Three takeaways from Jets' Week 8 loss to New England Patriots
Aaron Rodgers of the Jets looks on during the second quarter against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday in Foxborough, Mass. Credit: Getty Images/Adam Glanzman
1. The offense has big problems
It’s incredible that a team with Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall has so much trouble moving the football and scoring. The truth is, Rodgers hasn’t been sharp. He missed some open receivers throughout Sunday’s 25-22 loss at New England. He probably should have been picked off at least once.
It’s also alarming that the Jets have trouble getting plays off. They called three timeouts in the first quarter. Some of that is Rodgers seeing the defense and realizing that they need to make a change. It can’t happen that frequently, though. Also, Rodgers’ decision to get a delay-of-game penalty on a two-point conversion with 2:57 left because he didn’t like the call against the look pushed the Jets back five yards. They didn’t convert, of course. That’s where they should have used a timeout.
“We’ve got to be better from an operations standpoint,” interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said. “Overall, that’s every single player, every single coach, that’s Aaron. That’s all of us.”
2. The Jets need a new kicker
Greg Zuerlein is struggling badly, and his time as a Jet may be up. After missing three field goals all of last season, he already has missed six this season and an extra point. He was wide left on a 44-yard field-goal attempt that would have given the Jets a 19-14 lead in the fourth quarter. Zuerlein also sent an extra point in the first half sailing wide left.
In two earlier games, he missed a potential game-winning kick against Denver in a 10-9 loss and doinked two against the Bills in a 23-20 loss.
No, it’s not all on Zuerlein. But the Jets have lost four games by less than a touchdown, and every point counts. The Jets have stuck with Zuerlein and Ulbrich said he has no regrets. But he said they’ve “got to take a hard look at everything” this week. Austin Seibert, whom the Jets cut before the season, is 23-for-25 on field-goal attempts for Washington.
3. Firing Robert Saleh was a mistake
The Jets should not have gotten rid of Saleh when they did. He made his share of mistakes and they might have lost the three games they’ve played since his dismissal anyway, but ownership weakened the overall coaching staff when they got rid of him. They should have waited until the end of the season. It was done to provide “a spark,” as Woody Johnson said, but it hasn’t.
They put Ulbrich in a tough situation. In fairness to him, he had never been a head coach before, and there is so much more on his plate now. Ulbrich’s world and the world of every coach on the defensive side of the football has been turned upside down.
The defense certainly isn’t the same. The Steelers scored a season high in points last week. The Patriots did the same on Sunday.
Ulbrich wouldn’t rule out giving up the defensive play-calling duties. “I’ll take a hard look at everything,” he said. “If that’s one of the things that can help us, it will definitely be on the table.”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
