After a wild and crazy win for the New York Jets in Week 2 over the Cleveland Browns, how did the team stack up in terms of grades at Pro Football Focus? Let’s take a look at some of the top and bottom grades from Sunday.
Top 5 Jets grades on offense
First, a look at the Jets that scored the top five grades from Sunday.
- QB Joe Flacco – 79.6
- WR Garrett Wilson – 78.9
- WR Jeff Smith – 70.8
- P Braden Mann – 70.7
- RB Breece Hall / WR Corey Davis – 70.1
Yes, you are reading that correctly. The fourth-highest grade on offense was the punter after his successful fake punt completion to WR Jeff Smith, who had the third-highest grade on offense on Sunday. OG Alijah Vera-Tucker rounded out the players with a grade of at least 70, continuing his strong start to the young season, also earning a grade of 75 in pass-blocking. It’s not very surprising that he was the highest-graded offensive lineman once again for the Jets. And yes, after a rough outing in Week 1, Joe Flacco leads the way on offense.
Bottom 5 Jets grades on offense
Flipping the script, here are the bottom five grades on offense from Sunday.
- TE Jeremy Ruckert – 36.3
- OT George Fant – 46.7
- WR Braxton Berrios – 47.9
- TE Tyler Conklin – 49.0
- OG Laken Tomlinson – 56.8
The grades seem to confirm the weakest position group from Sunday was the tight end group. Kenny Yeboah saw a grade of 60, boosted by an 88.8 pass-blocking grade. However, he played just three snaps. Ruckert saw one target in his NFL debut and he dropped it. Conklin nearly had a costly fumble but was bailed out when Max Mitchell recovered the fumble.
Tomlinson was much better in pass protection, but a poor 44.4 run-blocking grade wrecked his grade and keeps him near the bottom of the list overall for a second week. He also allowed two pressures, according to PFF.
However, it was Fant who was the worst in that category, allowing five total pressures (four hurries, one hit). The one sack, by the way, was credited to Mitchell.
Top 5 Jets grades on defense
Let’s head over to the defensive side of the ball and look at the top players there.
- CB Brandin Echols – 93.7
- DE John Franklin-Myers – 76.6
- DT Sheldon Rankins – 73.0
- CB Michael Carter II – 72.6
- DE Carl Lawson – 68.1
In very limited time (five snaps), Echols scored, by far, the highest grade on defense, thanks in large part to his 91.6 coverage grade. Echols has become a reliable reserve cornerback behind Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed. If we go down to No. 6, with Echols only playing five snaps, it would be a tie between Micheal Clemons and Nathan Shepherd at 66.1.
Bottom 5 Jets grades on defense
And now the players bringing up the rear at PFF on defense Sunday.
- LB Quincy Williams – 29.2
- S Jordan Whitehead – 35.5
- S Lamarcus Joyner – 38.6
- S Tony Adams – 43.4
- DE Jacob Martin – 43.6
The Jets once again got burned a time or two, leading to three safeties scoring very poorly. Adams only played one snap, but it was a touchdown that was later overturned. He received a 48.7 coverage grade.
Quincy Williams was dinged heavily for coverage, getting just a 29.7 grade and a 41.5 grade in run defense. He graded out okay in tackling at 62.5.
As a whole, too, you’d like to see more pressure from the Jets. PFF credited the Jets with just 12 total pressures as a team, two each from Clemons, Martin and Lawson. Clemons and Lawson did lead with a 28.6 win percentage (defined by PFF as percentage of “wins” vs blocking on non-penalty pass-rush snaps).