Aaron Rodgers, Jets' underachieving offense have a lot of areas to improve on
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) passes under pressure from New England Patriots defensive end Keion White (99) in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Credit: AP/Charles Krupa
Aaron Rodgers believed the Jets would have an offense that is explosive and tough to stop — and that was before they acquired Davante Adams.
Another overestimation of this year’s Jets.
“If we’re not scoring 30, we’re underachieving,” Rodgers said after the Jets’ 25-22 loss Sunday in New England. “This offense can do that every single week.”
The Jets haven’t scored 30 points in a game this season. They’ve maxed out at 24, which they hit in Weeks 2 and 3. Those were also the last two games the Jets won going into Thursday’s night contest against the Texans at MetLife Stadium.
Rodgers backtracked a little this week and claimed he didn’t say “if” (he did). But he acknowledged they should be scoring 30.
“I just said we need to focus on doing our part and that's scoring 28-plus,” Rodgers said. ”I think I said 30.”
It’s difficult to fathom that an offense that Rodgers is leading with weapons like Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson, Adams and the underutilized Mike Williams is having difficulty putting up points. Adams hasn’t had much of an impact. He had seven catches for 84 yards in his first two games as a Jet.
The Jets haven’t scored 30 since last season when they were a historically bad offense. They did it three times, twice with Zach Wilson leading them and once with Trevor Siemian.
That offense produced 18 touchdowns all season. The Jets matched that already this season, but it hasn’t been nearly enough.
The Jets took a five-game losing streak into Thursday’s game. There is frustration everywhere. None more so than on offense because of all the mistakes and execution issues. Rodgers said it comes down to the details.
“It's not all 11 doing it at all times,” he said. “We've been talking about it a lot. Nine or 10 doing it right and one or two sometimes not doing it right, sometimes me.”
The underperforming defense and kicking game took the brunt of the blame for the Jets’ three-point loss in New England.
Rodgers engineered a go-ahead touchdown drive with 2:57 left. The defense couldn’t stop the NFL’s second-worst scoring offense and gave up a touchdown in the final seconds. Greg Zuerlein missed a field goal and an extra point in the game.
The offense isn’t without fault, though.
The Jets wasted three timeouts in the first quarter because Rodgers couldn’t get the play off in time or didn’t like the call against the defense he was seeing. They also were flagged twice for delay of game. One inexplicably came on the two-point conversion try after the late go-ahead score. The Jets didn’t convert the two-point play after being pushed back five yards.
Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said the operation issues have been addressed and he expects them to be “vastly improved” moving forward.
“We shined a lot on everything regarding that,” he said. “It’s been addressed with the offensive personnel. It’s a combination of: get the call in quickly, the information, process it immediately, get to the line of scrimmage with urgency and when you do all those things that gives Aaron the ability to utilize his superpowers. That, for one, is a chance to look at the defense and process the information that he sees. and two utilize his cadence, which historically has been a great weapon.”
Rodgers often exhausts most of the play clock while surveying the defense and trying to get them to jump or audibling or gesturing for a different play. These "superpowers" have served Rodgers well in his Hall of Fame career, but not as much this year.
The Jets rank second in the NFL in delay of game penalties — five on offense — and have had nine false starts during this five-game losing streak.
“We got to get lined up, we got to get the call right, but in the end, I got to get the ball snapped if I can,” Rodgers said. “We just got to get lined up and then I got to make sure we get out of the huddle quicker.”
The Jets have been using more pre-snap motion since passing game-coordinator Todd Downing took over the play-calling from Nathaniel Hackett. Rodgers said they have some long play calls with different options.
“I got to spit the call out,” Rodgers said. “We got to get to the line and get that thing going.”
Ulbrich believes the offense is improving overall. When he took over for Robert Saleh three weeks ago, Ulbrich said he would try to “put my imprint” on the offense eventually. He feels he has and said the run game and protections have gotten better.
“I feel like there's been a lot of things improved,” Ulbrich said. “Are we where we need to be? Absolutely not, but I think the trajectory is in the right direction.”
New kicker
The Jets signed Riley Patterson to the active roster after inking him to the practice squad Wednesday. Patterson takes over the kicking duties for struggling Greg Zuerlein, who went on injured reserve with a knee issue.
Roster moves
Allen Lazard (chest) and Leki Fotu (knee) were placed on IR … Kenny Yeboah was activated from IR and Anthony Firkser released. … Offensive lineman Alex Lindstrom was signed to the active roster. … Takk McKinley was signed to the practice team.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
