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Orchard Park – The Jets’ loss can be summed up pretty easily . . .
Like I asked Todd Bowles after the game – “It’s got to be hard to win in this league when you can’t stop the run or run the football.”
And that pretty much sums up why the Jets lost this game.
Now the Jets issues running the football today shouldn’t be a surprise.
Even with all the roster changes in Buffalo this summer, they still are loaded on the defensive line with guys like Marcel Dareus, Kyle Williams and Jerry Hughes.
And the Jets were so devoid of weapons in the passing game today, the Bills were able to consistently load up the box because they had so little fear of the Jets’ aerial attack.
The Jets’ passing offense really wasn’t set up to succeed today. You had two players out there playing prominent roles who just arrived. They know very little of their playbook, and don’t have much chemistry with Josh McCown. I’m talking about wide receiver Jermaine Kearse and tight end Will Tye. Now both played fairly well considering, but the Jets were very limited in what they could do. Also, two of their most impressive weapons throughout the summer – tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins and wide receiver Jalin Marshall – were out today serving league suspensions.
So this passing offense wasn’t exactly set up to light the scoreboard up today.
And then the lost they only tight end left standing who was with them their entire off-season – Eric Tomlinson, who hurt his elbow in the first half. The Tomlinson injury certainly hurt their running game. He’s a very good run blocker.
Look, I’m not here to make excuses for the Jets. I wrote about this during the week, and said it on the radio – I predicted a Bills win because of the Jets weapon situation.
Here is what I wrote in a preview I wrote for a freelance job – “The Jets have four passing game weapons who just arrived via waivers (tight ends Will Tye and Neil Sterling, along with wide receiver Jeremy Kerley) and a trade (wide receiver Jermaine Kearse), so none of them are comfortable with the team’s offense or the quarterback (Josh McCown). Also, two other weapons, tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins and wide receiver Jalin Marshall, are serving NFL suspensions. Will all these issues in the Jets’ passing game, the Bills, playing at home, should prevail.”
So the Bills loaded up the box, and the Jets rushing attack was non-existent.
As for the Jets’ rush defense, that should be a little more troubling to the Jets and their fans. Their rush defense today was embarrassing.
On two occasions in the first half, Darron Lee was pulled from the game. He was replaced by Julian Stanford. On of these occasions was after a 20-yard run by McCoy to the left side.
Stanford probably should be starting next to DeMario Davis with Lee being used as a situational player. I’m just keeping it real folks. But will the decision-makers have the gumption to do this and face the media criticism? Probably not. If I were running things I wouldn’t care, but I’m not running things. Ego and PR is often a big part of personnel moves. It shouldn’t be, but it is in most places.
Lee is a liability in run support because of his size. He’s just not big enough to stack-and-shed offensive linemen who get on him. We have seen this over-and-over. It’s not his fault. He’s just not build for it.
Also, the Jets didn’t do a great job of setting the edge, which is essential if you are going to have a good run defense. On the first play of the second quarter, Jordan Jenkins didn’t seal the edge on a Shady McCoy run off left tackle for a 23 yards. The play went right by him.
We can talk about a lot of reasons for the Jets’ loss today, but at the top of the list is not being able run the ball or stop the run.
Hard to win in this league with that combo.
September 10, 2017
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