New York Jets: Problems Continue to Mount in 2014
By Kyle Nuss
The New York Jets are in big trouble.
After an embarrassing 31 – 0 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, the Jets fell to a 1 – 4 record. Considering that teams that start with this record usually don’t make the playoffs, this is not what gang green wants. Everyone saw on Sunday that the Jets have more problems than just the QB position.
The offense looked completely awful. On the wide receiver end, the Jets receiving core has looked horrible with a lot of dropped passes, the offensive line has missed blocks, and the alternating of running backs isn’t really working out. The weapons brought in during the offseason, Eric Decker and Chris Johnson haven’t been effective. Decker, has been injured since Week 2 and sat out vs. the Chargers after a set back during the week in practice. Johnson, hasn’t reached his full potential only running for 191 yards, averaging four yards an attempt in the first five games.
The Jets are supposed to have a hard-core defense, instead the defense looked like something the Oakland Raiders would put out on the field on Sunday. The defense allowed Chargers running back Brandon Oilver, who doesn’t even have a picture on his NFL.com profile page, to run for 114 yards, one touchdown, and average six yards an attempt on 19 carries. The secondary allowed Phillip Rivers and the Chargers’ offense to have a field day.
The coaching hasn’t been any better. Not only has offensive coördinator Marty Mornhinweg made the famous timeout during the Packers game, but at the beginning of the season, kept using Michael Vick in a weird wildcat formation. He keeps going to Chris Johnson even after Chris Ivory has blatantly shown to be the more effective runner, and kept making calls for going long on 3rd downs during the Chargers game on Sunday. This leads me to Rex Ryan.
I like Rex, I really want to see Ryan succeed as the Jets’ head coach. After Sunday’s game, I was ready to see Ryan get fired. Not only did the entire team look like a college team, but when the Jets got down into red zone territory and was faced with a 4th down on the Chargers 11, why not bring in Nick Folk to kick the field and avoid the shutout? There’s no way the team would make a comeback and win, go for the points, avoid the shutout at all cost. The team hasn’t produced an over 500. season since 2010, the team has seen good talent leave, and the fans are growing restless.
General Manager John Idzik as well deserves blame for the mess on the field. With the team 24 million under the cap, Idzik should of made some more moves during the offseason. The only big offensive weapon the Jets got over the offseason was Decker, and with Decker on the injured list, that leaves the wide receiver core pretty bleak.
The good news for the Jets, the team was so awful throughout the entire game, that Ryan announced during his post game press conference that Smith would be starting against the Broncos this Sunday, and will not be overblown by the media. The only way for the Jets to truly save their season is for the Jets to beat their next two teams. Those two teams, the Denver Broncos (This Sunday), and the New England Patriots (Next Thursday). If the Jets fall to 1 – 6, I truly think Jets Nation will be moving their eyes to next year’s draft and Ryan will be looking for a new job.