The New York Jets have a lot wrong with their team. The offense consistently fails to execute. Whether it is a missed block, a missed assignment, a lack of effort, a bad play call, a bad throw, or bad chemistry, it looks horrible on film. There is a mistake on every single offensive play. It is downright brutal.
This is coaching, and Robert Saleh, Nathaniel Hackett, and Keith Carter are all to blame. As of now, Saleh is the only one who took the fall, but the other coaches are equally responsible.
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It is not just coaching, though: the players have not been playing well, either. The offensive line was supposed to be cohesive by now, but they’re as out of sync as ever. Rodgers and his receivers were supposed to have chemistry by now, but the miscommunication continues. The tape is a massive disappointment.
One of the many issues on offense is that the Jets aren’t maximizing their best players’ strengths, specifically Garrett Wilson’s. I charted 46 of Wilson’s routes on Sunday. Out of his 46 routes, 25 (54.3%) were go, slant, or hitch/stop routes. That is not maximizing his skill set. Wilson ran zero deep or medium crossing routes, which would maximize his separation and YAC ability.
Along with that, per NFL Next Gen Stats, 50.6% of Rodgers’ pass attempts this season have been on flat routes, slants, or go routes, and he ranks in the top three in the NFL in targeting each of those route types. This is as stagnant and monotonous an offense as you will find in the NFL.
The film
Play-action here with double chips, Vikings in a two-high quarters coverage. Just an inaccurate ball from Rodgers to Wilson who is open. Breece Hall is also WIDE open for the checkdown which would easily pick up the first. Seems that this was predetermined by Rodgers but a tough rep either way.
Tyron Smith is super late out of his stance, and Hall whiffs on his chip, allowing the EDGE to get pressure immediately. Wilson is open on the corner route in between the cornerback and safety. Rodgers tries to stop him on the route instead of leading him towards the sideline and it’s a miss. Tough, as it hits Wilson in the hands who tries to adjust but can’t.
Solid concept here. Vikings in a rush six, drop five, three-deep two-under defense. One-on-one for Lazard and Wilson on deep comebacks. Wilson is where I wish Rodgers would look to, as he gets more separation and runs a way better route, but Rodgers hits Lazard in the hands and he drops it.
Love the vertical concept here. Wilson is on a seam/vertical out of the backfield and Tyler Conklin has the seam up the middle of the field. Perfect concept against two-high (Cover 2 here) and Rodgers threads the needle for an explosive play. Great concept here that shows they thought about a two-high beater. First tendency-breaker from the Jets, as they go for a big play on third-and-3.
Three guys lose/whiff at the point of attack here; it’s just unacceptable execution. The Jets run counter and Olu Fashanu misses when climbing to the second level. He’s got to be stronger here. His pad level is horrific. Brenden Bates (No. 84) overpursues and whiffs on the linebacker, and Jeremy Ruckert ducks his head and completely misses the linebacker who Bates misses. This could’ve been hit for a big gain if either tight end could’ve made contact with the linebacker. Disgusting.
Plain and simple, you need to have an answer vs. Cover 0 here on third down against the Vikings. The Jets have none. The only receiver who sees Rodgers may be hot is Conklin, but Rodgers isn’t looking his way. Harrison Smith comes free off the edge and sacks Rodgers. What a mess.
Rodgers has never had the best mechanics footwork-wise, and it rears its ugly head here. He is not even close to Wilson here on the slant. Again, Rodgers determines this throw pre-snap with the Vikings showing a zero blitz. It’s just a really bad throw in a clean pocket.
The run-blocking is as abysmal as I’ve seen from the Jets in recent history, which says a lot. Missed assignments, missed blocks, horrible communication. Here, Simpson locks on to the double-team, which is fine, but he completely neglects the possibility of Ivan Pace (No. 0) blitzing. Pace does blitz and Simpson has his helmet down on the combo block with no chance to see Pace coming through his gap. Loss of five yards.
First time I’ve seen routes run poorly like this. Rodgers hits the top of his drop and Williams and Wilson are basically running into each other. Could he go to Lazard? Sure, but his eyes are on Williams and Wilson. The Jets can’t pick up the stunt, and Rodgers gets sandwiched as Fashanu gives up a pressure, as well. This is a four-man rush with three rushers winning within two seconds. I don’t know what else to say.
Rodgers with one of his best throws of the day in the red zone to Lazard. He places it where only Lazard could catch it on the back shoulder. Hard play but one that needs to be made, and Lazard drops it. Terrible day for him.
Hackett actually dials up a nice scissors concept here that could come open to Wilson. Would love Wilson to run this route with some more urgency, but it doesn’t even matter. Simpson oversets and slips off the snap (looks like on Tippman’s foot) and gets beat immediately inside. Hall could be heads up here and try to help but he doesn’t. Rodgers sacked within seconds.
Just a brutal miss here. Vikings show a zero blitz and drop Van Ginkel (similar to the pick-six), so Wilson and Conklin run quick hitches because of Rodgers being hot. The Jets keep six in protection for the six blitzing and block it up pretty well. Rodgers pumps it to Wilson as he sees Gilmore sitting on the route. Wilson does a great job adlibing into a stop-and-go, but Rodgers doesn’t have time to set his feet and overthrows him (throws it out of bounds). Big-time missed opportunity; I wonder if Rodgers could’ve reset his feet in time to deliver a better ball.
Overall, things are not getting better. They are getting worse. At some point, there must be accountability, as Quincy Williams said. This has become an embarrassment of a football team offensively, and it is a collective failure.
Accountability was shown through the firing of Robert Saleh, but will that help the offense? We will find out on Monday night.
