The Jets had been lousier than the climate. On a uncooked, moist, depressing evening within the Jersey swamp, that was all that wanted to be stated.
With their credible playoff hopes at stake, the Jets adopted the lead of tens of hundreds of their ticket holders:
They didn’t trouble to point out up.
Disgrace on them. Disgrace on the Jets, that's, not their followers. The lads, girls, and youngsters who fought the rain and the darkness and the visitors — lots of them from Lengthy Island, two bridges away — deserved some type of commendation for making the journey to look at the 7-7 Jets turn out to be the 7-8 Jets by means of their fourth consecutive defeat.
No, this 19-3 remaining wasn’t simply any fourth consecutive defeat, not with the No. 1 general choose from the 2021 draft, Trevor Lawrence, trying very very similar to the large man on campus and the No. 2 general choose from that draft, Zach Wilson, trying very very similar to he belonged precisely the place his head coach put him — on the bench.
Late within the third quarter, with the Jaguars holding a 16-3 lead and with Jets followers relentlessly booing their quarterback, Robert Saleh turned to a former fourth-stringer, Chris Streveler, a 27-year-old quarterback who has by no means made an NFL begin. Saleh changed Wilson final month with a participant as soon as drafted 171st general, Mike White, and changed him Thursday evening with a participant who wasn’t drafted in any respect.
Saleh defined that Streveler, a former Canadian Leaguer, was inserted merely to revive the walking-dead run recreation, including that it “simply snowballed in a great way for Strev.” And in a really unhealthy means for Zach. Wilson appeared deflated sufficient afterward to encourage some sympathy. He stated he needed to “look myself within the mirror” and ask himself, “Why are we not transferring the ball?”
Onerous because it may be to consider, 22 begins into his professional profession, it could possibly be throughout for Wilson as a franchise player-to-be. Saleh admitted that his quarterback is struggling a disaster of confidence. In the course of this nightmarish efficiency, one league government despatched me the next textual content:
“I consider my predraft remark to you was the next: ‘I'd not draft Zach Wilson in any spherical.’ ”
The chief added that the sport seemed too massive for Wilson, and that the Jets ought to’ve performed a greater job tanking on the finish of the 2020 season to finish up with Lawrence at No. 1, quite than the BYU star at No. 2.
It was arduous to dispute both declare. This was Wilson’s first prime-time look, and he got here up as empty as MetLife’s higher deck.
However in equity, this no-show wasn’t solely concerning the beginning quarterback, not even shut. That is on Saleh, too, and everybody who coaches with him and performs for him. Saleh obtained steamrolled by Jacksonville’s Doug Pederson, a Tremendous Bowl champ in Philly and a longtime NFL quarterback who's growing Lawrence right into a beast.
“It begins with teaching,” Saleh stated, his solely good name of the evening.
This meltdown was what they name a complete staff effort. It was greatest captured by the official who flagged the Jets within the first quarter earlier than asserting, “False begin. Everybody however the heart.”
The house staff had 4 speeding yards at halftime — 4! — and completed with 66, 54 from the rugged, Tebow-like Streveler. The protection surrendered a 96-yard landing drive, and Garrett Wilson, who appeared a slam dunk to turn out to be the primary Jets receiver to clear 1,000 yards since 2015, solely caught 4 passes for 30 yards, leaving the constructing 4 yards in need of the mark.
The usually accountable Garrett Wilson additionally left the constructing with out assembly with reporters at his locker. Actually, none of this was in any respect what I’d anticipated. I assumed that Saleh had proven management after the Detroit loss by blaming himself for clock mismanagement. I assumed that after three tight, robust losses, his Jets would reply to him. And I assumed Garrett Wilson could be the one who responded like no different.
However Thursday evening, the NFL’s greatest rookie offensive participant seemed like each different overmatched teammate on the market. Streveler was about the one Jet who got here to play, and he was about the one Jet who wasn’t even alleged to play.
Man, the Jets want Mike White’s ribs to heal ASAP. They should discover a medical skilled prepared to clear him between now and the airplane trip to Seattle, as a result of they'll’t throw Zach Wilson again on the market.
The Jets simply don’t play for him. They confirmed vitality for White, they usually confirmed vitality for Streveler. However the quarterback who was drafted to steer the Jets to their first Tremendous Bowl in additional than half a century is the final word downer.
Wilson was by no means alleged to lose his job to White, and he was by no means supposed to stay benched for greater than a drive after the temp, Streveler, obtained despatched into the sport. However Wilson isn’t a superb participant, and the Jets aren’t a superb staff.
“It’s not concerning the playoffs proper now,” Saleh stated.
Rattling proper. As soon as once more, the Jets needs to be ashamed of themselves for raining on their followers’ parade.
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