The Jets offense had momentum working in its favor.
At least that was the story those around the team tried to sell. The idea made some sense on the surface following New York’s 6-2 finish in 2019. Yeah, the Jets got off to a horrid 1-7 start in Adam Gase’s first season as head coach, but everything was clearly clicking by the end and would continue to do so in 2020. Because momentum!
“There was so much positive turnaround,” Gase alleged last week. “We had really good games. We had better conversions, we had better first and second downs. And we’ve just got to make sure we do that earlier in the season this year and be consistent throughout the year.”
Of course, that was incredibly suspect logic and was shown to be as much on Sunday after the Jets crashed in their Week 1 loss to the Bills. Buffalo won 27-17 at home, but Gang Green played much uglier than the score, especially on offense. Gase’s play-calling remained predictable, Sam Darnold looked lost, the rushing attack was a non-factor and the brand new offensive line was far from perfect. The Bills sent the Jets multiple invitations to get back in the game, but Gase’s unit never really put up a fight.
So, what happened to all that momentum the Jets offense supposedly had?
The truth is that Gase’s offense wasn’t really that good down the stretch in 2019. Without even determining which points should be attributed to the offense, defense or special teams, the Jets as a team averaged 22.5 points over their final eight games in 2019. That would have been middle of the pack in the NFL over the course of the whole season and was higher than the 17.2 points per game New York averaged for the year. But again, the offense was not solely responsible for that 22.5 figure.
What really happened was that the Jets offense had three good games in the middle of the season. New York, as a team, scored 34 points per game from Weeks 10-12. Sam Darnold was terrific over that stretch, throwing seven touchdowns and just one interception while racking up 838 yards. But New York’s defense also scored a touchdown in two of those games.
After Week 12, the Jets snapped their 34-point streak by mustering just six points against the Bengals. It was one of only two wins Cincinnati picked up all season. The Jets ended the season averaging 15.6 points over their last five games. The offense averaged 7.2 points over that stretch, and yet Gase was somehow trying to talk up offensive continuity.
The reality is that Gregg Williams’ defense carried the Jets at the end of 2019. There was no evidence of offensive cohesion, but rather of a random three-game stretch in the middle of the season in which New York outperformed expectations.
So it really shouldn’t be a surprise that Gase’s momentum theory took a hit Sunday in Buffalo. His offense wasn’t good at the start of last season, and it wasn’t good at the end of it.
It’s still not good.