N.Y. Jets try man coverage on DeVante Parker? Thank you very much, Miami Dolphins say

Gregg Williams started as a defensive coordinator in 1997.

Mike Gesicki has been a defensive coordinator, well, never.

But Gesicki figures it doesn’t require a master’s degree in defensive strategy to know that the way the New York Jets tried to stop DeVante Parker might not have been wise.

“DeVante today — how many times are you going to play him in man coverage?” Gesicki wondered aloud. “Like, why are you doing it? Play Cover-2 or something else. Because DeVante’s going to run, he’s going to get a guy on his hip, the ball’s going to be back-shoulder, he’s going to catch it, and he’s not going to say anything when he celebrates. He’s going to shake his head and do his thing like he does. And that’s it.”

This is it, too: Ryan Fitzpatrick threw 39 passes against the Jets on Sunday, and 14 were fired Parker’s way. Parker made eight catches for 119 yards (a 14.9 average), including key plays on three scoring drives as the Dolphins won 20-3.

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On a day in which the Dolphins were without their starting backfield of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and either running back Salvon Ahmed or Myles Gaskin, and on a day when the running game sputtered for three quarters, Fitzpatrick turned to Parker to move the ball. Parker didn’t disappoint, recording his biggest yardage output of the season.

Parker made catches when he was open. But more importantly, he made catches when he wasn’t.

“DeVante’s very special with the 50-50 ball and some of those tough catches,” Fitzpatrick said. “And so, for us, and really for me as a quarterback, if teams are going to give us the opportunity to do that, then I’m going to give DeVante the opportunity to make that play more often than not.

“People can say, ‘Sometimes that’s not the right move’ and whatever else, but if I’ve got a guy that I trust, that I’ve seen do it over and over and over again, then I’m going to give him every opportunity to make a play, and he did a great job making some of those today. It was just a lot of man coverage out there and a pretty classic DeVante Parker game when you play him in man coverage.”

Parker made plays even when video evidence didn’t entirely support his case. In the second quarter, he appeared to momentarily have the ball on a pass officials ruled as a 19-yard catch. Jets coach Adam Gase challenged the call and lost even though CBS analyst and former referee Gene Steratore saw it the same way Gase had.

Undaunted, Fitzpatrick went right back at Parker on the next play for 17 yards, helping set up Gesicki’s 13-yard touchdown for a 10-3 lead.

Another 19-yard catch by Parker led to Jason Sanders hitting a 51-yard field goal to make it 13-3 later in the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick found Parker for 15 yards to help set up a 7-yard TD pass to tight end Adam Shaheen to put the game out of reach at 20-3 with seven minutes to go.

“We had some matchups we liked and tried to give him some opportunities,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said of Parker.

Flores said he was impressed by cornerback Bryce Hall, a rookie from Virginia, who covered Parker part of the day and had six tackles and one pass defensed but was called for a 12-yard interference penalty against Parker.

All in all, the Dolphins were content to see Williams trying to slow Parker with man coverage.

“So DeVante’s going to have his eight for 120, and we’re just going to go about our day,” Gesicki said.