Elimination

Edition #297

Good morning ⛈️🌪️

By the time the Jets kicked off, they knew that the Patriots had beaten the Dolphins, but with the Patriots heading into Buffalo next week, they must have felt confident that their playoff destiny was in their own hands.

Unfortunately, they came out and put a putrid display on tape. Mike White was bad, the coaches were bad, and the defense started badly but then gave the Jets a chance. But the offense, the offense as a whole was absolutely disgusting. There is no other way to put it.

With the Jets now eliminated. We'll start looking toward the off-season this week on TJW, as the Jets look to find the answers to their continued playoff drought. We'll start with the QB position as Mike White showed yesterday why he's not the guy for the Jets long-term. So as frustrating as it is, hopefully, you'll stick with me through this as we try and work out how the Jets get over the hump.

Here’s my plan for the week so you know what to expect with your subscription.

Monday - Game recap
Tuesday - Stat Pack - Seahawks
Wednesday - Mike LaFleur on the hot seat
Thursday - Can Zach Wilson be fixed?
Friday - Offensive Line Rebuild

🤬 The Jets have now gone 12 straight seasons without making the playoffs. The longest drought in the NFL.

🧐 During the current 5-game losing streak, the Jets are averaging 12 points per game. If that doesn't warm the seat of the offensive coordinator I don't know what will.

😫 The Jets’ offensive line allowed 3 sacks, 19 pressures, and 5 QB hits vs. the Seahawks, let's call a spade a spade, at this point the Jets’ offensive line is one of the worst units in football. It doesn't matter who the QB is if the OL play as badly as they've been playing recently..

💩 "We feel s---ty as players," tight end Tyler Conklin said. "No one is happy about it. I feel for the fans, I feel for everybody. We wanted this, too, and we just didn't play well enough and it hurts. It sucks. You know you're not going to get an opportunity to change that until next season, which makes it even s---tier." Conklin also said it didn't feel like a playoff atmosphere and they were flat, that's a damning indictment on the coaching staff.

👨‍⚕️” I was cleared to play by the doctors," White said. "The guys in that locker room deserve a certain standard. I knew what I was signing up for. I was cleared by the doctors, I practiced all week. Basically, what I'm saying is, there's a standard those guys deserve. I didn't live up to that standard today.”

30-second recap: Jet’s offense was horrible. Abysmal. Shocking. Putrid. Whatever you want to call it. Mike White threw multiple bad picks and could have thrown a lot more, his ball placement was off all game. The offensive line looked and played like a broken unit. The defense started slow spotting Seattle 17 points, and we could never recover. Mike LaFleur devised a pass-heavy gameplan against one of the worst run-defense units in football and was unable to scheme anyone open or help his struggling QB. In the end, a season that started with optimism ended with a whimper. Unfortunately we have another game next week before we can focus entirely on the off-season.

The game in Seattle was a microcosm of everything that’s gone wrong for the Jets over the last month or so. So it seems fitting that the Jet’s season ended with a defeat to the Seahawks and with an embarrassing offensive display.

Not for the first time, this season, the Jet’s defense came out flat in the first quarter before tightening up in the second. Unfortunately, they'd already spotted Seattle two touchdowns and a field goal on the first three drives, in a game with playoff implications that can’t happen, especially if you want to be an elite unit.

If it was in doubt before, I think this game sealed the fate of LaMarcus Joyner who allowed an opening drive touchdown and made late breaks on passes until a hip injury forced him out. Joyner has struggled to stay healthy with the Jets, and when he has been healthy he's been largely ineffective.

They did hold them to 25% on third down in the first half which helped keep the Jets within touching distance.

Mike White threw a bad pick into double coverage and by my count, the Jets receivers had 3 drops in the first half alone. MLF then went into his predictable play-calling shell. If the Jets had a successful run, he followed it up with almost the exact same run, unsurprisingly it was stuffed.

Johnson was averaging 6.6 yards a rush and Knight was up at 5.5 yards a rush heading into halftime. The running game was working, but yet again the offense absolutely nosedived off a cliff when it reached the red zone, if they were moving at all, it was in the wrong direction. Then in the second half, the Jets largely abandoned the run after one or two stuffs.

