Getty New York Jets tight end Ryan Griffin looks on during a game on December 20, 2020.
Pro Football Focus has released their Week 3 grades for the New York Jets road debacle against the Denver Broncos and the offensive scores aren’t pretty.
Before you ask, no they do not grade coaches and play-callers. If they did, Mike LaFleur would certainly make this list.
If you take away limited snap counts like Jeff Smith, the Jets only had one mark that was in the green (which on PFF means 65.0 or higher). We all saw the performance, so this is in no way a surprise, but hats off to left tackle George Fant for an above-average showing while everyone else was giving up around him.
That was the only positive takeaway from Sunday’s game on the offensive side. The rest was hard to watch, but there were a few liabilities that deserve a special shoutout.
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Honorable Mentions
The four dropped balls from pass-catchers were crucial in this contest and although Corey Davis was involved in one of those, he did not make it onto PFF’s naughty list. The WR1’s run-blocking and overall ability kept his grade at 61.7, not good but not terrible either.
Another receiver that had a major drop was slot-man Braxton Berrios. The ball went straight through his hands and into the hands of Caden Sterns. This was towards the end of the game but it was Berrios’ worst performance subbing for Jamison Crowder either way.
Here’s a clip where Davis, Berrios and tight end Tyler Kroft all run the exact same route, causing a Zach Wilson coverage sack.
The slot receiver has generally been a bright spot in this putrid offense, but it wasn’t his best afternoon in Week 3 (50.1 PFF mark). The same can be said about rookie running back Michael Carter (52.1).
Coming off his semi-breakout against New England, Carter laid an egg in Denver. He and Ty Johnson both had dropped passes to round out that total of four, and his general receiving grade was 40.2. The first-year player also had a pass-blocking grade of 15.4. This has been a strength of Carter’s in the past, so we’ll have to chalk it up to a bad day for now.
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Rookie First-Rounder Gets Schooled
One of the more disappointing efforts was from 2021 first-round pick Alijah Vera-Tucker. We heard so many positive scouting reports from the left guard both before the draft and after the Jets selected him.
Hall of Famer Anthony Muñoz even proclaimed that ‘AVT’ wouldn’t play like a rookie. Well, he did in Week 3. His 48.6 overall grade was the second-worst on Sunday and there weren’t many obvious pros or cons.
Vera-Tucker was just below-average at everything. His pass-blocking was a 57.9 and his run-blocking was a 53.6. The rookie allowed three quarterback pressures and was flagged for one penalty, but he did not allow a sack.
The three credited sacks were charged to running backs Johnson and Carter, plus one to Morgan Moses. The veteran right tackle didn’t have a great game either with four pressures allowed and a grade of 53.5.
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Number One Culprit Revealed
No, the number one offender according to PFF was not Greg Van Roten, although he wasn’t exactly topping the charts either. It was tight end Ryan Griffin, who played 33 snaps out of 54 after the Kroft injury. This playing time led all TEs in Week 3.
Griffin was totally useless as a blocker with 38.9 and 44.7 marks in both the run game and pass protection (respectively). The tight end also offered very little as a receiver, with one catch for five yards. This all added up to an overall grade of 42.0.
The 31-year old is more of a blocking tight end that can get open on the occasional bootleg or play action. In Week 3, he proved that he cannot be used as a starter and his blocking performance may even be cause for a benching.
It’s time to call up Kenny Yeboah and give him a shot, especially if Kroft misses Week 4. Griffin is not the guy to fill his shoes.
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