Enjoy The Bye Week, Jets Fans, But Stay Grounded
There is much to appreciate over the Jets’ first six games of the season. A 3-3 mark may not seem all that praiseworthy, but considering the fact that the team lost its star quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a ruptured Achilles four snaps into the season before running through “a gauntlet” of elite opposing QBs, as Head Coach Robert Saleh called them, Jets fans should feel a sense of relief heading into this bye weekend.
It could have been a whole lot worse. Outside of a short stretch in the Jets’ Week 4 loss to Kansas City, quarterback Zach Wilson’s performance, including how the threat of negative play results at inopportune moments has impacted play-calling decisions, has been an unwelcome obstacle. The third-year former No. 2 overall pick has failed to eclipse the very low barrier of 200 passing yards in any of his other five starts. It’s why the Jets are last or near the bottom of the league in so many offensive categories.
Fortunately, the defense, with the exception of the Week 2 loss in Dallas, has kept the Jets in every game. They forced turnovers by the bundle to put New York in position to steal a couple of games (Buffalo and Philadelphia) they had no business winning.
I last wrote about how Saleh and his Defensive Coordinator Jeff Ulbrich have been “Ray Donovan” level fixers in the halftime locker rooms (Saleh’s Defensive Adjustments Have Helped Jets Come Back From The Brink (substack.com)), but I didn’t get a chance to credit them for the impressive development of so many unheralded defensive players who have made considerable contributions this season. Edge rusher Bryce Huff, a 2020 undrafted free agent, leads the NFL in pass rush pressure percentage (minimum 50 pass rush snaps), per ProFootballFocus.com. Quincy Williams, who was picked up on waivers in 2021, is ranked sixth among PFF’s highest-graded linebackers (250 snap minimum). And the hero of last Sunday’s stunning triumph over the Eagles, safety Tony Adams, also came aboard as an undrafted free agent prior to last season. In his fifth NFL start, his interception set up running back Breece Hall’s game-winning touchdown in the last two minutes.
Still, despite the euphoria emanating from One Jets Drive and through social and mainstream media content this week. all that was accomplished in the first six games was that the Jets avoided a catastrophe. They haven’t faded from the race. Yet. Do you know how many teams in the loaded AFC also have at least three wins going into Week 7? Twelve of the 16 clubs.
If you don’t believe things can unravel quickly, you have a very short memory. It was only a year ago that the Jets entered their bye week flying high at 6-3. What was initially labelled as a “lighter schedule” (if you recall, the Jets opened with four tough games versus the AFC North and then had to beat Rodgers in Green Bay and Buffalo at home) turned into a nightmare.
In the end, it was just another in a long line of teases, as Gang Green dropped seven of its last eight games to finish out of the money for the 12th straight season. As fans, let’s not make the same mistake again with the, “They’re done with the hard part of their schedule” rationale. In this league, you can never tell if it’s going to be that easy.
The Jets will return to action next Sunday to face the Giants, their MetLife Stadium co-tenants. Big Blue may be struggling, but here’s another quick quiz: When was the last time the Jets won the game after their bye? The answer is 2015, the same season when Gang Green went into the finale in Buffalo with a playoff berth on the line. Of course, the Jets laid a rotten egg against Bills QB Tyrod Taylor, who now happens to play for—you guessed it, the Giants.
Whether Taylor or injured starting quarterback Daniel Jones is under center for the Giants next week is irrelevant. The Jets have proved they are capable of beating anyone, and, as the Week 3 loss to New England showed, they can also disappoint on any given Sunday.
We can’t yet tell if dropping that divisional home game to the Patriots, their sole win this season, will come back to bite New York similar to how Pittsburgh’s early-season meltdown in the fourth quarter against the Wilson-led Jets cost the Steelers a playoff berth last year. What we do know is that this conference is so competitive, the margin for error going forward is relatively small.
So before you start dreaming of how the Jets can hang in the hunt until Rodgers comes back to save the day and lead this club to the Promised Land, it’s probably better for your mental health to sit back this weekend, watch some football stress-free, and stay grounded.
Photo by: Kathryn Riley/Getty Images