PITTSBURGH — The Jets lost their fourth straight game on Sunday night, this one a dispiriting 37-15 loss to the Steelers. Here are some thoughts and observations from the game:
1. The difference between the two organizations could not have been more stark on Sunday. Here you have the Steelers, who have had three coaches since 1969, and the Jets, who will probably be on their third coach in four months by the end of January.
The stable Steelers and the dysfunctional Jets.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin made an incredibly bold decision by starting Russell Wilson on Sunday after they started 4-2 with Justin Fields at quarterback. There was some grumbling but also a lot of “In Tomlin We Trust.” Tomlin was able to make a decision like that because he does not have an owner who will interfere with his decisions or second guess him if it does not work out. The Steelers truly “ignore the noise” like the Jets always talk about.
The Jets listen to the noise and let it influence them. That leads to bad football decisions. Woody Johnson too often acts like a fan and that has been on display this month. The Jets are always worried about what fans and media are saying instead of having a sound plan and sticking to it.
In the last month, Johnson has fired head coach Robert Saleh without seemingly consulting anyone involved in football operations. He said it was his decision alone. So, general manager Joe Douglas has basically been sidelined. How is the GM not involved in a decision to fire the coach? Now, we hear on Sunday that Johnson was heavily involved in getting Haason Reddick to end his holdout. You think he didn’t push for Davante Adams?
Johnson should have talked to people who have the pulse of the locker room before ripping the heart out of the team by firing Saleh. This was not a head coach who lost the team. Players have privately and publicly expressed their love for Saleh since his firing. There was disbelief inside the locker room after Johnson made that move and they have not played well since the move.
You can criticize Saleh’s coaching and no one can argue with his 20-36 record, but making a coaching change midseason is a traumatic event for a football team. It’s something Johnson has no clue about. Instead of providing a steady hand like the Rooneys have done in Pittsburgh for more than 50 years, Johnson gave the Jets a punch to the gut and they have not recovered since.
2. The Jets offense is starting to look a lot like the one we saw last year when they would just give the ball to Breece Hall or Garrett Wilson and hope they make a big play. Wilson was not as involved on Sunday because of the arrival of Adams, but Hall accounted for 103 receiving yards. These were not well designed passing plays but just check-downs to Hall where he had a lot of yards after the catch.
The Jets offense is broken right now. The running game is terrible and the passing game does not put any stress on defenses. Relying on Hall to avoid and break tackles is not going to work all season.
I know everyone wanted to blame Nathaniel Hackett and now Todd Downing will take heat, but Rodgers has a ton of control at the line of scrimmage of what play the Jets are running. He is as much to blame as the play caller.
3. The Jets roster has a lot of big names on it. It also has a lot of big ages and that is showing. Douglas loves signing older players. Tyron Smith (33) looks old. Mike Williams (30) is not what he used to be. Aaron Rodgers (40) looks like an average to slightly above average quarterback but certainly not like Rodgers in his heyday. We’ve seen this before. Last year, Douglas signed Dalvin Cook and he was done.
It is a Jets tradition to sign players who were once great and are now past their primes. Art Monk played for the Jets. Ed Reed played for the Jets. Sometimes they get the last few drops out of a player’s career but often they just get a shell of what the player used to be.
The Jets look old right now. I’m sure they’ll have games where the older players rely on muscle memory to play better but the roster is way more flawed than we thought in August.
4. Here is the good news. The Patriots are the next team on the schedule and they look awful. The Patriots are a get-right game for the Jets and they can build some momentum if they go out and dominate in New England. The schedule is incredibly easy the rest of the way with the Texans and Bills being the only big-time contenders left on the schedule.
It is hard to envision the Jets turning this around after losing four straight but they can. There are still 10 games left and there are no flawless teams in the 2024 NFL. As bad as the Jets problems seem right now, there are a lot of other teams feeling the same way right now.
But the Jets need to take care of business in New England. They dominated the first meeting a month ago (it only feels like a year ago). They have to do it again and regain some of the swagger they entered the season with.
Revealing stat
Jets receivers only had 164 yards on Sunday night. The Jets had 276 passing yards but 105 of those were to running backs with Hall accounting for 103 and Tyler Conklin getting the other seven. The Jets passing game relied way too much on checkdowns in this one.
Surprising snap count
Davante Adams played 55 out of 57 snaps in the game. I was surprised to see him out there as much as he was after just arriving Tuesday and having not played the last three weeks in Las Vegas. I know he understands the offense but I was surprised he basically never came off the field.
Game ball
Right tackle Morgan Moses played his butt off. He allowed one pressure from Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt all game. Moses is playing on a bad knee, too. It was an impressive performance.