Just because the New York Jets will expect to keep Zach Wilson as the starting QB and Nathaniel Hackett as the play-caller doesn’t mean that changes aren’t coming for the offense as a whole.
Speaking to reporters Monday following the team’s 16-12 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, head coach Robert Saleh made it clear that some things could look different for the struggling offense over the next week.
“Nothing with the quarterback, nothing with the play-caller,” Saleh explained. “We’re looking at some things regarding schematically in the things we can do differently… We’re looking at some personnel changes that I’m going to keep here with me but we’re looking at across the board to see if we can find ways to generate offense.”
Saleh’s loyalty to both his starting quarterback and play-caller comes after New York’s offense failed to produce an offensive touchdown for the second straight game. The offense as a whole has not scored an offensive touchdown in 11 straight quarters dating back to their miracle comeback win over the Giants three weeks ago.
Of course, Sunday’s loss can hardly be attributed to both Wilson and Hackett.
New York’s starting quarterback went 23-39 passing for 263 yards and 54 yards rushing. He made clutch plays throughout the contest despite a game-sealing interception late. Conversely, the Jets racked up 365 yards of total offense – the most from the group in over a month.
The bigger issue for the Jets Sunday night was the amount of penalties that wiped out big plays for a struggling unit. Breece Hall appeared to end the touchdown drought in the second quarter before a holding call on CJ Uzomah (his second of the game) canceled the play out.
Add in intentional grounding penalties, chop blocks, and pre-snap penalties and the bigger culprit seemed to be the lack of focus the group had as a collective unit. In total, the Jets were called for eight penalties with 83 yards lost – seven of which came courtesy of the offense.
For that reason, it’s enough for Saleh and the offense to stick with the two men who are in the thick of blame among fans and analysts. Even if it could provide the offense a spark.
“I don’t adhere to that,” Saleh explained. “You’re making a change just to make a change to see if it sparks something. I’ve never felt like making one guy the fall guy is gonna make everyone around him better. Now if there was something that was gonna make things better, yeah you always look at that, but Zach is playing pretty good. He’s much better than he was a year ago.”
Changes still need to be made for the Jets to save their season though. They are the worst offense inside the red zone, they only have just showed improvements on third-down, and the penalties have consistently become a major issue over the last month and a half. While roster moves will certainly come into play over the coming weeks, there are only so many changes to be made when a team is penalized at this high a rate. In four of the last five games, the Jets have committed more than eight penalties.
It’s a big reason for New York’s drought on the offensive side.
“What’s frustrating is you’ve got control over the pre-snap & post-snap penalties, but it’s the in-play penalties that are starting to creep up, and they’re happening at the worst times,” Saleh stated. “Something stupid’s happening, & it’s very frustrating because it’s derailed what had been a couple of really nice drives. It’s something that we’ll continue to address. Something we’ll continue to focus on. It’s something we definitely need to get better at.”
At 4-5, the margin for error on the offensive side is getting smaller and smaller for New York. With changes potentially coming on the offensive side, it’s more of a wait-and-see kind of game that fans will have to be patient with heading into an important road game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
