With Season On Cusp Of Ruin, Jets Coaching Staff Can’t Hack It

R.I.P., 2023 Jets season.

I know, technically they’re still alive, because the NFL will make them play the remaining eight games and the heart of the team—their defense—will keep beating on opposing teams until the final whistle of the last game.

But they are for all practical purposes brain dead, as evidenced by their 16-12 loss in Las Vegas on Sunday night in which they were outcoached by novices. With the deplorable defeat, Gang Green fell to 4-5 on the season, which, in the loaded AFC, might as well have served as the kill shot.

As it’s so often been the case this season, many of the Jets’ wounds, as Head Coach Robert Saleh reiterated afterwards, were self-inflicted. The consequences: New York has not scored a touchdown since the first quarter against the Giants three games ago, encompassing 36 offensive possessions. What’s worse was that the few instances where they got close, it seemed like they didn’t even try.

On a night where embattled Jets quarterback Zach Wilson had a bit of rhythm going at the start of the game, Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett showed an appalling lack of courage whenever his club got on the plus side of the field until the last few minutes when a field goal wasn’t an option. Outside of a wide receiver option that Garrett Wilson airmailed to an open Allen Lazard, Hackett’s play-calling exhibited little imagination.

Obviously, it wasn’t all Hackett’s fault. Once again, many a Jets drive was stalled by penalties, especially in the first half when four fouls on offense cost them 40 yards. Tight end C.J. Uzomah’s holding penalty, his second such infraction of the half, wiped out a 3-yard Breece Hall touchdown run in the second quarter. But then when backed up to the L.V. 13-yard line, Hackett dialed up the give-up run, run, checkdown pass series before sending Greg Zuerlein out to kick his third field goal that put New York up, 9-3.

Whereas Antonio Pierce and Bo Hardegree, the Raiders’ interim Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator, respectively, who were installed two weeks ago, found ways to get the ball out of the hands of 2023 fourth-round pick Aidan O’Connell and into those of running back Josh Jacobs and in every way possible, it took Hackett more than three quarters to feature Hall in the passing game instead of simply sending him diving into the middle of the line.  

I saw a clip where injured Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, wearing a headset on the sideline, appeared to shake his head in disgust as he listened to one such call from his good buddy Hackett on a third-and-1 during the second quarter. As Rodgers might have anticipated, Hall was stuffed and the Jets, the league’s worst third-down team at any distance, were forced to punt.

Wilson temporarily lost his accuracy coming out of halftime and the third quarter was ugly—three consecutive 3-and-outs thanks to three penalties and a strip sack that Wilson at least recovered. The incompetence helped the Raiders flip the field, and they finally took advantage with a short touchdown pass at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Jets offense did move the ball well thereafter, but kept stalling well short of the goal line, managing only another field goal. Wilson threw his first pick in four games with about 1:20 remining and his last-gasp Hail Mary—his only pass all game that reached the end zone—fell incomplete.

You had to know that Sunday night wasn’t going to be any more fun than the Jets’ standard fare when NBC pregame analyst Tony Dungy reported that Saleh said that the game was going to be a race to 20 points. What kind of coach says that? You’re playing the 2023 Raiders, not the 1975 Steelers. Their sole defensive game-wrecker, edge rusher Maxx Crosby, was a minimal factor, credited with two QB hits and zero sacks. Wilson probably had more time in a clean pocket than in any other game this season.

But Saleh, who was brought up on the defensive side of the ball, has instilled an unhealthy conservative mindset into this franchise, one that isn’t compatible with modern football. He still believes that so long as his offense ends every possession with a kick, his defense can be enough to produce a winning season.  

Except it hasn’t been in any of his three seasons at the helm. Saleh is now 15-28 in his career with an offense that has actually gotten worse from last season’s debacle when four different lousy QBs combined to average 17.4 points per game. Ah, the good old days under OC Mike LaFleur. Under Hackett, who didn’t even call plays when he forged his relationship with Rodgers in Green Bay and stunk at it last season in Denver, Gang Green looks even more dysfunctional while scoring 16 points per game.

For a second straight year, Jets fans have been given false hope, this time when their team lucked into a few inconceivable victories in the last minute to get to 4-3. In reality, the season went into life support when Rodgers ruptured his Achilles on the fourth snap of the opener against Buffalo. We just refused to accept it, hanging onto the faint possibility that the team could stay in the race until Rodgers miraculously returned to the field down the stretch.

This regime—and I’m including General Manager Joe Douglas here as well-- made that a fantasy. You see, to get to the NFL version of Oz, the 2023 Jets needed more than the heart of their defense; if only their coaching staff had brains and courage.  

Photo By: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images