The Jets f*cked around and they found out

Gang Green plays their worst game of the season, losing to the Broncos 10-9. Plus, just when you thought it was okay to be confident...

What’s Up with the Jets? 🛩️

• The Jets (2-2) lost a miserable game to the Broncos (2-2) by a 10-9 score on Sunday afternoon (box)

• QB Aaron Rodgers had one of his rougher performance of the season, going 24/42 (57.1 percent) for 225 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions and a 72 passer rating

• Rodgers was visibly limping late in the game after being sacked, but finished the game and downplayed the injury when speaking to reporters

• Trailing by a point, K Greg Zuerlein missed what would have been a game-winning 50-yard field goal with less than a minute remaining

• RB Breece Hall had his worst game as a pro, rushing for just four yards on 10 attempts with two catches for 14 yards

• WR Mike Williams had his best performance with the team, hauling in four catches for 67 yards in the loss

• Broncos QB Bo Nix threw for just 60 yards on 12/25 passing (48 percent) and still managed to be the game-winning quarterback

• The Jets defense registered zero sacks in the game and had just two QB hits, both their lowest outputs in a game this season

• New York was called for 15 penalties (13 accepted) for a total of 90 yards

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Game Balls 🏈

OFFENSE

🏈 No One: I was hoping I wasn’t gonna have to do this again this year, but here we are. Mike Williams made some key catches for the team and shows a little bit more each week, but there’s just no way anyone on this offense is getting a game ball. The offensive line was terrible, Breece Hall was as bad as we’ve ever seen, the pre-snap penalties were insane, there were times the receivers weren’t even looking for the football, and even Aaron Rodgers was off at times. It was a mess, and is without a doubt the biggest reason why they lost this game.

DEFENSE

🏈 D.J. Reed: Quite possibly one of the only players on either sides of the ball that bothered showing up today, other than maybe the linebackers. Reed was tested early and held up incredibly well, breaking up the few deep passing attempts that Bo Nix took and making a key stop with less than two minutes to go in the game that gave the Jets one final shot to score.

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Play of the Week 📺

Much like the game balls, I didn’t expect to bring this bit back at any point this year, but I truly cannot in good conscious award any sort of great play from this game because there simply wasn’t one. The offense never got in the end zone, they were out of sync and messy all day long, and the defense didn’t do enough, either.

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A Look at the Standings 📈

The Jets, Bills and Patriots all lost on Sunday, while the Dolphins play the Titans tonight on Monday Night Football. Here’s how the AFC East looks going into the final leg of Week 4…

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Just when you thought things were different… ✍️

We were told games like this weren’t supposed to happen anymore. We were told that this team was going to be different. We were told that they weren’t the S*** O** J***.

And we all bought it. Hook, line, and sinker.

But if the Jets proved anything to us on Sunday, it’s that they haven’t changed a single damn thing. Not yet. Maybe they will find a way to outrun their own history of ineptitude at some point in this season, but they definitely haven’t found their way out of that familiar messiness yet.

Yesterday’s loss against the Broncos – who, mind you, are not a good team – was perhaps one of the most maddening in the Robert Saleh era, which is certainly saying something because it’s a regime that now has a long track record of undisciplined, sloppy, awful losses. This team had three extra days to prepare for a home game against a team that had a quarterback who couldn’t throw the ball past the god damn line of scrimmage, and they didn’t win. In some ways, they weren’t even competitive despite the game only being decided by a single point.

And yet this team came out looking slow, sleepy and totally unprepared despite all of those things. They got off to a miserable start in this game, and to be frank they never really got their shit together at any point. Not only that, but this team was called for an outrageous 15 penalties yesterday (13 accepted) for a total of 90 yards. This is an indictment on this head coach and the rest of this coaching staff which we can all admit is completely in over their heads.

A lot of people came into this season excited about the talent on this team, but worried that coaching may be a hurdle that is too difficult to overcome. That worry was on full display on Sunday as this team looked absolutely clueless at times and struggled with their discipline, awareness and play-calling on both sides of the football.

