Xavier Newman frequently caught my attention. Time and time again, No. 65 popped off the screen.
It turns out that PFF’s grading system thought Newman was elite against Washington. Newman earned a 90.0 run-blocking grade at PFF, ranking fourth-best among guards in Week 1 of the preseason.
Here are two examples of Newman’s standout run-blocking (right guard, No. 65).
JBC locks it down
Upon my first viewing on gameday, Jarrick Bernard-Converse was my No. 1 star of the game, and after rewatching the game, his film backed it up. His stat line is another feather in his cap.
After allowing a tightly-covered 42-yard catch to Dyami Brown on his first target, JBC did not allow another catch. He finished the day allowing 1-of-6 passing for 42 yards on throws in his direction. The five incompletions thrown into his coverage tied him with New Orleans’ Rico Payton for the most among cornerbacks in Week 1 of the preseason.
Takk McKinley explodes
Takkarist McKinley has drawn a lot of praise for his performance in training camp, and he built upon that hype in his first preseason outing. On just 9 pass-rush snaps, PFF credited McKinley with 4 pass-rush wins. His 44.4% pass-rush win rate was the best among edge rushers with at least 5 pass-rush snaps in Week 1 of the preseason.
Promising performances from the reserve offensive line
Olu Fashanu was the headliner of the unit, but there were a few other offensive linemen who enjoyed good days in pass protection:
- Kohl Levao (LG/RG): 1 pressure allowed on 23 pass-blocking snaps
- Chris Glaser (C): 0/17
- Carter Warren (RT): 0/15
- Xavier Newman (RG/LG): 1/14
Overall, the Jets’ pass protection was impressive throughout the day. Across 26 dropbacks, the Jets’ quarterbacks were sacked once (3.8%) and pressured on 7 dropbacks (26.9%). On the lone sack, the Jets had good protection, and Tyrod Taylor was sacked due to the coverage.
While Washington does not have one of the deepest defensive lines in football, this was still a solid start for a Jets team that can use as much offensive line depth as possible. If the reserve linemen can continue this production across the next two games, the Jets will feel much more comfortable about their ability to withstand OL injuries than they did last year.
