On Sunday, Braxton Berrios became the first Jets wide receiver ever to have a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in the same game.
Unfortunately, one play Berrios DIDN’T get involved in is the one that will be talked about ad nauseum this week after the Jets’ loss: the one where, instead of giving it to Berrios on a reverse on 4th and just over a yard at the Tampa Bay 7 with 2:17 left, Zach Wilson tried to plunge ahead for a first down and ended up getting stopped.
The person(s) to blame for that? Head coach Robert Saleh and/or offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur.
“It was a reverse to Berrios, but the quarterback has an option to sneak based on the look,” Saleh said of the play. “We wanted the handoff all the way, but we did a poor job as a staff communicating that in the huddle, and Zach executed the play as it is designed in the playbook. That’s Mike to Zach, saying hand it off all the way, but that’s on us as a staff for the poor communication.”
“We got the play call and I was thinking to do my job. We had an open A-gap there and unfortunately we came up short,” Wilson added. “That’s what the play was; go through my parameters of what I was given, and if it was there, keep it, and if not, to hand it.”
In that situation, a first down ends the game, as Tampa Bay was out of timeouts, and kicking a field goal gives the Jets a seven-point lead, leaving the Bucs just over two minutes to drive for a touchdown with no time outs.
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That’s what they did anyway, going 93 yards in about 110 seconds to win it, but Saleh doesn’t regret the decision to go for it – because had they kicked a field goal, chances are Brady would’ve had a shorter field ahead on the final drive anyway.
“They’re backed up so they would’ve had longer to go, and we’re a yard away from keeping the ball out of the greatest player in football history’s hands,” Saleh said. “I’ll take that yard every time, but we have to be better as a staff in terms of communicating and making sure everything is done exactly the way we want it done.”
The play is similar to one the Jets ran against Houston, where, as Saleh said, the design is a hand-off with a “two-go” option for Wilson to sneak if he sees the opportunity. He did, but it never should’ve gotten to that point.
“It’s a short yardage call, fourth and 1 or less, but we stretched it. Braxton is one of our best players and we wanted the ball in his hands, but Zach executed it as the playbook says,” Saleh said. “In that situation we wanted a give no matter what but we did a poor job of communicating that to Zach. We needed to communicate to handoff no matter what.”
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The worst part for Saleh? If you look at the tape, chances are Berrios has the first down, the clock goes down to two minutes, and the Jets are three kneel downs away from slaying Tom Brady.
“You look at that tape, and it makes you sick,” Saleh said, but Wilson added this: “If we get that, no one says anything.”
Hindsight is always 20/20, of course – when asked about Saleh taking responsibility, even Wilson said “everyone is being hard on themselves because of what happened, and I just think when something doesn’t work out it’s easy to say after the fact.”
To a man, though, Wilson, at least, said after the fact that he thought he saw the right play.
“I did what I thought was the right thing to do there within my parameters, and the hard thing is it’s easy to say, ‘oh, if we hand off, we get the first down and we win,’” Wilson said. “If he gets stuffed, everyone asks why you don’t take the open gap. The truth is, this is a really good defense, and we just didn’t execute.”
“I fully trust (Wilson) and whatever decision he makes. He sees the game from a different angle, and my full trust is in him,” Berrios said. “If he makes that call, I’m riding with that call. This is the NFL, you don’t have time to think about it. That play was called, it had a two-way go, and it went the other way.”
Indeed, instead of a game-sealing play, it was just another tough learning opportunity for the Jets to take with them.
“From an offensive perspective, we have to execute the play we called,” Wilson said. “That’s why those situations are so hard; it’s a game of inches, and we’re all going to learn from it.”
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