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LAS VEGAS \u2014 The New York Jets\u2019 season has turned into a game of Mad Libs. Change a few nouns or adjectives here and there, maybe, but at the end, the story is still the same.<\/p>\n
The defense plays well. The offense can\u2019t finish drives. The offense doesn\u2019t get into the end zone. Zach Wilson<\/a> makes some confounding decisions. Greg Zuerlein<\/a> has a busy day, kicking field goals, the only source of offense. Thomas Morstead<\/a> has a busy day, punting, because the offense can\u2019t consistently move the ball. Penalties kill drives. The defense does its job. The Jets<\/a> are still in the game at the end. Then it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n Robert Saleh calls out the self-inflicted wounds in his postgame news conference, but feels the Jets are close. He won\u2019t blame the quarterback or the offensive coordinator. The defensive players bite their tongues and talk about how the team would win if they could only score points themselves, or hold their opponents to zero points instead of 3, 6, 10 or 16. The offensive players are at a loss for words.<\/p>\n Rinse, repeat. It\u2019s all the same \u2014 and Saleh doesn\u2019t seem to have an itch to make the sort of change that might jolt the offense into competence. He won\u2019t bench Wilson. He won\u2019t take play-calling away from offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. The Jets lost to the Raiders<\/a> 16-12 on Sunday, a team so dysfunctional it fired<\/a> its head coach, general manager and offensive coordinator a few weeks ago, with one of the worst defenses in the league and a fourth-round rookie<\/a> starting at quarterback. And it was the same as it ever was.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n GO DEEPER<\/p>\n Jets fall to Raiders, Zach Wilson throws costly late INT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n If Saleh isn\u2019t going to grab the reins of the Jets offense and do what needs to be done to fix it before the season fades away into nothingness \u2014 another year without the playoffs, like so many before \u2014 then maybe the players will have to take control of the situation themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cThey asked me today: Are you OK to speak to the media?\u201d tight end Tyler Conklin<\/a> said after the game. \u201cI said, yeah, I\u2019ll speak, but what do you guys expect me to say? That\u2019s the thing, it\u2019s a broken record at this point. We\u2019ve gotta figure it out. We can\u2019t keep going out here and doing this over and over again. Letting the defense down, our team down. I wish I had answers to (reporters\u2019) questions about why we can\u2019t score in the red zone, why we had a lot of penalties, all those things, but there\u2019s really no good answer to give you guys besides we\u2019ve gotta figure it the f\u2014 out.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jets scored on their first three drives on Sunday night, all field goals. They punted on five consecutive drives after that, followed by another field goal, an interception by Wilson and then the clock running out on the final drive. The Jets haven\u2019t scored a touchdown in 11 quarters. They\u2019ve scored 13 offensive touchdowns in nine games. Wilson has thrown one touchdown pass in his last five games and five for the season. For comparison<\/a>, Josh Dobbs has accounted for six touchdowns in two games in 12 days since getting traded to the Vikings<\/a>. At the end of Sunday\u2019s game, the Jets had five punts, four field goals, eight penalties, 14 first downs and zero touchdowns. Five of those first downs came on the final two drives of the game.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating,\u201d running back Breece Hall<\/a> said. \u201cI\u2019ve been saying that since the first week.\u201d<\/p>\n Wide receiver Garrett Wilson<\/a> appeared emotionally distraught after the game, on the verge of tears.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what y\u2019all want me to say,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI\u2019m tired of this, man. I want to play better. The offense wants to play better. Every week we\u2019re trying to make it happen. It\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n This as dejected as I\u2019ve seen Garrett Wilson after a loss. pic.twitter.com\/80rnhVV9Cb<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) November 13, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The first words that came out of Saleh\u2019s mouth at his news conference after the game were the same ones he\u2019s said just about every week, win or lose. All anyone wants to know is why his offense has somehow gotten worse from last year, when he parted with Mike LaFleur<\/a> as his offensive coordinator and revamped his offensive coaching staff.