Once Again, the New York Jets Offense Struggles
While the defense wasn’t very good, the New York Jets offense didn’t help matters very much in Week 5, failing to move the ball consistently in a 30-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
In doing so, it was the fifth-time this season that the Jets lost by double-digit points. They have been outscored by a combined 87 points in their 0-5 start to the year. The struggles to sustain drives and move the ball down the field had the Jets always chasing the game.
The offense, while not terrible, couldn’t sustain drives. They managed just 285 yards of total offense with a number of self-inflicted wounds in the form of drops.
For head coach Adam Gase, called a month ago a “brilliant offensive mind” by Jets CEO Christopher Johnson, it has been anything but brilliant this year. It has, however, been offensive for Jets fans to watch a team that has terrible playcalling.
“It’s hard to say, ‘Hey, this is what it would be if those other guys were in there.’ It’s hard to put it all on one group,” Gase said after the game.
“We’re having negative plays at the wrong time. We can’t put ourselves in second and long. Then, when we do get third-and-five or less, we have to convert. We’re just not making it happen when we need to continue [a] drive.”
There were positives from the Jets offense. For a second-straight week, there wasn’t a turnover. They cut back on penalties from a week ago. Running back Le’Veon Bell looked sharp after a month layoff from a hamstring injury, even though he was under-utilized.
But still, the offense struggled to move the ball and sustain drives, often in a maddening fashion. Quarterback Joe Flacco, starting in place of the injured Sam Darnold, was 18-of-33 for 195 yards with a third quarter touchdown.
Down 7-0 early in the second quarter, the offense got a break when linebacker Avery Williamson intercepted Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, his return to the 10-yard line set-up the Jets in tremendous field position.
Four plays and a delay of game penalty later, and the Jets were settling for a Sam Ficken field goal.
In many ways, that delay of game penalty coming after the turnover exemplified the Jets inability to capitalize on moments where they could have turned the game. Given great field position and the chance to tie the game, the Jets instead ending up settling for just three points.
Arizona would respond with 10 points in the second quarter to take a 17-3 lead into halftime.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. I don’t know. I felt like it was one of those where we broke the huddle and got up to the line and it didn’t seem like we were—I lost track of the time,” Flacco said.
“It didn’t seem like we were at the point yet where I would be thinking about the play clock. We got on the field, I got the play, called it, got out there and the next thing you know they were blowing the whistle on me. That’s one of the things that I’m talking about. That’s day one stuff, so it can’t happen.”
