How do the Jets’ fourth quarter woes compare with the rest of the NFL?

Fourth quarters have not been kind to the Jets recently. The team has lost five of its last six games overall, and all five of these games were there for the taking in the fourth quarter.

It has seemed to me like the offense has really hit the skids in the final quarter. I wanted to see the extent to which the offense fell apart in the fourth quarter. Is it the unit failing to function over the entire period? Is it just some key mistakes?

I decided to compare the Jets with other offenses across the league. I took the average yards per play of every offense in the first three quarters of games and compared it with the fourth quarter and overtime. Here are the results.

There is clear slippage here. The Jets are averaging a full half yard less per play in the fourth quarter (and overtime) than they are in the first three quarters. Somewhat surprisingly, there is an even bigger dropoff among nine other teams.

So it might be a bit of decline and a bit of key mistakes that stand out in one’s mind. The Jets clearly decline in the fourth quarter. On paper, other teams have even bigger issues with consistency. Do they make the killer error, though?