The Jets fell to the Bears today in Chicago 24-10. This loss dropped New York to 3-5 on the season. The team now finds itself on its second
losing streak of 2018.Rather than doing the typical recap style looking at
individual performances
http://www.jetsfootballauthentics.com/spencer-long-jersey-authentic , I have more scattered thoughts on today’s game and the big picture.OffenseMy
opinions on players and coaches evolve over time. Over the last eight games
there might be a transformation to change my mind. With that said, right now I
really don’t want Jeremy Bates to be the offensive coordinator to oversee Sam
Darnold’s development beyond this season.Bates has to be graded on a curve for
the way the Jets offense performed on Sunday. He didn’t exactly have great
personnel to begin with, but it was further hampered by his top two receivers
and best running back being out of the lineup.If you look at the league’s great
offenses like the Chiefs and the Rams, there are many different elements making
them great. Promising young quarterbacks, top notch supporting casts, and the
ability to exploit mismatches all are high on the list. Bates had the first, but
he was sorely lacking in the latter two.There is another factor that makes these
offenses work so well, however. That is design. The Chiefs and Rams have some of
the best drawn up plays around. They make constant use of motions, shifts,
formations, and postsnap creativity to stretch defenses, force busted
assignments, and create space.There was a stark difference on display when
comparing the plays these teams ran early in the game. The Bears run an offense
based on the Kansas City system. If you watched the game, you might have noted
that Tony Romo pointed out one downhill run for a back where a receiver ran
across the formation to fake a jet sweep. The linebackers were late to fill
their gaps defending the downhill run because they had to respect the
possibility that the receiver was getting the ball on the sweep. This in turn
created space that made the run play easier to block and increased its chances
of success. This stood in contrast to the Jets constantly slamming Isaiah
Crowell into the line. The great offenses in this league frequently bring a
receiver on a fake sweep on their run plays to have this effect. The Rams do it
on practically every run play. We don’t see these things with the Jets.We also
don’t see many of the bells and whistles from the Bears offense such as complex
motions. The Bears had some read option plays with screen passes built in as
backup plans. They incorporated other misdirection concepts into their system.A
well-designed system will create a certain number of successful plays per game
based solely on scheme. The design will create an easy read and a big game that
is easy to break off because of the space and/or busted assignment created. In
this Jets offense, you rarely see players schemed open. Everything seems to be
based on guys winning one on one battles.Yes, Bates and the Jets were dealt a
bad hand, but the Bears had to deal with a shaky quarterback who was throwing
consistent ducks to open receivers. They were still able to create some big
plays solely on scheme.I have other quibbles with Bates. He was too run-heavy on
first downs. Tony Romo said the Jets were protecting Sam Darnold, but
unsuccessful runs consistently putting the team in long yardage situations isn’t
really protecting the young quarterback. I also would have liked the team to at
least try getting the ball to Trenton Cannon in space. But the alternatives
might not have worked.One thing that has been clear is the Jets don’t create
easy to execute plays. Bates was out of the NFL for four years, and it shows.
