We’re back ready to watch our New York Jets play against the Kansas City Chiefs. For the third straight week, the Jets are facing a team that’s coming off consecutive losses and looking to “get right” against Gang Green. Miami and Las Vegas were able to accomplish that feat and it seems like Kansas City should theoretically have no problem doing the same. The Chiefs started the season 5-0 and although they’ve been inconsistent, they are coached by one of the greatest coaches in history, have a great defense
and a first ballot hall of famer at QB.
It’ll be quite the tall task for the Jets to upset the Chiefs. While the Jets were actually the favorites going into the last two weeks at home, they are a 9.5-point underdog as they enter Arrowhead Stadium. It’s tied with the Raiders-Niners game for the largest spread in the NFL this week so that should help paint the picture of how tough this will be for the Jets to overcome. Still, anything is possible and this year’s Jets have firepower! Let’s take a look:
The Split
I usually pride myself on discussing the “lesser-talked” items that don’t get mainstream media attention, but the elephant in the Jets’ RB room is too massive to ignore. The entire fanbase and media have completely turned on Breece Hall (again) and have spent the last month hypothetically trading him all over the league. As the sole human being left who still wants him to spend his entire 20’s as a Jet, this game seems like a real pivotal moment for that dream I have.
Let’s make no mistake about it: Braelon Allen has been absolutely incredible these last four weeks. He has arguably been the best rusher in the entire NFL during this time, averaging over 100 yards per game and scoring the game-winning touchdown against the Browns. He’s proven to be a valuable rushing asset, which was very much up for debate before he suited up against the Bears this season.
The question is, is there enough pie for multiple running backs to eat? Plenty of teams thrive with duos that eat consistently on a weekly basis. The Rams’ Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, the Bears’ D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, and Broncos’ J.K. Dobbins and R.J. Harvey are some quick examples. Even the Raiders who just beat the Jets last week had Mike Washington take 25 carries and Ashton Jeanty still finish the game with 70+ scrimmage yards.
It’s up to Frank Reich to deploy these two Killer Bs in a way that maximizes both players’ talent, and I think it’s easier to do than my colleagues and fellow Jets content creators have claimed. I think there is plenty to go around and wholeheartedly believe it’d be a grave mistake to trade Breece Hall. Of course, conventional wisdom says to keep Braelon running his 17+ carries per game and then utilize Breece’s route running and hands to be a weapon in the pass game.
I agree with that general philosophy, but would still value Breece’s rushing ability. His issues have been between the tackles but he’s explosive in space and I’d utilize those young tackles to deploy outside runs to get Breece going. Luckily, this game will be away, so the crowd won’t be a factor – I believe the impatient short-sighted fans have already made their decision so if Hall were to start slow he’d hear his own fans booing him. At Arrowhead, this is a nonfactor, he has the freedom to get himself involved without hearing from the peanut gallery and a chance to prove they can be a duo for years to come.
What does success look like? The Chiefs have allowed 100+ scrimmage to opposing RB1s in three of the last four weeks. That one exception is the Chargers, who are still winless and have been horrible all year. I’m looking for 100+ scrimmage yards for RB1 and 50+ scrimmage yards for RB2. Now, who is RB1 and RB2? That’s up for Frank Reich, Breece Hall, and Braelon Allen to decide.
Walker On A Dream
I think we can all agree that Aaron Glenn’s superpowers of defensive play-calling are the worst ‘powers’ out there and that the Jets defense has been an issue. It looks like things are going to get bad to worse because the Chiefs are looking to get their high-powered offense back on track. They were averaging 28 points and undefeated until this two-game skid hit and they scored 27 points combined in these last two.
Now they’re facing a Jets team that has allowed 30.6(!) points per game during this three game losing streak. They’ve especially been leaky to the the running back position, which is horrible news when you consider Kenneth Walker is having a career year. Only Jahmyr Gibbs has more rushing yards per game and only Jaylen Warren has more yards per carry.
They also having a rookie running back Emmett Johnson who just caught five passes for 128(!) yards last week and a touchdown last week. Will this running back duo show us what a real duo looks like and run wild on the porous Jets defense this week? What adjustments can Glenn make, what players can step up, or will it just be “Jets beating Jets” like Minkah Fitzpatrick said last week?
No Wil(son), No Way?
Garrett Wilson is set to miss his first game of the season with a concussion, and while that normally meant complete despair for the offense in the past, there are lots of options to step up this Sunday. Of course Adonai Mitchell and Omar Cooper Jr. seem like the natural choices, but there are cases to be made for Mason Taylor, Kenyon Sadiq and Isaiah Williams. Even the aforementioned Breece Hall can get a lot of looks in the pass game.
Wilson had 12 targets last week. You may be thinking “how do we replace all those targets?” but in the weeks prior you may recall that his targets have been an issue. Geno has had no problem spreading the ball around all season so I’d imagine this week will be more of the same. The most interesting thing to me is seeing who garners the most attention from the Chiefs defense.
If you were Steve Spagnuolo what would you do? Mitchell is coming off a 142-yard game but Omar Cooper Jr. had consecutive 100 yard games before that. With attention and potential double teams occurring on the outside is this a game for the tight ends to finally feast? Sadiq still only has 5 catches for 43 scoreless yards in the five games since his 100-yard breakout performance against the Lions. Hopefully Frank Reich and Geno Smith can keep the offensive momentum rolling without their best WR on the field. Let’s go Jets!
