The Jets postseason hopes ended weeks in the past and, in case you are being life like, months in the past.
This season has been about growth and displaying progress, and the Jets are doing that within the remaining month of the season. Listed below are 5 areas the place the Jets look higher now than they did six to eight weeks in the past:
The Quarterback
Zach Wilson performed his greatest recreation of the season in Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers. He regarded comfy and decisive within the pocket and made some very nice throws into tight home windows. Wilson has not stuffed up the field rating with gaudy statistics, however his enchancment is apparent whenever you watch the video games.
“The quarterback has made a major leap when it comes to simply his management and command of the offense,” Jets coach Robert Saleh stated Monday.
In his six video games since coming back from a knee damage, Wilson has accomplished 102 of 182 passes (56 %) for 1,079 yards with 4 landing passes and two interceptions. He additionally has run 19 instances for 139 yards and 4 touchdowns. In his first six video games, he accomplished 104 of 181 passes (57 %) for 1,168 yards, 4 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He ran the ball simply eight instances for 22 yards.
Wilson has protected the ball significantly better and trusted his legs to scramble, two main indicators of progress within the rookie quarterback.
Run to sunlight
The Jets have discovered a operating recreation within the final month. They've rushed for greater than 100 yards of their final three video games — 102 towards the Dolphins, 273 versus the Jaguars and 150 towards the Buccaneers. They topped 100 speeding yards solely 3 times within the first 11 video games.
The offensive line has performed extra constantly, and operating backs Michael Carter, Tevin Coleman, Ty Johnson and Austin Walter have all damaged off large runs. Carter seems like he can’t be tackled at instances and must be a fixture within the Jets backfield for the subsequent a number of years.
“I really feel like our run recreation has actually taken off,” Saleh stated. “We’re producing loads of explosives within the run recreation. … It’s a terrific testomony to John Benton, our O-line coach and the offensive line. They’re enjoying their butts off and the scheme is absolutely loads of pre-snap motion, loads of deception and loads of shifting the road of scrimmage. It’s been superior to look at.”
Getting began early
One of many tales of the early season was the Jets’ incapability to attain within the first quarter. They had been shut out within the first quarter of the primary six video games. They've gotten off to higher begins not too long ago. After not main at halftime for the primary 13 weeks, they've held halftime leads in every of the previous three video games. They're averaging 13.7 factors within the first half within the final six weeks.
“We talked about it earlier within the season, proper, we’re a younger staff,” sort out Morgan Moses stated. “Properly, this younger staff is creating into an older staff as a result of the youthful guys are stepping up and turning into veteran gamers and the veteran guys are taking that on as nicely.”
Holding it shut
The Jets had a stretch of ugly video games in the course of the season during which they had been noncompetitive. They misplaced 54-13 to the Patriots, 45-30 to the Colts and 45-17 to the Payments. The video games had been over by halftime. The Jets have flipped that round in latest weeks. The Jets led the Buccaneers till the ultimate 15 seconds on Sunday. That got here after a win over the Jaguars. They had been tied with the Dolphins within the fourth quarter three weeks in the past and even performed the Saints shut till the fourth quarter the week earlier than.
The subsequent step is for the Jets to show these shut losses into wins, however enjoying watchable video games is a step ahead.
Take it away
The protection has struggled to get takeaways this season. The unit didn't have any interceptions in its first six video games. It has had three within the final three video games. General, the Jets had 5 takeaways within the final three video games, equaling the quantity that they had within the seven video games previous to that stretch. Rookie cornerback Brandin Echols has two interceptions within the final three weeks and returned one for a landing.
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