I’d prefer the Jets match Darnold with an offensive mind who knows how to make
the offense run easier.I don’t think it would be fair to criticize Bates for
failing to deliver 30 points with the ragtag crew he had, but I also think it’s
difficult to argue that the offensive coordinator and the system the Jets have
are maximizing their chances of having success.Jermaine Kearse seems like a
pretty popular guy in the fanbase. Two weeks ago we saw what he brings to the
table. He is an intelligent receiver who understands how to read
coverages
Womens Isaiah Crowell Jersey , find the soft spots in zones, and utilize leverage. Today we saw that he is a limited, inconsistent receiver. While he’s
clearly miscast as a number one option, his inability in this game to beat
coverages or win contested catches held back the offense a lot. It’s easy to let
the offensive line off the hook because they were playing the backup center. But
with the way the backup has been playing, he isn’t much of a downgrade from the
starter. There are just too many examples of well-compensated players getting
manhandled in the run game to ignore.With the offense down so many key players,
the least the team could do would be avoid shooting itself in the foot with
presnap penalties. Mission not accomplished. False starts were a regular part of
this game.DefenseThe defense for the Jets was given plenty of gifts in the form
of Mitchell Trubisky’s inaccuracy. They were up against a well-designed offense
with plenty of playmakers, though. A shutout was not going to
happen.Self-inflicted errors are difficult for me to accept, though. It wasn’t a
secret that the Jets were undermanned on offense. The least the defense could do
was not make avoidable mistakes.Instead, we got a long touchdown that was the
result of a busted coverage. We had the leader of the defense jumping offsides
on a critical third down play on the goal line. We had a cornerback in good
coverage not locate the ball.And then right when the offense finally found a
rhythm to get the Jets back into the game late, the defense promptly allowed a
touchdown drive to put it out of reach again.ManagementThere has been much
debate over whether the current regime is capable of building something special.
One vocal group of fans is adamant the answer is no. Another group has a
cautious optimism about what Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles are doing.My
personal view is the cautiously optimistic view is getting tougher and tougher
to see. I think that during his tenure Mike Maccagnan has gotten a lot of
mileage out of simply not being John Idzik. In a general manager’s first season,
it is fair to judge him based on a comparison to his predecessor. By the time we
are in year four, however, such comparisons have little relevance. A general
manager should be compared to his peers with the league’s elite teams. Is his
team among them? Are there signs his team will soon be among them. At this point
in time, simply being better than John Idzik is an irrelevant accomplishment.
Idzik left behind arguably the worst roster in the league. Asking Maccagnan to
improve that is too low of a bar to clear.What I fail to see is how Maccagnan
has the Jets on a trajectory to contend anytime soon. After four Drafts and a
bounty of cap space to build, the roster finds itself thin. Yes, the Jets were
missing Bilal Powell, Quincy Enunwa, and Robby Anderson. All three of them are
credible NFL players. But on a Super Bowl caliber offense, these are supporting
role players, not the entire offense.There is also the matter of depth. Depth
isn’t just about having quality backups who can step in when the starter is
hurt. It is also about having more than one area of major strength so that when
the team suffers a glut of injuries to one key unit
Womens Avery Williamson Jersey , it can lean on another to get by. The Jets clearly don’t have this.When it comes to Bowles, one of the biggest topics
people discuss is whether he is growing as a coach. It’s tough to argue Bowles
is growing when his game management is so poor. A consistent issue reared its
head again in this game. The Jets trailed by 14 with the ball in the the fourth
quarter. Bowles punted on fourth down.The punt made no sense. Any reasonable
estimation of the game makes it clear that the Jets lose the game if they don’t
score a touchdown on that drive. Whether the failure to score comes as the
result of a punt, a turnover, or a failed fourth down play is irrelevant. If you
don’t punt, there is at least a chance the Jets get the score they need. Punting
eliminates that chance and evaporates what small chance the team had of coming
back to win. Bowles has now done something similar to this four times in the
Jets’ last forty games. This is not a coach who seems like he is learning and
improving.Coaches can’t control the talent level of their team. For me, the
judge of a coach is whether he does everything within his power to maximize his
team’s odds of winning. This is just one of many examples to me where Bowles
does not........................Next week the Jets travel to Miami to try and
