New York Jets vs Detroit Lions, NFL Football - 9-28-14

Jets tight end Jace Amaro feels good about how his rookie adjustment is going. (Chris Faytok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The Jets drafted tight end Jace Amaro in the second round this year, mostly to help a passing offense that ranked second-to-last in the NFL last year, third-to-last in 2012 and 21st in 2011.

Through five games, the Jets are 1-4, spiraling on a four-game losing streak, but Amaro has performed solidly, especially of late.

Because top wide receiver Eric Decker missed Sunday’s loss at San Diego with a hamstring injury, Amaro is now tied for second on the team with 14 catches. Decker also has 14. Jeremy Kerley leads the Jets with 19 catches. Amaro is third in receiving yards (144), behind Decker (204) and Kerley (168). The Jets have targeted Amaro 17 times.

Here is a look at Amaro’s game-by-game production, with the drop numbers coming from Pro Football Focus:

Oakland: 21 snaps (30 percent), 4 targets, 2 catches, 7 yards

Green Bay: 22 snaps (31 percent), 1 target, 1 catch, 6 yards

Chicago: 23 snaps (31 percent), 4 targets, 3 catches, 54 yards, 1 drop

Detroit: 22 snaps (34 percent), 5 targets, 5 catches, 58 yards

San Diego: 27 snaps (47 percent), 3 targets, 3 catches, 19 yards

Yes, the Jets’ passing offense continues to be miserable. They rank second-to-last in the NFL in completion percentage (56) and last in passing yards per game (184). No other team has fewer than 200.8 passing yards per game.

But the emergence of Amaro is something to watch, as the Jets try to get their passing offense back on track. Decker’s eventual return will obviously help. So could Amaro’s development. Pro Football Focus currently rates him as the league’s 17th-best tight end, including 37th in receiving ratings (which is his strength) and 10th among tight ends as a run blocker (an area he had little experience in).

He faced a steep uphill climb in learning the Jets’ West Coast offense, which is vastly more complex than the spread system Amaro thrived in at Texas Tech. After enduring his share of hiccups during the spring and summer, as he tried to grasp this new offense, could Amaro be turning the corner here in early October?

Let’s review the film and examine how he performed in San Diego, where he saw a larger share of the offensive snaps than he had in any previous game, though the Jets’ primary tight end, Jeff Cumberland, still got the bulk of the work – 52 of 57 snaps.

• The Jets opened the game with both Amaro and tight end Jeff Cumberland on the right edge of the line. Amaro did a nice job of blocking outside linebacker Jarret Johnson on a Chris Ivory run up the middle on the game’s first play.

• On the game’s third snap, Amaro lined up on the slot to Geno Smith’s right, and got open around the middle of the field – a potential deep completion for Smith. Amaro raised his hand to signal he was open. But the pocket had collapsed on Smith by this point.

• Here is a look at Amaro doing some yeoman run-blocking work on Chris Johnson’s 7-yard run during the first drive. That’s outside linebacker Cordarro Law being kept at bay by Amaro, who has yet to receive a negative run-blocking grade from PFF in any game this year.

On 77 of Amaro’s snaps this year, he has run a pass route. On four, he has pass blocked. And on 36, he has blocked for a run play, per PFF. Cumberland remains the Jets’ primary blocking tight end, with 124 snaps as a run blocker this year and 29 as a pass blocker.

Amaro said he is gaining comfort with his run-blocking technique – the direction of his first step, the angle he must take toward the defender, and keeping his hands inside the defender’s shoulder pads, to avoid a holding penalty.

“When I first got here, I had no idea what I was doing, just because I hadn’t done that really ever,” Amaro said. “I’ve gotten a lot better. I feel like I’ve done a lot better job. I feel like my feet are getting there, my technique on my steps and my hand placement. I think, with that, I’m going to get more and more plays. Last week, I was supposed to play a lot more. We had a lot more game-plan stuff for me. Just didn’t really get to it. We had a lot of three-and-outs. It was hard to get going and get the offense going.

“I feel like I’m getting better in the run blocking, and that’s really the biggest thing, is being able to run the ball. For us, we’re a run-first team. With that, I have to make sure that I do do my job on run-blocking stuff, and you’ll see a lot more of me on the field from a run-blocking standpoint.”

• On the Jets’ second drive, they motioned Amaro from the right slot to the left slot. He played a lot in the slot in college. He was basically a receiver at Texas Tech. The Chargers bounced linebacker Donald Butler out into the slot, to defend Amaro, who crossed the field on his route and got open easily. But Smith found himself under pressure again, flushed out of the pocket by linebacker Kavell Conner. Smith had to throw the ball away.

“That was the idea, to get me into the space and let me get matched up with one of the linebackers,” Amaro said. “We had some pressure. There’s nothing I can do about it. We just had some miscues on the line. I’m not really worried about it. I’m just doing my job. I just need to get open and do what I do.”

• Amaro had his biggest screw-up of the day on the Jets’ third possession. On third-and-3 from the Jets’ 25, the Jets broke the huddle with 12 players. Amaro apparently realized too late that he wasn’t supposed to be in for this play. He rushed to get off the field, but the Jets had already broken the huddle at this point.

• In the second quarter, on third-and-7 from the Jets’ 30, Amaro lined up on the wing of the line. Cornerback Brandon Flowers picked Amaro up in coverage as Amaro ran to the 40. Not only could Amaro not get open on this play, but Smith was again flushed from the pocket by pressure, this time coming late up the middle from safety Darrell Stuckey. It was this kind of day for the Jets’ offense – too few targets open downfield, too little time for the quarterbacks to find them anyway.

• After getting open on a couple key plays in the first half, only to have pressure snuff out the opportunities, Amaro finally got his first catch of the game in the third quarter. It came on the first play of the Jets’ second second-half drive. At this point, Michael Vick was throwing passes for the Jets.

Amaro lined up in the slot to Vick’s left. The Chargers were playing zone coverage, with strong safety Marcus Gilchrist lined up off Amaro. He ran across the middle, right in front of Johnson, the outside linebacker, who angled to his right, to account for Chris Johnson rolling out of the backfield on a route.

Amaro was wide open. He caught the ball at the 15, two yards off the line of scrimmage, and did a good job of turning up-field quickly, to gain extra yardage. The play resulted in a 7-yard gain. This was Amaro’s receiving and route-running skills at work. It wasn’t a complex play, but Amaro executed it well.

• Amaro got two catches on the Jets’ final drive. The game was long since over at this point. But let’s take a look at what happened on Amaro’s catches here at the end.

On first-and-10 at the Jets’ 46, Amaro lined up in the slot to Vick’s right. Linebacker Tourek Williams stepped over to cover Amaro – a mismatch. Amaro sold his 7-yard route well. He ran hard, stopped and turned, just in time for Vick to deliver a pass. Amaro made a sharp play by reaching up, as he leaned left, to secure a pass that sailed a bit high. It wasn’t an acrobatic diving catch by any means, but Amaro showed promising catching skills here. Again, this has long been one of his strengths.

Amaro’s final catch came on the game’s third-to-last play. From the slot to Vick’s right, he ran a simple route into the flat. Nothing fancy here in garbage time. But the throw was high again, and Amaro made a yeo effort to reach up and haul it in.

Obviously, this was a meaningless play, in most regards, in the waning moments of a blowout loss. Yet as we examine only how Amaro played, there is no question this was a fine grab – another encouraging sign for Amaro as he continues his rookie progression.

Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.