Sometimes it seems like the Jets have forgotten that La’Mical Perine exists.
Instead of seeing what his rookie running back is capable of, Adam Gase has recreated the 2018 Miami Dolphins backfield. A 37-year-old Frank Gore and Kalen Ballage, who was picked up off the street, are seeing more time than Perine with Le’Veon Bell out.
Gore, who has been the primary back in Bell’s absence, has 55 carries for 174 yards, averaging 3.2 yards per carry. His ineffectiveness was on full display in the Jets’ 37-28 loss on Thursday when he carried the ball 13 times for 30 yards. In one of the more mind-boggling calls of the game, New York called Gore’s number on a third-and-four wheel route in the red zone. The play went nowhere, as anyone could have predicted.
Gase claimed he wants to spread the love at running back a bit more, but Perine had just 10 offensive snaps on Thursday, rushing for 15 yards on five carries. Ballage — who Gase has a prior connection to — received 30 offensive snaps, though he didn’t carry the ball at all and caught two passes for just 11 yards. Ballage was inexplicably in to block for a lot of passing plays. He missed at least three blocks, which put Sam Darnold under further duress Thursday. According to Pro Football Focus, the pass-blocking grades between Perine and Ballage aren’t even comparable. Perine has a grade of 77.6, while Ballage received a 14.8. While Perine’s grade comes on a more limited sample size, it’s hard to argue against at least seeing what he can do as a third-down back since Ballage has proven to be a liability.
With Thursday serving as another poor performance for New York’s backfield, the Jets added to the crowd on Friday by claiming former Lions RB Ty Johnson off waivers. So he joins Gore, Ballage and Perine, as well as Josh Adam on the practice squad. Bell, meanwhile, is eligible to play Week 5. In other words, it doesn’t look like there’s going to be much room for Perine to get more snaps.
That shouldn’t be the case, though. Gase should make it a point to get Perine, who has big-play potential, a fairer share of the carries along with Bell and Gore. Perine got up to 17 mph on a 10-yard run in Week 2 — the fastest run by any of New York’s running backs this season, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats — so it’s clear he offers a different look to New York’s struggling ground game.
The fourth-round pick out of Florida is a big-bodied back at 5-foot-11, 218 pounds, and he can break tackles and create yards after contact. But he also has deceptive speed. That was on full display this summer when he broke a long run during an intrasquad scrimmage.
Since his NFL debut vs. San Francisco, though, Perine has taken just 31 snaps out of the backfield. For comparison, Bell was on the field for 32 snaps in New York’s season opener and he missed the majority of the second half.
Excluding Darnold’s 117 rushing yards through four games, the Jets have just 183 yards on the ground this season. Right now, that would rank second-worst in the NFL, behind only the Giants. For an offense that needs to go into “hyperdrive” sooner than later, there are no longer any excuses as to why Perine can’t get on the field.
It’s time to play the kid.