The Jets looked to have turned a corner in Week 4 after defeating the Tennessee Titans in overtime, but that wave crested a bit with a 27-20 loss to the Falcons in London that leaves them 1-4 heading into their bye week.
There are still 12 games left for the Jets to right the ship and learn, but they all seem to agree that the process has to begin in what is technically a “week off.”
“This week coming up we have to get healthy and do some self-scouting to see how we can get better,” linebacker CJ Mosley said. “This is a bye week for us but it’s really not; we've got to really lock in and figure out what we really need to do as a team collectively to get back on track.”
“Credit to their game plan, but obviously, when it’s the fourth quarter and game’s on the line, somebody has to close the game,” head coach Robert Saleh added. “You have to start by learning how not to lose, and when you start to learn how to win, you have to learn how to close. Those are things a young team will get better at.”
Part of all of that is getting off to better starts, and avoiding situations like Sunday where the Jets’ first recorded first down of the game came with just under nine minutes left in the second quarter – after the Falcons had already scored 17 points and forced two three-and-outs and a turnover.
Very similar even to the Tennessee game, where the team was down 9-0 in the early second quarter with just one first down and one turnover in their first three drives.
“I don’t know what it is, but we have to figure out during the bye week how to fix that and come out and start better, and I have to play better as well,” Zach Wilson said. “In the second half of every game we’ve looked really good and showed what we’re capable of, but we just have to get a good rhythm and flow going. Starting three-and-out isn’t the way to do that. We have the tools, and in those two-minute drills, confidence is higher than ever.”
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“I thought the plan for the week was awesome, but we have to find a way to get off,” Saleh said. “It’s a multitude of things, but we couldn’t get into a rhythm, and we have to start faster. I’m putting that on me to try to figure it out next week.”
Saleh wouldn’t blame the travel, or the length of last week’s game that went a full 70 minutes – and rightfully so, as the Jets have a very poor ratio in the first quarter: five three-and-outs to four first downs, and nearly as many turnovers (three).
Beyond that, they didn’t take their first lead of the season until the second half last week and have never led in any of their four losses, which makes this Corey Davis quote both accurate and interesting.
“We have a lot of self-inflicted things we’re doing to ourselves; credit to them, but they didn’t really do anything to stop us in the first half, it was all us,” Davis said. “We have to eliminate that.”
To Davis’ point, Atlanta’s first drive saw a roughing the passer penalty on an incomplete pass on 3rd and 9 and a 12-yard run on 4th and 1, two huge plays that kept the drive alive for a touchdown. However, the Jets went three-and-out on a run, a scramble, and an incompletion, and after an Atlanta touchdown drive that had just one short third down, the Jets again went three-and-out after facing a 3rd and 13.
Atlanta’s third drive also featured just one third down – which they converted plus got another personal foul on – while the Jets’ third drive was an incompletion and an interception, so it wasn’t until CJ Mosley forced a Hayden Hurst fumble that the Jets had any momentum.
Even then, though, 20 minutes were off the clock, and it took a 16-play drive just to get three points, a drive that was kept alive by a pass interference call on the first of four third downs the Jets faced.
“I thought we were executing, but when you stack up plays and get to the fourth, fifth, sixth play of the drive, it gets very hard,” Saleh said.
The Jets made it harder by allowing Atlanta to drive 37 yards in just over two minutes – again helped by a timely penalty – to kick a field goal to take a 20-7 halftime lead. The second half was much better, as the Jets scored out of the gate, forced another turnover, and brought it to within 20-17 with six minutes left.
But once again, learning how to close came into play, as Atlanta promptly drove 75 yards in just over four minutes, making it 27-17 with 2:19 left. The Jets drove and eventually kicked a field goal with 17 seconds left and tried the onside kick, but Atlanta recovered and that was that.
“We had momentum rolling and got turnovers, but we have to find a way on defense, put the team on our back,” Mosley said. “It’s hard to come back when you get down like that early.”
A valiant comeback where Gang Green scored 17 of the last 24, but allowing 20 of the first 23 was indeed too much to overcome – and left the Jets a missed Randy Bullock field goal at the gun away from being winless.
“We have to figure out a way to not go three-and-out and get them off the field, and we have to establish something on offense,” Wilson said. “Coach Saleh’s message is that we’re going to figure it out. We really feel like we’re right there as a team; it’s a process, but we’re going to keep getting better.”
Added Davis: “We know we’re a better team than 1-4, so we’re angry because we know we’re better than what we’ve been displaying. We haven’t even played our best ball yet, but we have to go back to the drawing board and get back to work.”
They have a long flight home from London and then two weeks ahead of their Oct. 24 showdown with the Patriots in Foxboro.
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