I have spoken with a number of people who write about the Jets both on this site and in other places over the last couple of weeks for various reasons. It’s amazing how often the same point gets brought up over and over.
It’s not easy to write about this team at the moment because there are only so many different ways you can say, “This team completely stinks,” before you just sound like you are repeating yourself.
That really comes into play this week, a second consecutive when the Jets squandered
a defensive performance that held the opposition to 13 points. Once again the offense was held out of the end zone, squandering that winning effort by the defense.
There were some thing that changed this week. Notably, Justin Fields was benched at halftime. Aaron Glenn scoffed at a question whether Fields would be benched in his postgame press conference in London a week ago. Two quarters later, he made a quarterback change. He didn’t really have a choice. Fields has been unplayable as of late. There’s probably no more glaring indictment of Fields than the fact Tyrod Taylor looked terrible, posting a ludicrously low QBR of 13, and the offense still looked tangibly improved.
Much to the chagrin of Jets fans, I doubt Fields has taken his last snap with the team. Taylor probably can’t stay healthy for ten games, and he likely will play his way out of the lineup at some point even if he can. Absence makes the heart grow stronger. A few bad Tyrod games, and many (although certainly not all) people will start to theorize that Fields’ time at the bench allowed for a “reset.”
With all that said, the Justin Fields Era with the Jets is over for all intents and purposes, and it is a colossal failure. Even if Fields gets late season action, there’s little that can be done to erase what has happened.
I would argue this should have big picture implications for the people running the team. We all knew going into the season that the Jets would not be a great team. The Playoffs and a winning record were unlikely. So we needed to find new benchmarks to judge a new regime.
Fields felt like one of the easiest. He is a quarterback who had plenty of natural ability and some track record of high level play in the league. The Jets invested in him as a reclamation project. One of the most important ways to judge a regime is how well they evaluate these reclamation projects. Can they correctly assess which players they are capable of getting more from?
In Fields’ case, the answer isn’t just no. It is a resounding no. Fields’ play through his first four years wasn’t good enough. If anything, he has looked worse than the guy who failed his way out of Chicago. As has so often been the case through Jets regime after Jets regime, players become the worst versions of themselves after coming here.
The fact Fields’ benching did not spark a win shows that there are clearly a lot of issues beyond the quarterback as well. The wide receiver group without Garrett Wilson is a joke. I’m sure this is a case where I am repeating myself, but I don’t think you can state frequently enough how badly this position group was botched during the offseason.
With Wilson out, it seemed like the number one option in the passing game was Josh Reynolds. I think it would be generous to call Reynolds a low end number three option in a functional offense. Tyler Johnson is a depth receiver. Allen Lazard looks like a sub-replacement level receiver in an offense that isn’t quarterbacked by Aaron Rodgers, and Arian Smith seems like an undrafted free agent caliber talent who the Jets picked in the fourth round. Tyrod Taylor might have played poorly, but Lazard and Smith both failed to pull in very catchable deep throws that could have swung the game. I wasn’t expecting the Jets to have a great receiver group, but this is a truly staggering collection of no talent and no upside. Even with limited resources this offseason, it’s tough to believe the Jets couldn’t find players with at least some level of skill or upside. It’s another area where this regime is underwhelming.
That brings us to coaching. The deeper we get into this season, the more it feels like Tanner Engstrand is in completely over his head as offensive coordinator.
I don’t really know how Fields was allowed to start this game given how low his confidence level was. This isn’t a second guess. I said in the days leading up to this game that the coaching staff needed to evaluate where Fields was mentally. I felt he should start if he had shaken off his recent struggles, but if his Denver disaster was a sign of a lack of confidence, the Jets should start Taylor. What we saw was a quarterback who didn’t trust what he was seeing. That’s not a quarterback you can put on the field.
The first drive of the game was baffling to me. The Jets passed up a 50 yard field goal try to go for it on a fourth and five. It didn’t seem like a very high percentage call. It made less sense in the context that the Jets tried a pass on third and five. If you’re going for it anyway, why not run the ball to get it closer rather than have a struggling quarterback throw twice in high leverage situations?
In the second quarter, the Jets had a sequence where they ran it on first and second down and threw a screen to Lazard on third down. If your confidence level in a quarterback is low enough to call a series like that, why was he even in the game?
I think Engstrand has been getting a free ride because it’s been easy to pin the problems with the offense on Fields. With Fields out in the second half, there was nobody to hide behind. With a backup quarterback in the game and the aforementioned uninspiring group playing wide receiver, the Jets only ran the ball four times. It gets worse. Two of the four runs were Tyrod Taylor scrambles. So in a close game where the Jets had little to no ability to pass the ball, the offensive coordinator completely abandoned the run.
Sometimes losses are losses, but this game really felt to me like a microcosm of a regime that doesn’t know what it’s doing in big ways and small.
The one thing the people in charge might be able to hang their hat on is the vast improvement of the defense over the last two weeks. There have been substantial personnel changes with three new starters (one of whom, Jermaine Johnson, returned from injury). Is the defense now for real? We need more time to say.
Sometimes big changes create a short-term spark that fizzles out. I think anybody watching that game knows that Bryce Young missed some open throws that could have been big plays. Will a better quarterback hit them in weeks ahead? We’ll see.
I will say by the eyeball test it seems like there has been a sort of philosophical shift. The Jets seem to be playing a simpler defense and doing a good job of taking away the big play. That’s a valid approach for an undermanned team in the NFL. Avoid the big breakdown, and force the opponent to put together long drives. Opposing teams aren’t robots. If you force them execute over and over, someone will eventually make an error. At the very least, it seems like the Jets have greatly reduced the frequency of truly sloppy play like missed tackles and coverage breakdowns. Of course it also helps that the defensive line seems to be playing at a higher level with Johnson back and Quinnen Williams stepping up his game.
Time will tell whether this improvement is legitimate or a mirage.
For the sake of the people running the team, I hope it’s real. There aren’t many other areas I can point to for hope in this regime.
