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This is certainly a winnable game for the Jets . . .
But this former GM thinks some things to change for the Jets for them to win games consistently.
These are not my words. Don’t kill the messenger, but when somebody makes these kind of comments about the team you cover, and he worked in the league for 30 years, perhaps you need to take heed.
Former NFL GM Mike Lombardi feels the Jets have some thinks they must fix to improve.
“The Jet should be 0-3,” Lombardi said on VSIN this week. “You can talk about the talent. I mean . . . they don’t do the details very well and they find ways to lose games.”
An example of a detail issue is something like leaving receivers Amari Cooper and Ja’mar Chase wide open for touchdowns in the end zone in back-to-back games. They need to clean up details like this.
Lombardi feels the Jets also need to play better complimentary football.
“To me, the Jets just run plays – they don’t play complimentary football to the offense or defense,” Lombardi said. “They never get control of the game. I never know what to expect when they go on the field.”
He feels they need to figure out a way to manufacture wins by managing the game better, and he feels Brian Daboll has done a good job doing that with the 2-1 New York Giants.
“Every game there is a way to play to win it and I don’t think the Jets do it,” Lombardi said. “The Giants with Daboll, I think they are the less talented team, but manage the game better.”
Like running the ball more. Lombardi feels the Jets “abandon the run” too quickly.
Lombardi feels that Daboll has won games despite his QB, Daniel Jones, being very inconsistent, and there is an art to doing that, by managing the game a certain way, something the Jets must do with young QB Zach Wilson returning in Pittsburgh, after missing the first three games of the season.
“How do you play the game to benefit Zach Wilson?” Lombardi said. “I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen them understand the concept. They just go out there and do what they do and they win or they don’t.”
Lombardi also thinks the Jets need to change their approach to blitzing.
“The Jets do their typical thing – they run blitzes into protection – they don’t attack the protections – they just call blitzes – that’s a problem,” Lombardi said.
We aren’t on the headset when the Jets call their blitzes, but Lombardi feels the Jets blitzes need to be more pragmatic.
“You need to call timely pressures and attack the protections,” Lombardi said. “As a defensive coordinator, you spend most of your time understanding how pass protections originate and how to attack them and how to get home free. To blitz and not get a guy home free is bad. You gotta get a guy free. You gotta get a free rusher or you’re trying to get a matchup your little guy is trying to block my big guy. You also have to eliminate big plays. You can’t try to cause turnovers yet allow big plays.”
A zero blitz last week against the Bengals led to a 56-yard touchdown to Tyler Boyd.
This is a big week for the Jets’ pressure packages, because Lombardi feels if they put a lot of pressure on Steelers QB Mitch Trubisky, and force turnovers, they have a shot in this game.
“The objective of this game is to turn the ball over, to put pressure on Trubisky, and turn the ball over,” Lombardi said.
But based on what he’s seen, Lombardi is concerned they might get out-coached.
“This is a winnable game for [the Jets] in terms of talent level,” Lombardi said. “I’m not sure it is with the coaching matchup.”
It’s up to Robert Saleh and his staff to prove critics like Lombardi wrong, perhaps with improved attention to detail and game management.
September 30, 2022
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