There are two different sequences on offense that specifically stand out to me. The first one came at the end of the first quarter and start of the second, when the Jets were gifted a goal line opportunity at the one-yard line after a pass interference call in the end zone bailed them out. Despite Breece Hall doing absolutely nothing early in the game (more on that in a second) and the big-bodied, power runner in Braelon Allen available, Nathaniel Hackett ran two straight plays that resulted in Hall getting stuffed at the line. On third down the Jets finally brought Allen into the game and rather than giving him the ball… they threw it… to an effing defensive tackle. The Jets wanted to go for it on 4th down but got called for one of their million false starts and had to settle for a field goal instead. Naturally.

The other sequence that shows the complete and total dissonance on this team was on one of the final drives of the game. Trailing by a point and operating from midfield, there were two straight plays where Aaron Rodgers threw the ball to an open Garrett Wilson and Xavier Gipson and both receivers weren’t even looking for the football. I don’t know if this is something on the coaching or on the players, but it just emphasizes the epic lack of alignment for all parties.

The offense was sloppy, disjointed and lacked any sort of creativity – again. And let’s make this clear: I do not give a shit that it was raining yesterday. The Jets are not the only team to ever play football in the rain. This is a part of football, that does not give the team cart blanche to play so ridiculously poorly or call an offensive game that bordered on scared. The Jets did a lot of things offensively that worked for them in their wins against the Titans and Patriots, so where the hell was that on Sunday?

Two-back sets? Nope. Quick, pass-heavy attack? Nope, lets break out the ol’ run-run-pass-punt drill instead.

And if I need to hear Robert Saleh say “that’s something we have to take a look at” about something that was so obvious to every single person watching this game – in this case, it was in relation to playing Braelon Allen more – I may just lose my mind.

One more thing on the coaching? Robert Saleh looked like an absolute clown in the postgame saying that the offense needed to simplify their cadence to avoid penalties, and Aaron Rodgers immediately contradicting him.

“That’s one way to do it,” Rodgers seemed to say sarcastically after the game. “The other way is to hold them accountable.”

For clarity there is absolutely nothing wrong with what Rodgers said here, it just makes Saleh look like the soft, cheerleader head coach that people have been accusing him of being for years. You could see the effect of that from comments from other players after the game, with Breece Hall and Alijah Vera-Tucker – who were both part of the biggest underperforming units of the game – both saying that they played hard. This exemplifies the obscene lack of accountability that has now become a scurge on this locker room, and that all emulates from the head coach.

There’s a lot of things to yell and scream about in this game, but I’ll end this with one last thought: there’s something weird going on with Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall this season.

These are by far the two most talented players that the Jets have on offense, and guys who have done major damage in the past few years despite having the worst quarterback play in the NFL. So why are they both playing worse than ever with a Hall of Famer under center? It may only be four games but there has been little-to-no chemistry between Rodgers and Wilson to this point, while Hall seems to be having more and more difficulties in the running game each week.

Maybe it’s an adjustment period, maybe the coaching staff needs to do a better job at scheming up plays for their best players, or maybe these two star players aren’t doing the work that is required of them to truly be great. Likelier than not, it’s probably a mix of all of these things. Regardless, though, it’s yet another thing that is standing in the way of this team right now.

Just when we thought we were past it all, Sunday’s loss brought back every single worry and sinking feeling that Jets fans have become far too accustomed to. It’s not supposed to be this way, and yet it happened again. Now the soft part of their schedule is over, and they’ve got three straight games against teams that, as of Monday morning, have a combined one loss.

One loss, as ugly as it is, is not enough to break out the S*** O** J*** language, but it sure as hell didn’t feel any different yesterday.

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Next Week’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Jets (2-2) vs. Vikings (4-0)

Where: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – London, ENG

When: Sunday, 9:30 AM EST

Where to Watch: NFL Network

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Around the NFL 🏁

• Ravens RB Derrick Henry torched the Bills defense for 199 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-10 blowout win

• Vikings QB Sam Darnold threw for three touchdowns as Minnesota held off a late comeback attempt from Jordan Love and beat the Packers, 31-28

• Commanders rookie QB Jayden Daniels continued to flourish, dicing up the Cardinals defense in a winning effort

• The Chiefs improved to 4-0 on the season with a victory over the Chargers, but likely lost WR Rashee Rice for the season to a torn ACL

• Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield bounced back from a tough loss with a 33-16 whooping over the Eagles

• The 49ers got back on track thanks to a suffocating defensive performance and blew out the Patriots, 30-13