New England Pain

Edition #484

Good morning ☕

If you're reading this. I don't know why. The New York Jets do not deserve your time or your attention this morning. Hockey season is here (Go Rangers) and basketball season is around the corner (Go Knicks). If you can do anything else this morning, I encourage you to do it.

If you're a gluten for punishment, well then I tip my cap to you. Having watched that game last night, I had very little interest in writing about it. I feel as though I'm on Groundhog Day. Same stuff, different year.

I'm a positive Jets fan…but that has pushed me to the edge, and I'm so close to taking a turn to negative town.

When should we start talking about the draft? Answers on a postcard.

4th and 10, 4th quarter, and your QB throws 10 yards short of the sticks because he thought it he got the ball out quickly, into the hands of a TE…that TE could make someone miss and pick up the first down.

That logic should get you benched. Having 39 yards of offence at the half should get you benched. But it won't, because the Jets decided to double down on Zach Wilson's ability and sign Tim Boyle as the 3rd QB.

"My thought process was, if I can get it out to Conklin quick enough, there was only one guy over there. He makes him miss, he’s able to get the first down, but obviously right as the ball got there the guy tackled him. So, find a way to be better, because I have to find a way. Fourth-and-10, you have to have a situation. I understood the situation." -Zach

If this was supposed to be a reset year for Zach. If this was really about trying to fix the numerous issues with his game. Joe Douglas and the Jets had to bring in a capable backup to Aaron Rodgers, just in case the worst happened…which it did in week one.

Aaron has spoken about attempting to come back for the playoffs. Even if he makes that miraculous recovery, the Jets are not making the playoffs in their current guise. No chance. They had the 0-2 Patriots in their own house, and their defence held New England to 13 points…and they lost.

This offence is a complete and utter joke.

Garrett Wilson got 5 catches, but he was largely a sidenote until the 4th quarter. You have to give a receiver like Garrett an opportunity to make a play. He was asked if he was frustrated about not getting the ball. But Garrett being who he is had the perfect response.

"Nah. I’m frustrated we’re not winning. Whatever reason that may be, I’m trying to figure that out. It’s my job — I’m a player on this team, but everyone knows that about me. I don’t play about losing. We haven’t met the challenge the last two weeks and that’s where the frustration comes from. That’s where the emotion comes from."

Now the Jets will stick with Zach because…in the words of Robert Saleh, he gives them the best chance to win. If Zach Wilson gives you the best chance to win, then how bad do the Jets believe Tim Boyle is? If he's that bad, get him off the roster and sign some unproven UFL guy, a young unproven and raw QB is better than a veteran who you don't trust to play at Zach Wilson's level. If that sounds harsh then so be it. Zach Wilson is not an NFL QB. I hate to break it to the Wilson fans out there.

He wasn't the only problem tonight, but he was a major one. His processing is extremely slow, his decision-making is poor. He bails out of the pocket too early, which shrinks the field and makes it easier to defend. He has no feel for pressure and doesn't use his legs enough.

Michael Nania posted this out which saved me from cutting it, as this was one of the plays where I was screaming at my screen. Zach has outstanding protection, when Lazard makes his cut at the top of the screen Zach has a clean pocket, this is a throw that has to be made. If he makes this throw it’s a 15-yard completion at minimum and the Jets are into enemy territory. I don’t love the play design as I think that slot receiver needs to cut a little quicker on that out route to drag the nickel away from the throwing lane. But I’m done making excuses for Zach, this is a throw that NFL QBs need to make, there is no reason he scrambles on this play.

Zach is broken. I have no idea if he can be fixed or not. What I do know is the longer we spend trying to fix him, the more the season drifts away.

Zach is a huge problem. We know that. The Jets know that, despite the public declarations. If they're not searching for that veteran signal caller then they're intent on failure.

But let's talk about the offence in general. Obviously, this is heavily on Zach and Hackett, but it's really about everyone.

