Tight end Keller wrecks Jags' scheme

This is the beauty of the Jets' offense when it works correctly: On a day when highly acclaimed wide receivers Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason had a combined four catches for 49 yards, the Jets were still unstoppable.

The Jets mashed the Jaguars, 32-3, at MetLife Stadium Sunday, thanks in large part to the Mark Sanchez-to-Dustin Keller combination that took advantage of the matchup problems created by the mere presence of the Jets' trio of wideouts.

Keller had a team-high six catches for 101 yards and a touchdown, leading the offense on a day when the Jaguars were intent on not letting Holmes, Burress and Mason burn them on the outside. It was a classic example of how a quarterback is supposed to respond to what the defense presents. Sanchez responded thusly: When he saw the Jaguars doubling Holmes and Burress, he correctly opted for the one-on-one matchups with Keller mostly against middle linebacker Paul Posluszny.

That, my friends, is how you play this game. You see what the defense is doing, and you react accordingly. If your quarterback can make the proper reads -- in this case, it was Sanchez correctly noting that the Jaguars were playing a lot of cover 2 to avoid the long pass -- then it is pitch-and-catch with the guy in single coverage. When it's done correctly, it looks so easy.

Here's how: One byproduct of the cover 2 scheme, which is about as conservative a defense as there is, is that the middle of the field is left vulnerable because each safety covers half the field. It's an area commonly referred to as the "seam," or the imaginary line that dissects the middle of the defense. Sanchez and Keller took full advantage with plenty of seam routes.

"They pretty much gave us the middle of the field playing a lot of zone," Keller said afterward. "That left a lot of things wide open for me."

Keller's first big catch came on the Jets' opening drive, a seam-splitting 33-yard play to the Jags' 17. On the next play, Sanchez hit Holmes for a 17-yard touchdown. It broke a string of 16 straight games in which the Jets hadn't scored a first-quarter TD on offense. A Sanchez-to-Keller 11-yard TD in the third quarter broke it open. On the play, Keller beat Posluszny by faking to the outside, then going inside. It gave the Jets a 22-3 lead.

"Keller is one of those matchup problems," Rex Ryan said. "What Mark's doing is he's trying to throw it to the open guy. Sometimes coverage will dictate where our outside receivers will get more opportunities. Sometimes it's the inside receivers. The way they were playing us, Dustin had a few more opportunities than the outside guys."

No wonder Ryan offered a curious initial response to a question about Keller after the game; Ryan spoke mostly about Burress.

"I feel bad," Ryan said. "You get Plax out there, and he's got no catches on the stats, but how many times do they roll coverage to him? He was taking double coverage a ton. He was great, never complained, never said anything, just kept taking two guys with him the whole time to open things up for others."

No worries, coach. Burress was fine with what happened -- especially the score.

"If teams want to line up and play us like that with split safeties, I mean Dustin will just tear them to pieces," Burress said. "If they want to come out and play us like that, just take away the guys on the edge, then our guys on the inside are going to make plays. It showed today."

Keller's productivity wasn't strictly the result of the Jaguars' strategic alignment. He is getting better in his fourth season, and his production shows. In last week's 27-24 win over the Cowboys, Keller had five catches for 61 yards and a touchdown.

But don't just take my word for it on Keller. Take it from All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis. "I put Dustin in the same category as Tony Gonzalez," he said.

That is a huge statement, considering Gonzalez is one of the best tight ends of all time.

"[Keller] makes plays, he gets open, he's strong, and he can box you out with that big body," Revis said. "He and Mark have a great thing going."

Sure looked that way Sunday. And if you're a defensive coordinator intent on taking the Jets' big-play wide receivers out of the game, then you'll see plenty more of Sanchez-to-Keller.