Honest Review #2.14: Getting closer

A couple of weeks ago following the home win against Kansas City I wrote that it was a culture building win. A week later the Jets just didn’t show up in the altitude against Denver and this week a hard effort in a loss to the Saints.

The box score will say 31-19 but the score 24-19 late before Mark Ingram put the game to bed following a 50-yard touchdown scamper. The Jets defense played well despite the fact that they game up 31 points. The defense created three turnovers against the number one offense in the league. The secondary in particular had an amazing day. Buster Skrine might have played his way into another contract with five tackles and a forced fumble. Rookie Jamal Adams had a good game in his homecoming game with six total tackles and a forced fumble.

However, the achilles heel for the Jets today was the amount of inexcusable penalties the team took throughout the game. The Jets had a few “too many men in the huddle” penalties to start off drives and had a un-sportsman like penalty on Mike Pennel with 8:45 left in the game to propel the Saints to another score.

Offensively, the game plan seemed limited for Bryce Petty. Offensive Coordinator John Morton favored the run with Petty under center and didn’t utilize the play action pass and seemingly never called for a passing play down the field. There is not much an inexperience quarterback can do when all of his reads are bunched up inside 10 yards. Not all the blame should be put on Morton however. Bryce Petty showed his accuracy problems throughout the game and it is a big reason why the Jets had 294 yards of total offense today. After that performance by Petty I would give him an overall grade of a C+. Petty did show arm talent on multiple throws but his inaccurate passes and inconsistency at the position was one of the reasons the Jets couldn’t get the ball rolling on offense. Cameron Jordan of the Saints didn’t help the cause either with four big pass deflections to stop Jet drives.


The word I would use after this game is the same word I have used throughout the season “hustle.” If you’ve watched any Jet football this season you can see the unwillingness to quit in ball games and they hustle until the final whistle. The problems for this ball club is the lack of discipline with penalties and the inability to make the key play. Like I’ve said before, this team is just one play away. On the Michael Thomas touchdown reception (that counted) Darron Lee was just about an inch away from deflecting the ball into the turf. The Jets have been that close all year in ball games and the Jets are finally mathematically eliminated from the playoff race following this loss. But, it has been a season of building, a culture is starting to brew in the gang green locker room, and if the team keeps competing and hustling until the final whistle the Jets will win more of these close games. This team is young, give it time to grow and give Todd Bowles the room to continue what he is doing in this locker room, there will be good things to come.  

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