It wasn’t pretty from kickoff at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon with rain drizzling all over the Jets and the Denver Broncos. To make matters worse, Aaron Rodgers he was sacked on the first play of the game – one of five sacks by New York’s offensive line. allowed in Sunday’s 10-9 loss.
Many things could be pointed out about why the Jets lost, but the most obvious was the number of penalties the team received, a problem last season and in previous years under the head coach. Robert Saleh. They finished with 13 penalties for 90 yards compared to Denver’s five flags for 74 yards.
“A lot of pre-center sanctions, which is simply unacceptable,” Saleh said. “Those are the things we have to clean up. “There will always be penalties in play, that will happen, but the pre-snap and post-snap penalties are the ones that are unacceptable.”
Unacceptable, yes, but for some reason they keep happening.
“We have to solve it. Whether or not we’re ready to handle all the cadence, cadence hadn’t been an issue throughout camp. I felt like our operation had been going pretty well. Obviously, a big step back was taken today,” Saleh said.
Despite the less than ideal weather conditions and poor overall performance, the Jets had a few opportunities to come away with a victory, but failed to capitalize on those opportunities at almost every turn.
In the first quarter, after a fumble recovery put New York in prime territory, the Jets had the ball at the one-yard line and three chances to score it. It was going to be four chances after Saleh decided to try. on fourth down, but a false start penalty forced them to kick a field goal.
“The reality is that it was going to be difficult to sled no matter how rainy it was, but what’s disappointing is the self-inflicted wounds that come with it,” Saleh said. “When it’s wet and it’s as bad as it was today, you have to be great with your details and we gave up a lot of yards that we didn’t need to give up.”
Greg Zuerlein He could have given the Jets the lead late in the fourth quarter with a 50-yard field goal that certainly isn’t a short kick, especially in the rain, but he missed wide right to give Denver its second win of the season. .
Before the field goal attempt, Rodgers was unable to connect with his wide receivers, including Garrett Wilson who had just five receptions for 41 yards and a fumble, to make it a little easier for Zuerlein and it seemed like no one was on the same page with the receivers or even close to where the ball was thrown on two separate occasions.
“They’ll start to get in sync,” Saleh said of the connection between quarterback and receiver. “Those are things that Aaron sees and looks for guys to look in his direction to set up in certain zones and windows, but that will come. “We obviously want this to happen now, but we definitely have to get in sync faster.”
Overall, Rodgers played well, completing 24 of 42 passes for 225 yards and even showed off his 40-year-old legs with 26 yards rushing on five carries. While it wasn’t his best performance, he wasn’t the reason the team lost.
“We’ll see it on tape, but he was under duress most of the day.” Saleh said about how his veteran quarterback played. “I thought he did a good job getting in and out of the pocket, buying some time and getting off the schedule.
“Like I said, there wasn’t a lot of space out there, especially in the first half the ball was very heavy because of the rain, you could see that on their side they were also having problems, but the problem wasn’t the quarterback, it was, like I said, the pre-snap penalties and the lack of execution up front.”
Breece Lounge He had an unusually bad day, rushing for just four yards on 10 carries in a game New York could have leaned on him considering the weather conditions. The running back also failed to score from the one-yard line, and Saleh was asked after the game why he didn’t pick the rookie. Braelon Allenwho already has two touchdowns this season, in that position.
“It’s definitely something we can consider,” Saleh said. “It was still early when that play came up and like I said, we’ll always lean on Breece, he’s our workhorse and Braelon got a few more carries as the game went on… It’s definitely something to watch.”
If the Jets have playoff aspirations this season, which they clearly do, in games like Sunday’s they have to find a way to win, no matter what it takes.
Now 2-2 and preparing to travel to London to face the Minnesota Vikings (4-0) and a familiar face. Sam Darnold who is playing at the highest level of his career, questions will begin to surround this team once again as their postseason window gets smaller and smaller. “It’s still very early, but at the same time these are games in the ones you obviously want to finish,” Saleh said. “And looking back, like I said, we had opportunities that we just didn’t take advantage of a single one of them.”