It was exciting early this season to think those might be a regular part of the offense. But they seem to have disappeared.
Even the 70 yard TD to Jamo a couple of weeks ago was on a crossing route where he just outran everyone after the catch.
If defenses are taking them away, why isn’t that opening up big games for St. Brown?
I’m a little puzzled, and just a tad bit jealous watching Darnold hit them over and over to Jefferson and Addison.
Thoughts?
I haven’t watched the all22 film so this is mostly assumption. I believe teams are definitely taking away the deep shot and the short to intermediate middle of the field. That has led to less targets for Jamo saint and Laporta but increased targets for our running backs. Monty and Gibbs have been feasting on the short passing game. Defenses may view that as the least poisonous option, but eventually they’ll need to adjust and that will open up the middle of the field.
Teams will always want to take away the deep shot first. On the rare occasion we get Cover 0, I’m sure Jamo will be early in the progression.
It’s the reason why, despite every team knowing we want to riddle the middle of the field with passes, they remain open. They’re scared shitless of Jamo deep.
Which is another reason why he’s even more important to us than the numbers he puts up.
Seems reasonable, but then I think “ok, so why are defenses letting Darnold and Love do it repeatedly?”.
I think it’s a time thing. With Decker being banged up, I think we’re relying on short and intermediate
True, and the injuries to the defense are not a new thing. Maybe the Lions just don’t want any 1 or 2 play scoring drives.
We also could be using those plays less with our defense all banged up. We want long sustained drives and coughing up a short field or turning the ball over ain’t gonna help things.
I think this is it. There’s plenty of plays in for Jamo deep, but :13 is a lot shorter of a TOP than 8:13 is.
He’ll / They’ll be fine in the playoffs.
I think teams are saying “We are going to blitz you on most every play and not give Jamo time to get deep.”
I am in no way jealous of the flukey deep shots they get… not saying they arent good but man some of those shots against the falcons were more bad defense than good offense.
The Jamo effect is live and well. In real time we saw Jamo make an easy grab on the sidelines for a nice gain. On further inspection, JT O’Sullivan had a good laugh at how easy it really was…considering how simple the play design was. We had 3 TE’s…1 RB…and 1 WR in the game. Not exactly a personnel set that should have safeties holding their testicles in fear.
But the 1 WR was Jamo. Both safeties got a country mile of depth. It was unusual because it was basically a 2 man route with some check downs, and the other route runner was a frickin TE. I think we know what happened here.
Probably not enough time to let the play develop with Skip out there.
Not a shot at Skip. It just is what it is.
If we played Atlanta, Jamo might put 200 on them.
I think it is harder to chase Jamo across the field on slants/crossers in man than it is to simply play deep cover over the top. Maybe Ben see s that too and is drawing up plays where Jamo gets some YAC and picks up help from Ra and Patrick blocking downfield.
The defense has to protect against him getting wide open, but also he doesn’t track deep balls particularly well. Unless Jamo is wide open or the last option deep, Goff is reluctant to wing it.
Deep shot to Jamo this week……50+ yd TD!
Book it
This is the ultimate ‘take what the defense gives you’ offense and the last game is the perfect example:
Goff doesn’t force the ball anywhere, and he and the scheme are smart enough to find the right outlet if the primary options are covered. If you sit deep, we’ll checkdown our way to touchdowns. If you flood the box, that’s when the deep ball comes in.
When the opportunity is there the deep ball will be thrown, but you can’t blame opponents for trying to make us drive the length of the field in 10 plays rather than risking letting us do it in 3. When an offense is as good as ours you absolutely don’t want to make it easy for us by giving up a 50 yard bomb.
I agree but have a slightly different opinion.
Defenses are definitely keeping a safety over the top of Jamo and Goff is reluctant to throw it because he is not supposed to in those situations.
Jamo’s previous deep ball TD’s were not with Safety help.
They were plays that were schemed to get the Safety out of position. Now teams are making a Safety stay over Jamo.
Also, Dan is adamant about not throwing interceptions.
Jamo has improved his ball tracking but he is not a contested catch WR. He rarely wins battles for the ball when both he and DB see and have a shot at the ball. He doesn’t have the strength or timing yet that ARSB does.
In the Houston game Goff threw interceptions in situations that he may be reluctant to attempt now.
I don’t think Jamo has to be wide open but definitely not a contested ball situation.
Exactly.
The Vikings have the benefit of a 3rd place schedule.
They play five 2023 3rd place and only two 1st place teams outside of the division while the Lions play Five 1st place teams and two 3rd place teams.
Lions don’t get to play Giants, Jets, and Falcons.
Also,
Remember Jamo missed time with suspension. JJ doesn’t get deep balls every game (he caught 2 balls for 27 yards in a game that went to overtime).
This has been a positive change this season. We are really spreading the ball around more. Last year St.Brown had 164 targets and Jamo got very few. Now defenses are hyper focused on St. Brown. Monty has been used far more in the passing game this year too. Defenses truly have no idea where Goff is gonna go with the ball right now.
Beating the Packers when St. Brown is your 4th most targeted WR is a thing of beauty.
