2023 was a year for the New York Jets to forget. Four plays in, Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury, and the team finished 7-10. But hey, Rodgers was coming back healthy in 2024. Things were only going to get better.
The Jets are now 13 games into 2024, and Rodgers was at the helm for every game. The reward for their patience? 3-10. New York’s entire staff will be gone come January 2025, and Rodgers will likely be with them. Is there anything to be encouraged about?
Visit our New York Jets Film page to become the smartest football fan in the land.
It starts with Garrett Wilson.
Wilson was blunt in his post-season interview last year. “I hear I had a good year? It was the worst year of my life,” Wilson said.
If that was the worst season of his life, I have a hard time wondering what this one feels like to him.
Wilson had 114 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins, and he now has 877 on the season. Yet, week after week, the film shows that Wilson should have had far more yards than he did, and the game in Miami was no exception.
Barring injury, Wilson will likely go over 1,000 receiving yards for the third consecutive season to start his career, an incredible feat considering all the turmoil this offense has gone through.
The Jets’ new GM must face the challenge of convincing Wilson to stay with a franchise he says has a “losing problem.”
“We have a losing problem, like a gene or some s**t,” Wilson said after Sunday’s defeat. “At the end of the day, we got to stop being losers.”
I am a proponent of the Jets extending Wilson and rewarding him for the player, teammate, and person he is. He has been one of the Jets’ best players on film all season, and perhaps no game showed that more than this past Sunday’s trip to Miami. Shadowed by Jalen Ramsey for most of the game, Wilson cooked one of the NFL’s best DBs all day long. The stat sheet shows 114 yards for No. 5, but it should’ve been far more.
Garrett Wilson film vs. Miami Dolphins
For what it’s worth, it feels as though Todd Downing has done more than a decent job filling in as the offensive play caller (although I doubt he’s going to be retained). I like the play-call here. The Jets run power play action with Alijah Vera-Tucker pulling and down blocks from the O-line. This is as much of a gimme you can get in the NFL. Wilson gets free access (no press) on a 5-step spray out, and he breaks out with 6 yards of separation. The timing and rhythm is there from Rodgers, but the accuracy is not. He looks down oddly at his hand after he releases it.
This is a rough one with 1:15 remaining in a tie game.
The Jets are in a 3×1 set. Rodgers has to be thinking the weak side safety is going to poach the #3 here, which is Wilson, who runs a glance route over the middle. Post-snap, the weak safety rolls over the top of Davante Adams. The Dolphins pretty clearly bust the coverage on the field side. Rodgers needs to get off Adams and get his eyes to Wilson immediately. His eyes never get there, as Olu Fashanu gives up a pressure. Rodgers tries to escape and gets sacked.
This is bad on Rodgers. He should get off Adams once he sees the safety over the top, move to Wilson, stand in there, and rip it while getting hit. I don’t know how they coach this or how Rodgers sees it, but it feels like that safety should be what he is keying on post-snap. Clearly, that is not the case.
Another note: Garrett should not be running towards the safety here. Either stop and stay open, or drift into Rodgers’ eyesight on the scramble. You can see that Wilson is jumping up and down angrily post-play.
Made-to-order slant for Wilson here. The Dolphins are playing 2-man with no hole player. Wilson takes one hop to close the space, then another as he explodes off his outside foot. Ramsey tries to get a one-hand press, which Wilson beautifully swims through. It’s a wrap from there, as Wilson takes the route upfield, Rodgers throws a strike, and Wilson gets 22 yards after the catch.
It’s an A+ all-around rep for Wilson. Kudos to Rodgers for standing in there and taking a hit as the Jets botch the stunt up front.
The Jets ran a similar play earlier in the game where I thought they missed Garrett. I love the vertical play action concept against some sort of 3-deep coverage. Adams runs the post that occupies the MOF safety, and Wilson torches Ramsey on the double move, making him fall to the ground. I would prefer Rodgers to lead him a bit more upfield, as he was almost out of bounds and could’ve had yards after the catch and possibly a TD with a better ball. Nonetheless, it’s a filthy route by Wilson. Ramsey is probably getting cooked for this in the positional meetings today.
Bonus: Re-sign Jamien Sherwood, please.
Jamien Sherwood has been an absolute bright spot for this defense the entire season, and he showed up big time yesterday: 18 tackles, zero (!) missed tackles, and was eight run stops (runs that constitute as a negative result for the offense). He is awesome in the run game, super instinctive, and smart with triggering when he sees the run scheme at hand.
Here, as he has done all season, Sherwood identifies crack sweep and makes a play. Sherwood makes a beeline for the sideline; at times during the play, he is not even looking at the ball carrier. He knows he has to beat the RB to the spot. He sifts through potential blockers and makes a huge tackle on the perimeter. Just an absolute stud.