Last week the Jets were 1-10 on third down. This week they were 2/14. So in the last two weeks, the Jets under Hackett and Zach are 3-24 on third down.

Last week the coaching staff blamed a lack of plays. Well, this week they had plenty and the only reason they didn't have more is down to their own lack of execution. The Jets defence got off the field 10 times on third down. The Patriots had the ball for 31 minutes, the Jets for 28. The Patriots turned that into 358 total yards and I'd say they were poor. The Jets turned it to 171 yards, including just 38 rushing yards.

The Patriots put 7+ in the box knowing that Zach couldn't beat them through the air and Nathaniel Hackett wouldn't let him try. They were right. As they usually are when they play the Jets.

So here are a few things:

• If you're too scared to let Zach throw. He shouldn't be playing QB for you.

• Stop running out Cobb and Uzomah and other veterans who have offered nothing. You have Ruckert and Gipson and Hardman just sitting there. I'd rather watch the youth struggle than watch these veterans. Ruckert got 1 snap, just days after Saleh said they needed to get him on the field more. We wanted to run a lot, and our best blocking TE was in for just one snap. Hardman just 2. It's comically bad. There is no universe where Cobb should be on the field for 40+ snaps like he was yesterday.

• Stop running the ball on first down. We are the most predictable offence in football right now. We had 12 first-down opportunities before the 4th quarter and we ran on 10 occasions…directly into a heavy front. Unsurprisingly to everyone but Nathaniel Hackett, we averaged 1.9 yards per play on those runs.

• Stop giving Dalvin Cook the ball, 8 carries today and he looks done. He looks hesitant and slow, and while Breece struggled just as much, let’s get Carter the ball or someone with just a little juice. The Jets rushed for 38 yards and there are four reasons for that. 1) The Jets were predictable in their play-calling, 2) The Patriots loaded the box as they knew Zach couldn’t beat them through the air, 3) The offensive line failed to open up any holes, 4) They gave Cook too many touches. Cook had -15 yards rushing over expected…I mean come on.

The Jets did exactly as we thought with the offensive line. Becton to LT, AVT to RT and Tippmann in at RG. According to the broadcast, the Jets had been practising all week with that lineup. It certainly didn't look that way.

On the safety, Becton was beaten badly by Judon and it wasn't the first time.

The line wasn't great. But I didn't really expect them to be considering a rookie was in for his first snaps and we had two new tackles, at least tackles playing new positions.

I don't have the numbers to hand right now, writing this at 1 a.m. But even when the line gave Zach time, he clutched, double-clutched then folded like a pack of cards. The internal clock is non-existent in his head, which makes blocking for him upfront extremely hard.

The issue is how long until the team turns on each other. How long until the defence starts pointing fingers at the offence? How long until the offence starts pointing fingers at each other? Michael Carter already had a shouting match with RB coach Taylor Embree on the sideline. How long until Robert Saleh is left with no choice but to take the playcalling away from Hackett and give it to Downing?

When we look at the stats tomorrow. It's likely the Jets have the worst offence in football. Considering Hackett has very little on his resume without Rodgers. This can turn very sour very quickly.

Let’s just take a look at it:

12 points per game
91 rushing yards per game
133 passing yards per game
225 total yards per game

Zach has not thrown for over 200 yards yet, the Jets haven’t scored over 20 points. Is it really a surprise that we’re now 1-2 and a special teams play away from potentially being 0-3?

This Nathaniel Hackett offence makes the Mike LaFleur one look dominant. At least under LaFleur, we were averaging over 300 yards.

I’ve seen some people blaming the defence based on them not creating turnovers. The defence kept the Patriots to 13 points and gave the offence the ball back 3 times in the 4th quarter with the chance to take the lead. Zach was 2-8 on those drives with a safety. It’s frustrating that the defence didn’t create turnovers, but this loss is on Nathaniel Hackett and Zach Wilson, not the defence.

The Jets now have the simple task of facing the Chiefs next weekend.