Hope

Edition #500

Good morning!

First of all, I have to mention that we’ve hit the 500 newsletter mark. It’s a shame it didn’t fall yesterday for the victory column, but we’re Jets fans so things never work out quite the way we expect.

Thank you to everyone who makes TJW what it is, whether you’ve been here from the start, joined around column 200 or are new to the party, it only carries on because of your support.

We’ve got a lot of time to digest that victory as the Jets now get a breather with the bye week upon us. The key over the next 10 days is to get healthy. Yesterday’s game was an outstanding example of a team effort, but the Jets’ playoff hopes diminish based on their health, it’s the same for all teams.

The first thing we’re going to do today is hit on some key stats courtest of PFF.

This was a great note from Tom Pelissero. On Sunday the Browns beat the 49ers and the Jets beat the Eagles. This was the first time since stats started being tracked in 1950 that two undefeated teams who were 5-0 or better lost to backup QBs in the same week. It’s also the first time since 2006 that two teams who were 5-0 or better lost to a backup QB in the same season. Unreal.

Zach Wilson was pressured on 37.5% of his passes yesterday and he completed 55.6% of them. A lot of people asked me about drops yesterday, officially the Jets recorded 3. One on Cobb, one on Lazard and one on Michael Carter.

Mekhi Becton was tagged with 6 pressures and a sack yesterday, and Laken Tomlinson was tagged with 5 pressures and 2 sacks. A difficult day for the left side of the line. Wes Schweitzer allowed 3 pressures and a sack, McGovern 2 pressures and Max Mitchell 2 pressures and a sack. Tippmann allowed nothing in his 9 pass-blocking snaps.

Max Mitchell graded out as the best run-blocking offensive lineman with a 75.9. Wes Schweitzer was at the other end of the scale with 47.3.

No huge surprises in terms of the pass-rush. Bryce Huff led all Jets with 8 pressures, with Quinnen (5), Jermaine (4), JFM (4), Jefferson (3), Adams (2), MC2 (1) and Lawson (1) all getting in on the action.

Bryce Hall allowed 4 catches on 8 targets for 69 yards and an interception. Craig James didn’t allow a single catch on 2 targets and Tae Hayes allowed 54 yards on 3 catches. Considering they were our 5th, 6th and 7th corners…I wouldn’t say that’s too bad at all.

The Jets registered 7 forced incompletions on the night. Whitehead (2), Johnson (1), Quincy (1), Bryce Hall (1), Craig James (1) and C.J Mosley (1) all got in on the action.

Is it the hope that kills you? The Jets have faced one of the toughest schedules in football through the first 6 weeks of the season, and find themselves 3-3 on the season.

The schedule the rest of the way looks like this.

11 games remaining, with 6 of them at home. Although with the controversy around the Metlife turf with Garrett Wilson calling it “garbage” last night, I’m not sure we’ll be able to field a team by the time the game against Washington comes around. But the noise on Sunday was outstanding, and there is little question that the fans created a hostile atmosphere. If that can remain the same the rest of the way, there’s no reason why we can’t win all 6 of those games.

Coming off the bye we face the 1-5 New York Giants, the 2-2 Chargers and the 3-3 Raiders. There is absolutely no reason why we can’t head to Buffalo 6-3, but there is work to do. Red-zone offence and third-down offence are still huge problem areas for the Jets, but the Giants allow 61.90% of red-zone trips to turn into touchdowns, Las Vegas allow 70.00% and the Chargers allow 50.00%. So only the Chargers are average.

In terms of third down conversions, the Giant’s defence is 26th allowing a 43.66% conversion rate, Las Vegas are 24th allowing 42.86%, and the Chargers are 3rd allowing 31.91%. So while the Chargers are a tough unit, the Jets have a good opportunity to right the wrongs on offence pretty quickly after the bye week.

I know we spoke about him yesterday, but on second viewing Jermaine Johnson looked even better than I remember. He was absolutely dominant throughout the goal. Even on plays that didn’t result in sacks or interceptions, he was a complete nuisance and in this rep, he put the RT on skates and Hurts somehow escapes. But, it doesn’t negate the Jermaine Johnson power in the bull rush. Ridiculous upside for this man.