Uncompetitive
Edition #996: Jets non-competitive for the third week in a row, increase odds of the #1 pick in the draft.
Good Morning ☕
As mentioned in the chat yesterday, I have an important meeting with Santa this morning and two very excited children.
So I’m going to keep today’s newsletter short and sweet, but I feel like we all need a place to vent about this team right now.
Both the Giants and the Raiders came close to securing a win yesterday, playing competitive football well into the 4th quarter, but unfortunately for the Jets, they both ended up on the losing side, keeping the Jets in 4th position in the draft.
Next week one of them has to lose (well technically they could tie), and for the Jets sake it would be better if the Giants were the ones to remain on 2 wins.
Here are some quick thoughts on the game yesterday
Brady Cook had an opportunity to make a statement yesterday but fell flat. His pocket presence was non-existent, he attempted just one pass over 9 air yards for one of the most conservative gameplans I’ve ever seen and turned the ball over twice. He now has 6 interceptions and 3 fumbles in 2 and a half games, that’s not sustainable or acceptable for an NFL QB.
"Brady did some good things, but also there's some things that he has to be better at," Glenn said. "We cannot turn the ball over, we all know that, and he knows that. As a quarterback, his hands are on the ball all the time, and he has to protect it."
Tanner Engstrand. I’ll be honest, I’m starting to lose faith in Tanner. Kellen Moore managed to scheme people open for Tyler Shough but Cook seemed to be throwing into tight windows on every single pass-play. Maybe its the lack of the talent at receiver with Garrett out, maybe it’s just because New Orleans have a significantly better defense, but it looked ugly.
Offensive Line. There was a lot of enthusiasm earlier in the year but to my untrained eye they’re regressing significantly. They still don’t communicate very well, still can’t pick up blitzes and Fashanu and Myers seemed to be constantly on the back-foot. I’m not sure this line is as good as many people want you to believe. They allowed 8 sacks yesterday, and while some were on Cook the blocking as a whole was pretty pathetic.
Defense. Nobody expected the defense to magically improve now that Steve Wilks had gone, especially with all the holes we have to fill. Chris Harris didn’t blitz as much as Wilks, but the Jets were unable to generate a lot of pressure without blitzing and the Saints receivers were running wide open all afternoon. The Jets allowed over 300 passing yards to rookie Tyler Shough and Chris Olave had 10 catches for 148 yards and 2 scores. The personnel assignments were strange, like putting Jordan Clark on Olave for his first touchdown, that’s a strange call.
Receivers: What’s happened to John Metchie III? A few weeks ago he looked like an absolute steal but yesterday he had just 1 catch for 4 yards and has been held to 25 yards or less in three of his last 4 games. Isaiah Williams is starting to step up, but the Jets have to find a way to get the ball to Metchie a little more. The last month was supposed to be about evaluating these receivers.
At the end of the day we said a loss was more important for draft purposes and so in a way we need to be happy this morning. Job done and we have two games we almost certainly will lose left on the schedule. Meaning at worst we should be picking 4th in the draft which puts us in a key spot. We could do with the Browns beating either the Steelers or Bengals, but I’m not sure that’s likely. The Raiders have the Giants and Chiefs, and they could absolutely win both of those games which would be a positive for the Jets.
But while I’m happy our draft position hasn’t been impacted, the lack of competitiveness is a real concern. The fact that Cook looked so bad is pretty depressing, especially for someone who really believes in his ability. It’s also becoming very clear that we have so many holes to fill on this roster, so many in fact that it seems near impossible to do it this off-season.
The Jets have now lost three straight games by 14+ points, their longest streak since 2019 (ESPN) and that’s now 15 straight games without an interception.
"We had way too many penalties that actually put us behind the sticks, when we have a good play that put us in a good position, and then we have a penalty," HC Aaron Glenn said after the Jets' 29-6 loss to New Orleans. "And that happened a number of times on third-down plays, on early downs. You can't do that in this league and win games."
You also can’t go 2/15 on third down, you can’t allow 8 sacks, you can’t allow 5.3 yards per play, 300+ passing yards to a rookie QB and force just one punt all afternoon. There are a lot of things you can’t do in the NFL and expect to win…the Jets are doing all of them.
Two more games to go everyone, two more games to go.
Unfortunately, I couldn't agree with you more David, especially about Cook, Engstram and the O-line. In just about every other game I watch, teams scheme up receivers so they run free and it becomes an easy pitch and catch. . .but not the Jets of course. Where are the crossers? The double moves? The use of motion? Here's one: how about executing a rub route one or twice a season, especially in the red zone?!? Or misdirection. Tanner does NONE of that and we NEVER see Jet receivers getting Yac. Everything is a curl route ( which New Orleans was all over) or to the sidelines.
And I agree too about the O-line. They have regressed considerably of late. Jets can't run the ball effectively, and their pass blocking-especially against pressure-is brutal. Brady looked terrible yesterday, Mitchie has disappeared.
And Simpson should be in the anti Ring of Honor for ALWAYS getting stupid penalties at the most inopportune times: 3rd and short, Jets a a first down on a sneak, but that's negated because that dope gets a 15 yarder for a chop block. I have literally never seen that on a QB sneak. So in addition to 'the same old Jets', we should create a new category called 'only the Jets'. See Butt fumble, 15 games w/o an interception chop block on a QB sneak. . .' They are PATHETIC.
Quite pathetic performance. Let's hope Dante Moore comes out, which would give us another option. I really don't want to give up any draft capital. We have so many needs.