You see this kind of sound all the time.

At NFL events like the Senior Bowl, the Combine and so forth, team websites will look for national media figures and ask them about their team.

Clearly the analysts know it’s a team website, so they are going to handle their commentary with kid gloves.

One other long-time writer always jokes with me that if they interviewed me about their team, the director would yell “cut” about five seconds in.

Not that I would be rude, just very blunt.

Recently at the Senior Bowl, the Jets video department interviewed a bunch of different national people, like from ESPN, and asked them – ”

“What Is It Going to Take for the Jets to Play Meaningful Football at the End of the Season?”

Let me answer that totally unfiltered and not catered to a team website.

First of all, they need much better quarterback play. Zach Wilson, who came out after his junior year, after lighting up the likes of North Alabama and Troy, probably needed a redshirt year last season. Remember, Bill Parcells always believed you pick senior QB prospects. So not only was Wilson a junior, but he played against low-level competition during that junior year, not an ideal segue into the NFL.

So now that he got his senior year out of the way, as a rookie with the Jets, he needs to take a big step this year with his mechanics, footwork, field vision and accuracy.

If he doesn’t, it’s going to be hard for the Jets to be playing meaningful football at the end of the season. It’s a QB-driven league.

They also need a much-improved pass rush. The Rams showed us this year – you get the QB position solved and you have a ferocious pass rush, you can fill in the other spots. It would be ideal for the Jets if Kayvon Thibodeaux or Aiden Hutchinson slips to them at four.

The Jets could look to add a pass rusher in free agency, but most of them are “buyer beware” players – Chandler Jones and Randy Gregory had some unfortunate substance issues off the field, Von Miller and Juston Houston are 33, Haason Reddick is undersized. I could go on about this class, but have limited space, and plus the Jets signed Carl Lawson and John Franklin-Myers last year to big-money deals, so they might not want to go there again right now.

The Jets need major improvements to their defensive discipline and instincts. Their 32nd ranked defense had too many blown assignments. They need to not only add a lot of defensive talent his off-season in free agency and the draft, but also make sure all the new player are “A plus” in the instincts department.

Also, Robert Saleh and his staff need to take their coaching game to another level. There were some growing pains last year, and in some games they were outcoached. I suspect Saleh will be better in Year Two. That first year as a head coach is tough, you can be thrown so many curve balls you don’t see coming.

So there you have it. That is the plan for the Jets to be playing meaningful football at the end of the season.

February 21, 2022

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