<\/p>\n He has made a lot of excuses. The Jets have not been able to find any solutions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hard part for me is when I\u2019m watching the game \u2014 it\u2019s easy to look at the play-caller, the head coach, the quarterback,\u201d Saleh said. \u201cBut we\u2019re moving the ball. Today we moved the ball. But it\u2019s just penalties, penalties on the O-line, penalties at tight end, penalties at running back. Just dumb, dumb stuff that we need to get cleaned up or it\u2019s not going to change. But we can clean it up and at least give ourselves a chance to play clean football, to see what it looks like. I still believe it\u2019ll look pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jets got to the red zone once Sunday, and they didn\u2019t convert. That\u2019s the expectation at this point for the NFL<\/a>\u2019s worst red-zone offense. But the defense did its job, again, and another mostly impressive performance went to waste. The Raiders<\/a> were 5 of 15 on third down, quarterback Aidan O\u2019Connell<\/a> threw for 153 yards and the Jets held star wide receiver Davante Adams<\/a> without a catch in the second half. They forced two turnovers, including a forced fumble late in the fourth quarter to stifle a potential Raiders scoring drive. Then Zach Wilson turned right around and gave it back to them when he telegraphed a pass to wide receiver Allen Lazard<\/a>, allowing linebacker Robert Spillane<\/a> to jump in front of it for what became a game-deciding interception.<\/p>\n SPILLANE WITH THE PICK!!!!#NYJvsLV<\/a> | \ud83d\udcfa NBC pic.twitter.com\/JNj1wO8bpE<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) November 13, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Wilson wasn\u2019t the problem on Sunday, but he remains a problem. Wilson threw for 263 yards, but 92 came on the final two drives. The play-calling did him no favors \u2014 at times, it seemed like Hackett was afraid to let Wilson do anything but hand it off or check it down. Breece Hall had 47 yards on three catches, but wasn\u2019t targeted until the fourth quarter, even though he\u2019s the most dynamic player the Jets have with the ball in his hands.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something we definitely need to look at,\u201d Saleh said.<\/p>\n The Jets defense \u2014 which ranks third in the NFL in Expected Points Added, per TruMedia, and seventh in points allowed \u2014 is being held to an impossible standard. If it gives up any points, or doesn\u2019t score any of its own, the Jets are probably going to lose. They know it, too. This is not the defense of a 4-5 team. It\u2019s a playoff-caliber defense stuck with a middling, remedial offense.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s surprising,\u201d cornerback Sauce Gardner<\/a> said of the 4-5 record. \u201cWe\u2019re not playing complementary football. It\u2019s just a fact. It ain\u2019t no surprise at all.\u201d<\/p>\n The defense knows it has zero margin for error with this offense playing this way.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, but that\u2019s how we get coached,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cThe coaching is if they can\u2019t score, they won\u2019t win. When you embrace that, we always put it on us.\u201d<\/p>\n Coach Saleh on QB Zach Wilson’s performance. pic.twitter.com\/HZxPShxYj6<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 New York Jets (@nyjets) November 13, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Saleh may not want to make a change, but it sure sounds like the players are ready for one. This week, that might come in the form of a \u201cplayers-only\u201d meeting, the cliched get-together for teams that find themselves falling apart at the seams.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, all of it is on the table,\u201d Garrett Wilson said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure it out. I can see something like that going down soon because it has to. I\u2019m going to take it upon myself. We\u2019ve got some guys in this locker room that know how to lead and we\u2019ll see what it\u2019s like traveling back to New York, what we talk about. We have to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n Conklin took it further.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re definitely at that point where something has to be done,\u201d Conklin said. \u201cWe can\u2019t go into next week and roll the ball out there and hope it gets better. I don\u2019t know what it is we gotta do, but we gotta do something this week to get on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n It is now Week 11. The Jets have played nine games. The offense is worse now than it was before. This should be a playoff team. Instead, the Jets are losing to the Raiders, and barely beating<\/a> the Giants<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating as hell,\u201d Conklin said.<\/p>\n (Photo of Garrett Wilson and Nate Hobbs<\/a>: Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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