


The Jets and Dolphins present two offenses on polar opposite sides of an important spectrum.
Perhaps the Jets can learn a thing or two from their Week 15 opponents.
The Dolphins, under head coach Mike McDaniel and offensive coordinator Frank Smith, have become the face of pre-snap motion, constantly confusing defenses.
The Jets hardly utilize pre-snap motion, usually keeping their players stationary before snapping the ball.
The results are glaring.
The Dolphins have the NFL’s second-highest scoring offense while the Jets have the fourth-lowest.
The Jets are trying to inch toward the Dolphins, however, throughout offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett’s first year at the helm.
“It’s slowly been coming,” Jets head coach Robert Saleh said Friday. “Trying to get those guys, trying to get them moving a little bit so we’re not up there getting pressed and all that stuff. It’s slowly, as the season has gone on, just more and more movement from the offense.”
It’s worked wonders for Dolphins superstar receiver Tyreek Hill.
One of the league’s fastest players, Hill often motions out of the backfield and gets a running start as the ball is snapped, leaving defensive backs in his wake as he blows by them.
He’s on pace to break the NFL’s single-season receiving record with 1,542 yards along with 12 touchdowns.
Could more pre-snap motion help further unlock Garrett Wilson, the Jets’ stud second-year receiver?

“All within reason. If it makes sense, let’s do it,” Wilson said. “I think that it messes up defenses, it messes up looks, it messes up [defensive backs] sometimes, can mess up their communication. If it helps us, let’s do it. Sometimes it can be overkill.
“The game plan, whatever they have for me, I’ll be ready to do. As far as do I want to do it more? Whatever they have for me, I’ll do it. If they want me to do it more, then I want to do it more. If they don’t, then I don’t want to.”
Saleh comes from a defensive background and was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator under Kyle Shanahan before being hired by the Jets.
Shanahan long ago emerged as one of the NFL’s most creative offensive minds, and McDaniel learned under him as his offensive coordinator in 2021.
The 49ers unsurprisingly utilize a ton of pre-snap motion, and consequently have the league’s third highest-scoring offense, right behind the Dolphins.
Does Saleh want Hackett and his offense to be built in the Shanahan and McDaniel mold?
“They both have challenges, like Philadelphia doesn’t do much at all, but they’re very talented, very gifted and they’re very well coached in terms of execution,” Saleh said. “Then you got teams like Miami and San Francisco who do everything, and they do it at a high level, but at the end of the day, it takes supreme execution. Defensively, obviously, all the motion is challenging because there’s a lot of communication that happens. … Both systems are really good.”