Coaching, coaching, coaching.

This season, the New York Jets’ biggest enemy has been themselves. That trend continued through Week 6’s narrow loss to the New England Patriots.

While head coach Aaron Glenn is, of course, at the forefront of that, offensive coordinator Frank Reich is right up there in terms of deserving criticism. After Week 5, we dove deep into Reich’s play-calling tendencies, and there were a few striking takeaways.

As for Sunday in New England, let’s just say there weren’t many noticeable improvements.

How did Reich fare vs. Patriots?

Reich actually started off very well. His opening script was highly successful, largely due to the integration of play action and motion, two things that he needed to integrate more after seeming to underutilize them through the Jets’ first five games.

While the Jets came away with just a field goal after an offensive pass interference call wiped away an Omar Cooper Jr. touchdown, they still scored first, taking a 3-0 lead and going 58 yards downfield. Geno Smith looked comfortable, and the attack was strong and balanced, with the run game also working.

That didn’t hold up for the rest of the game, though. The team’s struggles on third down (3 for 10) and fourth down (0 for 2) are inexcusable, as is failing to score a touchdown on all three red-zone trips. That just won’t cut it, especially against a high-level team like New England.

However, there’s something else that’s even more troublesome, and it tracks with his results from Weeks 1-5, too: the lack of play-action. Entering Week 6, the Jets had used play-action on just 20.7% of their passing plays this year, which ranked 23rd in the league.

Against the Patriots, the Jets had seven PA dropbacks, and here is how Smith looked on those reps:

  • 7-of-7 passing (100%)
  • 126 passing yards
  • 18.0 yards per attempt
  • 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions
  • 158.3 passer rating

Smith was perfect on those plays. Now, compare that to Smith’s non-play-action dropbacks:

  • 13-of-23 (56.5%)
  • 126 passing yards
  • 5.5 yards per attempt
  • 0 touchdowns, 1 interception
  • 53.9 passer rating

The difference there is night and day. He threw for the same number of passing yards on play-action as he did without it, despite 16 fewer passes.

Yet, Reich used play-action on just 21.2% of Smith’s dropbacks. How does that make any sense? We are talking about a quarterback who was pretty much perfect out of PA, and the play-caller used those looks on less than a quarter of his dropbacks.

To add even more frustration, the Jets’ run game was firing for much of the game, meaning play action would figure to be even more effective than if the Jets’ rushing game was struggling. It’s perplexing.

New York has offensive talent; there is no doubting that. However, this team isn’t good enough for Reich to just do whatever he wants with them. The squad needs an OC who can put them in a position to succeed, and so far, Reich has largely failed that test.

Smith certainly wasn’t excellent on Sunday, and to New England’s credit, they did a strong job game-planning against him, blitzing on 51.5% of his dropbacks. However, while he was sacked on two of his 16 dropbacks against extra rushers, Smith mostly held his own against the blitz, completing 64.3% of his passes for 142 yards, one touchdown, and an interception.

Reich could be to blame for a lot of the Jets’ offensive shortcomings. There is still that lingering feeling that the play-calling isn’t consistently putting the Jets’ weapons in the strongest position to do damage. It falls back on Glenn; this is the risk you take when hiring a 64-year-old OC who hasn’t found NFL success in years.

Let’s call it what it is: the offensive system has been quite archaic this season, with a lack of play-action, despite it working, and motion. Keep in mind that those two components don’t guarantee success. The top two teams in motion usage this season are the Miami Dolphins and the Los Angeles Chargers, who are both winless. Meanwhile, the struggling 2-4 Indianapolis Colts rank top five in PA usage.

However, the Los Angeles Rams, Baltimore Ravens, and Buffalo Bills also rank top five in motion, while the Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, and the Chicago Bears rank top three in play action usage. These are some of the most respected staffs in the league.

It’s all case by case. In the Jets’ case, Sunday was another example of Reich failing to lean into something that gets the most out of his players.