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The best and worst coaching decisions of NFL Week 5: Aaron Rodgers' influence is hurting the Jets

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The best and worst coaching decisions of NFL Week 5: Aaron Rodgers' influence is hurting the Jets

The Jets fired Robert Saleh. Follow The Athletic's live coverage of the New York head coach situation.

Aaron Rodgers is not a coach, but he advocated for more control during his time in Green Bay. He has that control in New York, but the Jets' offense is faltering.

The Ravens have turned things around on offense and are leading the league in yards per game. They did it on the back of Derrick Henry and the fear the running back instills in defenses.

Bengals coach Zac Taylor's offensive aggressiveness in regulation led to 38 points on Sunday, but his conservatism in overtime led to a loss.

More on these best and worst coaching decisions of Week 5:

For example: The Ravens' strong personnel lineup

The potential of a backfield consisting of Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson is finally being realized. In Weeks 3 and 4, Henry rushed for a total of 350 yards. In Week 5, the Bengals' defense was scared to death of being trampled by Henry, so they loaded the box, played in odd fronts and ran in blitz mode.

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When the Ravens needed it most against the Bengals, Lamar Jackson was at his best: “This man is different”

The Ravens used multiple tight ends and/or multiple backs on 63 percent of their snaps. Of these personnel groups, they posed a run threat, but dropped back 27 times (not every dropback results in a pass attempt). On those dropbacks, Jackson went 17 of 23 (73.9 percent) and averaged 9.6 air yards per pass for 245 yards and three touchdowns. The Ravens' tight ends (Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar) combined for 11 receptions, 177 yards and three touchdowns.

Statistics of heavy personnel groupings

Explosive game speed

16.30%

First downs

20

Air yards per attempt

9.6

EPA per dropback

0.61

Even when they weren't taking advantage of play action, the threat of Henry and the Ravens using strong personnel formations made the defense stronger and contributed to explosive passing plays.

8:25 remaining in the third quarter, first-and-10

Here the Ravens lined up Andrews, Likely and Kolar to the right of the formation. Before taking the snap, Likely pointed to the other side.

From this compacted formation they ran in four verticals. Not only did the Bengals have eight in the box, but they also only had three defensive backs on the field and four linebackers.

Jackson missed free safety Geno Stone, leaving Kolar wide open on the opposite seam as he ran past linebacker Logan Wilson.

Throughout the day, the Ravens took advantage of the Bengals' overloaded boxes and linebackers. Receiver Zay Flowers had plenty of room to work on the sideline and caught several curls and comebacks. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken should continue to use heavy personnel with defenses fearful of Henry. As soon as the Bengals got a safety out of the box, Henry gave them a 56-yard run to seal the game in overtime.

Dislike: Aaron Rodgers' offense

Even after Rodgers won two MVPs in Matt LaFleur's Packers offense, he complained about a lack of control at the line of scrimmage and the constant use of motion and play action. He believed that great quarterbacks didn't need that kind of training wheels. Great quarterbacks can control everything at the line of scrimmage, and a high-motion offense doesn't allow them to do that. Movements take time away from the game clock and therefore the ball must be hit at a specific time.

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Aaron Rodgers almost had a moment against the Vikings — and then it all fell apart

With the Jets, Rodgers gets what he wants. From personnel to schematic decisions, Rodgers seems to have a say in everything. According to Sports Info Solutions, the Jets rank 24th in motion usage and 31st in play-action usage. The Jets' offense doesn't try to gain advantage through schemes. It's important that the quarterback gets the offense on the right play and that the receivers win direct one-on-one duels.

The advantage must come from the quarterback's ability to sense pressure and get the offense into perfect protection or, like Peyton Manning, put him on the right play. The problem is that Rodgers couldn't give the Jets enough of an advantage to continue his offense. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores keeps every quarterback in the league guessing, but he dominated the chess game with Rodgers in London.

“They had a seven-up presentation and we got to something we talked about,” Rodgers said after the game. “And I was looking back or a little to the left to see if we were hot or not, and I completely lost sight of (Andrew) Van Ginkel and he made a nice play.”

2:30 left in the first quarter, third and sixth

On the third and sixth play, the Vikings stacked the line of scrimmage with seven defenders. Rodgers had to quickly figure out who was blitzing and who was dropping. Linebacker Van Ginkel was on Rodgers' right and safety Harrison Smith was on Rodgers' left.

Rodgers said after the game that he looked to his left, but he didn't seem to see Smith coming or he probably would have thrown to his left. Instead, he threw to the right, where Van Ginkel dropped and read his eyes.

A common feature of Cover 0 blitzes is that defenders read the middle. No matter which direction the center blocks, the defenders on that side could fall back. The center blocked the ball on Van Ginkel's side, causing him to fall to the ground.

Among qualified quarterbacks, Rodgers ranks 29th in expected points added (EPA) per dropback when blitzed. For a veteran quarterback, that's just not good enough.

The Jets rank 24th in EPA per game, which is worse than any season Rodgers has had with LaFleur. Yes, Rodgers is getting older and we shouldn't expect the Jets to be a top-10 offense, but for them to keep up with the defense they have, they need to be in the middle of the pack. Even after giving Rodgers everything he wanted, they are far from it. There's one more thing Rodgers has on his wish list, but it could cost them a pretty penny to get Davante Adams from Las Vegas. General manager Joe Douglas needs to decide whether this team is worth continuing to invest in or whether he will consider the sunk costs.

For example: Zac Taylor's aggressive decision. Dislike: Taylor's conservative choice

The Bengals and Ravens played one of the best games of the season. We talked about how the Ravens created explosive plays. The Bengals have created some players of their own through the greatness of Ja'Marr Chase. One call stood out. With the ball on their 41-yard line with 14 seconds left in the first half and a timeout, the Bengals could have tried to get into field goal range, but instead Taylor went into the end zone on a well-designed play .

0:14 left in the second quarter, first and ten

The Bengals lined up in a trips formation with three receivers to Joe Burrow's left. Chase was placed at position #2 (second furthest from the sideline) and Andrei Iosivas was placed at position #3 (third furthest from the sideline).

Knowing that the Ravens were a quarter team, the Bengals had Iosivas run a deep crosser to the opposite side to hold that side of coverage.

The weakside safety's job is to block the first deep crosser, and that's exactly what he did. This led to Chase battling one-on-one with strong safety Marcus Williams. Chase effortlessly turned him around and beat him for the touchdown.

Taylor's approach was different in overtime. After the defense recovered a fumble and returned it to the Ravens' 38-yard line, the Bengals were positioned for a long field goal (56 yards). Taylor scored three straight runs into loaded boxes that gained 3 yards, making it a 53-yard field goal attempt for Evan McPherson. Defending champion Ryan Rehkow couldn't keep the ball clean and McPherson missed the shot. The Ravens got the ball back and won the game.

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The Bengals' overtime loss to the Ravens is their latest example of losing in winning time

“I'm really thinking about things that I can improve on,” Taylor said after the game. “Ultimately the decision for me is that we are within good field goal range for Evan and I don’t want to do anything to disrupt that.”

Kickers are converting 50-yard field goals faster than ever before, but the margin of error is still high. There is a better shot that McPherson would hit from further away. Although Taylor took responsibility for his approach, he made similar decisions in overtime games before it cost his team. Taylor has to keep going until the end. At 1-4, the Bengals really have no room for error.

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(Top photo: Naomi Baker / Getty Images)

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