The Jets are 0-7 and finding new ways to lose games. And after Sunday’s loss to a Panthers team that was supposed to be one of the more winnable games remaining on their schedule – Carolina is less talented than the Jets, and has been outscored 152-145 this season, and had been terrible on the road before Sunday’s 13-6 win over the Jets at MetLife Stadium – it’s fair to wonder how far the Jets will plummet under new coach Aaron Glenn.
And if Glenn is equipped to pull them out of what appears to be an increasingly tightening spiral, Sunday’s game wasn’t exactly a confidence infuser as the Jets struggled mightily to gain any momentum despite their second consecutive strong performance on defense.
So what were the moves from Glenn that were most concerning, and how did he explain them? Here are three things that stood out.
Going for it on fourth-and-5 to start the game
The Jets marched down the field on their first drive of the game and had a chance to get early points, and some much needed confidence after a nightmare game in London as they faced fourth-and-5 from the Carolina 33 with 12:19 left in the opening quarter. That would have been about a 50-yard field goal, well within the range of kicker Nick Folk who has been perfect this season.
But the Jets got nothing because Glenn elected to go for it and Fields’ pass to Josh Reynolds sailed well over the wide receiver’s head.
Here’s how Glenn explained the decision after the game.
“Listen, I liked our fourth-down plan and I told our guys we were going to be aggressive going for it in that situation,” Glenn said. “Obviously, it didn’t work out, but, yeah, I liked our fourth-down plan going into this game.”
That’s not much of an explanation, other than saying he wanted to be aggressive early. And that would be a fine enough explanation if the Jets continued to play with that aggression. Of course, they didn’t.
Did the failed fourth-down conversion end up being the difference between winning and losing for the Jets? No, but it set a tone of inconsistency for the rest of the game – and left the impression that Glenn is increasingly flying by the seat of his pants as the losses continue to pile up.
Not trying a Hail Mary at the end of the first half
Glenn has said repeatedly that the final four minutes of each half belong to the head coach. And yet his grasp on those critical situations seems to be slipping with each passing week. And for the third straight week, we’re talking about a sequence at the end of the first half that didn’t play out how it should have from a logical standpoint and left an opportunity on the table for the Jets, but also was in direct conflict with the tone set by Glenn earlier in the game.
The biggest question mark: Why did Glenn let the clock run out on the first half after Fields was sacked at his own 46 with 15 seconds remaining and facing third-and-20?
“Guys, it was a situation where we just got two sacks,” Glenn said. “We just got two sacks, let’s get out of it. Let’s get out of it and get into halftime and let’s get ready to play the next half.”
Yes, Fields was sacked twice in the final four plays of the first half. But the Jets had also picked up a first down on third-and-10 from their own 44 just moments earlier. So if Glenn needed proof that his team could still pick up a first down on third-and-long, he had just lived it.
There was more than enough time for the Jets to not only run a Hail Mary, but for them to potentially run a quick play that could get them into field goal range. Instead, after Fields was sacked, Glenn let the clock run out.
Not taking a free shot at the end zone when you have the chance is puzzling. Not doing it after you started the game trying to set an aggressive tone by going for it on fourth-and-5 instead of settling for a field goal is somehow even worse and it’s fair to question if Glenn is committed to his plan and what it is, exactly.
And while it’s still too early to label Glenn definitively, Sunday’s loss brought more reason for concern.
The offensive game plan
The Jets have had limited offensive options all year, after they decided it was a good idea to go into this season with Garrett Wilson as their only proven, productive NFL receiver. And Sunday they were in a tougher spot than usual, without Wilson who suffered a knee injury late in the loss to the Broncos and was ruled out of this week’s game.
That left Breece Hall as the clear top weapon for the Jets. But even before he clearly got banged up late in the first half — on a questionable play call just before the missed Hail Mary opportunity — Hall was shaken up on first-and-10 from the Jets when they ran the ball and Glenn waited more than 10 seconds to call timeout, letting valuable time come off the clock.
But even before then, the Jets’ usage of Hall was questionable. Yes, they got him involved in the run game with a game-high nine rushing attempts for 35 yards in the first half. But they never were able to get him going in the pass game where he had just one target and catch for eight yards in the first half.
It’s a far cry from what Glenn said during training camp, when he floated the idea of the Jets lining up Hall as a receiver regularly.
That hasn’t happened and while Hall didn’t openly communicate his lack of belief in the game plan after the game, one didn’t exactly have to read between the lines to see he was less than fully sold.
“We just haven’t been playing our brand of football,” Hall said. “Just haven’t been able to establish the run the last few weeks well enough to sustain it and keep running the ball. And that starts with me as well. I’m not perfect. So as much as I probably feel like younger me would want to whine and complain, I’m not perfect either.”
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