Headline for a video blog about the Jets’ loss to New England – “No pride, no fight.”
An analyst on a TV post-game show said, “I think the biggest letdown for me is we didn’t see any emotion.”
Can we stop already!
None of what we are seeing from the 3-13 Jets is about effort, pride, fight, or emotion.
Those are just easy angles to throw out there, cookbook answers, but those things are not the problems.
The effort is fine, the pride is fine, the fight is fine, the emotion is fine.
How did all these things look in the first half of the Jets’ recent loss to New Orleans?
Saints were up 9-6 at the intermission. It was a highly competitive game at that point.
But then in the second half, the bottom dropped out, and the Jets ended up losing 29-6.
Why?
Aside from starting an undrafted free agent QB who had accuracy issues in college, the biggest reason the bottom dropped out, like most games over the last month, is blown coverages galore in the back seven.
In the second half of the Saints’ win over the Jets, WR Chris Olave was wide open for two touchdowns. Wide open! How does another team’s #1 WR not get covered on two touchdown passes? Look, he’s a terrific player, and he’s going to beat defenders and make plays. We know that. But wide open twice for easy TDs?
Just like RB Travis Etienne, who had three touchdown catches in the Jets’ blowout loss to Jacksonville.
And then New England QB Drake Maye looked like he was conducting a seven-on-seven practice drill, throwing five touchdowns against the Jets.
None of this has to do with effort, pride, fight, or emotion.
It’s about players not reading their keys right or not being NFL caliber players. It’s also about the other team winning the coaching chess match, and consistently scheming guys wide open.
Do you think any of the young players who are blowing their coverage assignments aren’t playing with effort, pride, fight, and emotion? Do you think they are trying to get beat, put out bad film, and end up working on a loading dock?
This is about myriad dubious personnel decisions and suspect X’s and O’s.
It’s not about effort, pride, fight, or emotion.
Those are just lazy narratives.
I see guys flying around playing very hard. Often not playing smart, but playing hard. Those are two different things.
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