Here's where I'm getting hung up.
Walker picks up 17 and then passes him off to Johnson. Johnson IMO is clearly is responsible for 17 and not 8 because he's immediately moves away from 8 at the snap and towards 17.
If that's correct, then what is Delpit actually doing? He's doubling Johnson's man?
Seems unlikely, at least to me, that the Browns would have both safeties responsible for slot guy 17? Especially with the Jets having a running clock and no timeouts? Theoretically, you'd want to aggressively defend the sidelines more than the middle?
So, you're familiar with what a quarters concept looks like--right? The deep part of the field is divided up into 4 zones (in the same way Cover 2 divides it up into 2 zones).
Sorry if that sounds condescending. That's not my intention. Not sure how else to word it.
It's hard to guess because of how badly Ward plays this, but I believe it's cover 4, with 23, 43, 22 and 21 playing the 4 deep zones, while 38, 5 and 28 are responsible for the underneath coverage. We rush 4 and drop 7.
I think that, counting from left to right (from the offense's POV) that Delpit is responsible for the third zone, while Ward is responsible for the fourth zone.
There are only 3 receivers reaching the second level. As #17 runs a deep post that crosses over into Delpit's zone, Delpit correctly carries him with underneath leverage. There is nothing else for JJ3 to do, so that receiver gets double-teamed.
If JJ3 drops off of that man, it's a potential TD over the top for a good receiver/QB duo. I'm not sure Delpit has the speed to close on NFL receivers if he lets them get over top of him.
But that's all besides the point--because Denzel Ward just sits down in an empty zone and leaves Corey Davis wide open. Either Ward got the play wrong, or he assumed Davis ran an out route and is sitting right behind him--and Ward could bait Flacco into an interception by playing underneath.