avoid a three game losing streak. The New England Patriots have approached the
final week of the regular season with a postseason-like focus.No, really. A
first-round bye through the AFC playoffs is on the line Sunday, so they insist
they're not taking their game against the lowly New York Jets lightly."It's a
one-game season," running back James White said. "We've got to play our best
football this week." The Patriots have not played during wild-card weekend since
the 2009 season, when they were blown out 33-14 by Baltimore. They also failed
to make it to the Super Bowl the other two times under coach Bill Belichick
(2005 and '06) that they played during the opening weekend of playoffs.So, New
England wants a win, which would clinch the franchise's 13th first-round bye in
AFC playoffs since 2001, the most in the NFL during that span. The Patriots
(10-5) would also earn a bye with losses by Baltimore, Houston and Tennessee on
Sunday.But they'd prefer to take care of business themselves against the Jets
(4-11)."I mean, for us, this is a playoff game, so we just worry about what we
can control," safety Patrick Chung said.There's also an outside shot New England
could clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win — which
would be its 500th in the regular season — combined with losses by Kansas City
and Los Angeles Chargers.Speaking of Gillette Stadium, Tom Brady and the
Patriots are the only team in the NFL without a loss at home (7-0). They could
complete an undefeated home regular season for the seventh time since 2002 with
a sixth straight victory in the series with the Jets."It's always tough when we
play these guys, home or away
Youth Brian Winters Jersey ," White said. "They're going to come in ready to play no matter what their record is. We've just got to play our best football
— which we haven't done yet and which I've said a lot this year. I think we all
know that we can play better in general and maybe that's enough motivation for
us to go out there and play our best."The Jets' playoff hopes vanished months
ago and this is expected to be Todd Bowles' final game as coach. New York failed
to reach the postseason in any of Bowles' four seasons and needs a victory to
just match the team's 5-11 records of the last two seasons.Bowles' bunch could
have some extra motivation: spoil the Patriots' plans."It would be awesome,"
left tackle Kelvin Beachum said. "But that's not what it's about. It's about
pride and about finding a way to get a win."Here are some other things to know
when the Jets and Patriots face off in Foxborough:BRADY'S BUMMERBrady is coming
off his worst performance of the season with his 48.3 passer rating in a 24-12
win over Buffalo his lowest since throwing four interceptions against
Indianapolis in 2006.He has 25 touchdown passes, his fewest since also tossing
25 during the 2013 season. But the 41-year-old Brady has no plans to step away
from the game anytime soon. In his weekly radio spot with Westwood One Sports
Radio on Monday, he said he fully intends to play beyond the end of his contract
in 2019."I absolutely believe I will," Brady said. "I know I've talked about it
a long time. I have goals to play not only next year, but beyond that."THE END?
All indications are that Bowles will be fired by the Jets sometime after the
clock hits zero on the scoreboard Sunday. Bowles has mostly declined to discuss
his job status or his future, despite the speculation swirling for weeks, and
his family has inevitably been exposed to."My private life will remain private,"
Bowles said. "I don't insulate them from anything. My kids go to school and
they're tough minded, they can take care of themselves and the Mrs. can take
care of herself. We understand where we are and I've got no problems with my
family."SOARING SAMJets quarterback Sam Darnold is playing the best ball of his
young career to cap his rookie season.He was 24 of 35 for a career-high 341
yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions last Sunday in New York's
overtime loss to Green Bay. In the three games since returning from a foot
injury, Darnold is 64 of 97 (66 percent) for 764 yards and six TDs with just one
INT."You just want your quarterback to be the most consistent player on the
field," Darnold said, "and that's what I try to strive to be every single
week."DOUBLE TROUBLERookie Sony Michel and James White have been dynamic
presences in Brady's backfield.Michel needs 119 yards rushing to become just the
sixth Patriots running back to reach 1,000 under Belichick, and fourth rookie to
do so — joining John Stephens (1988), Curtis Martin (1995) and Robert Edwards
(1998). White needs seven catches to become the 10th running back in NFL history
with 90 or more in a season.MANY HAPPY RETURNS Jets return specialist Andre
Roberts , selected last week for his first Pro Bowl, had a 99-yard kickoff
return for a touchdown against the Packers.He's the first player in franchise
history — and 16th in the NFL since the merger — with TDs on a catch, kick
return and punt return in the same season. He also joined Leon Johnson (1997) as
the only players in team history to return a kick and a punt for a score in the
same season.
