Aaron Rodgers can’t escape blame for his fourth quarter interception vs. Bills.
Rodgers deserves a lot more blame for his critical interception than he is receiving.
The interception Aaron Rodgers threw late in the fourth quarter of the Jets’ Week 6 loss has drawn plenty of attention. This is due in part to comments Rodgers made after the game which seemed to lay all of the blame at the feet of wide receiver Mike Williams.
“It’s two vertical [routes]. Allen [Lazard] is down the seam and Mike is down the red line. I’m looking at Allen, he puts his hand up and three guys go with him. So I’m throwing a no-look to the red line. And when I peek my eyes back there, [Williams] is running an in-breaker. He’s got to be on the red line. It’s the little things every single time.”
Some members of the media took Rodgers’ talking points and ran with them.
For additional clarity: The red line is painted on the #Jets practice field. It runs the entire length, five yards from sideline. Receivers are taught to hold that line — seldom will they lose any situation if they do.
Williams was supposed to be on that line. He broke inside of it for an unknown reason. Rodgers tried to adjust as he was letting ball go, leading to under throw.
Had Williams held the line it’s a touchdown. Instead, INT. Brutal.
Now I’m not trying to call out Connor Hughes here, but I don’t think it’s remotely fair to say this is an automatic touchdown that was destroyed by Williams’ inability to run a route.
Let’s take a look at what actually happened on the play piece by piece.
Now the call is for two verticals. Allen Lazard (yellow) is running deep down the middle of the field from the slot. Williams is indeed running what some might call a red line route.
If you have ever been in an NFL team practice facility, you might notice a red line five or so yards away from the sideline on the practice field. That line is there to help wide receivers know where they are supposed to be on the field. When running a sideline route, receivers don’t want to be pinned against the sideline. If they are, there is no room for them to maneuver. There is also no room for the quarterback to throw the ball in bounds if this happens. The red line helps receivers train. Conversely, cornerbacks are trained using the red line to try and pin receivers to the sideline.
It is clear on this play that Williams drifts inside on his route.
He actually ends up inside the numbers, nowhere near where he should be. This is far away from the red line on the outside.I think it’s very fair to say that Williams ran a poor route on this play. He kind of let the corner funnel him inside without much of a fight. But saying this cost the Jets a touchdown seems like a real stretch to me, and that’s being kind.
For starters, Rodgers is incorrect to say Williams ran an in breaking route. That implies he ran the wrong route. There is no point where this route breaks inside. It might be a poorly run route, but it is not an in breaking route.
More to the point, the outside corner releases Williams and lets him go up field.
Why does he do this? I think it’s reasonable to say it’s because of how far inside Williams is.
Yes, it looks like the red line area is wide open. Lazard is drawing the deep safety to the right side of the field. If only Williams was in the correct spot, he would be wide open, right?
Now I think is the time to use a little common sense. Let’s talk game situation. This play is a 3rd and 16 with Buffalo up 3 and just over 2:00 left in the fourth quarter. Everybody in the building knows there is a good chance the Jets are going to try and dial up a deep shot in that situation.
So let me ask this question. Do you really think in that spot the Buffalo Bills are going to dial up a defensive call that is completely checkmated by two vertical routes?
In a defense with two deep safeties, one of the vulnerable areas on the field is the deep part of the field where the red line takes a receiver.
Of course defenses in the NFL got burned enough by this enough to build in answers to this situation.
Again, the corner is watching Williams break inside and then drops away from him because his responsibility isn’t in the middle of the field.
If Williams is on the outside, it’s probably going to be that corner’s job to drop there (unless you think the Bills called a defense knowing they were finished if the Jets sent a receiver deep to the outside).
So the idea the Jets had an easy touchdown doesn’t seem very well-founded.
There’s another issue on this play. Rodgers just doesn’t throw a very good ball. Williams has gotten a fair share of criticism for slipping, but let’s take a look at why he slipped.
You can draw your own judgment, but it looks to me like the reason Williams ended up on the ground was he had to adjust to a badly underthrown ball. The interception is made at the 18 yard line, and Williams is already past it. It just was not a good throw.
Let’s return to Rodgers’ explanation.
So I’m throwing a no-look to the red line. And when I peek my eyes back there, [Williams] is running an in-breaker. He’s got to be on the red line. It’s the little things every single time.
The pass was underthrown, and it isn’t to the red line. If Williams is on the red line, this is not thrown well enough to be complete. There’s just a lot here about what Rodgers says that didn’t add up.
And even if Williams ran to the wrong place, Rodgers should be able to see it. If the receiver isn’t where he should be, why is the quarterback exonerated from throwing the ball?
Let’s say Rodgers tried a no look pass as he claims. Again, I don’t see how that exonerates him. I mean this is a key spot in the game, and your excuse as a quarterback is that you weren’t looking at the wide receiver?
Imagine for a second that Zach Wilson threw an interception late in the fourth quarter of a game, and his explanation was that he wasn’t looking, and his receiver ran the wrong route, literally nobody would be accepting that explanation. We would be in for a week of discussion about Wilson and accountability.
I’ll spare you a similar lecture on accountability. But I will say that if Zach Wilson wouldn’t get a pass for this kind of play, Aaron Rodgers shouldn’t just because he’s Aaron Rodgers.
A bonus frustrating part of this play is that instead of attempting this pass, Rodgers could have checked it down to Breece Hall. Hall had plenty of daylight in front of him.
