Just End The Suffering

It is pretty poetic that the acronym of JETS can be used for the simple term of “just end the suffering.” The definition of suffer is “experience or be subjected to something bad or unpleasant” and that is exactly what I get while watching the Jets every Sunday. Yesterday’s game was the same movie I have seen from the Jets many times over the past 5 seasons. To lose to a dome team playing in pouring rain with an awful QB, while not putting up an offensive touchdown against a Falcon’s defense that lost their best cover corner is embarrassing. I am tired of firing up Tankathon and rooting for a higher draft pick. If no one has noticed with the best players in the league, it does not matter what pick you are drafted at. The top three MVP favorites were all drafted later than the first round in Purdy, Dak, and Jalen Hurts. The best WRs like Tyreek Hill, Amon-Ra St Brown, Ceedee Lamb, etc were not top 10 picks. If a coaching staff and front office cannot develop talent or get the best of their players, the talent does not matter. Let’s get into the game.

The game started out as everyone expected. Horrible conditions, bad QB play, and a whole lot of punts. The Jets managed to get out to a lead behind a safety with a monster play from Quinnen Williams and Ashtyn Davis. Q has continued his dominance in the run game and is worth all the money the Jets gave him, while Davis has turned himself into a legitimate NFL player. When he was drafted, he was a project but the Jets have actually developed Davis into an asset and should look to extend him in the off-season. The Jets had their first lead in over 3 games.

With momentum on their side, the Jets got the ball back with really good field position early in the second quarter. For whatever reason, the coaching staff still decides to use Dalvin Cook and on the first play on their 40-yard line, Dalvin fumbles the ball and turns it over to the Falcons. I really cannot understand the decision-making of the coaching staff to continue to play an unmotivated and washed Dalvin Cook over their fifth round pick Israel Abanikanda. Izzy was great in the preseason and was cited as the reason the team let go of Michael Carter, who ripped off a really nice run for the Cardinals yesterday. Abanikanda played 0 snaps yesterday and not only did Cook fumble but also missed his pass block that caused Trevor Siemian to fumble on the last possession of the game. Cook cannot be on the field over Izzy anymore.

The Falcons took the lead after a few phantom calls from the refs. 8 penalties in the first half for the Jets and I did not think a lot of them were justified. The two worst calls went against DJ Reed who had an INT wiped away by an illegal contact call with no contact and a personal foul in the end zone that I thought was a clean hit. The Jets were able to get a field goal after executing a flea-flicker for 40 yards. At halftime, the Jets were down 10-5, and it seemed that there was no chance they can score a touchdown.

Tim Boyle was really bad yesterday. The hardest part about being a Jets fan right now is wasting Garrett Wilson’s career right in front of our eyes. Garrett has established himself as one of the best young WRs in this league already and was cooking whoever the Falcons put on him yesterday. GW easily could’ve had 100+ yards and 2 touchdowns yesterday but the QBs refused to take shots down the field, even when he was wide open. I have been critical of Hackett’s play calling this year but yesterday he got his star player open a lot and it did not matter. The QBs of the Jets need to force the ball to Garrett as he has proven he can catch almost any ball that comes his way (he might be better covered than wide open). In the 4th quarter, after Boyle was missing guys left and right, Trevor Siemian came in the game to try to win it for the Jets who were trailing 13-8. Siemian looked below-average and could not get the offense past mid-field. As I tweeted yesterday, neither Siemian, Boyle, or Wilson when he was playing was able to throw a 5 yard slant route.

The National Media and Jets fans loved to break down and critique every single one of Zach Wilson’s throws when he was the starter. Incompletions, interceptions, and misses, Wilson got analyzed unlike any QB in the league. The Jets offense is historically bad having the least EPA (expected points added) since EPA was tracked in 2000. However, Zach Wilson gives the Jets the best chance to win games. As a Zach Wilson defender, I understand why the coaching staff benched him but Boyle and Siemian are not the answer. I want Zach to start next week and for the Jets to let him just play football. Let him sling the ball all over the field and make plays with his legs rather than play safe, conservative football that they forced him to play the first 6 weeks of the season. To make things even worse, Joe Flacco looked better than any QB the Jets have started this season in Cleveland.

I know when I first wrote about the Jets, I wanted to be positive about the team. These past 3 weeks have made that near impossible. Saleh, Hackett, and Joe Douglas should be busting their ass to try to win as many games as possible in the next 5 weeks or else we can see an entire new staff coaching a pissed off Aaron Rodgers as you can not bring back a staff that ends back to back seasons on 6+ game losing streaks. The plan going forward must be start Zach and let him air that thing out, make Siemian the back-up, and send Boyle to the emergency QB. Tim Boyle is probably a good guy, and a smart guy but there is no way this guy should be an NFL QB. The Jets are capable of winning games and should have similar seasons like the Browns, Colts, and Steelers. However, the playoffs are impossible to get to now and we still do not have answers at QB for this year or if any of these guys can be relied on to be a backup for a 40-year old QB coming off an achilles injury.