New York Jets Report: Week 4.5

Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Jets are now a quarter of the way though the season, and currently carry a 1-3 record with them into Week 5, where they will travel to San Diego to play the 3-1 Chargers.

Last week versus Detroit, a 24-17 defeat, was just another chapter in the same book as the Jets fell to yet another NFC north opponent. The negatives for this team haven’t changed. Gang green continues to be plagued by a lack of discipline, untimely turnovers and the inability to make a crucial stop on defense.

The few positives on this team remain constant as well. The defensive line continues to stuff the run and put as much pressure on the quarterback as possible. Chris Ivory is excelling in the run attack and maybe the disappointing Chris Johnson is having a breakthrough as well. However, these things haven’t been enough so far as the Jets have been unable to move the ball consistently on offense, sparing their defense and weak secondary.

The format is a little different in this week’s report. Being that the issues and transgressions this team needs to come outweigh the positive by a metric ton, we are going to focus on those.

QB SITUATION: An increasingly larger number of Jet fans are calling for Michael Vick, as half of MetLife Stadium made loud and clear last Sunday. It’s hard to blame them; Geno has turned the ball over more than any other QB in the league. He’s got five interceptions and continues to make many of the same mistakes he did as a rookie. It’s been 5+ seasons in a row that Jet fans have been forced to watch a quarterback make mistakes he should be learning from, so their frustration is understandable.

In my own opinion the Jets need to ride this out with Smith, whom the team labeled ‘the guy’ for 2014 ever since the end of last season. It’s imperative they stick this out to accomplish their goal: find out exactly what Geno is. Maybe this is it; a turnover-heavy quarterback that can’t consistently drive your offense down the field and produce points. The point is that despite the maddening mistakes, twenty games is still too small of a sample and Michael Vick doesn’t necessarily provide the team with a better chance to win as many people feel. While he could provide a shot in the arm, we are caught up in this vision of Vick being the elite QB he was a decade ago. He’s a turnover-prone thrower himself with a well-chronicled injury history that isn’t a sure-fire improvement.

Maybe Smith isn’t the future of the franchise but the Jets must see this through and fans should consider the possibility of him becoming more cerebral as he gains NFL game experience. Geno has all the physical tools required along with the demeanor to succeed in this league. Let’s be patient—the Jets aren’t twelve Mike Vick starts from being a playoff team. Geno is not their only and perhaps not even their biggest problem.

DEFENSE: The Jets’ No. 3 rank in total defense is a complete farce. We know they’re impossible to run on and the front seven overall is incredibly strong. They lead the league in stopping the run and sacks—excelling in areas we expected them to. The problem is they can’t carry the defensive backfield also. In the secondary things are a complete mess and Rex Ryan doesn’t have a single man-to-man corner he can trust and even safety play has been suspect. The back end hasn’t recorded a single interception and is largely responsible for the Jets’ inability to get off the field at crucial times.

In each their three consecutive losses, the Jet defense has allowed a back-breaking touchdown drive of 80+ yards at a critical juncture to help lose the game. First it was Aaron Rodgers blowing down the field in under two minutes before halftime. Then it was Jay Cutler on an 80-yard drive to open the second half. Most recently, it was Matthew Stafford on a 90+ yard drive to extend the Lions’ lead to two scores after the Jets just scored a touchdown of their own. In the same game, New York even allowed a 59-yard touchdown on third and long with Calvin Johnson standing on the sidelines.

We have no choice but to wonder where it will end and the truth is, it may not. Rex Ryan may just not have the horses to compete with the upper echelon offenses and a healthy Dee Milliner isn’t nearly enough to reverse the fortunes of this secondary. Without a sudden and drastic improvement, pressure will continue to fall on the shoulders of the front seven to get pressure on the quarterback.

MANAGEMENT: The Jets’ greatest transgression hasn’t even taken place on the field. The person and thing most responsible for their current predicament is general manager John Idzik and his failure to stack this roster with the necessary talent to compete. Upgrades were made but clearly not enough and it’s not as though Idzik doesn’t have the means—New York is $20+ million below the salary cap. The fact of the matter is the gang green GM completely dropped the ball in free agency, directly affecting the team’s ability to win games in 2014.

Idzik fails to recognize the difference between frivolous spending and necessary cost as his team flounders and his coach looks more like a dead man walking each week they fail to emerge victorious. It’s unacceptable to not do everything possible in bolstering the side of the ball that is supposed to be this teams’ backbone.

Even after the Darrelle Revis situation unfolded, there were at least a dozen more cornerbacks available to be signed but New York didn’t make a move. With options dwindling Idzik somehow allowed Dominique Rogers-Cromartie to leave the team facility without a contract and head over to the Giants, who inked him to a five-year deal.

Jet fans are still scratching their heads wondering how an Idzik could possibly think Milliner and Dimitri Patterson could carry the load for the cornerback group. As for Patterson, he was released before a single regular season down was played.

The same can be said for the wide receivers in free agency as the Jets signed Eric Decker and Chris Johnson—upgrades that should have merely scratched the surface. After having the most inept receiving corps and offense in the NFL a season ago, how could the general manager not make any other acquisitions to bolster an enormous area of need? Options on offense came and went and we stand here four games in with the Jets malnourished in personnel for Geno to work with.

While the head coach and quarterback have certainly unimpressed for the most part, a large portion of blame needs to be tossed in Idzik’s direction. He hasn’t given Geno on offense or Rex on defense much to work with concerning the roster and it’s resulted in a 1-3 record and quite amazingly, a stack of $20 million being unspent.

To say he swung and missed on improving this team would be the understatement of the year. There’s nothing on his end that can be done to upgrade this team any more—Rex is on his own with the beleaguered defense and the offensive onus falls on Geno to improve himself and the unit.

The Jets could be on a fast track to 1-6. After the Chargers, its Manning and Brady as the Broncos and Patriots are up next. Gang green would take strides in keeping their goals alive for 2014 if they can upset San Diego on the west coast. We won’t hold out breath—this team might just have too many holes and too many problems.

I sure hope there’s something happier to report about the New York Jets next week. Maybe we’ll find out what this team is made of; their backs are certainly against the wall.