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On the Jets’ second possession, a 12-play, 52-yard drive resulting in a 38-yard field goal by Nick Folk, they ran 10 times and attempted one incomplete pass, with Justin Fields at quarterback.
Clearly, this is Aaron Glenn’s vision for the Jets offense: a run-heavy attack with some passing sprinkled in.
But while this drive certainly fit the template the Glenn envisioned, even if they are going to be a ground-and-pound team, they will still need a little more from their passing attack than we saw on their first two drives, with Fields under center.
Fields finished 1-5 passing for four yards, and the first drive, which ended with a punt, wrapped up with three incompletions in a row.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Glenn got on the headset after that series and said something to the effect of “Run the f-in ball.” Once again, I have no idea if that happened, but based on 10 runs and one pass on the second drive, you never know.
There were two incompletions on the first series to Garrett Wilson – one was a forced pass to him that CB Paulson Adebo broke up. The other was a screen that the QB short-hopped.
The Jets’ first-string passing offense hasn’t been great in camp, and this game was no different.
But I have nothing bad to say about Fields.
He’s no different with the Jets than he was with the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers – a great runner, good on RPOs, who will hit an occasional grand slam in the passing game, but will have some strikeouts in between those homers, perhaps too many.
If you have any issue with what you are seeing, don’t blame the player.
He is who he is.
When you sign a player, and he’s exactly like he saw on the prior film, why would you be critical of the player? Seriously.
I got nothing bad to say about him . . .
Speaking of quarterbacks, Giants rookie QB Jaxson Dart had a terrific game, going 14 of 16 for 137 yards, throwing one TD, and running for another.
While he deserves credit, I thought the Jets’ backup defense was pretty bad against him, and gave him too many Ole Miss looks.
What I mean by “Ole Miss looks” is wide open, easy first-reads, lay-ups if you will.
At Ole Miss, under brilliant college play-caller Lane Kiffin, who consistently dials up easy throws for the QB, Dart had QB nirvana. Remember, QB Matt Corral was widely successful with the Rebels before Dart took over. Corral was last seen in the UFL.
Look, I’m not looking to take anything away from Dart, but Jets pass coverage against him was pretty bad, especially on his 20-yard TD pass to tight end Greg Dulcich.
Once again, I’m always leery of anointing blame on blown coverages, but the two guys who were in the vicinity were rookie linebacker Aaron Smith and fellow rookie, safety Malachi Moore.
Once again, I don’t have access to the playbook, so I don’t know for sure, but it looked like perhaps Smith should have followed Dulcich since he didn’t seem to be covering anybody else, and then Moore looked late getting over after no linebacker picked up Dulcich coming off the line.
While I can’t say for sure who’s fault that was, based on watching practice and two preseason games, Smith needs a lot of work in pass coverage, which is understandable as a UDFA out of a I-AA program.
Overall, the Jets’ pass coverage was not good in this game.
The 80-yard completion from Russell Wilson to Beaux Collins was obviously poor coverage. Quan’tez Stiggers was on him initially, and then safety Andre Cisco tried to help out later on.
Once again, have no idea whose fault this was, but Stiggers or Cisco might have been involved. If they have no culpability, I apologize.
On this play, Wilson had plenty of time to throw. Aside from a couple of pressures from Kingsley Jonathan, there wasn’t much pass-rush pressure by the Jets in this game.
Granted, they were without their two starting ends, Will McDonald and Jermaine Johnson, but they need two or three other guys in that room to spell them in the regular season, and more guys need to stand up and be counted.
Based on this game, maybe Jonathan should be one of them.
August 18, 2025
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