10 Things the Jets Need to Make the Playoffs

Edition #135

Good morning,

It’s a fine morning if you’re a Rangers fan, with the Blueshirts coming back from a 3-2 deficit in game 7 to beat the Penguins in overtime. That got me thinking about the Jets and how much I need to see playoff football again. 2010 was a long time ago, and while I don’t think 2022 is the designed year for a deep playoff run…I do think there is a chance Robert Saleh sends the Jets to the post-season for the first time since Rex.

CHANCERS: Apparently two “fans” have filed a $6 billion lawsuit against the Giants and Jets, alleging that they must drop "New York" from their names given that they play in New Jersey. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs are seeking $2 billion in monetary damages and $4 billion in punitive damages claiming false advertising and deceptive practices, so basically just a couple of guys trying their luck in a get rich opportunity.

SCOUT: The Buffalo Bills have poached one of the Jets scouts, signing Alonzo Dotson to be a national scout. Dotson has spent the last three years working as the southeast regional scout, before that he was scouting the west coast for the Jets, and before that, he was with the Packers for 5 years. Dotson was very highly thought of within the organization and was seen as a rising star, but the chance to become a national scout was too hard to turn down.

STACKED: Former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III is all in on the Jets. Speaking on ESPN Live, the former #2 overall pick said “The Jets – I think they have to win 10 games. That’s the bottom line. It’s time. The fans deserve it. GM Joe Douglas has put an offense together for Zach Wilson that features Michael Carter, Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson, Elijah Moore, and Corey Davis at wide receiver. Then you bring in C.J. Uzomah and you also have Tyler Conklin at tight end. This roster is stacked offensively.”

All this playoff hockey got me thinking about the Jets and our long wait for playoff football. Yesterday we released the Jets UK Pod where we spoke about the schedule and the matchups, and the more we chatted it through the more confident I became that this team as it’s set up right now can win 8-10 games next season. The caveat here is that we’ll need a few things to go our way as most teams do, but we probably need a little more than most playoff contenders.

So what do the Jets need to happen to make the playoffs in 2022?

1) Zach Wilson has to make a jump in year two

I don’t think the entire success/failure of the 2022 season should rest on Zach’s shoulders, but the way the league is set up now the QB plays a pivotal role in that equation.

Zach doesn’t need to be Josh Allen for the Jets to make the post-season but he does need to utilize the weapons around him in a way that’s aggressive but controlled.

You don’t want to make him a game manager as that limits his value and squashes his natural playmaking ability, but he does need to limit the turnovers as he did towards the end of the 2021 season. Completing 55.6% of your passes and throwing more interceptions than touchdowns isn’t going to cut it.

But, he had a 5 game streak at the end of the season where he didn’t toss a single pick, he only threw 3 touchdowns in those games as well, so there was a little reluctance to let it go…but if Tariq Black was my #1 receiver I’d probably be reluctant to let it go as well.

2) Mekhi Becton needs to stay healthy and productive

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably a little tired of the narrative around Becton, all I care about is how does he look now and when will he be healthy?

You can’t blame him for getting rolled up on last season, and we don’t know the intricacies of the recovery process to know if he should share any of the blame for the timeframe.

All we know is that he looks as though he’s been working hard this off-season, and he seems motivated to prove the doubters wrong. If we get a healthy Becton for an entire season that gives the Jets two bookend tackles. This leads me to:

3) George Fant needs to repeat his 2021 success

I’ve always been a bit of a George Fant guy, I liked the signing when we picked him up from Seattle, and even though he was a little underwhelming to start with, I was convinced that the new system being implemented by MLF would suit him perfectly.

What we saw in 2021 was one of the best seasons by a Jets left tackle since D’Brickashaw Ferguson. The question remains, can he repeat that?

Fant allowed just one sack and 18 pressures over 594 pass-blocking snaps. The sack number was tied for #2 in the league, and the pressures #4 (Min 600 overall snaps).

Those are elite numbers for any tackle and while he’ll be in a competition for that left tackle job with Becton, I fully expect him to come out and win it. If Zach is going to reach his potential he’ll need time, and Fant/Becton at tackle can give him that.

4) Limit the Drops

Do you know what else helps elevate your quarterback? Catching the football. The Jets were ranked joint 28th in the league in terms of drops, overall they put 25 footballs on the ground, and only the Steelers, Panthers, and Chargers had more.

Corey Davis was by far the biggest culprit, he put 6 footballs down for a drop percentage of 15%. His career average is 6.9%, and his drop % had been at 5.8 for the three years prior to him joining the Jets, so the hope is that 2021 was a blip.

You then have Jeff Smith and Denzel Mims with 2 each (20% drop rate) and a few others thrown in. Elijah Moore was at an excellent 4.4% and Berrios was at 2.1% so there is real hope that the drops can be eliminated in 2022.

5) Defensive Health

This goes for the entire team, but I wanted to shine a light on the defensive side of the ball due to the lack of depth in some areas.

The defensive end position is still an unknown for the Jets with two rookies in Clemons and Johnson, and two players coming back from season-ending injuries in Lawson and Curry.

