EAST RUTHERFORD – The why is an easy diagnosis. It’s been the same this whole miserable year. The Jets aren’t doing the little things it takes to win. That’s why they lost 19-9 to the Los Angeles Rams. That’s why they’re 4-11. Therefore, they will miss the playoffs for the fourteenth consecutive year in professional sports.
How to solve this is a completely different story.
“A lot of the things we get are the same all season long,” Quarterback said Aaron Rodgers said. “Just the details in certain areas hurt us.”
The Jets have talent. That’s no joke. They do. This isn’t like those many, many years in recent history where they were eliminated from playoff contention long before Santa was suppressed Woody Johnson‘s chimney. The crime has protection (before Olu Fashanu suffered a potentially serious foot injury) and playmakers (Garrett Wilson, Davante Adams, Breece Hall). The defense was among the best in football before the untimely dismissal Robert Saleh.
The preseason hype, based on talent and talent alone, was justified.
What’s so enticing about this team is that they also tease you with that potential at some point every week. Sunday’s match was no exception. That first drive, which covered 99 yards in 14 plays, was so surgical. Hall continued to pound the ground. Wilson made plays through the air. The line gave Rodgers all day. The final play was the culmination of it all: a play fake fooled the defense, Rodgers rolled out and then threw a perfect pass to Adams in the back of the end zone, over a defender, for a huge score.
But then everything falls apart. The offense could no longer find the end zone. The defense crumbles when it matters most (13 of 19 points allowed in the fourth quarter). The special teams came up lame (two missed field goals) when relied on. Coaches make inexcusable in-game mismanagement that proves costly (2-for-5 on fourth down).
To win you need talent, but without details you can’t win.
“I think we have the ability to inspire,” Rodgers said. “But ultimately the motivation comes from within. Each person has to be motivated to find the little things in the attack where they can really focus on the details, because there are a few plays every game, and there could be a play in the first or second quarter that wins the game .
“It comes down to the little adjustments or details or reactions in the game and training yourself to make the right reaction. Some of that sets the standard in preparation, but a lot of it is up to all of us to pay enough attention to it to put that little bit of extra time into it, I think.”
The Jets will soon have a new general manager. They will add a new coach. In all likelihood, they will have a new quarterback. These three will be tasked with creating a new culture.
Until that happens, nothing will change.
“We have to be better,” Wilson said. “You have to be better when it matters.”
