Jets Washed Out

Edition #290

Good morning!

As Jets fans, we’re used to letdowns, but this year was supposed to be different, this year was supposed to be the year we changed the narrative and flipped the script. Sitting at 5-2 we felt pretty good about ourselves, but having lost 4 in a row and 6 of the last 8 we find ourselves sitting here with a losing record.

I like to keep sight of context, and two statements ring true. The first is that the Jet’s development is ahead of schedule and many expected us to win fewer than 7 games this season. The second is that what we’re seeing right now simply isn’t good enough.

Let’s get into everything we saw last night if you can stomach it.

Zach was asked about the boos: "Yeah, it's [tough]," Wilson said of the booing fans. "I don't blame them. We have a passionate fan base, and they're here to watch us score touchdowns. We're not scoring touchdowns, we're not getting first downs, we're not moving the ball and, obviously, we can't throw the ball. Of course, they're going to be frustrated."

Zach continued on his performance: "Man, I don't know," he said. "I just felt like I didn't have any rhythm out there. [I was] just trying to find some confidence out there on the field, just find something to get us going -- a little spark. I couldn't get anything there, man. Yeah, it's tough and I'm working my way through it, But I have to be optimistic here. I believe in myself, regardless if anyone else does."

Coach Saleh on inserting Chris Streveler: "We were trying to change up to get the run game going, I know Zach was struggling. Streveler came in, he ran a couple of plays, sparked the offense and got the explosive play. It snowballed in a good way for Strev. So we wanted to give him an opportunity to finish the drive. By the time we got it back, we decided we're already here, so let's go with Strev."

Coach Saleh on the importance of confidence: “Confidence is a big thing,” Saleh said. “As a human, you’re going to have adversity. In your life, you’re going to have the ups and downs. Obviously, he’s in it right now. … You’d be remiss if you didn’t try to acknowledge the fact that there is a confidence thing there because when people are confident, they can conquer the world. It’s just something that we have to help him with, too.”

30 seconds or less: Jets came out and forced a turnover on the first possession and then the offense forgot how to play football, the defense couldn’t get off the field and Gang Green was embarrassed on their own field. Zach Wilson was benched for the second time this season and he should have been benched earlier. Robert Saleh looked broken in the post-game presser and the Jet’s playoff hopes are now on life support.

Zach

When Zach was benched the first time and we were told that he needed a full reset with work needed on his fundamentals and mechanics, I said that couldn’t be achieved in a matter of weeks, it would take months of work away from the spotlight.

I don’t know if the plan was for Wilson to sit the rest of the way but Mike White’s injury forced him back into the lineup, and the simple fact is that Zach is not ready to be an NFL quarterback. I’m not saying he’ll never get there, but historical data would suggest it’s unlikely based on what we’ve seen.

Last night we saw Zach complete 50% of his passes for 92 yards with 0 TD and 1 INT, the interception came as the clock wound down in the first half but had it not been for a pass break-up by Corey Davis on a dreadful pass, he would have had another. It’s not just the base stats, but it’s the energy he seems to drain out of the offense.

When Chris Streveler took over late in the third quarter the Jets had managed just 3 first-downs, I believe he had 4 first-downs on the first drive. That may not be a fair comparison and I know some people will have an issue with it, but the goal of the offense is to move the ball from one side of the field to the other, regardless of how you do it.

The Jets now have a huge decision to make on Zach, they can’t name him starting QB heading into 2023, and they also can’t assume that he’s going to improve to the point that he’s a starting caliber quarterback. They don’t just need to hunt for a competitive backup, they need to approach the QB hunt with the hunger of finding the franchise guy, as even if you’re the biggest Zach fan on the planet you’d need to admit that he hasn’t shown anything close to enough.

You can’t hide from the fact that statistically, Zach Wilson is on par with one of the greatest draft busts of all time, JaMarcus Russell…who also just so happened to win a few games.

I also don’t want to hear anything about how Mike White only moved the ball against the Bears because they were a bad team, Lions and Jaguars both have awful passing defenses and we made the Jags look like the 85 Bears.

Zach may be able to play in the league eventually, but I’d be amazed if that’s with the Jets.

Offensive Line

I’m not going to place all the blame on Zach but when your defense creates a turnover to start the game deep in the opposition’s territory, losing yards and kicking a field goal is deflating. He then missed Garrett and Corey on what should be simple throws for an NFL quarterback, he’s just not there. For his sake and for the Jets, he can’t play again this year.

