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Undoubtedly, they have some excellent talent on the roster.
And that includes an all-time great quarterback in Aaron Rodgers.
So how optimistic is NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger about the Jets’ chances of having a big season?
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Baldinger said on VSIN. “There is a bad history in that building.”
The Jets have missed the playoffs 12 years in a row, the longest current streak in professional sports.
And they are coming off a season where they lost their last six games in a row, after starting 7-4, to fall out of playoff contention.
So there is still some work to do on improving the culture. It’s improved but it’s still got a ways to go.
It’s not just about talent, Baldinger feels the strategy needs to improve.
He feels that the offensive struggles last year weren’t just about the quarterback position.
“Offensive they made changes at the QB position – let’s see with (new offensive coordinator) Nathaniel Hackett what they do,” Baldinger said. “I thought they were awful a year ago, regardless of the QB situation.”
That’s an interesting point. Many people are so quick to blame the QB situation, but there is an old saying, “Football is chess on grass,” and offensively, they often didn’t do a great job of playing “chess on grass.”
At times, it just seemed like they were calling plays, sometimes without a flow.
Hackett comes in with more experience than the previous play-caller, so perhaps the “chess on grass” will improve with him calling the plays.
Baldinger also feels the defensive strategy could go to another level as well.
“You’ve got to be more than a defensive line coach in his business,” Baldinger said.
Baldinger feels that Saleh needs to grow in year three as a strategist and game manager.
“There is a lot of strategy in play,” Baldinger said. “You kind of grow into the job sometimes. I have seen Robert Saleh in this some of these situations, whether it’s time management, in preparation for a team, you’ve got to do more than just rush four on defense and let those guys go hunt.”
So while Rodgers should improve their QB situation immeasurably, that alone likely isn’t going to get the Jets to the promised land.
You saw that in recent years in Green Bay. Aside from last year, where he was good, not great, Rodgers has done his part, but some other things weren’t working.
So the Jets need to make sure everything else is in place, culture-wise, strategy-wise, and so forth.
The blunt words of Baldinger are important.
Rodgers needs help.
He can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything.
As we have mentioned on many occasions, the Jets’ defense must improve in stopping the run and covering tight ends.
The player can’t be asked to do too much stuff for social media. Let them focus on football, not tertiary stuff.
This could turn out to be a magical season for the Jets, if Rodgers gets back to his MVP form, and everything around him falls into place.
May 15, 2023
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