The Jets team the Patriots will face Sunday at Gillette is better than the team they faced in Week 2 -- but not by much.
Rookie quarterback Zach Wilson continues to be the subject of much scrutiny. As the quarterback, Wilson is the obvious target of criticism despite the rest of the team possessing the same mercurial nature as the young quarterback.
Wilson played much better in Week 1 against the Panthers than any stat will ever say he did given the amount of steps he clocked running for his life the entire game. On the flipside, the Jets’ offensive line performed much better in Week 4’s Jets win against the Titans and their Week 5 loss against the Falcons. In those game it was largely Wilson’s play that held the team back.
Where New York’s pass catchers had a case of the drops the first few weeks of the season, the unit didn’t record a single drop in London against the Falcons -- but Wilson struggled to put the ball on them, finishing the day with a sub-60% completion percentage.
The stars just aren’t aligning for the Jets offensively. It doesn’t mean they never will, but at the moment the unit isn’t functioning as a cohesive unit the way a good NFL offense should.
Even in the Jets’ win over the Titans, Wilson threw a horrible interception in the first half and only completed seven passes. But in the second half of the win, Wilson showcased the talent that propelled him to the second overall pick in the draft, but more importantly a short memory -- a trait that will be very important for Wilson to embody as he embarks on the rest of his rookie season.
It’s fair to point out that the Jets’ win and Wilson's hot second half did come against one of the lesser NFL secondaries in that of the Tennessee Titans, but it’s still a positive step for the rookie QB. Likewise for the rest of the Jets, the Titans team they beat didn’t have AJ Brown or Julio Jones healthy on offense.
While the Jets are moving slowly in the right direction, the Patriots are removing much faster in that same direction after hanging with the likes of the Buccaneers and Cowboys since last seeing the Jets in Week 2. The Patriots should take care of business handedly.
Here are three more aspects of the New York Jets to keep an eye on this Sunday...
Tha Carter I
Rookie running back Michael Carter, a preseason fantasy darling, has solidified himself as the lead back in a Jets backfield that also includes Tevin Coleman, Ty Johnson, and Lamical Perine.
While Carter hasn’t done anything earth-shattering from a production standpoint, his attempts have slowly increased as the season has gone. Carter rushed the ball 11 times in Week 2 against the Patriots vs 20 for the rest of the backs. Week 3 saw the Jets playing from behind to the Broncos the entire game, but still Carter saw nine of the team’s 13 rushing attempts. In the last two weeks he out-touched the rest of the backfield by a total of 23 to 17.
The Book of Alijah
New York’s offensive line practically got Wilson killed Week 1 against the Panthers, a game in which they lost left tackle Mekhi Becton for an extended period of time to an injury. The unit wasn’t much better against the Patriots in Week 2, but appears to have improved despite Bekton’s absence. Per PFF, the unit allowed zero sacks and four total pressures in the Week 4 win over the Titans and seven total pressures in the loss to the Falcons in Week 5.
First round rookie Alijah Vera-Tucker strung together two particularly good games before the Jets’ bye week this past week after a few “welcome to the NFL, kid” performances the first few weeks of the season.
If If Was A Fifth…
Robert Saleh’s development of young defensive players is well-documented. The 49ers used roughly a hundred first round picks on defensive lineman while Saleh was on staff there, but it was his development of mid/late round players that stood out in particular. Fred Warner may be the only household name, but without players like Dontae Johnson, Jimmie Ward, Jaquiski Tartt, Ahkello Witherspoon, Adrian Colbert, and DJ Reed the 2019 49ers Super Bowl defense would not have been the well-oiled machine it was.
Saleh is basically starting from scratch with the Jets. But two young defensive backs in particular have stood out early in the season as players to keep an eye on: 2020 5th-round pick Bryce Hall and 2021 5th-pick Michael Carter II (not to be confused with his aforementioned teammate with the same exact name).
