The Jets got a taste of just how bad their offense can be without their best players in Sunday’s loss to the Saints.
New York didn’t have two starting receivers, Elijah Moore and Corey Davis, and was down running backs Michael Carter and Tevin Coleman. The result was ugly. The Jets offense finished with just 256 total yards, 13 first downs and only nine points. Gang Green never found the endzone.
Zach Wilson couldn’t do much with limited weapons at his disposal. He finished with a career-low 45.2 completion percentage and 4.8 yards per completion to go along with 235 total yards. It didn’t help that the Jets dropped plenty of passes, but Wilson never looked comfortable without his reliable playmakers around him.
The Jets offense won’t always look like this, though. It’s not often a team loses four of its best playmakers for at least one game. But the foundation that’s left behind when the talent is trimmed away is not a good look for Wilson or Mike LaFleur’s offense.
The same plays and strategy that helped the Jets offense progress this season fell apart once they lost their best players. The duo of Ty Johnson and La’Mical Perine failed to make any significant contributions out of the backfield, and Denzel Mims didn’t catch a single pass in a game in which he should have been the No. 1 receiver. The only player to emerge out of the misery was Braxton Berrios, who led the Jets with 52 yards on six receptions.
Wilson looked bad, too. He couldn’t deliver solid passes and endured a lot of pressure from the Saints’ defensive front. He struggled to save plays with his legs as well. The game, however, was less of an indictment on Wilson and more on the depth around him.
New York shouldn’t expect to have three starting-caliber players at every major offensive position, but the backups should be able to maintain some semblance of the offense’s identity. Berrios aside, a receiving core of Mims, Jamison Crowder and Keelan Cole did little to help Wilson. Johnson’s inconsistency in the passing game didn’t help his chances to earn a bigger role in the backfield, either. This can’t happen if the Jets want to stay competitive in the future.
While the loss hurts, it’s good for Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas to see the backups play in a regular-season game – especially when the Jets have no shot at contending. It shows them the gaps on the roster they wouldn’t normally see so they can build a better core during the offseason.
The good news is some combination of Moore, Carter and/or Coleman should return this season. Davis is out for the year with a core muscle injury. So the Jets offense should improve if all goes well. But in the meantime, Douglas will likely figure out which positions need more depth over the next four games with the Jets’ best players recovering.
The GM needs the roster to be ready if the injury bug hits the Jets again next year. Wilson’s sophomore season will be crucial to his development, and the team needs to have a cohesive offense regardless of who’s available.
Week 14 offered a glimpse of the worst possible scenario, and now it’s Douglas’ job to correct it.
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