With Breece Hall hitting a wall, could Jets give Braelon Allen more touches?
Jets running backs Breece Hall, left, and Braelon Allen against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Credit: Lee S. Weissman
Breece Hall began the season saying he felt as strong and healthy as ever, talking about being the “best player out there” every time he steps on the field and feeling as if there is “nothing I can’t do.’’
Four weeks later, he’s averaging more than a yard and a half less per carry than he did in his first two seasons with the Jets, is ranked 28th in the league in rushing yards and is coming off a game in which he lost more ground for the team on penalties (10 yards on two false starts) than he gained on handoffs (4).
What gives?
“I wish I could tell you, bro” was all Hall could muster to explain the statistical nosedive.
The player known for his explosive plays has had only one run of more than 20 yards this season and has rushed for more than 60 yards in a game only once.
It seems to go beyond teams simply focusing their defense on him because, frankly, teams do that for much better players who turn out much better production.
And now it is starting to cost the Jets wins.
When the Jets were peering into the end zone from the 1-yard line in Sunday’s game against the Broncos, they did what good teams are supposed to do in that situation. They gave the ball to their supposed best running back.
Hall was stopped for no gain on first down. Then he was stopped for no gain on second down. After an incomplete pass, maybe they would have given it to him on fourth down, too, but they jumped for a false start and kicked a field goal — and lost the game because of it.
“We’re always going to lean on Breece,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said afterward. “He’s our workhorse back.”
But Saleh added that inserting rookie Braelon Allen into that position in the future is “definitely something to look at.”
In other words: Hall needs to start producing like the player the Jets think he is because, unlike the previous two seasons, they have a very capable alternative.
While Hall has averaged 3.1 yards per carry this season, Allen is at a hefty 4.81. That, incidentally, is the exact average Hall had in his first two NFL seasons, one cut short by an ACL tear and the one in which he was still recovering from that knee injury. This third year was supposed to be the opportunity to see the best Hall had to offer. A quarter of the way through it, though, the hype is starting to fizzle.
“Unfortunately for me, I haven’t been having the big rushing games and stuff like that,” Hall said Sunday. “Obviously, I wish I could run for 100, 200 yards every game, but realistically, right now, I’m the focal point of most defenses. So it’s just really not happening.”
The Jets remain fairly confident that it will, even if it takes an adjustment in the plays that are called for him. On those goal-to-go runs, the Jets tried to run straight up the middle rather than utilize Hall’s speed and agility on the edges.
“Breece is a hell of a player,” Aaron Rodgers said. “He’s the best. I love him. He’s a great kid. He cares about it. We’ve got to do a better job of getting him runs to get in space.”
“I know [Sunday] it wasn’t clean,” Saleh said on Monday. “It wasn’t his best game. But I don’t think there’s an issue with Breece with regards to explosiveness and all that. He still has plenty of juice. His GPS numbers are fine. Just chalk it up to a bad day. Everyone has them and we fully expect him to bounce back.”
If he can’t, maybe Allen can. The rookie certainly has shown he can make plays in the running and passing game when called upon. Perhaps at some point it would help to adjust the playing percentages a bit and give Allen more opportunities. Let Allen be the lead rather than the counterpunch.
The Jets aren’t there yet. But they might be getting close.
Hall is far from the most blatant disappointment on offense this season. Rodgers has yet to find a groove with Garrett Wilson and his numbers as a receiver are below expectations. That, too, the Jets tend to pin on other teams focusing their defense to stop him. Gee, it’s almost as if these opponents have been paying attention.
Unlike Wilson, though, Hall has a backup who is outproducing him. That can lead to a tricky dynamic, especially if the Jets’ decision-makers start to feel the heat of losing.
Younger, faster, stronger, cheaper, those are the most attractive traits teams look for in running backs these days. Allen has Hall topped in three of those four.
“I’m my biggest critic,” Hall said after Sunday’s game, noting that he could have done better helping the offensive line set better blocks and finding “dirty yards” by putting his head down and hitting holes better. “It’s on me at the end of the day.”
He said he would look at this effort, by far his worst performance as a pro, and see what to take from it.
“Just seek the truth,” he said. “Take the constructive criticism and make whatever changes need to be made.”
The Jets should be doing the same.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.