Jets offense falling fast
The losing streak is at five with no end in sight, the New York Jets are a month away from missing the playoffs for an eighth straight season and possibly searching for a new head coach as the criticism intensifies on fourth-year boss Todd Bowles.
And their franchise quarterback Sam Darnold is injured and trying to lobby his way back into the lineup after being limited in practice on Wednesday.
So while some painful moments were expected for a team trying to do a rebuild, the hope was some pain could be avoided.
As the Jets get ready to visit the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, the question is who are they and how did they get here?
It was not so long ago they scored a deceiving 42 points on the Indianapolis Colts, misleading only because half of those points came via the foot of rookie kicker Jason Myers, who made seven field goals.
Since then the offense has cratered considerably and even before his foot landed in a walking boot and kept him out for the last two games, Darnold was struggling with half of his 14 interceptions in the losses to Minnesota, Chicago and Miami that followed the win over Indianapolis.
During their skid, the Jets are averaging 11.2 points with one touchdown or less in the last four games since tight end Chris Herndon and Darnold reached the end zone in the Minnesota loss.
“I can’t speak for the room. I think for myself, I’m frustrated. It’s frustrating,” said wide receiver Quincy Enunwa. “You put your all in this game and the results don’t come out the way you want them to, but I still believe in my brothers, still believe in the guys, there’s no reason not to. We fight, that’s something I’m proud of them for. I wish we all collectively did a better job of finishing those games and executing the game plan.”
All facets of the offense have broken down, perhaps none more than a running game that actually gained 323 yards against the Denver Broncos in a game that took place so long ago on Oct. 7 that the Yankees were still in the postseason. They followed it up with 107 yards against the Colts but since then have carried 102 times for 365 yards for a paltry 3.6 yards per game.
In their 27-13 loss to New England, they attempted just 15 rushes and the five-game streak without a 100-yard rushing game as a team is the longest since the last season of Herm Edwards in 2005.
Not only can the Jets not produce an effective ground game, but they also cannot even get near the end zone consistently. They are the worst in the red zone by converting 40.7 percent of their trips to touchdowns but they’ve only gotten to the red zone seven times in the skid with none in the 13-6 loss at Miami and one apiece in the 24-10 loss at Chicago and the 41-10 loss to Buffalo.
If those numbers are not an indictment on the current state of the Jets’ offense, there are others.
Such as time of possession which averages 28:38 per game.
Such as 1,081 yards gained for an average of 216.2 per game.
Such as a 20.5 percentage (14-for-68) on third downs.
And if you want more, consider the lack of big plays in recent weeks since the Jets only have 43 of 311 snaps going for double-digit gains, giving the Jets a 13.8 percent clip.
It is a recipe for disaster and it answers the question of who the Jets are and how they got here.
“It sucks. It’s obviously not ideal,” quarterback Josh McCown said. “I think individually it tests who you are and what you’re about and your ability to get back up and come into work and work hard and be a professional. Those things are tested in these times.”
SERIES HISTORY: 44th regular-season meeting. Titans lead series, 23-19-1. The Jets have won the last two meetings and seven of 10 since the Titans were the Houston Oilers. The last meeting was a 30-8 Jets win on Dec. 13, 2015, when the Jets gained 439 yards but New York’s roster turnover has been so drastic that the only remaining starters from that game are OL James Carpenter and Brian Winters, DE Leonard Williams, and DB Buster Skrine.
