Austin Gould 9/13/20 Austin Gould 9/13/20

New York Jets Breakdown Week 1: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:

The whole team got punched in the lip in the first half minus the last 2 minutes. We were in preseason mode, and Buffalo was not. HOWEVER, we did manage to stick around. There were plenty of missed opportunities but certain players, Maye, Bless, and Darnold stuck around and played hard.

Run Defense: We held the running backs to 41 yards, Singletary had 30 and Moss had 11. We needed to do better with QB containers as Allen had 54 yards. We had two forced fumbles but got gashed on some plays.

Maye and Bless: These two balled out today. While there were some issues with coverage for Bless, he read the run extremely well and hit hard. The next steps for him will be working on his confidence so he can play closer man to man. Maye played great today, 2 passes, 1 forced fumble, 2 sacks, 10 tackles. I’m sure he is not happy, but he played well. He made some great adjustments after the half.

Darnold: This will be controversial, but I think Darnold played better than he should have all things considered. 21-35, 60% passing, 215 yards, average 6.1 yards, 1 TD, and 1 awful pick. Early on the line looked rough, slightly better than last year, but largely the same had pressure in his face the whole game. The pick was a Sam Darnold staple pick, trying to do too much and should have run it. However, hit after hit he got up and tried to get us back in the game.

Gregg Williams: The one true consistent for the NY Jets, Greg Williams will have the defense ready to play. We got good pressure (couldn't capitalize on this due to missed tackles), great run defense, forced fumbles. He was given very little to work with, but he did well.

The Bad:

Offense Line: For and ⅗ of the game the line looked bad, a couple of holding calls, no real holes for running, and no time for Sammy D. They started to click a bit more towards the end which is a good sign, but they still need a lot of work. Van Roten seems to be the weakest link, but let me know what you think!

Missed tackles: These were all over the place for us this game. Missed Allen a bunch, some wide receivers slipped by, and generally just some poor effort.

Curl Routes: Sweet mother of pearl these plays were the bane of the Jets this week. At least 3 or 4 times a drive Allen would easily hit these. This is a result of the Jets not having enough confidence and playmakers to play man to man.

The Ugly:

By far in a way, the Jets wide receivers were horrendous today. They didn't get separation, did not come back to the ball, and dropped open/contested catches. Crowder showed great effort, but everyone else is a huge letdown. Chris Hogan looked awful and ran routes slower than Jason Witten. If he is going to play like that, use Crowder and Berrios, at least Berrios has speed. Griffin was a no show and Herdon was outright disappointing. He looked sluggish and stopped all momentum for the Jets with that awful, AWFUL fumble. Hopefully it first game jitters, but off to a shaky start to say the least. With the injuries to our WR, we need to sign Thomas or trade for someone else. Mims won’t play until midseason mostly likely and Sam has to develop chemistry with someone other than Crowder.

Injuries: Seriously, what the hell is up with these injuries? Do we need to reevaluate our training staff? Cashman went out which is brutal for us as we are very thin at Linebacker. And the most brutal punch of the day is the injury to Bell, not sure how long he will be out, just a complete punch in the gut. He was playing well, only had 6 runs but was finding some holes, and was a factor in the passing game. He was open for a TD on the injury play but got caught up with a Bills player. If that play goes different, then the rest of the game might look different as well. If Bell is out long term, with Perine out already we will need to sign another back. BRING BACK POWELL!

The 21-0 start was horrific, but we didn't lay down and got much better as the game went on. Next week we face the 49ers at home. As they are an away team from the west coast, the timezones will be a factor, and if the Jets can continue to play well against the run, we may have a shot. BUT that will completely depend on whether or not the Jets O-Line can stop a stack pass rush. Hopefully, LB's can get healthy quickly, otherwise Kittle will have a big day. That being said I think the Jets lose next week by a similar score. I'll say Jets 20 - 49ers 28. While an 0-2 start is bad, I think we win 4 of the next games. Colts, Broncos, Cardinals, and Chargers. I think we have some favorable matchups here especially on defense, but this will completely depend on injuries and development. If the Jets are well below .500 next time we see the Bills, it will be time to move on from Gase.

I am an optimist so take what I say lightly, I know the Jets don't encourage optimism.