CLEVELAND – The Jets suffered a 37-20 defeat on Thursday night to the Browns and are now 6-10 this season with one game remaining.
Here are some thoughts and observations from the game:
1. Robert Saleh has now been the Jets head coach for 50 games. He is 17-33 in that time.
His .340 winning percentage is the worst among Jets coaches that made it to 50 games. Todd Bowles is slightly better at .375.
Jets owner Woody Johnson said Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas will be back in 2024, so there is no point in discussing whether Saleh has done enough to keep the job.
But even the biggest Saleh supporter would admit that questions remain about Saleh even after three years on the job. His team often looks unprepared and undisciplined like it did Thursday night against the Browns.
The Jets defense looked flat-footed for the first half. Joe Flacco was not throwing the ball over their heads. He simply found players underneath who raced through missed tackles and bad angles from Jets defenders.
His team committed 12 penalties on Thursday after 14 last week against Washington. The Jets lead the NFL in penalties with 123. Yes, they have one more game than 30 other teams but they were already in the lead entering Week 17.
The Jets’ hope is that Aaron Rodgers will cure all ills in 2024 and maybe he will. He certainly will cover up some of the problems. But Saleh is about to enter a year like no other he has experienced here.
There will be no patience from Jets fans in 2024 for his team looking unprepared. No patience for slow starts. No patience for 12 men in the huddle. No patience for wasting timeouts in the third quarter. The scrutiny of 2024 will be more intense than anything he has experienced before.
Saleh will enter his fourth year as Jets coach with plenty of questions still swirling around them. How he answers them will determine whether he makes it to 2025 as Jets coach.
2. The Jets defense has not lived up to their preseason billing, but who could? The comparisons to the 1985 Bears were silly.
Still, the Jets defense has been very good this season. They had a really bad first half in Cleveland. I would not read too much into it. I think they were due for a letdown at some point. They have been carrying the team all season with the offense unable to score points. They also were coming off a long game against Washington four days earlier and then traveling to Cleveland.
Elite defenses don’t have letdowns, but very good ones do. The Jets are a very good defense. They had a bad half. It happens.
3. The Jets’ offense has actually looked functional for the past two games.
They only scored one touchdown in Cleveland but they were able to move the ball.
The encouraging thing to see for the Jets is how good Breece Hall looks. Hall had a midseason slump with the offensive line playing terribly in front of him. But Hall looks like a star again. The Jets have also figured out that he is a weapon in the passing game and are utilizing him that way.
One question I do have for the coaching staff that I won’t ever get a real answer to: Why did they think Tim Boyle was better than Trevor Siemian?
Siemian is not Joe Montana but he is a veteran who knows how to run an offense. He is smart enough to target Garrett Wilson and Hall. Why wasn’t he playing instead of Boyle last month when the Jets benched Zach Wilson?
The decision to play Boyle over Siemian was a bad one and makes me question the coaching staff’s evaluation skills.
4. Mekhi Becton had a brutal game Thursday night and is likely playing his final game as a Jet next week.
The 2020 first-round pick has had such a disappointing Jets career. He showed a lot of potential as a rookie but could not stay healthy. He missed almost all of his second and third seasons.
Becton has stayed healthy this year but has played terribly.
On Thursday, he committed three penalties and was beaten for a sack and six pressures. Becton is a free agent after this season and the Jets surely will let him walk. Some team will pay him and maybe he can salvage his career, but it won’t be with the Jets.
REVEALING STAT: The Jets only had one quarterback hit in the game. Flacco had plenty of time to throw.
SURPRISING SNAP COUNT: Dalvin Cook played zero snaps in the game. His role had been decreasing all season but for him to not play at all is surprising.
GAME BALL: Jermaine Johnson made the play of the night for the Jets’ defense with his interception return for a touchdown and he might have had two if the referees had not whistled the play dead when he recovered the fumble in the fourth quarter.