Ironically cornerback is probably the one area where we have good depth with Sauce Gardner and DJ Reed slated to start and 2021 starters Bryce Hall and Brandin Echols as their backups. Inside we have Michael Carter being backed up by Javelin Guidry.

Safety and Linebacker are two spots where our depth makes my stomach turn a little. Right now we are relying on LaMarcus Joyner to come back healthy after missing the 2021 season and the depth behind him and new acquisition Jordan Whitehead is spotty. Ashtyn Davis, Jason Pinnock etc, could develop into good players but they'd be targets for opposing offenses.

6) Run Defense

This is the area of defense that concerns me the most. The Jets love to run a wide-9 for pass rush purposes, it spreads the defense out a little creating better angles for the pass-rush…but it also can make you susceptible to the run.

The Jets were ranked 29th against the run in 2021 allowing 138.3 yards per game, 32nd in allowing 28 rushing touchdowns, and 26th in allowing 129 rushing first downs.

Overall the Jets chose not to address the defensive tackle and linebacker positions, which tend to be key to stopping the run. Although if they can shift John Franklin-Myers inside that could help as he would be significantly better against the run than Sheldon Rankins.

While the Jets didn’t address those issues they did bring in strong safety Jordan Whitehead whose game is predicated around coming down and stopping the run. They also brought in two corners who like a tackle in Reed and Gardner, they’re also hoping to see improvement out of Quincy Williams who overran far too many plays in 2021.

7) Run the ball well

This is a pretty obvious one, but I didn’t say the list was made up of top secrets. The Jets have spent considerable resources on their offensive line and traded up for a RB in Breece Hall, they want to run the football.

Laken Tomlinson and Alijah Vera-Tucker are both good run blockers and the Jets have a two-headed monster in the backfield with Hall and 2021 4th round pick Michael Carter, I’d argue it’s the best tandem in a long time.

It’s going to be difficult to contain the Jets’ offense in 2022 because of the number of weapons on offer. If you stack the box then you’re leaving Davis, Moore, or Wilson with favorable matchups, you don’t stack the box and you’re asking your defensive lineman to win their one on ones and make a tackle…not easy against this unit.

When the line was healthy and Carter was available, the Jets ran the ball well. Now the line is improved and defenses won’t get a rest between Carter and Hall, if the Jets finished the 2022 season with a top-5 rushing offense, I wouldn’t be surprised.

8) Getting to the QB without Blitzing

The Jets recorded 33 sacks in 2021, good for 26th in the league, although they blitzed on 24.8% of plays, good for 18th most in the league.

The kind of system that Saleh operates relies on the defensive line winning their matchups and getting to the QB without using the blitz. The 49’ers blitzed on just 19.8% of plays last season (29th) and I believe that’s where the Jets want to be.

The plans for 2021 got turned on their head with Lawson’s Achilles injury, but the prized free-agent acquisition is healthy and ready to go for 2022 and his health will be key to the Jets’ success.

He won’t be asked to do it all however, the Jets spent two draft picks on pass-rushers in 2022 taking Jermaine Johnson in the first and Micheal Clemons in the 4th. They’ll be joined by veteran Vinny Curry and Byrce Huff among others.

If the Jets can get into the top 15 or top 10 in the league in terms of sacks and reduce their blitz rate to around 20%, good things are going to happen.

9) Tight End Production

When is the last time we could say that the tight end room is absolutely stacked for the Jets? I can’t remember.

Tight ends are young QB’s best friends, you have heard that time and time again, and you’ve heard it time and time again because it’s true.

The Jets tight end room in 2021 was a huge disappointment, Kroft couldn’t stay healthy and Ryan Griffin was Ryan Griffin.

This off-season the Jets brought in three big bodies in Tyler Conklin, CJ Uzomah and Jeremy Ruckert. That’s a lot of size and strength at the position and a lot of red-zone opportunity for Zach Wilson.

Some are concerned about our lack of size in the WR room, although with Corey Davis and Denzel Mims you shouldn’t be. But the size is even less of a problem when we look at the tight end room. If all three can produce in some capacity then the Jets will score a lot of points.

10) Coaching Smart

You can’t have a list of things that need to go right without mentioning the coaches.

It’s year two for this staff and that’s where you expect to see the experience of year one rubbing off. Not just by the head coach but the coordinators and the positional staff as well.

Saleh will need to show some growth in terms of his feel for the game as a head coach, when to use timeouts, when to go for it on 4th down, when to be aggressive and when to play some positional football. What plays should be challenged and what is his challenge success rate?

MLF really came into his own in the 2nd half of the season, but how creative will he be in 2021? How does he put his best players on the field to help Zach, what does the WR rotation look like, what kind of personnel groupings?

Here are just 10 things that need to happen for the Jets to reach the playoffs, but there are probably a few more you could add in. Jets will need to perform within their division, the linebackers will need to show an improvement in their coverage ability etc. But I’m confident that if we do these 10 things we may well be seeing some playoff football in 2022.