The New York were in cruise control for much of their Week 1 win, thanks to their offense. While Geno Smith was dealing, the man behind the offense deserves a ton of credit for the unit’s success: Frank Reich.

Reich was and remains one of the Jets’ biggest question marks for the 2026 season. At 64 and after two years away from the NFL, there are legitimate concerns about how he will adapt his offense to the modern game with Gang Green.

In Week 1, though, he flashed legitimate promise in that area.

Reich’s elite play-calling from Week 1

According to analyst Steven Patton, Reich had the third-most efficient play-calling tendencies, trailing only Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen and San Francisco 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan. Patton’s rankings are based on a combination of “personnel diversification, play sequencing, and other tendencies.”

Reich finished one spot ahead of Las Vegas Raiders head coach and Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and two slots ahead of Andy Reid.

Essentially, the metric combines several aspects of a play-caller’s process and tendencies that correlate with offensive EPA (Expected Points Added).

Here at Jets X-Factor, we had our questions surrounding Reich when he was first hired in January. How could you not? He has been out of the NFL for two seasons, and both of his prior stops ended with in-season firings.

While those questions still loom, there is no denying that Reich had a tremendous outing as a play-caller. It started on the opening touchdown drive, and the shrewdness continued throughout the afternoon.

A few things stuck out from Reich’s approach. First off is his distribution of rushes and passes. The Jets finished the game with 39 rushes compared to just 24 passing attempts.

During their 19-play drive in the second quarter that ate up nearly 12 minutes of the clock, 15 of those plays were designed rushes. He also established an offensive identity that deviated substantially from his historical tendencies: a reliance on heavy personnel packages.

In Week 1, the Jets ranked 12th in 12 personnel usage (1 RB/2 TE/2 WR) and fifth in 13 personnel (1 RB/3 TE/1 WR). Historically, Reich has preferred 11 personnel packages (1 RB/1 TE/3 WR) and avoided heavy looks.

The encouraging part is that 12 and 13 personnel are where the league seems to be going. Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams led the NFL in 13 personnel usage in 2025, and there has also been a notable uptick in 12 personnel across the league.

We discussed this throughout the offseason. While heavy packages haven’t been very prevalent in Reich’s career, his shift to counting on them in Week 1 is an important sign of adaptation. The Jets’ cutdown day moves signaled that this was coming.

Why carry four tight ends (Mason Taylor, Kenyon Sadiq, Jeremy Ruckert, Jelani Woods) and Andrew Beck, a fullback who converted from TE, if there isn’t a plan to use them within the offense? The Jets seem to have a plan for all five players, and in Week 1, we saw them all… at once.

Yes, the Jets ran a play in 05 personnel, an extreme rarity in the NFL. In 05 personnel, there are zero running backs, wide receivers, or fullbacks, and five tight ends (counting Beck as a TE in this case, of course).

As teams continue to get more tape on Reich and his offense, it will be intriguing to see how he adjusts and settles in.

At the very least, though, he deserves immense credit for his Week 1 showing.