Keeping the Core

Edition #746

☀️ Good morning! ☕

Writing about this team isn’t very fun. Being negative doesn’t come natural to me and while there are plenty of people who will revel in the Jets failures, they’re not the kind of people you find here at TJW…thankfully.

Over the last two weeks I’ve received a number of emails from people unsubscribing, wanting to let me know that the decision is based entirely on the team and not what we’ve built here. I always appreciate those emails.

Losing is hard. Losing with a team you struggle to root for is even worse. Losing with little hope that things will change is the worst. I completely understand why people would prefer to just ignore this team rather than debate ways to improve it.

We’ve now got nearly two weeks until we’ll play again, and in many ways that’s a good thing. We have a period where we don’t have to talk about the 2024 Jets, one of the most disappointing teams in a Jets history filled with disappointment.

At some point this week once I’ve had time to look at the coaches film, I may do a little Aaron Rodgers breakdown on his unwillingness to pull the trigger. I couldn’t quite stomach watching that game for the second time in 24 hours so for now let’s just ignore this unit and look to the future.

🟢 CBS had a mock draft out today and with the 7th pick in the 2025 NFL draft they have the Jets taking Mason Graham, which personally I’d love if Cam Ward was already gone, and considering a fair few teams above the Jets are slated to pick QBs the chances of Ward slipping are slim. But with the way the Jets are playing right now, there’s a good chance we’re picking inside the top 5 come April.

⚫ Jeff Ulbrich had this to say about the Jets current plight - "It's 6 games remaining, true, but strength is demonstrated in these moments where adversity really hits, and it's, it's hitting us. From a football perspective, there's ... this is probably one of the higher levels of adversity. So it's an opportunity to not let your situation define who you are and show the world exactly who you are in these in these really tough moments, show your teammates who you are in these really tough moments and ultimately, like that brand of football that we we play, regardless of the situation, regardless of the implications, that's who we are. So you know, there's still a lot of pride in that locker room, and guys are going to still fight."

🟢 How much has the Jets defence regressed since Robert Saleh was fired? A lot. Through the first five weeks of the season the defense were allowing 17 points per game which was the 5th best mark in football. Through weeks 6-11 they’re allowing 26.2 points per game which is 24th. So they’ve dropped 19 places since Saleh was fired. Talk about getting a spark Woody!

⚫ Perhaps learning their lesson from the Spencer Shrader situation where they left him on the practice squad to be poached by the Kansas City Chiefs, the Jets announced yesterday that they had signed Anders Carlson to the active roster and released defensive tackle Bruce Hector in a corresponding move. Carlson was perfect against the colts going 3/3 on extra points and 2/2 on field goals, including a career long 58-yarder. He’s not 7/7 on field goals this season having kicked in two games for San Francisco.

🟢 Over the last two games Aaron Rodgers has attempted just 6 passes over 10 yards, he blamed Cover 2 for the lack of deep attempts against the Colts and while Ulbrich made a number of comments defending him, stating it’s about the coverage, the protection and the need to protect the football, he did state "A lot of things go into it, but you're absolutely right, we need to get the ball going down the field more often."

⚫ The Jets made the decision to bench UDFA Tony Adams against the Colts, Jalen Mills replaced him and allowed 3 catches on 3 targets for 59 yards, was involved in a coverage mix-up for the long Downs completion and failed to make any impact in the run defense. When asked why Adams was singled out to be benched Ulbrich simply responded "I'd rather not expand on that.". Maybe it’s disciplinary rather than performance, but this another example of the Jets making a move and it not working.

🟢 Jeff Ulbrich has been acting Head Coach and defensive play-caller since taking over from Robert Saleh, and as mentioned above the defense has taken a nose-dive in terms of performance. Asked if he would consider giving up play-calling duties - "Not as of today, but we'll definitely assess everything." - Ulbrich looks completely overwhelmed and his 1-5 record indicates that’s the case. With nothing else working, giving over play-calling duties is not a bad idea

One consistent conversation I’ve seen over the last 24 hours is the discussion on who should return and who should be let go.

It’s obviously not as simple as that. If a player is contracted through the 2025 season then you either need to cut them and swallow the Dead Cap, or convince someone else to take them.

As much as this team has disappointed, it’s not completely devoid of talent. That’s part of the reason why we feel so dejected about the 2024 season. This team doesn’t have enough talent to win a title, but it has significantly more talent than their 3-8 record suggests and it’s terribly coached.

With the size of an NFL roster there is usually significant turnover each year. It’s not like the NHL or NBA where the turnover tends to be minimal and focused on one or two specific areas.

Let’s have a look at the Jets players who will be hitting free agency next season.