The Jets dropped their fourth straight game on Friday, this one a 34-13 loss to the Dolphins. Here are some thoughts and observations from the game.
1. When you hang around the Jets long enough, you begin to see the same things happen over and over. The most troubling thing I saw on Friday was not on the field but in the postgame locker room. The Jets’ young stars — Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner — all seemed defeated when speaking to reporters. They all sounded frustrated. Hall even bordered on criticizing the coaches when speaking about the Hail Mary before walking it back.
I’ve seen this before. This is the cycle. Jets draft a talented player. The player comes to the Jets vowing that he will be the one that changes the culture of the franchise and they will be a playoff team. These players almost always come from winning college programs and talk about what they can bring from there. They have some individual success early on that gives everyone hope. Then, the reality of being on the Jets settles in and they look beaten down. I’ve seen it with Muhammad Wilkerson, Leonard Williams and Jamal Adams to name a few. The losing wears on guys. These are ultra-competitive athletes who are used to winning and now they are getting embarrassed.
The 2022 Draft class provided a lot of hope. But Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh have to be careful they don’t lose these guys to the slippery slope that comes with being a losing franchise. These guys should be cornerstones for the next 10 years, but will they want to be here?
2. I recognize that the Jets have major injury issues on offense right now. I do. But it feels like the coaches have just thrown their hands up in the air and said, ‘Welp, we’re screwed.’ Where is the imagination in the offense? ESPN had Tim Boyle attempting just four passes longer than 10 yards in the game and one of those was the Hail Mary.
The Jets will say they can’t throw deep because they can’t protect the quarterback. Figure out how to get one shot play. Keep an extra blocker in and throw the damn ball deep to Xavier Gipson. How about a trick play? Maybe you have a double pass or a flea flicker that catches a defender sleeping.
As someone who I respect said to me, the Jets offense right now looks like a Day 1 install. It is the most basic offense you can find. Running Hall into the line on first down is not working. Throwing 5-yard passes to Hall is not working.
Nathaniel Hackett has been dealt a bad hand. I’m not arguing that. But a coach’s job is to figure out how make adjustments with whatever is thrown at them. He’s not doing that.
3. Now that I have said that, I do want to acknowledge these injuries are real and the Jets offense is playing with many players who should not be out there. No one is expecting the Jets to be the 1999 Rams, but they still need to be competitive despite the injuries.
Any talk of firing Douglas or Saleh, though, needs to include a conversation about what has been thrown their way. Losing Rodgers on the fourth play of the season is a blow that hardly any team could have survived. Then, you add in losing Alijah Vera-Tucker, their best offensive lineman, and now the odds of success get even lower. The Jets rolled out their eighth different starting offensive line on Friday. It is tough to win like that.
You can criticize the Jets for not having a better backup quarterback plan. I think there is some merit to that criticism, but even if they had a decent backup quarterback right now, would they be winning? It might look functional, which is something, but I don’t think you can make the case that a better backup would really fix this completely.
4. Jay Glazer reported on FOX on Thursday that Rodgers may return even if the Jets are not in the playoff hunt. Under no circumstances should the Jets allow Rodgers to come back if they are playing for pride. Let him practice and that can be his rehab victory. This organization has done plenty of dumb things through the years but allowing Rodgers to play meaningless games would top the list. I don’t think they will … but saying “no” to Rodgers has not been something the Jets have done yet, so we’ll see.
Revealing stat
The Jets have scored less than 20 points in their last five games. The last time they hit 20 was Oct. 15 against the Eagles.
Surprising snap count
Jason Brownlee played 57 of 58 snaps on offense on Friday. Brownlee replaced Allen Lazard in the lineup after Lazard was a surprise inactive.
Game ball
Brandin Echols nearly brought the Jets back into the game with his pick six just before halftime. But then the Jets handed the Dolphins back the momentum with the Flail Mary.
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