We now have two full games of Jets football to evaluate the 2023 team.
While we should be cautious not to overreact to a small sample size, there are things we can draw from the first two games that are going well and others that are not going well.
The 30-10 loss against the Cowboys exposed plenty of holes in this Jets team. Dallas might be the best team in the NFL, so again, don’t overreact. But that game surely led to some long conversations at One Jets Drive this week.
I’m going to play the role of Robert Saleh for this newsletter and give my suggestions of what I would fix if I were the head coach.
Saleh and I have a lot in common — we’re both in our 40s, both have no hair … both like football? OK, maybe we don’t have a lot in common, but I’m going to try to jump inside his bald head for this one.
Here are my five suggestions if I were Saleh to improve the Jets:
Players, not plays
I would sit Nathaniel Hackett down and tell him the focus of the offense is going to be on players, not plays. In other words, forget about all the fancy schemes that play-callers like to draw up.
The mission now is to get the ball in the hands of the team’s playmakers: Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson.
In the first two weeks, these two players have shown what they can do when they get the ball. In Dallas, though, they combined for six touches. That can never happen again. The entire game plan should revolve around figuring out the best ways to utilize these two.
The Jets are not going to have 10-, 12-, 14-play drives with Zach Wilson at quarterback. They can’t play small ball. They need to hit home runs. Hall and Garrett Wilson are their home-run hitters. Get them the ball.
One other player I would get more touches is Mecole Hardman. He has one catch in two games. Hardman is lightning-quick. Utilize him with gadget plays and get the ball in his hands. He is another player who is a threat to go 60 yards every time he touches the ball.
Higher Q rating
In a similar vein, Quinnen Williams is the Jets’ most disruptive player on defense. I want him on the field more. He has played 70 percent of the snaps in the first two games, which is good.
But I want that number over 80 percent. Williams is a force on the field. Get him out there more.
The Jets love their defensive line rotation, and I get it with the edge rushers. But Williams is so much better than any other defensive tackle they have, he should be on the field for as many snaps as he can handle. Williams is young and in great shape. He should not need that much rest.
Al Woods is a nice run stuffer, but he won’t help when the other team passes. His playing time should drop and Williams should be out there more.
MC Hammer
The Jets signed Dalvin Cook in August to a $7 million contract, but he has not looked good through two games.
I would give Michael Carter more carries and decrease Cook’s role.
I never understood signing Cook because I thought the Jets had a potentially good combo with Hall and Carter. Carter has become a third-down back, but I would like to see him get more touches and put Cook on ice for a little.
Ruckert Park
Second-year tight end Jeremy Ruckert had one of the best springs and summers of any player on the Jets. He really made a jump in his second year. So, why did he play five snaps against the Cowboys?
Ruckert is the best blocking tight end on the team. The Jets want to run the ball more. Do the math. Ruckert should be out there when the Jets go to two tight ends to block.
He needs to jump C.J. Uzomah on the depth chart. Uzomah has had minimal impact in the passing game and is not as good a blocker as Ruckert is. Uzomah missed several key blocks against the Cowboys.
We have not seen whether Ruckert can have a role in the passing game, so I’m not proposing to make him the top tight end. That should be Tyler Conklin.
But Ruckert should be the second tight end, and they need to utilize him in the running game.
Tipp off
I know every Jets fan wants to bench the entire offensive line. I’m not there yet.
I think Duane Brown will figure things out once he gets more work. Remember he missed training camp and is coming off surgery. It’s also not fair to judge him off of Sunday when he faced Micah Parsons, who is going to make every tackle look silly.
The one change I would make is at left guard. Laken Tomlinson has consistently played poorly since coming to the Jets last year. It’s time to sit him down and play rookie Joe Tippmann. You can either put Tippmann at guard, where he practiced this summer, or move Connor McGovern to guard and play Tippmann at center. Personally, I would put Tippmann at guard so you only have one moving piece on the offensive line.
Tippmann came on strong after a slow start to training camp and played well in preseason games before he was injured. Tomlinson has been a major disappointment since signing with the Jets last year. It’s time to see what Tippmann can do.
Zach Wilson’s low bar
There has been a lot of talk about whether quarterback Zach Wilson has improved.
Saleh has been insistent that Wilson is better. The numbers did not look pretty Sunday versus the Cowboys, but that may have been because of how great Dallas’ pass rush was.
Even among Jets fans, though, the sense I’m getting is the bar is low for Wilson. I think people have a vision of him from two games last year — in New England and against Jacksonville — that make them think Wilson is a completely incompetent quarterback who can’t complete a pass. So, when he does make a nice throw, everyone wants to believe Wilson has turned a corner.
But those two games were two of the worst games Wilson has played. If you look at his total body of work, there have been times when Wilson has been competent or more than competent. He has not had a game where he carried the Jets on his back. He has two 300-yard games in his career (both losses), and has not had a game with three touchdown passes. But there have been plenty of games when he was not throwing interceptions all over the place.
I took a look at Wilson’s last 17 games — a full season. That dates back to December 2021 when he played the Eagles as a rookie.
Here are his numbers over those 17 games: 253-468 (54.1 percent), 3,019 yards, 13 TDs, 12 INTs, 56 rushes, 304 yards, 4 TDs, 2 fumbles lost.
The numbers don’t lie. Wilson is not a quarterback who can lead you to a ton of wins, but you can win with him if the supporting cast does their parts.
Want to catch a game? The Jets schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
Stat’s so
Some of Zach Wilson’s worst games have come against the Patriots.
Here is a game-by-game look at how Wilson has fared against New England:
Sept. 19, 2021: 19-33 (57.6 percent), 210 yards, 0 TDs, 4 INTs — L, 25-6
Oct. 24, 2021*: 6-10 (60), 51 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs — L, 54-13
Oct. 30, 2022: 20-41 (48.8), 355 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs — L, 22-17
Nov. 20, 2022: 9-22 (40.9), 77 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs — L, 10-3
*left the game with a knee injury
Source: Stathead