Many plays contributed to the Jets’ collapse in Monday night’s 30-27 loss to the Patriots, and when you suit up so many young players, including 10 rookies, you expect that mistakes will be made.
However, on New England’s game-tying touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter, it wasn’t youth that cost the Jets.
On a first-down snap from New York’s 34-yard line, Cam Newton found wide receiver Damiere Byrd well in front of Jets cornerback Pierre Desir on a comeback route near the right sideline.
Desir, who is 30 and a seven-year veteran, was practicing his typical social distancing, giving his man a significant cushion so as to not get beat over the top deep like he was on a 33-yard Newton pass to Jakobi Meyers in the first quarter.
As if allowing a too-easy ten-yard completion in such a situation wasn’t bad enough, Desir then played spectator as Byrd cut across all the way to the left side of the field before Blessuan Austin squeezed him out of bounds three yards from paydirt. Two plays later, Newton ran it in to make it 27-27.
Desir has often been benched this season for such substandard efforts, and after that drive, Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams made a stronger statement than usual – inserting fifth-round pick Bryce Hall, who was making his first appearance of the season, in Desir’s spot for New England’s two-minute drill that ended with Nick Folk’s walk-off field goal.
That Meyers was able to settle in between Hall and fellow rookie safety Ashtyn Davis for a 20-yard gain on the final play from scrimmage prior to Folk’s kick could be chalked up to growing pains. When you’re 0-9, you grimace and move forward hoping it was a learning experience.
Desir, on the other hand, is not in a position to warrant mulligans, and the fact he’s still on this team after such a display says all you need to know about its culture.
While many Jets fans, including me, are fine with an 0-16 season so that the organization can secure the No. 1 pick and once-in-a-decade quarterback Trevor Lawrence, that’s now how the folks inside the Florham Park facility are supposed to think. They have to know that constant losing has consequences beyond the obvious record; namely, young players becoming ingrained to what should be unacceptable professionalism.
Head coach Adam Gase might be a dead man walking until he is inevitably let go, but general manager Joe Douglas has five more years on his contract. It’s on him to weed out all those who play like they do not want to be here – and if he wasn’t on injured reserve, meek-tackling safety Bradley McDougald, the “return” for Jamal Adams, would also fall into this category.
Desir, whom Douglas signed as a free agent after a rough season in Indianapolis, should be an easy cut, as the Jets are only on the hook for this season’s $3.75 million contract. It’s not like Monday’s game, where Desir allowed 5.83 yards per coverage snap, the worst among 83 cornerbacks with at least 15 coverage snaps per ProFootballFocus.com, was an aberration; on the season, only seven of 94 players with 150 coverage snaps at his position have proven more generous to opposing receivers. Despite Desir’s team-leading three interceptions, two of which came against Denver’s third-string quarterback Brett Rypien in Week 4, opposing QBs have a hefty 116.5 passer rating when targeting Desir this season.
Give Desir’s reps to guys with a future here. Hall, who played about half of Monday’s defensive snaps, should have that ramped up next weekend against the Chargers. Heck, give some to Corey Ballentine, the Giants’ sixth-round pick in 2019 whom Douglas claimed off waivers this week. As lousy as Ballentine has been in coverage, I expect that he’ll at least try.
For a FAN’s perspective of the Nets, Devils and Jets, follow Steve Lichtenstein on Twitter: @SteveLichtenst1
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