When Mike LaFleur was hired we were told that the zone rushing scheme we were implementing required patience, at times it would be stuffed but in the end, it would pay dividends. Little did I think just under two years later it would be the coaching staff and not the fans who lost patience with it too quickly,

The Jet’s offensive line continued to sleepwalk through much of the first half. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif who was replacing Nate Herbig looked like the most component lineman on the field and considering it was his first action of the season, it's easy to see why that's so troubling and why the Jets will likely completely revamp their offensive line next season.

Overall the offensive line was a mess and Joe Douglas now faces the prospect of fixing the line this off-season, yet again. Fant is likely gone and based on his performance yesterday that shouldn't concern too many people. His short set on a wide pass rush was always going to fail and sure enough, Taylor blew past him for the sack. Coaching alone should have prevented that, if the pass rusher is in a wide-9 alignment you have to set wide.

The exclamation point for the offensive line came on the final play of the half. With seconds left on the clock, the Seahawks went into a deep defense knowing the Jets were taking a shot at the end zone. Seattle rushed 3 against 5 and somehow, the play ended in a strip sack of White.

The pass rusher faked inside which made Duane Brown stop his drop, which is completely illogical as Brown knew he had help inside from Laken who ended up blocking nobody. The hesitation in the drop gave the pass rusher the space and angle he needed to beat Brown on the outside.

Players? Coaching? Execution? Blame all three, as when the opponent rushes 3 against 5, the QB should have all the time in the world.

Now heading into the half at 17-6 isn’t game over, especially when you’re getting the ball to start the second half. Unfortunately, Corey couldn't come down with a very catchable third-down pass and Greg Zuerlein missed the 57-yard field goal.

I wish I could start giving out some positive praise but the next Jets offensive series may have been worse.

Let me remind you that entering the game, Seattle was one of the worst run defenses in the league. In the first half the Jets rushed for 5.8 yards a carry, so what does MLF do? He comes out and calls 3 passing plays, despite the fact that Mike White was off all night. Make that make sense?!?

On a night when the offense was stagnant, facing a horrible run defense, Chris Streveler stayed on the sideline. If there was ever a time to use that package, it was last night. Again, it shows a lack of feel by the coaches. Streveler can barely throw, but he can certainly run.

Then to top it all off our favorite punter (Who should be abandoned at the space needle) hit a 24-yard punt. At first, I thought it was tipped, but the official scorer said that it wasn't. I've stuck up for Braden Mann at points, but if you talk about clutch moments, he may be one of the worst clutch punters I've seen. Time to find a new one.

The issue for the Jets was a lack of offensive identity. The execution was poor all afternoon and outside the Buffalo game last year, that's as bad as I've seen Mike White play. There was no creativity to the playcalling by MLF, and while I think he lacks any confidence in the offensive line to scheme up any long-developing deep plays, the fact he couldn't really get anything going is an indictment of both the scheme and execution.

As much as Mike White is a good locker room guy, today showed why he's been a career backup. I desperately wanted it to work, but in a game of that magnitude, you need your QB to step up. White completed 50% of his passes with 0 TDs and 2 INT, if we're going to be highly critical of Zach then we need to do the same for Mike. Last week I said I was open to the idea that he was the answer, but that's no longer the case. Sore ribs or not, when you couple that performance with the red zone issues, it doesn't look good.

Here’s a positive right here though. Sauce Gardner. On numerous occasions, he was targeted and on numerous occasions, he shut the door. Seattle fans started to boo after this play thinking it was pass interference, but not only was it a fair play, it was textbook.

In a Jets flight episode earlier this season there was a clip of Revis talking to the corners about how to play bigger, stronger receivers. He basically said to use the sideline as a help defender and get your head around at the right moment.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Jets jury, I give you Exhibit A:

Unfortunately with his putrid the Jet’s offense was, the defense was going to have to restrict Seattle to 10 points to stand a chance.

One thing I will say about the defense is they need to get some tackling drills in this off-season. Not only were there too many missed tackles and poor angles (Safeties are particularly bad) but it seemed as though every time a Seattle player was met, he'd get an extra 2 yards by driving the defender back.

There are a ton of positives to take from the 2022 season, and in time we'll be able to see them, but today it stings, it stings badly. Not making the playoffs is one thing, coming out and not being competitive is another. Something needs to change, and right now my initial thought is it should be Mike LaFleur, just like Zach Wilson, right now the 2nd year man doesn't look ready for the show.