An endless time loop of Jets futility...
The Jets lose their third straight, falling to the Bills by a 23-20 score. Plus, how every week seems to be the same.
What’s Up with the Jets? 🛩️
The Jets lost their third consecutive game, falling to the Bills by a 23-20 score on Monday night (box)
QB Aaron Rodgers played well for the most part, going 23/35 (65.7 percent) for 294 yards, two touchdowns, an interception and a 99 passer rating in the loss
With an opportunity to win the game on the final drive for the third straight week, Rodgers once again came up small and threw a game-losing interception on the team’s final drive on offense
K Greg Zuerlein went 2-for-4 on field goal attempts last night, including missing his final two attempts – both of which would have given the Jets the lead late in the game
Despite the head coaching change, the Jets continued to struggle with discipline as they were called for 11 penalties for 110 yards
RB Breece Hall had his best game of the season, rushing for 113 yards on 18 attempts (6.3 yards per carry) and making five catches for 56 yards
WR Garrett Wilson continued his resurgence on offense, as well, with eight catches for 107 yards and a touchdown on the night
WR Allen Lazard led the Jets in receiving with six catches for 114 yards and a touchdown reception on a Hail Mary attempt as time expired in the first half
New York’s defense did not play well in the loss with just two sacks, two QB hits, two tackles for losses and no forced turnovers
The Jets offense went 1-for-4 (25 percent) in the red zone with 13 total points on a touchdown, two field goals and a missed field goal
Injury Updates 🏥
S Chuck Clark left the game with an ankle injury
CB D.J. Reed left the game with a groin injury
WR Mike Williams will be assessed for a head injury that he suffered on the final drive
Game Balls 🏈
OFFENSE
🏈 Breece Hall: People have been extremely critical of the Jets star running back over the last few weeks – and rightly so – but he finally had his breakout performance on offense on Monday night.
After multiple performances with a paltry amount of rushing yards, Hall broke-through for 113 yards on the ground and an additional five catches for 56 yards in the air. Hall looked spry and started breaking through with some of the longer burst runs we’ve become accustomed to over the last few years. One thing you could criticize Hall for was on his one big breakout run in the second half he cut towards the sideline instead of the middle of the field, which likely cost the team a touchdown.
Even so, it was far and away Hall’s best performance this year. Good to see it’s still in there.
DEFENSE
🏈 No One: I try not to do this as often as I probably do but when you only get two sacks, no additional tackles for loss and force zero turnovers, it’s hard to give any player on defense a game ball. The defense looked about as bad as it has all year shy of the season opener vs the Niners, struggling to get stops or make big plays against a quarterback in Josh Allen that they’ve generally had a lot of success against at home over the last few years. They also caught a huge break not having to face James Cook last night, and somehow allowed Ray Davis to rack up 152 scrimmage yards in the game. Overall, just a really disappointing performance.
Play of the Week 📺
To keep in the spirit of this segment of the newsletter, I’ll keep this to one play but this truly could have been an entire sequence that cost the Jets the game last night.
After Breece Hall cut to the outside and was forced out of bounds at the three-yard line, the Jets had a Braelon Allen go-ahead touchdown washed away by a Tyron Smith holding call and then got a non-call on a play that could have been called as a hit on a defenseless receiver on Garrett Wilson in the end zone.
The team would have to settle for a field goal attempt yet again and for the second time in the second half, Greg Zuerlein missed on a field goal of under 50 yards. It was the third go-ahead field goal attempt that Zuerlein has missed over the last three games.
A Look at the Standings 📈
The Bills beat the Jets on Monday night, while the Patriots lost on Sunday and the Dolphins were on their bye week. Here’s how the AFC East looks after Week 6…
Round and round we go… ✍️
I genuinely don’t even know what to say at this point. We’re only halfway into October and I feel like I’ve written the exact same newsletter every single week at this point.
The Jets lost their third straight game last night, and while the opponents and some of the details may vary but every single one of them has been full of the same exact crap that has become so frustratingly predictable at this point.
