Frank Reich does not have to look far to find one of the Jets’ clearest offensive answers. It is already sitting in front of him.
New York has been a tricky offense to pin down through six games under Reich. The ball has moved at times, even when the circumstances have not been friendly, but the production has not matched the flashes. The Jets have just 11 touchdowns in six games, and the common thread has been poor execution.
That is why the play-action game stands out so sharply. Head coach Aaron Glenn backed Reich strongly before Week 7 against the Miami Dolphins, pointing to the offense’s ability to create explosive passing plays off play action and a strong running game as real strengths in the former head coach’s toolbox. The problem is that those strengths do not seem to be used nearly enough.
The numbers make the case for more of it. Even though the Jets rank 26th in the NFL in play-action rate, they are in the top four league-wide in yards per attempt, EPA per play, and passer rating when they do use play action.
That kind of efficiency does not happen by accident. It also makes Reich’s reluctance to lean on it until the game script forces his hand look even harder to defend.
Miami’s secondary has outperformed expectations this season, a credit to new head coach Jeff Hafley and his scheme. But the unit still has some obvious cracks, and if the Jets want to squeeze the most out of their offense in this matchup, they need to push the ball.
Reich is also running out of excuses on the personnel side. Adonai Mitchell and Dylan Parham are close to returning from injury, and Omar Cooper Jr. has started to look like the first-round pick he was supposed to be. That matters because this is not a roster that should be limited to feeding Garrett Wilson and hoping for the best.
The broader picture on Reich has been uneven. He is not the same kind of problem as the offensive minds Jets fans have already seen fail in recent years - names like Adam Gase, Jeremy Bates, Nathaniel Hackett, and the rest of that group.
In some ways, he has been better than that. He seems capable of diagnosing a defense before kickoff and attacking it early.
The issue shows up once the game starts to shift. Over the last two weeks, his inability to adjust in real time has been exposed.
After Wilson carved up the Cleveland Browns in a Week 5 win, the Jets did not get much else going offensively until the fourth quarter. Against New England, the yards were there, but Reich’s situational play-calling went straight into Zak Kuhr’s hands.
So Reich has already built something that works. He has a play-action package that produces, two rookie first-round picks, a Pro Bowl-level No. 1 receiver, and a deep running back room to work with. The question is why he is not pressing that advantage harder.
He has not been a disaster. But he has left points on the board, and the reason is not hard to see. The Jets’ best schematic path is right there in the play-action game, and Reich - with Glenn alongside him - needs to lean into it more.
In Other News...
Jets Rookie Class Is Creating One Debate Darren Mougey Needed
Darren Mougey is starting to get a clearer read on his first draft class with the Jets, and the early returns are giving him something every general manager wants: a real decision to make. The 2026 group has flashed enough promise to suggest the front office may have found more than just depth pieces, with Omar Cooper Jr. emerging after a delayed start and David Bailey bringing immediate juice to the pass rush. Around them, though, the rest of the class has been a little harder to sort through, with some picks still trying to carve out roles and others offering only brief looks.
That matters because Mougey is also still dealing with the uneven results from his 2025 class, where not everyone has developed the way the team hoped. For a Jets organization trying to build a sustainable core, the contrast between the two classes is the point of the exercise: one group is beginning to create optimism, the other is still a work in progress. The challenge now is figuring out which early flashes are the start of something bigger and which are just the first signs of a roster battle that will need more time to settle. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Glenn Just Put The Jets Into An NFL Officiating Debate
The NFLs latest officiating discussion has drifted from the field into the meeting room, with a report from Sports Illustrateds Albert Breer saying league officials raised the possibility of fines for several head coaches at the owners meetings. Among the names in the mix is Aaron Glenn, whose first few months have already placed the Jets in the kind of leaguewide conversation that usually comes with a bigger stage than this one.
The reported discipline centers on conduct toward game officials, though the timing and exact incidents were not made public. There is also a wrinkle here that matters: the league could leave the penalties in place for now but still make them contingent on how the coaches handle themselves going forward, which keeps the situation from feeling fully settled just yet. [Read more 🡒]
Garrett Wilsons Frustration Says Everything About The Jets Offense
Garrett Wilsons frustration after the Jets Week 6 loss to the Patriots said plenty about where this offense is right now. According to New York Post reporter Brian Costello, Wilson was visibly bothered after the game because he had been left with too few chances to make an impact, a familiar issue for a unit that has struggled to keep its best playmakers involved on a consistent basis.
Wilson believes he can help the Jets win if he gets more opportunities with the ball, and that stance tracks with how the offense has looked around him. The bigger issue for New York is not just a quiet night for one receiver, but the fact that the team still has not found a reliable way to make him central to what it does. [Read more 🡒]