The Jet’s offensive line needs to take a good hard look at itself, for the 2nd game in a row they were unable to generate any push in the run game, and they failed to protect Zach. The Jets managed 7 rushing yards on their first 7 drives, averaging one rushing yard per drive over multiple drives is a good way to lose football games.

Zonovan Knight finished with -2 yards on 6 carries, Carter had 6 yards on 2 carries and Ty Johnson had 7 yards on 2 carries. The run game didn’t get going until Streveler entered the game and racked up 55 yards on 9 carries.

Against Buffalo Knight was going for 4.2 yards a carry, against the Vikings he was up at 6 yards a carry, so what’s happened over the last two weeks? For me, the simple answer comes back to the QB. Teams don’t respect Zach’s ability to make plays through the air, and as a result, they stack the box and dare the Jets to beat them in the air. How many times in the Jags have an 8-man box last night?

Running against a stacked box is tough for the best running games in the league, the Jets really don’t stand a chance. This is why it’s so important to hit those passes to Garrett and Corey, when you start hitting chunk plays in the air the defensive coordinator starts to adapt their gameplan. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and the Jaguar’s defense just smothered the little life the Jet’s offense had.

Coaching

Last week Daniel Jeremiah gave an interview on the Rich Eisen show where he called into question Zach’s fit within the offensive system the Jets run. The quick decision, spread the ball to the right read from within the pocket is probably Zach’s biggest weakness. Which raises the question, why did we draft someone who doesn’t fit the offensive philosophy?

One consistent theme throughout the last two years has been Zach’s inability to feel pressure, to slide or climb the pocket. Trevor Lawrence did a great job of this last night to avoid pressure and Mike White has shown a real knack for it as well. It’s one of the most under-appreciated aspects of QB play. If we’re going to play Zach we need to create a moving pocket for him, keeping him back there knowing he can’t feel the pressure is just a bad idea and poor scheming.

Zach can bail on a pocket, but there’s a difference between bailing and designing a moving pocket with plays flowing to whatever side of the field you create the movement. I don’t think Zach should be playing full stop, but if he is going to play then you have to adapt your scheme for him, I don’t see that right now.

The Jets also only rushed 5 times in the first half, I know the Jaguars had that soul-sucking 16-play drive that dominated the first half, but Mike LaFleur needs to learn to stick with the run game.

Defense

The Jet’s bend but don’t break mentality was on full display last night, they allowed the Jaguars to put up 365 yards but they did keep them to just 1-3 in the Red Zone. Whenever you allow a single touchdown over 60 minutes you’ve done your part. But it felt like an off night for the unit as a whole, too many easy passes for Lawrence, who completed 64% of his passes for over 200 yards, doing enough to manage his team to a win.

Football is all about momentum, and I do feel as though had the Jets turned Quinnen’s strip-sack into 7 points, it would have energized the entire team as well as the fanbase at home and in the stadium. When there are a handful of minutes left in the third quarter and you only have 3 first-downs as an offense, you know you’ve asked too much of your defense.

In the game preview I wrote about how I was worried about Evan Engram, the Jags like to leak him out and we have a real weakness in covering TEs, especially when they run delayed routes, it was the type of play that cost us against the Lions. Engram was targeted more than any other receiver (8 targets) and he turned that into 7 catches for 113 yards. 74 of those yards came after the catch, which speaks volumes.

Teams are realizing that to beat the Jets, you avoid throwing outside the hashes. Marvin Jones had 15 yards and Zay Jones had 14 yards. The damage is done inside against the linebackers and safeties.

Overall

I don’t know how you come out in a primetime game with playoff implications against a 6-8 team and lay a performance like that, I just don’t. Bart Scott and Willie Colon on the SNY Post-Game suggested that maybe there was an arrogance to the team, thinking they were better than Jacksonville. They pointed to the fact that C.J Uzomah turned up in a bunny suit and Quincy arrived dressed as the grinch, I don’t know if that had any impact but answers on a postcard for what went wrong.

The Jets are on their first 4-game losing streak of the Robert Saleh era and now have just a 6% chance of making the playoffs. Last night’s game also marked the 8th primetime loss in a row, just stop putting us on national TV.