FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Jets blew a 10-point lead and fell to the Dolphins 31-24 on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. Here are some thoughts and observations from the game:
1. Yes, you want wins. You’re tired of watching the Jets lose. We get it. But this final stretch of games was never really about winning. It was about progress and the Jets showed some on Sunday.
Once it was clear the Jets were heading for another double-digit loss campaign, the thing to watch became how much progress they could show and not what the scoreboard said. The Jets looked like a real NFL team for a while on Sunday. That is a step forward from where they were two months ago when they lost 54-13 to the Patriots and gave up 45 points in back-to-back weeks to the Colts and Bills.
Is it good enough? Of course not.
But let’s be realistic about where the Jets are at. This is a team with a roster that is inferior to nearly every team they play (maybe not this week against the Jaguars). From the start of this season, the Jets have stressed development with their young players.
Being tied in the fourth quarter against a team that is playing well is what you wanted to see from the Jets all season. They may not pull out the win but at least they’d fight. That fight has not been apparent for too many of the losses this season. Seven of their 11 losses have come by double digits. They looked non-competitive in too many of these games.
The Jets now must figure out how to put four quarters together. They have good stretches but have not played a full game yet. That is what first-year coach Robert Saleh must get out of his team this week against the Jaguars. Play a 60-minute game and beat a team you should be better than. This is the last realistic chance the Jets have to win. Now, anything can happen in the NFL (see Lions over Cardinals Sunday) but the final two games for the Jets are against the Buccaneers and Bills, two teams that should beat the Jets easily.
Wins and losses are what is most important and the Jets have fallen short again this season. But there were signs of progress on Sunday. That counts for something.
2. While we’re speaking of progress, the development of rookie quarterback Zach Wilson is at the top of that list. Wilson showed some good signs on Sunday but not enough to make you feel confident that he is the answer for the Jets.
Here is the difficulty when evaluating Wilson: the shadow of Sam Darnold still looms large. For three years, we talked about Darnold needing more time and better weapons around him. It feels like we’re going down the same path with Wilson. Just because Darnold ultimately failed does not mean the arguments for Wilson to get more time and a better supporting cast are invalid.
The Dolphins have a very good defense with very good coaching. They have made lots of quarterbacks look bad. On Sunday, Wilson started off hot, and then the Dolphins made adjustments to slow him down. Give the Dolphins credit for that.
The other problem is the wide receivers Wilson is currently working with. Elijah Moore and Corey Davis are the Jets’ best receivers. Both are injured. That leaves Wilson with a crew of Keelan Cole, Jamison Crowder, Denzel Mims, Braxton Berrios and Vyncint Smith. All of them are complementary receivers at best and some don’t even deserve to be playing. When the Dolphins played man-to-man, the Jets receivers could not get open. That led to protection issues in the second half with Wilson having to hold the ball. It is hard to play quarterback when no one is getting open.
This is not to excuse Wilson. He needs to improve. But there were some good signs on Sunday. Wilson made a few nice improvisational plays, his trademark at BYU. Wilson does not look as confused as he did earlier in the season. His issues do not appear to be with reading defenses and that is a major positive. Too often with Darnold it appeared he did not know what he was looking at.
It looked like things slowed down a bit for Wilson on Sunday, too. He did not look as sped up as he did against the Saints. Wilson has plenty of things to work on but it is too soon to panic about him.
3. Jets GM Joe Douglas has a lot of big decisions to make this offseason. One of the most interesting is what to do with the offensive line. This year’s group has played well at times but the unit still needs to be improved.
Douglas needs to enter the offseason looking to upgrade at least one position and maybe two. Geroge Fant has played well at left tackle this season and deserves to return in 2022. The Jets must decide if Mekhi Becton slides back in at left tackle when he’s healthy or if they move Becton to right tackle and keep Fant on the left side. Alijah Vera-Tucker looks like a keeper at left guard. Connor McGovern has played decently this season at center. Douglas needs to find an interior lineman and if that lineman is a center, they can move McGovern to right guard. If the lineman is a guard, they can live with McGovern at center for another year.
It is doubtful the Jets will use another first-round pick on an O lineman after using first-rounders on Becton and Vera-Tucker in the last two years, but O line remains a priority for Douglas this offseason.
4. The Jets are 3-11, meaning they have lost at least 11 games in five of the last six seasons. It is an incredible run of bad football. If you extend it back to 2014, it is six of the last eight seasons. Think about this. The Jets have had six of those 11-loss seasons in the last eight years. From 1960-2013, they only had 10 of those seasons and the only time they had 11-loss seasons in consecutive years was 1975-77 and 1995-96. These are indeed the dark days for the franchise.
Revealing stat
Zach Wilson went 5-for-5 on the first drive of the game. He went 8-for-18 in the rest of the game.
Surprising snap count
DE Ronnie Blair played 40 of 71 snaps. It was a surprise that the Jets played Blair, who is on the practice squad, over Shaq Lawson, who was inactive for the game.
Game ball
Brandin Echols gave the Jets a shot in the fourth quarter with his pick-six against Tua Tagovailoa. Echols has played pretty well as a rookie and has been a nice surprise for the Jets.
