Inside Slant

The Sports Xchange

November 01, 2018 at 1:38 am.

Jets in familiar spot at 3-5

The first half saw some good moments such as Sam Darnold’s electrifying debut on Monday Night Football in Detroit.

It also featured some duds and heading into next Sunday’s visit to the Miami Dolphins, the New York Jets are 3-5 because of two more duds turned in against the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears.

If 3-5 sounds familiar that’s because it is for Jets fans. It is the third straight season the Jets are 3-5 under head coach Todd Bowles and each of the previous two teams wound up 5-11.

Technically, it’s supposed to be a rebuild for the Jets centered around Darnold, who at times has looked like a star but at other times has resembled a rookie struggling to make adjustments.

As a result, the last eight games may be seen as a referendum on Bowles’ job status, especially since this season is likely to end outside of the postseason for the eighth straight season.
The closest they’ve been to the postseason under Bowles was Week 17 in 2015 when they delivered a dud in Buffalo to finish 10-6. Since then the Jets are 13-28.

“We have to put our heads down and we have to correct this,” Bowles said during a conference call Monday afternoon. “We have to try to come out and win some ballgames. The season is not over, but we’re halfway through it at 3-5. You don’t like where you are, but we dug ourselves this hole and we have to dig ourselves out.”

Some things the Jets will look to improve on?

They can start with penalties. In Sunday’s 24-10 loss at Chicago, they were penalized eight times for 45 yards and in an embarrassing stat, seven were before the snap with five false-start penalties for the offense and two neutral-zone infractions on defense.

“That was probably the worst part of the game,” Bowles said. “We do everything (to avoid penalties) all the time. It’s just a concentration thing for certain guys at certain times. We get that fixed as coaches. They’ve got to fix it as players. The false starts were the most disheartening thing of the whole ballgame.”

Then they could focus on productivity on both sides of the ball, at least consistently.

The Jets scored at least 34 points in their three wins, though the 42 against Indianapolis was half achieved by seven field goals from rookie kicker Jason Myers. They allowed 37 and 31 in getting outclassed by Jacksonville and Minnesota while being unable to make a play in their other three losses.

Overall, the Jets are 19th in points allowed and 24th in points scored.

Now, the Jets will have to get creative in finding some playmakers due to a season-ending neck injury to running back Bilal Powell and nagging ankle injuries to receivers Robby Anderson and Quincy Enunwa.

It’s the inability to execute on both sides that occasionally put the Jets in an early hole when a comeback becomes too late.

It happened in Week 2 against Miami when a 20-12 loss was started by the Jets spotting the Dolphins a 20-0 lead. They were down 18-0 in Jacksonville, trailed 20-7 to Minnesota and 17-3 in Chicago.

The Jets like to talk up their chemistry but it is not leading to the result that really matters and some of the struggles are rather noticeable.

In the last two games, the Jets are averaging 235 yards and 13.5 points.

Darnold has completed 44 percent of his passes for 359 yards in those games.

In eight games, he has completed 55.2 percent of his passes and thrown for 1,705 yards with 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Darnold also has this media stuff down pat by saying a string of cliches to illustrate his focus on what’s next.

“Taking it one week at a time like I’ve been doing,” Darnold said. “Just continuing to get better every single week and learning from my mistakes, but at the same time finding positives in stuff that I do well.”

The Jets are a losing team, hoping to avoid another 5-11. Then again things could be worse, they could be the Giants.

SERIES HISTORY: 106th regular-season meeting. Jets lead series, 54-50-1. The Jets’ 20-12 loss to the Dolphins in Week 2 will be remembered for a lot of firsts for Sam Darnold — first home game, first 300-yard passing game (334, to be exact), first multi-interception game, and ultimately, his first regular-season loss. The Dolphins have beat the Jets four of their last five meetings, with the lone exception coming in New York’s home opener last season, a 20-6 Jets victory.

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