No Surprise Where the New York Jets are at in the NFL's Power Rankings
Described as “listless,” the New York Jets are almost at the bottom of Sports Illustrated’s ‘NFL Week 2 Power Rankings.’ It isn’t a surprise that the Jets are where they are given their season opener.
A 27-17 scoreline doesn’t sound terribly awful but it was the way the Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills. At halftime, the Bills had a 21-3 lead in a first half where the Jets opened the game (and the season) with four straight punts.
Their fifth possession was a turnover, an ill-advised second quarter interception by quarterback Sam Darnold. It was rough all the way around as they had just 254 yards of total offense.
Mitch Goldich’s assessment was tempered albeit brutally honest about the state of the Jets.
“Adam Gase is on the hottest seat of any coach in the league, and this seems to be unraveling faster by the day,” Goldich writes in his piece for SI. “When a season starts out with this much negativity, how often does it ever turn around?”
To read the full power rankings from Goldich, click here.
It was a tough start to the season for the Jets. The hope had been that the organization was set to turn things around. A 7-9 season a year ago saw the Jets close on a high note, with six wins from their final eight games. There was momentum, it seemed.
Sunday’s loss wasn’t a surprise. The Bills are considered the favorites to win the AFC East and did nothing to dispel that notion (Goldich has them at No. 8 in his rankings). But the Jets woeful performance on offense stings, especially as the offseason was spent rebuilding the weak point at the offensive line.
Now, this doom and gloom should be tempered. Without a preseason, it was always going to be difficult if not impossible for the Jets to blend together four new starters on the offensive line seamlessly.
In addition, there were two new starters at wide receiver in Week 1. Without preseason games to get timing down and work out the kinks, the season opener was always going to be rough, especially given the opponent. For the offensive line more than any other group, this was always going to be a rough showing.
Week 2 doesn’t get much easier, with the San Francisco 49ers, fresh off their Super Bowl appearance last season, set to play at MetLife Stadium.
