Brad Penner\/USA TODAY Sports<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\nThey masked the problem for six games, using an opportunistic defense to eke out wins against the Denver Broncos and Eagles, but Wilson's flaws were eventually exposed and the offense fell into a deep freeze. We're talking Antarctica – just three touchdowns on their last 74 possessions over the last six games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been pretty bad, huh?\u201d Conklin said. “Pretty bad. Pretty stagnant.”<\/p>\n
Since the Eagles game, the Jets are 31st in Total QBR (18.4) and tied for last in touchdown passes (three).<\/p>\n
Disappearance of Breece Hall<\/strong>: The Jets hoped a healthy Hall in the backfield would keep the offense afloat after Rodgers' injury, helping them avoid a repeat of last season's collapse — which, by the way, coincided with Hall's torn ACL in his left knee. This time, his big play prowess would force defenses to overplay the run, creating easier reads and better matchups for Wilson in the passing game.<\/p>\nOr so they thought.<\/p>\n
Hall is off to a fantastic start, throwing for 387 yards in the first five games, but has just 198 in the last seven. He scored the go-ahead touchdown against the Eagles with less than two minutes remaining, and he completed a checkdown pass for a 50-yard score the next play \u2014 and he didn't reach the end zone Since.<\/p>\n
What happened? Is it worn out? There's no doubt that inconsistent blocking has contributed to his decline as the Jets rank 29th in block win rate (68.8%). But Hall accepted some blame, saying he made unusual mistakes because he was pressuring. Saleh challenged him, telling him he wanted Hall to be more physical and that he was looking for the \u201cgrubby yards.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coaches appreciated Hall's aggressiveness in last week's loss to the Atlanta Falcons, but it didn't show up on the stat sheet: 16 yards on 13 carries.<\/p>\n
Constantly evolving offensive line: <\/strong>The Jets started 12 different linemen and nine different offensive line combinations, creating a constant flow in the position group that needs the most continuity. Only one player has been in the same place since the start of the season: left back Laken Tomlinson.<\/p>\n\nEditor's Choice<\/h2>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
They could do a parody of the old Abbott & Costello “Who's on First?” routine: Who is on the right guard? For the record, six different players started there.<\/p>\n
Almost every team has line issues. Some have plug-and-play replacements. Others, like the Jets, can't keep up with the number of injuries. The biggest loss was guard\/tackle Alijah Vera-Tucker, who tore his Achilles tendon against the Broncos. An underrated loss was center Connor McGovern, who injured his knee in the Giants game. His cerebral approach was an asset. Rookie Joe Tippmann looks promising, but he doesn't have McGovern's feel yet.<\/p>\n
The Jets allow one sack per 10 dropbacks, the second-highest rate in the league.<\/p>\n
Not maximizing a supreme talent<\/strong>: Garrett Wilson, the 2022 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, must feel helpless sometimes. He's the seventh most targeted receiver (120), but his reception rate (55.8%) is just 68th out of 78 qualified receivers.<\/p>\nTranslation: They're trying to get the ball to their No. 1 playmaker, but they can't do it consistently due to quarterback deficiencies.<\/p>\n
In last week's loss, Wilson was open down the field a few times, but he didn't get the ball because Boyle threw it to someone else. Boyle was eliminated on Tuesday. These were not isolated cases. Wilson has the fifth-highest “open” rating among all pass catchers, according to ESPN Analytics, which uses player tracking data and NFL Next Gen stats to evaluate players.<\/p>\n
Somehow, Wilson managed to bottle up his frustration.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy legacy is at stake,\u201d he said. “My family's legacy is on the line every time I go on the field — every rep, that's how I see it.”<\/p>\n
Wilson has only one touchdown in the last 10 games, and it was a useless score in Week 12.<\/p>\n
A look to the future<\/strong>: The Jets \u2014 with less than a 0.01 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to ESPN Analytics \u2014 are on pace to miss the playoffs for the 13th straight year. This is the longest active drought in the NFL. The only thing they can salvage is respectability, but that won't be easy with a historically bad offense. Their remaining schedule is ranked 21st in difficulty, so maybe they can steal a few wins while trying to combat the gloom and doom.<\/p>\n\u201cYou lose one game in this league and it pretty sucks, so to lose five in a row or whatever, I mean, you can only imagine how shitty that seems,\u201d Conklin said.<\/p>\n
The Jets have a lame quarterback \u2014 Wilson will likely play elsewhere in 2024 \u2014 and an offense that needs improvement at receiver and line. Soon, the focus could shift to job security for the general manager and coach.<\/p>\n
The Douglas-Saleh partnership produced a 15-31 record, although the prospect of a healthy Rodgers in 2024 certainly increases the odds of an intact return for the regime. Rodgers, who wields considerable influence, has publicly supported the current leadership.<\/p>\n
Everything seemed so promising on October 15, when Saleh jumped into Douglas's arms and they celebrated a victory that seems even more improbable nearly two months later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why the Jets’ season has cratered since their big Eagles upset\u060c Rich Cimini, ESPN editorDecember 7, 2023, 11:00 a.m. Close Rich Cimini is a writer who covers the New York Jets and the NFL on ESPN. Rich has covered the Jets for over 30 years and joined ESPN in 2010. Rich also hosts the Flight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[698,7273,1116,1888,1555,1889],"class_list":["post-13613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","tag-big","tag-cratered","tag-eagles","tag-jets","tag-season","tag-upset"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13613"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13615,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13613\/revisions\/13615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}