With Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills lurking for ‘Thursday Night Football’, Todd Bowles needs to clean up these issues with his New York Jets.
By Robby Sabo
While a win in the National Football League is just that, a win, there’s no skating around the most obvious issue at hand.
These Jets have played far differently the last three weeks.
After a phenomenal 4-1 start to the Todd Bowles era, not even the swiftest pressure on the brakes could put a halt to this exhibit of sloppy play and poor fundamentals Gang Green has showcased as of late.
It all started with the New England Patriots. After getting off to a hot start up in Foxborough, future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady proved to be too much. The literal difference in the game came down to the Pats having Brady, and the Jets still in search for their version of Brady.
Tom Terrific led his offense on two critical touchdown drives in the 4th quarter. No matter the level of defense or the look they provided, Brady ended up the difference in the 30-23 victory. In that type of game, the weight must be carried by the offense against a suspect New England defense. Ryan Fitzpatrick and company simply couldn’t get the job done.
While it can easily be argued New York played well in the game, the following week against the Oakland Raiders took all positive hope away. By far, this was the Jets worst defensive performance.
There was no rhyme or reason, Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders pounded the Jets into submission. Carr finished 23-of-36 for 333 yards and 4 TD. Latavius Murray ran 20 times for 113 yards. The Raiders offensive line dominated the Jets usually stout defensive front.
Unfortunately for Bowles and the Jets, this is only the gloss-over of the situation. When digging deep into the crux of the matter, many concerning issues lurk.
Here are the Top 5 areas of concern for the New York Jets heading into Thursday night’s matchup with Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills:
5. The Non-Existent Run Game
Chris Ivory collected two rushing touchdowns against the Jags last Sunday. Quite honestly though, that’s about all he did.
As a matter of fact, Ivory’s numbers the past two games are staggering. He’s run for just 43 yards on a whopping 38 carries.
Did you read that correctly? 43 yards, 38 carries. It’s just an absurd total to think about, especially coming from Ivory, a man who lead the NFL in average yards per game after five weeks of play.
The issues started with Nick Mangold missing time. The captain, the true leader of the offense, Mangold missed the Raiders game due to a neck issue. His replacement, Wesley Johnson, is just not up to snuff as a starting center in the league. Mix in Willie Colon’s injuries and a recipe for disaster strikes the Jets offense where it hurts most.
At the same time, the man who replaced Colon, Brian Winters, excels in the run blocking game. It can easily be argued he’s a much better run blocker than Colon. Also, Mangold started last Sunday. He didn’t leave the game until just before halftime.
Far too often Chan Gailey is calling first down runs. The defense – which usually loads the box on the Jets as it is – goes hog wild in the box on first down. Gailey, for better or worse, stays far too committed to the run early in games. This hurts the Jets to the tune of ranking 27th in the league in average yards per first down (5.57), via Sporting Charts.
Gailey and the Jets have made most of their offensive strides after halftime. The offense usually adjusts to the loaded box and allows Fitzpatrick to open up the run game through the air.
Chan Gailey must start taking what the defense gives him early on. If this means passing against eight man boxes at a 2-1 ratio in the first half, then so be it. The run-pass balance will even itself out in the long haul.
4. Overall Depth Due To Injury
One of the more exciting pieces of the Jets heading into Mike Maccagnan’s first season was the idea that this squad was deep at many positions. Now that we’re halfway through the season, this depth is seriously being tested.
The current injury report is not pretty:
| NAME | POSITION | INJURY | MON. | TUE. | WED. | GAME STATUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bailey, Dion | S | Ankle | DNP | – | – | – |
| Bohanon, Tommy | FB | Shoulder | LP | – | – | – |
| Colon, Willie | G | Knee | LP | – | – | – |
| Cromartie, Antonio | CB | Quadriceps | DNP | – | – | – |
| Davis, Kellen | TE | Hand | FP | – | – | – |
| Decker, Eric | WR | Knee | LP | – | – | – |
| Fitzpatrick, Ryan | QB | Left Thumb | FP | – | – | – |
| Folk, Nick | K | Right Quadriceps | DNP | – | – | – |
| Ivory, Chris | RB | Hamstring | FP | – | – | – |
| Mangold, Nick | C | Neck | LP | – | – | – |
| Marshall, Brandon | WR | Toe/Ankle | LP | – | – | – |
| McDougle, Dexter | CB | Hand/Ankle | FP | – | – | – |
| Powell, Bilal | RB | Ankle | LP | – | – | – |
| Pryor, Calvin | S | Ankle | DNP | – | – | – |
| Ridley, Stevan | RB | Knee | FP | – | – | – |
| Skrine, Buster | CB | Shoulder/Hand | LP | – | – | – |
| Smith, Geno | QB | Left Shoulder | FP | – | – |
We know Nick Folk is out for the next several weeks. With a game on Thursday this week, the team is currently scrambling to fill that spot.
Calvin Pryor’s status is still not yet known. With his replacement, Dion Bailey, banging himself up against the Jags, facing the prospect of having to start seldom used Rontez Miles has to scare Bowles to death. Miles did not look good during the second half on Sunday.
Furthermore, the Marcus Williams experiment at safety looked even worse.
There are far too many injuries with too few options as answers for these Jets to overcome. They simply need their starters to play.
3. Where’s The Beef Upfront?
With monsters such as Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson, Leonard Williams, and Damon Harrison, there’s no chance in the world this defensive front should be getting beat up like they’ve been.
Two weeks ago against Oakland, Latavius Murray ran up, down and sideways on this group. The Raiders heavies up front completely dominated the play.
Furthermore, any existence of an inside pass rush has disappeared. Admittedly, it’s tough to just create pressure from the inside (without an edge presence), but these guys are too good to allow Derek Carr and Blake Bortles to roam so free.
One major positive came in the form of Lorenzo Mauldin, who collected two sacks against the Jags last Sunday. If he can continue to create pressure off the edge, look for Sheldon and Mo to start to find their way up the middle.
A total of eight combined sacks in eight games from the four nasties on the defensive line, simply won’t get it done.
2. Lackluster Fundamentals, Focus
There’s one way to describe the Jets defensive fundamentals as of late: disgusting.
How many missed tackles have we seen? Marcus Williams, during his four-quarter experiment at safety against Oakland, missed enough tackles for an entire career.
One of the more romantic thoughts about Bowles coming in and taking charge was the idea of fundamentals being on point. While Week 1 of the preseason showed us the Jets needed a ton of work in this regard, they quickly righted the ship and showcased what a fundamentally sound football team they could be.
Thanks to a few injuries in key spots, New York has completely let themselves down in this regard.
A strong effort by way of overall fundamentals and focus needs to take place, starting now.
1. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Nick Folk Injuries
It’s official: Nick Folk has been placed on season-ending injured reserve. This guy was the Jets MVP a season ago – a guy who was money in the bank for most of the season. Folk was one of the guys who can be relied upon week in and week out, and now he’s gone.
In his place comes Randy Bullock, a career journeyman. This means Gang Green’s lackluster special teams group just turned into a below-lackluster group.
It’s also official that Ryan Fitzpatrick will have surgery on his messed up thumb on Friday, after the Bills game. The idea here is to get it done with 10-days prior to the next game.
It’s an obvious statement, but if the Jets have any designs on making the tournament, Fitzpatrick will have to be OK after the surgery, and Bullock will need to “not kill” the Jets chances.
The sheer amount of injuries the Jets have sustained is not a large number. It’s just that they haven’t been able to cover up for injuries in key spots. This is something other winning NFL programs are able to do.
Can the Jets find a way? We’ll find out starting Thursday night.