Jaguars 29 Jets 15: Season Continues to Go South in Florida

The Jets saw their record fall to a dismal 1-6 today with a 29-15 loss to the Jaguars in Jacksonville. Let’s go through some of went wrong.

The Bad

Offensive Line: The line allowed eight sacks of Sam Darnold. This was the second time in four weeks the unit allowed that many. It was never a talented unit, and there have been some injuries. With that said, there’s no excuse for the line to be this bad. The Jets are currently allowing sacks at a historically dubious rate. There seems to be no ability to figure out blitzes and very poor communication when passing guys off.

Sam Darnold: I’ll put Darnold here because for a second straight week he was way too loose with the football. He threw three interceptions and fumbled one that went out of bounds. Ball security has to get better.

With that said, I can’t agree with anybody drawing any long-term conclusions about Darnold. Between the coaching, the lack of a go to receiver, and the laughable state of the offensive line, this is one of the worst offensive infrastructures I have ever seen a team give a young quarterback. I thought Geno Smith’s was abysmal, but at least those Jets teams had some adequate linemen. Right now the offense only works if Darnold successfully plays heroball. I can’t say I’m surprised to see Darnold make big mistakes being overly aggressive in this context.

Three straight games when he was out, nobody on the Jets offense could lift anything. I sat here and wrote about how Sam Darnold alone wasn’t going to come in and save the days. Odds were the surroundings would drag him down. I don’t see how now suddenly we can act like him struggling is a shocking and telling event.

Jamal Adams: I thought Adams had a couple of shaky flags thrown against him, but this might be the worst game I can remember him playing in the NFL. It seemed like he got lost in coverage on Jacksonville’s first touchdown. He dropped an interception later on. On Jacksonville’s second touchdown, he missed a sack on Gardner Minshew. He also might have had some culpability for the third Jaguars touchdown.

Marcus Maye: I love the Jets’ young safety duo, but this wasn’t their day. Maye missed a tackle on a big run by Leonard Fournette that set up an early Jaguars touchdown. Then on the second Jacksonville touchdown, he appeared to bust the coverage.

Coaching: I don’t want to go on for too long, but I could. I am starting to feel like the Jets are at a distinct disadvantage when they take the field each week simply because because the other team doesn’t have Adam Gase and his coaching staff. There’s seldom anything schematic to give the players something easy to execute. When the opponent makes a single adjustment, there’s no answer.

The Good

Ryan Griffin: Griffin had a shockingly big game with a pair of touchdowns and a catch for a two point conversion. Good for you, Ryan Griffin.

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Next up is Miami. The Jets couldn’t possibly lose that game. Could they?