EAST RUTHERFORD — In a game they needed to have to keep their playoff hopes alive, the New York Jets put forth one of their most uninspiring performances of the 2023 season in a 27-6 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers Monday night.
New York turned the ball over twice in the first quarter resulting in an early 14-0 hole that the offense could never get out of. Special teams breakdowns, poor tackling, and miscommunications on both sides of the ball were the main culprits in the team’s fourth loss of the year.
The worst part was easily on the offensive side though. Zach Wilson’s performance may have been better than Justin Herbert’s from a numbers perspective, but he took too many poor sacks and lacked the necessary urgency in the pocket to play the quarterback position. Worse than that, most of New York’s offensive playmakers and offensive line struggled just as badly as their quarterback.
There are very few positives to take away from a game like this, so that’s why we’re giving away 10 awards in the Jets-Chargers contest that was as ugly a performance as we’ve seen this season.
The “BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Award: New York Jets team
Wow. That’s pretty much all there is to say at this time. The Jets came into a key Monday night contest with a chance to sit just a half-game back of the division lead. Instead, they came out uninspired, undisciplined, and just plain bad. New York’s offense was anemic for a fourth straight week and did absolutely nothing to address their woes at the trade deadline.
This is who they are now, and what they signed up for when they chose not to sign Josh Dobbs or any additional wide receivers after Corey Davis’ surprise retirement. This is a bad team that was being run as though the executives thought they were better than they were.
There’s only one way to respond to an effort like Monday’s and that’s simply: Booo!!
The “Just Throw the Ball” Award: Zach Wilson
New York’s starting quarterback was sacked seven times Monday night and while some of them weren’t his fault, a lot of them were a simple case of him holding onto the ball too long. In fact, over half of the sacks recorded on Monday were a case of Wilson not getting rid of the ball at a fast enough pace. It’s unacceptable in Year 3 of an NFL career to be this tone-deaf in the pocket.
Wilson was bad on Monday. He wasn’t the worst player on the field, but he continues to be a reason for the team’s struggles and not a solution to their growing problem.
The “Head in the Sand” Award: Joe Douglas and the Trade Deadline
It was a mistake for the Jets to remain as silent as they were at the deadline this year. They needed substantial help at receiver and offensive line and general manager Joe Douglas decided to go big game hunting instead of finding a nice role player to fit. The lack of aggression from New York’s front office has been apparent all year and it’s shown on gameday.
Under no circumstances should the team be as passive as they are with a decade-long playoff drought. The lack of moves were a big reason why the struggles were so pronounced Monday night. The more the team ignores them, the worse they get.
The “What Exactly Do You Do All Week?” Award: Nathaniel Hackett
The Jets have not recorded a touchdown drive where they started on their own side of the field in a month. They have not scored on a multi-play offensive drive since the Kansas City game to end the month of September. It’s all unacceptable all around and while there are those that will ONLY blame the quarterback, the play-caller needs to face some music as well.
Nathaniel Hackett wasn’t helped with some poor execution on the field, but he continuously sets the offense with a backup quarterback up in no-win situations that hurt the confidence in the entire team. Averaging 14 points is unacceptable. Blaming the backup quarterback is easy, but a big deal of the blame has to go on the play-caller.
The “Net Negative” Award: Allen Lazard
Zach Wilson was not the worst player on offense for the Jets Monday night. That dubious distinction falls at the hands of receiver Allen Lazard. While he was playing with some form of injury, the Jets offseason acquisition was called for three separate penalties and recorded two drops. For a player making over $40 million, Lazard has needed to be better.
He was a player that whenever he touched the ball or was near a play, it resulted in bad things happening. That cannot be the case for a player like him.
The “What a Waste!” Award: Jets pass rush and defensive unit
Another week, another dominant defensive showing squandered by poor offensive play. New York’s dominant group held the high-powered Chargers to under 200 yards of offense and kept an All-Pro talent like Justin Herbert in check for the entire contest.
It just didn’t matter.
The five sacks recorded by a strong defensive line showing didn’t matter. All because the Jets couldn’t score more than 20 points when they needed to. It was a waste of another strong performance and that’s becoming a dangerous norm over the last two years.
The “Welcome to the NFL, Rookie” Award: Will McDonald
Congrats to the first-round rookie for recording his first (half) sack of his career on Herbert in the second quarter. The Jets are high on Will McDonald and for good reason. He’s going to be a strong football player once he gets more playing time.
The “Welp… That Was Fun While It Lasted” Award: Thomas Morstead
Perhaps it was an early warning sign when Thomas Morstead – in line for an All-Pro punting season – outkicked his coverage on his first try and it resulted in an 87-yard punt return. Morstead told AMNY this week that the life and love for punters can change on a dime from week to week and Monday was a clear example. He still had an excellent game (50 yards per punt), but the first return changes the entire game early.
The “Jim Mora Playoffs?! Rant” Award: Jets Postseason Push
The eldest Mora made history when asked about his middling Colts team hopefully making a playoff push. After Monday night’s loss to the Chargers, Mora’s speech is well used for this Jets team. They may be 4-4 and just a game out of the playoff race, but this team is going nowhere if this offense doesn’t drastically look different. The longer these problems persist, the worse it’s going to get.
Playoffs? Really?!
The “Roughing the Passer” Award: NFL Officials
Another small posivite was the fact that, for the first time in two seasons, the Jets were beneficiaries of a roughing the passer call. While the team fumbled the ball just two plays later because….offense…it was nice to see the refs remember that the Jets should get some calls as well.
Final Score Winner:
Congratulations to our score prediction winner, Eric Pellis, who was one of only two people to predict that the Chargers would win. Although he had the Jets scoring 17 points and that looks laughable now, he gets the shoutout in today’s postgame piece.
Congrats Eric!