Three games in a row that were so tantalizingly winnable for this team, three games in a row where the Hall of Fame quarterback had a chance to deliver on a game-winning drive, and three games in a row where this team spit the bit in all-too-similar ways. Yes, somehow some way three straight games that were all a coin flip going into the final possession all went against the Jets.
Trailing Denver by a single point in a rain storm, Rodgers was not able to drive far enough down the field and Greg Zuerlein missed the game-winning field goal attempt to lose. Against Minnesota the team needed a touchdown to win the game and as they marched into the red zone, Rodgers threw a game-losing interception. Last night in a way that only they can pull off, the Jets somehow combined the follies of both of those games as they missed multiple go-ahead field goal attempts in the second half and saw the game end on an interception by Rodgers as the team was driving down the field.
The game-ending meltdown was so expected that I fully predicted it on Twitter with six minutes remaining in a game that was tied 20-20. And while it was frustrating to watch it as it happened, the ridiculous level of predictability of it all almost made the whole thing funny… in a dark and twisted kind of way.
At this point, things have just gotten to that level. Despite the fact that it’s only October 15th and six games into a 17-game season, it all just feels haplessly lost at this point. The math may say otherwise in a season that has a long way to go but if you’re a Jets fan, you know where all of this is headed.
Every week you try to convince yourself that things are different, and then you spend three hours watch the exact same damn game you’ve watched for your entire life. I truly hate to reach this level of despondency and act like such a doomer, but when you feel as if you’ve watched the same game on a loop for over a decade it starts to wear on you.
The quarterbacks change, the head coach changes and hell, even the uniforms changed last night, and yet it all only ever seems to turn out the same way. We are trapped in a time loop of ineptitude and angst, fueled by this football team that we all made the unfortunate decision to root for long ago. Sometimes it even gets to the point where we wish we could undo that ill-fated choice, but we know it’s too late for that.
As yet another season circles the drain before Halloween has come and gone, we are left asking ourselves the same questions as we ask ourselves every year. We sit here and wonder when it’s our turn to get off the merry go round of suffering watching the same drive, game and season on an endless loop for the rest of our existence.
At this point I have a hard time offering any true analysis, nor do I expect anything to change in a meaningful way. Here we are again, in the comfort of this familiarity that is losing. Because truly – in every way possible – the New York Jets have losing in their DNA. They are a franchise that is known not for their successes or feats of strength, but for their ineptitude and bloopers that are re-run on sports highlight shows (and in our own heads) for as long as we can remember.
But remember, Jets fans, it could always be worse. You may be stuck being a fan of this eminently frustrating franchise, but at least you didn’t start a whole newsletter dedicated to them… or a podcast…
Sigh.
Next Week’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Jets (2-4) at Steelers (4-2)
Where: Acrisure Stadium – Pittsburgh, PA
When: Sunday, 8:20 PM EST
Where to Watch: NBC/Peacock
Around the NFL 🏁
The Lions blew-out the Cowboys in epic fashion on Sunday afternoon with a 47-9 win in Dallas, but loss star pass rusher Aiden Hutchinson to a season-ending leg injury
Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry continued their dominating play on offense as the Ravens defeated the upstart Commanders, 30-23
In the loss, Washington DT Jonathan Allen injured his pectoral muscle and is feared to be out for the remainder of the season
After a rocky first half, QB Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers exploded for a decisive 51-27 victory over the Saints and rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler
The Eagles survived a low-scoring affair by eeking out a 20-16 win over the struggling Browns as head coach Nick Sirianni appeared to get into it with a fan after the game
Patriots QB Drake Maye made the first start of his NFL career and showed flashes but was unable to keep up with the Texas, turning the ball over twice and losing by a 41-21 score
I could coach and the results would be no worse. Jets leadership has been an issue for years. Need a guy like Taylor or Lewis to lay it all on the line with extraordinary play down after down on the field.