My, oh my — how quickly things can change in Jets land. WFAN legend Mike Francesa had enough after New York’s Week 15 loss to the Detroit Lions and went off on Twitter about it.
Gang Green entered its Week 10 bye fresh off a great victory against the Buffalo Bills. The win put them at 6-3 on the year and in control of their playoff destiny. They’ve come out of that breather by losing four of their last five games, including each of the past three. Now, the Jets are 7-7 and while they could still make the playoffs for the first time since 2010, Saleh’s squad will need some help.
After Mike White wouldn’t get cleared by doctors ahead of Sunday’s matchup with Detroit, it was an opportunity for Zach Wilson. He put up pretty good overall numbers. The former second-overall pick completed 18-of-35 passes for 317 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.
Despite some flashy big plays, there were many occasions when Wilson overthrew open wide receivers or made terrible reads. Mike Francesa shared his thoughts after the game:
Terrible loss for the Jets. Lot of blame to go around: Wilson has no pocket awareness, no footwork, no touch and no clue. The head coach has to use his TOs and have better command of his defense. The 'D' can't give up a TD in that spot. It can't break down. It is better than that
— Mike Francesa (@MikeFrancesa) December 18, 2022
As for the criticism of Saleh, he called a timeout with one second left after Wilson found Elijah Moore on fourth-and-long with time expiring. But before the Jets’ last-second shot at tying the game came up short, here’s what NBC Sports’ Peter King had to say:
Robert Saleh needs a timeout adviser. Crazy end-of-game strategy from the Jets’ coach. Down 20-17 with 1:49 left in the game, Saleh had three timeouts left. He didn’t use his first one till 19 seconds remained, he let 20 and 18 seconds tick off the clock after separate completions on the final drive, and he finished the game with one timeout left. The end result: The Jets had to try a 58-yard field goal, which went wide left, on the last play of the game. They could have had two or three plays to get closer, just by being smart with timeouts.
Yikes. That makes things sting even more. And while the defense did give up that go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter, the Jets were only in this game because of the defense’s ability to keep the Lions off the board as much as they did.
New York will now deal with a short week. They’ll be hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars at home on Thursday night. That’s the squad’s final home game of the year, too, as it’ll be followed by traveling to face the Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins in Weeks 17 and 18, respectively.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
