Jets Fall Flat in London
Edition #715
Good morning!
Well that didn’t exactly go to plan. The Jets got jumped and in a blink of an eye were down 17-0, they tried to come back but a host of familiar issues kept them behind and while the final score of 23-17 appears close, it never felt like a game the Jets were ever going to win.
I need to go back and watch the film to get a good understanding of what exactly went from an X’s and O’s perspective, but in our preview on Friday we said the two things the Jets needed to avoid was falling into an early hole and turning the ball over.
Well the Jets were 17-0 early in the 2nd quarter and Aaron Rodgers threw 3 uncharacteristic interceptions. We had drops, we had penalties and yet again the Jets didn’t appear prepared from the kick-off.
Yet despite that shocking loss to Denver last week and dropping another yesterday to admittedly a good Minnesota team, the Jets will be playing for a share of first place in the AFC East on MNF with the Bills dropping a game against the Texans, their second loss in a row. It appears as though nobody wants to win this AFC East title.
Robert Saleh will bang that drum all week, how we’re playing for a share of first place. But he can’t ignore the noise forever, especially as it’s starting to come from within the building with Quincy Williams saying “I'm going to be honest, people get tired of hearing the same s--t. People gotta start taking accountability. People get tired of hearing the same thing every week. That's all I got to say."
We’re all sick of it. Sick of hearing the same stuff but experiencing no change. Last week it was clear that the Jets were unprepared for the Denver blitz, it’s no secret that Minnesota blitz a lot, so yesterday we were looking to see some adjustments but Rodgers seemed to be under duress consistently, hit often and sacked at the worst moments.
On a day where Sam Darnold threw more incompletions (17) than completions (14), missed open receivers and failed to score a passing touchdown, and the Vikings lost RB Aaron Jones to injury, the Jets still couldn’t get over the line. Even when you have a HOF QB, it’s usually not a good idea to have him drop back to pass 54 times. Because the Jets found themselves in an early hole, the running game was abandoned with Breece Hall getting 9 carries and Braelon Allen just 5.
It made the Jets completely one dimensional, and then within that dimension they seemed to rely too heavily on Garrett Wilson. 22 targets is high-volume, but when you have Mike Williams with just 2 catches, something seems very off. Lazard had his touchdown, but he also had 3 drops and while Rodgers and Wilson combined for 13 catches, they still didn’t seem to be on the same page with Rodgers missing Wilson on a good stop-and-go move.
"There’s no excuse to quit. If we wanted to fold it in when we were down 17-0 some of us don’t belong here. That’s how I feel about it. At the end of the day, it wasn’t enough ... We’re not going to take any moral victories here. We gotta show up and win a game." Garrett Wilson said
Unfortunately, as long as Hackett is calling the shots this offence is going to remain stagnant. Someone posted a comment from Connor Rogers in the gameday thread yesterday and it’s something I’ve come back to frequently over the last few hours, ‘What do they do all week?’ - It certainly doesn’t appear as though they prepare for the upcoming opponent, as they always look surprised for the first quarter or two.
That third down efficiency that we saw early in the season seems to have disappeared with the Jets converting 5/17 yesterday, bad for 29%. Our one 4th down play was stuffed easily.
The Jets defence came out slow but managed to hold a Vikings offence to just two FG’s in the second half giving the offence a chance to get back into the game. They did that without Michael Carter II and Sauce Gardner for over a quarter, but the defence has to be perfect to give this team a chance to win. Consider that over the last two weeks they’ve allowed just 27 points combined and walked away with two losses.
There were some penalty issues (where have you heard that before) but in person they looked questionable at best. Again I’ll need to look back to
If you just take a quick look at the stats there isn’t a great deal of difference between the two sides, but personally I think there should be bigger expectations for the HOF QB you bent over backwards to acquire than a journeyman QB who just so happens to be playing some decent football right now.
I guess the good news for the Jets is that the Bills took another loss and while the Dolphins won, they didn’t look very good doing it.
So the Jets are indeed just one game out of first place and if they beat the Bills on MNF they’ll be heading to a share of the lead. Which is just crazy to consider considering how poor we’ve been. Looking at how all the teams are playing, you may be able to win this division with 8-9 wins, which looks like a bit of a stretch for the Jets right now.
