Is it now fair to wonder if the Jets might go winless this season?
Thursday night might have been the Jets’ best early-season chance to earn a victory, and they failed. The Broncos are a team with numerous injuries to key players, including their best defensive player, Von Miller, and their starting quarterback, Drew Lock.
The Jets also were facing a third-string quarterback in Brett Rypien, making his first NFL start on a short week, and they lost, 37-28, at MetLife Stadium.
Everything was set up for the Jets to win and they couldn’t. So what makes you believe they can beat anyone at this point? It is a toss-up which is worse — the offense or the defense.
The Jets look like an expansion team right now. They will get some healthy bodies back next week, but will it make a difference?
Beleaguered coach Adam Gase stressed Friday that “fracturing is not an option,” but he also discussed the “non-talent issues” that continue to plague his 0-4 squad entering next Sunday’s game against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals, which the Jets might have to play without starting quarterback Sam Darnold (shoulder).
Looking at the schedule, perhaps they can defeat the Dolphins (1-2) once in a home-and-home set bordering the Week 11 bye.
That seems to be their best hope right now. The Chargers (Oct. 18) haven’t looked great, but they have been better than the Jets.
There are surprises in the NFL and maybe the Jets will pull one off, but right now, 0-16 is not that crazy a thought. They also still have to play the Patriots twice, as well as the Bills, Chiefs, Raiders, Seahawks, Rams and Browns.
While Gase rightly is taking plenty of criticism for the Jets’ winless start, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ unit looks atrocious right now.
Like Gase, he does not have great players to work with, but that does not totally excuse how poorly they are playing. The defense failed to get a sack for the second straight game. Nothing has worked, even against Rypien.
Then there is the discipline problem. Williams coaches right up to the line of dirty play and sometimes crosses it. Remember, he was suspended for his role in the Saints’ Bountygate scandal. You can find an audio recording on the internet of him telling his players to injure the other team.
The Jets’ seven personal fouls against the Broncos, which handed Denver’s offense seven first downs, are inexcusable. You can’t win games like that. Williams needs to get his unit under control and find ways to pressure the quarterback.
“I hear what he’s saying [in meetings] and I know it’s been covered by me, with the point of emphasis around the league on hits on the quarterback. It’s something we know that what happened [Thursday], that can’t happen,” Gase said Friday when asked about Williams. “Our strike zone’s definitely got to be lower.
“We can’t hit the quarterback in the head. We can’t hit any part of it with our helmet, our hands. We’ve got to lower our strike zone. And if the ball’s gone, we’ve got to pull off. We can’t be having these penalties. … Those penalties kill us. We’ve got to get all of that cleaned up.”
