Bryce Hall surprised the media on Sunday when he seemed to admit the Jets did not prepare at all for Gardner Minshew.
Minshew got the nod against the Jets after Jalen Hurts was forced to miss the contest with an ankle injury.
Hall backtracked his words a bit, saying that Hurts and Minshew are similar QBs, so the Jets didn’t have to change up their defensive gameplan much.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich echoed those sentiments on Monday.
“We prepared for the Philadelphia Eagles and their offense” Ulbrich told reporters. “Minshew and Jalen are very similar, they’re both mobile. Schematically, they didn’t really change what they did…
“We saw, scouted, we see what we prepared for and how we practiced, the plays that we showed the players as opposed to what we got in the game, and it didn’t change. It was what we were ready for.”
Minshew completed 20 of his 25 passes for 233 yards, while gaining just 11 yards on four carries. For context, Hurts averages 57.9 rushing yards on 10.2 attempts per game this season. In Minshew’s career, he averages just over 20 rushing yards a contest.
But Ulbrich didn’t think that the two players’ running styles was their biggest difference.
“The biggest difference between those quarterbacks is… [Jalen’s] actually the guy that took more downfield shots, and Minshew was a bit more of the short, intermediate game and the RPO stuff,” said Ulbrich. “But schematically, the Eagles didn’t change much who they were.”
While the QB rushing was limited, the Jets still couldn’t stop the run. Miles Sanders ran the ball 24 times for 120 yards, both by far his highest totals this season.
“Ultimately, we faced the No. 1 rushing team in the NFL,” said Ulbrich. “And that’s been their identity, that’s who they’ve been, that’s the success they’ve shown this year, and that didn’t change a whole lot.”
The Eagles didn’t change the fact that they are a run-heavy offense, but they did change their rushing philosophy.
The Jets won’t admit that, but the writing on the wall is clear – they, again, were not ready to stop the ground game.
Read more: https://sports.yahoo.com/jeff-ulbrich-doubles-down-jets-233200181.html?src=rss