"You’re always going to find silver linings. I’m not ready to talk about them now but I do appreciate that our guys continue to battle and they fought and gave ourselves a chance. We’re right there with a chance to score a touchdown at the end of the game and go win it and unfortunately it didn’t happen for us." - Robert Saleh
Those silver linings will be around the defence and how the team battled back etc. But Saleh did also state that “The run game is clearly not good enough.” Which is stating the obvious, but at least it’s being stated. Which means it’s probably time we talk about Keith Carter who is the run-game coordinator as well as the offensive line coach, so he’s responsible for two of the biggest underperforming units on this team.
We’ll get into that later this week, but Carter obviously had issues with players in Tennessee and his style was raised by Saleh in the pre-season. Something isn’t working there and if the Jets want to make some changes, they may start there.
If you give a child a hammer and that child starts banging holes in the wall and you continually watch as the child bangs holes in the wall, and you do nothing about it, whose fault is it the child or yours.
Substitue the child with the hammer to Saleh running the team as HC or Hackett attempting to run the offense as OC.
Who is responsible for this disaster, whether he likes it or not, it falls into Woody’s lap.
Unfortunately the way a professional football team is structured, you can fire the coach but you are then forced to hire someone off of his staff . I can never recall a team firing its HC and replacing him with an outsider.
We know some fans will say Ulbrich or Middleton or Oden.
But are they the answer. Maybe only as interim.
The NFL has become an analytical league. Everything is based on numbers. The human element is not a consideration.
But Jet fans, do you need analytics to tell you that a Saleh coached team starts slow almost every game, do you need analytics to tell you that the Jets are an undisciplined team, do you need analytics to tell you that it appears a Saleh coached team never makes halftime adjustments.
Do you need analytics to tell you that Hackett is an absolutely terrible OC, do you need analytics to prove to you that Hackett’s schemes are
juvenile at best. The word innovator has never been used in the same sentence with the name Hackett whether the first name was Paul or Nate.
Football writer, Connor Rodgers asked this question after the game “What do they do all week”. I guess he was referring to Saleh and Hackett. Maybe someone could ask JD or Woody.
It is time for Woody to grab the hammer. Yes, the Jets are 2-3, the season is still salvageable for a shot at the playoffs but does any fan actually believe that.
Woody definitely needs to fire Hackett today. Taking the play calling away from him, will not eliminate the stink of his infantile game plans. Does that wording sound harsh, yes, but not as harsh as 55 cold winters without a Super Bowl appearance.
Carter is definitely a candidate for hammer time. He came here with a very questionable reputation, has that reputation change not really.
The Broncos blitzed the hell out of the Jets offense last week, did you notice any changes in the Jets blitz assignments yesterday, of course not. The NFL is a copy cat league, the Bills and Steelers front lines are already licking their chops to get after Rodgers. Have you seen anything that tells you it won’t happen.
Lastly Saleh is toast, his BS is done carrying him. It doesn’t matter if he loses the fans, it will matter when he loses the locker room.
Based on how this team has played this year, excluding the Pat game would it really matter if the Jets got rid of Saleh, Hackett and Carter this week. Could it get any more embarrassing, very doubtful. They play next Monday night, the extra day would let the new assignment get accustomed to their new responsibilities.
Hire Uhlbrich or Boyer as head coach
Downing as OC
Ben Wilkerson as offensive line coach.
Woody it is hammer time, this would probably be the only moves that you will make as Jet owner that will have a big majority of the fans endorsement.
For the sake of this season, use the hammer🔨 . This will only get worst if you let it fester.
Hiring Saleh with his “ all gas, no brakes” has turned out to be a mistake. He is not the first very good coordinator to fail as a coach.
But keeping him at this point is a recipe for a disaster.
It’s time to call in the receipts like Saleh once said.
Woody, your fan base is tired of watching the child hammer holes into the wall.
It is painful to watch the Jets play, SOJ, Jetsies…whatever. Looking at the talent across this roster and its performance leads to the inevitable conclusion that the team is rotten to the core. That core being the coaching staff. Failure to game plan, slow starts, penalties and an utter lack of ability to adjust intra-game.
Changes are warranted and though firing the HC and OC at the beginning of the season seems rash, until u remove the cancer this patient is dying. Either that or expect a Roger’s retirement post season with a housecleaning and rebuild to follow. A scenario which is all too familiar to members on this site!