Less than an hour after the Jets defeated the Titans Sunday in Nashville, the last of the players were dressing in the visitor’s locker room at Nissan Stadium.
Among them were receiver Allen Lazard and running back Breece Hall.
At one point, Lazard asked Hall what “grade’’ he’d give the offense for the game. Both agreed it was a “C’’ or “C-plus’’ game for the offense despite the fact that the Jets scored three touchdowns.
“We left a lot of plays out there,’’ Lazard said. “I say that with the utmost respect for the Titans. We think they played a phenomenal game defensively. They had a great game plan, they pressured us and they stopped the run very well.
“We were very fortunate to come out of here with the W, because it could have gone another way.’’
It definitely could have gone the other way, with the Titans gifting the Jets a turnover on an ill-advised Will Levis lateral in the red zone with Tennessee already leading, 7-0.
The Jets’ offense, entering Thursday night’s home opener against the Patriots at MetLife Stadium, has started slow in each of the first two games.
The Jets got away with the sluggish start on offense in last week’s game thanks to the Titans’ ineptitude on offense. But they got overwhelmed by the 49ers in the season opener partially because of the slow start offensively.
In their first five possessions in the loss at San Francisco, the Jets had three three-and-outs as well as a lost fumble by Hall in their own territory.
In the win at Tennessee, the Jets began with two three-and-outs and three consecutive punts to start the game.
Jets receiver Garrett Wilson, in advance of Thursday’s game, called it “super important’’ to get off to a faster start on offense.
“I feel like once you get rolling, if you can start hot, that kind of fuels the rest of the game,’’ Wilson said. “It’s something that we’re working on. We want to come out with the mindset like we want to score first, score on the first drive. You’ve got to have the mindset. You got to go out and do it.’’
Part of this all has been quarterback Aaron Rodgers acclimating to game speed with his offensive weapons after sitting out all of last season.
He, like Lazard and Hall after the Titans game, was similarly lukewarm about the offensive performance.
One of the issues that stands out is that Rodgers hasn’t yet completely gelled with his top skill position players, most particularly Wilson, who entered Thursday night’s game with 10 receptions for 117 yards.
Those are modest numbers by Wilson’s standards. They project to 85 catches for 986 yards after he caught 95 for 1,042 last season and 83 for 1,103 in his rookie year.
Tight end Tyler Conklin’s lack of involvement in the passing game has been curious after he’d been such a consistent pass catcher the previous two seasons.
Conklin entered Thursday with just two catches for 16 yards in two games, this after he caught 61 for 621 yards last season and 58 for 552 yards and four touchdowns in 2022.
“I’m not worried about that,’’ Conklin told The Post of his low output so far. “Those things will come. I’m not worried about who’s getting the ball.’’
Two games is, indeed, a small sample size — one too small to consider a trend. But with Rodgers healthy, there was an expectation that he was going to help turn Wilson into a star and that Conklin might have a big year considering how dependable he is as a pass catcher.
“We need to get our plays up to the mid-60s, touching 70, and then you’ll have more opportunities to throw the football,” Rodgers said. “The more opportunities, the more chances down the field, more yards, more points.”