The New York Jets had a chance to gain some ground on the New England Patriots and after their loss on Thursday night to the Chicago Bears. They were at home against the winless Miami Dolphins. It was what many believed to be a perfect recipe for the team to get their third win of the season.
Instead, the Jets put together a brutal first half on both sides of the football and lost their second straight, 28-25, to the Dolphins. This was one of those games where the Jets played with zero passion from the beginning and couldn't get a big stop when it mattered most. The Jets are now at 2-5 and Aaron Glenn's seat is officially a raging inferno after giving Miami their first win of the season.
Here is Jets Wire's report card for the team's inexcusable
loss to Miami:
Passing Offense: C+
Geno Smith threw for three touchdowns on the afternoon, including two to Mason Taylor, but is was mostly in the second half when the team was trailing. Omar Cooper Jr. had his second touchdown of the season as well as his second 100 yard receiving game in a row. As we mentioned, Taylor was excellent this afternoon with five catches for 62 yards and those two scores.
However, it was another week when Garrett Wilson wasn't featured at all in this offense. GW finished with two catches for 26 yards on three targets. He was also caught on a sideline camera venting his frustrations to Geno Smith. I'm not sure why Frank Reich doesn't get him involved more and this has potential to get very ugly if it continues. And, for all of Reich's excitement when he selected him, he barely uses Kenyon Sadiq as the rookie tight end only had one catch for six yards.
Rushing Offense: B
Braelon Allen had his second 100 yard game of the season as he finished with 104 yards on 17 carries and added six catches for 30 yards in the passing game. He's really developing into a strong running back for this team and it's fair to wonder what his role will be when Breece Hall returns from his calf injury. Reich must figure out a way to get both of his running backs on the field at the same time. Whether he's capable of that creativity is another story.
However, this team's inability to get one measly yard each week when it matters is beyond embarrassing. This time it was in the fourth quarter where the Jets were one yard away from a game tying touchdown and had to settle for a field goal because Andrew Beck and Allen couldn't get one yard. Like I said last week, it must be Reich's arrogance as he insists on running it up the middle each time just to get one yard.
Passing Defense: D+
Malik Willis at times today looked like Dan Marino as he finished 14 for 21, 208 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He led Miami on two consecutive scoring drives to start the game as the Jets were asleep at the wheel on defense. It was another week of no interceptions and no turnovers for a defense that is starting to show cracks in the foundation.
Caleb Douglas's only two receptions on the day went for touchdowns, including a 63 yard score that sealed the victory for Miami.
Rushing Defense: D
Ollie Gordon II had his second 100 yard game on the ground this season as the running back finished with 103 yards and a touchdown. Miami as a team finished with 156 yards on the ground and also got a score from Willis. This unit has badly regressed as they were gashed quite a bit on the afternoon. And when the Jets needed one last stop on defense to get the ball back, but promptly gave up two yards to Willis on a first down that sealed their fate.
Special Teams: C
Jason Sanders missed his second field goal of the season, this time a 40 yarder that hit the right upright. In a broader sense, that field goal was the difference between the game being tied and the Jets losing by three. However, it's a bit unfair to blame Sanders when the rest of the team decided to take the day off. The Jets decided to use Malik McClain on kick returns today, but it wasn't much better than before.
Coaching: F
It's becoming par for the course that the Jets have at least one game this year where they don't show up or even worse, play down to their competition. This was that game for this year. The Jets played with no passion and there was no game plan. They took Miami too lightly and they paid the price. Reich had another brutal game as the play caller and now has a major issue on his hands with his star receiver. There is no universe where Garrett Wilson should only have three targets for an entire game, even if you have another receiver like Omar Cooper Jr., who was excellent again today.
I cannot defend the indefensible with Aaron Glenn and this team looked unprepared and disinterested. There is no excuse for that whatsoever. You cannot lose to a winless Miami Dolphins team at home. That is a fireable offense especially with so much at stake this season. No one would blame Woody Johnson if he fired Glenn tomorrow, but we most likely will have to stomach this until the end of the season.
The players also deserve plenty of blame here. What is it going to take to motivate them to shed this image of the Jets being a bad franchise. Yes, Glenn is not a good head coach, but time and time again the players say the same garbage each week and never deliver. It's officially tiresome to listen to from the players. Stop talking about what you are going to do and just go out on the field and execute. Is it really that hard?
Another season is officially over in October as the Jets now get ready to face the Las Vegas Raiders next week, a team with much more talent than Miami and a better head coach than Glenn. It's unfortunate that the team continues to put their fans through this each and every year. It would be nice if they actually cared about winning than picking in the Top 10 of the draft every year.
This article originally appeared on Jets Wire: Report Card: Jets Lose To Miami 28-25 In Week 7
