The New York Jets have, once again, grabbed the headlines of the NFL season despite not actually being a good football team.
After a 37-15 beat against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football, the Jets find themselves in familiar territory at 2-5 with the season wrapped up before they can really get going. What adds an extra pinch of salt to their wounds this year is that they have spent a lot of resources on being in this position and still can’t seem to get any wins on the board. At best, this is a mediocre team with a high payroll. At worst, it’s the Jets’ worst failure that tops the long list of this franchise’s recent failures.
Aaron Rodgers has been a double-edged sword. On the one hand, he’s comfortably the best quarterback they’ve had in recent memory. At times, his combination of rare throwing ability and two decades of NFL experience makes the Jets’ passing game look like they can be one of the best in the league if they could just get a little more consistency from everyone.
On the other hand, he hasn’t been good enough in terms of what they need to win a Super Bowl. Overall, the Jets offense is just 20th in success rate (gaining 40% yards on first down, 60% on second, and 100% on third/fourth) and 22nd in expected points added by game (-0.06). . It’s better than last year, when they were arguably the worst offense in football, but being below average is a dismal failure compared to season expectations.
This offense has spent a first round pick on Garrett Wilson, paid players like Allen Lazard and Mike Williams and recently traded a pick for future Hall of Famer Davante Adams. However, they still fail to score points. Switching from Nate Hackett to Todd Downing as offensive play callers seems to have helped running back Breece Hall once again become one of the best offensive players in the league. Outside of him, the Jets offense is still mediocre at best. Tyron Smith and the offensive tackles have been shaky, but at least guard John Simpson has been a good player so far.
The biggest problem for this team moving forward is the defense falling apart. Between the injuries and the departure of head coach Robert Saleh, the Jets simply haven’t been able to play effective defense. In the two weeks without Saleh running things, they rank 28th in expected points allowed per play on defense – for a defense that is normally a top-five unit week in and week out. This performance should improve throughout the season as they get healthier, but the bigger problem is that the defense isn’t good enough to support a flat offense and get wins on the table.
Additionally, the Jets are now three games behind the Buffalo Bills, who also currently hold a tiebreaker against them – and their next game against the Bills will be on the road. There isn’t much time left to save the season, and it will only get harder as they try to climb out of the hole they’ve put themselves in. Next week against New England should be a winnable game considering how poor the game was. The Patriots defense is playing, but at 2-5, neither game can be considered a gift. The Jets just haven’t played well enough to earn that expectation.
It’s still early enough in the season that a turnaround is possible, and they could have the best talent to make a move up the standings. Still, these Jets’ goal was to compete for the Super Bowl, and now the best realistic scenario is to run away and sneak into the No. 6 or 7 seed in the playoffs. This is far from where they originally wanted to be.
Hey, at least Haason Reddick will join the team soon after ending his resistance with a new deal, which will give a boost to the defense. The Jets will need every ounce of talent to get back into the AFC standings and contend for a playoff spot – just an unfathomable and dismal outcome for a team with so many resources invested. This is the Jetsiest season there has been in quite some time.
