Jets believe they have right recipe despite sour taste of defeat
Garrett Wilson #5 of the New York Jets makes a catch late during the second quarter against the Indianapolis Colts at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Jim McIsaac
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Jeff Ulbrich, Garrett Wilson and Braelon Allen all conceded that there is a pervasive sense of confusion.
Week after week, in the trio’s estimation, the Jets prepare properly. The practices are strong. The playbook is studied. The group professionally goes about its work.
Yet the desired tangible results — wins — have not followed.
And so, a simple question was asked: Why?
“I don’t know, man,” Wilson told Newsday after practice Friday. “I don’t know. My job is to find a way to get better every day. That’s what the coaches are telling me and that’s what I am going to do. Why exactly it has not translated, I don’t know. But every day I’ve been trying to figure it out and try to do my part to make sure that it does.”
When they face Seattle on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Wilson and the Jets will have another opportunity to apply what they’ve learned during the week.
The Jets (3-8) have lost two straight and seven out of eight dating to the rain-soaked 10-9 home loss to the Broncos on Sept. 29.
A season that began with internal expectations of qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2010 has become such a fiasco that owner Woody Johnson has fired coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas.
Add to that Aaron Rodgers’ public waffling about his desire to play in 2025, and the possibility exists that the Jets will spend a not-insignificant percentage of the offseason engaging in a GM-slash-head coach-slash-quarterback search once the season comes to an end in January.
Yes, things could have gone somewhat better for the Jets in 2024.
Yet Ulbrich, Wilson and Allen all were emphatic that the team collectively and individually have stayed united instead of fraying.
“The energy has been good,” Ulbrich said. “The details have been good. The approach, it’s been amazing. I felt like this entire time, the process has been right but that the results have not been right. So this is the week.”
What makes the upcoming on-field reunion with old friend Geno Smith and the Seahawks (6-5) the right opponent at the right time?
“We grind every single day. “We put emphasis on [that] in our practices,” Allen said. “I don’t think any of us have ever, this season, felt like it’s gotten away from us. We can still finish with a winning record if we play the way we’re capable of. So nobody’s ever felt like the season was lost or hope was gone.”
Notes & quotes: Running back Breece Hall “is trending in the right direction,” Ulbrich said. Hall had been bothered by knee soreness dating to the 28-27 loss to the Colts on Nov. 17 but participated in practice Thursday and Friday. “I felt good. Not sore. Nothing,” Hall said. “Football is football. Everybody is sore.” . . . Linebacker C.J. Mosley (neck) was a limited participant in practice. Ulbrich is “hopeful he’ll play” against the Seahawks, “but that is not a guarantee at this point.” . . . Left tackle Tyron Smith (neck) is out.
