The Jets Fall to 0-5 Amidst Worst Start in Franchise History
The New York Jets have now accomplished something that their franchise has never seen before. For the first time in franchise history, the team has fallen to 0-5 to start their season. The Jets lost in embarrassing fashion yet again to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday with a final score of 37-22. The contributing factors to this historic loss include starting quarterback Justin Fields, the offensive line, and the defensive line.
Justin Fields Needs to Improve
Fields’ stat line is largely misleading, as once again, most of his production came in the fourth quarter. He finished with 32 completions on 46 attempts for 283 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air, as well as 7 carries for 26 yards rushing. Of those 283 yards, 137 (48%) came in the fourth quarter, as well as his 2 passing touchdowns. Fields’ biggest issue right now is that he is holding the ball for too long. According to PFF, Fields holds the ball the longest out of all quarterbacks with at least 104 drop-backs on all drop-backs, clocking in at 3.27 seconds. He is second in the league in time to throw on all drop-backs, resulting in a pass attempt as well, clocking in at 2.95 seconds. Simply put, Fields needs to make quicker decisions.
The Offensive Line Lost a Very Winnable Battle Up Front
The offensive line didn’t help Fields much as that unit played its worst game of the season in Week 5. The starting offensive line allowed 20 pressures and 5 sacks to a Dallas pass rush that only had 4 sacks going into Sunday’s game, according to PFF. While allowing this type of pressure is not ideal in any sense, I do have an understanding of how it happened, though. 46 pass attempts from Justin Fields is by far his most in a game this year. With that type of volume, there’s bound to be more pressure. The Jets also had 9 more minutes of possession than the Cowboys, despite losing by double digits. This suggests that the defense was not giving the offense a lot of time to recuperate on the sidelines. This notion is correct, as the Cowboys only had one scoring drive that lasted longer than 5 minutes of game time. Essentially, the Jets must play more complementary football.
The Defensive Line is Embarrassing
Moving to the defense, the defensive line specifically put up an impressively bad performance yesterday, given the circumstances. The Cowboys were missing their starting left tackle, center, left guard, and right guard. This should have been a layup game for that unit to get themselves back on track after struggling mightily against the Dolphins last week. Instead, they put up a measly 8 pressures, 2 QB hits, and 0 sacks. This is now the second week in a row the Jets have not registered a sack. Speaking of unregistered statistics, the Jets are now the first team in NFL history to start 0-5 without recording a single takeaway on defense. The Jets are currently bringing out one of the worst defenses in NFL history on a weekly basis.
They now sit alone at rock bottom in the NFL as the only winless team remaining. The other two teams that were 0-4 going into Week 5, the Tennessee Titans and New Orleans Saints, both picked up wins. The Jets will have to look forward to a matchup in London against the Denver Broncos in Week 6. The Jets will attempt to complete a major upset against the team that just defeated the reigning Super Bowl Champions.
Main Photo: [Robert Deutsch] – Imagn Images
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