The New York Jets’ brutal overtime 20-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday featured coaching malpractice.
Between Frank Reich’s questionable play-calling in crunch time and Aaron Glenn’s atrocious game-management decisions being amplified, Sunday was ugly on the coaching front.
Beyond the late-game decisions, the lack of involvement from Kenyon Sadiq and Garrett Wilson in the team’s passing attack was puzzling.
Jets’ target distribution made little sense
The premise of wanting to spray the ball around to different pass-catchers is understandable. That’s one of the main reasons having an accurate quarterback like Geno Smith is so valuable.
It’s also exactly why carrying four tight ends and a fullback is important: it creates ambiguity for the defense. The Jets have been able to run a multitude of personnel packages; we’ve even seen the Jets run 05 personnel (5 tight ends) to generate mismatches.
While there is certainly value to having a diverse pass-catching room, sometimes the goal needs to be much simpler: get the ball in the hands of your top playmakers.
Sunday’s game was far from a typical Week 2 matchup. The weather conditions weren’t ideal, and the Green Bay Packers were hampered by injuries across the board.
That’s what makes the game so frustrating. The Jets had an opportunity on a silver platter to snatch a win from a depleted Packers team and start 2-0 for the first time in over a decade. Instead, they let go of a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and lost in overtime.
Smith certainly played well enough for the Jets to win, but there should have been much more emphasis on Kenyon Sadiq and Garrett Wilson in New York’s offensive game plan.
First, let’s start with the obvious: Wilson. Especially with no Omar Cooper Jr., Wilson should have been the focal point of the Jets’ passing attack. When in doubt, throw the ball to the guy wearing No. 5 in the green and white.
On Sunday, Wilson was targeted just seven times, which ranked second on the team behind Adonai Mitchell’s 11 targets. Isaiah Williams also had six targets, which doesn’t make much sense relative to Wilson’s seven.
Williams’ workload suggests the Jets view him as Cooper’s immediate slot backup, and if Cooper were active, he likely would have seen a similar workload. However, without a top-three receiver on the team, the Jets should be redistributing targets to their WR1 in Wilson, not relying on depth options to replace the injured player entirely.
On his seven targets, Wilson reeled in five receptions for 57 yards and the Jets’ lone touchdown on the day.
More importantly, Wilson has already established an extremely efficient rapport with Smith. Through two games, Wilson has generated a 131.0 passer rating when targeted, ranking fifth-best among wide receivers with at least 14 targets, joining elite company:
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba (158.1)
- CeeDee Lamb (153.7)
- Justin Jefferson (143.6)
- Amon-Ra St. Brown (136.1)
- Garrett Wilson (136.1)
- Chris Olave (129.7)
That indicates that when passes are being thrown Wilson’s way, the Jets are getting fantastic results. Based on that, Wilson should be getting more targets than the 14 he has received through two weeks (7 each game).
Sadiq, meanwhile, is a more interesting case. During the Jets’ Week 1 game, after missing the full preseason due to a hernia setback, he caught all three of his targets for 21 yards, while rushing for a three-yard touchdown on a jet sweep.
After being more involved in Week 1 than many expected (except our guy Michael Nania), it was fair to anticipate an even greater role in his second NFL game.
However, that didn’t happen. It was a very quiet outing for the rookie. He was targeted three times, and caught two of those throws for 17 yards. Sadiq had as many receptions as Jeremy Ruckert. That is inexcusable.
Given the circumstances, Sunday felt like the perfect day for Sadiq to have a heavy role. The Jets were unable to get the running game going, as their RBs averaged less than two yards per carry.
Because of the conditions and Green Bay’s secondary play, it wasn’t the type of game where the Jets could dominate the downfield game. That’s why Sadiq was the perfect player to get involved. He has the speed and athleticism to be utilized in unique ways, as we saw on the jet sweep in Week 1.
Why wasn’t he involved on quick-hitting passes and screens? While Sadiq was targeted on one screen pass, gaining five yards after he hurdled a defender, that was his only designed touch. Meanwhile, the Jets threw three screens to Isaiah Williams, which netted just 13 yards, and another screen to Ruckert, which went for no gain.
It just doesn’t make sense. If there was a game for the Jets to feature Sadiq heavily in that area, it was on Sunday, and they declined to do so.
One of Reich’s best play calls actually involved Sadiq and Wilson. Reich sent Sadiq in motion before Smith connected with Wilson on a crossing route to cash in for the touchdown.
In the fourth quarter with the game tied, Wilson caught some steam, catching two consecutive passes for 19 yards, moving the Jets to their own 49-yard line. Suddenly, the team was in position for a potential game-winning drive. Reich then called two inside runs, and the offense turned it over on downs.
After an encouraging Week 1 showing, Reich made several costly mistakes in Week 2.
Reich’s lack of adjustments in the second half was also puzzling. The team couldn’t get anything going in the rushing game, yet he kept going back to the well in that area instead of involving guys like Sadiq and Wilson more often.
Instead, the offense kept drifting away from what was working, as shown by the late-fourth-quarter situation. Reich had his QB in a rhythm when the rushing game had struggled all game, but decided to take the ball out of his signal-caller’s hands when it mattered most and failed with two predictable runs on back-to-back plays.
It’s difficult to fathom why the Jets didn’t use Sadiq more often in unique areas and get him involved as an all-around weapon with his elite athleticism. For Wilson, as the WR1 who has been Mr. Reliable throughout his career, seven targets is unacceptable, especially with the team’s WR3 out.
We will see how the Jets’ target share evolves over the next few weeks, but Sunday’s decisions in that facet were baffling.
