The New York Jets have spent years looking like a team with one part working while another falls apart. Right now, that old problem has just flipped on its head.
Over the last two weeks, the Jets offense has been the best in the NFL in EPA/play, according to Sumer Sports. They’re also fourth in the league in success rate over that stretch. That’s not a fluky little uptick - that’s elite-level production, even if the sample is small.
And yet, the results still aren’t matching the surge. The Jets are 0-2 in their last two games, and the offense is still dealing with issues in the red zone. But for the first time in a while, the unit looks like a real NFL offense.
A big part of that comes from getting Adonai Mitchell, Omar Cooper, and Dylan Parham back on the field. Geno Smith has been especially comfortable working with Mitchell all year, while Cooper has impressed in limited action. Parham has even a case to be the team’s best offensive lineman this season.
That kind of offensive bounce hasn’t translated into wins because the Jets still can’t seem to get everything clicking at once. That’s been the franchise’s story for a long time. Last season, New York had a special teams unit that was among the best around, while the offense and defense were both near the bottom.
The Robert Saleh years followed a similar script. The Jets won seven games in both 2022 and 2023, and over those two seasons their defense ranked third in the NFL in EPA/play, behind only the 49ers and Browns.
That side of the ball was a strength. The offense, though, was dead last.
That’s why the team went after Aaron Rodgers. Even a mediocre offense, the kind that doesn’t make headlines, might have been enough to push those teams into the playoffs.
Instead, the Jets kept running into the same wall. Even in their AFC Championship Game runs in 2009 and 2010, questions about the passing game were still hanging over them.
Now the script is reversed. The offense is humming, ranking No. 1 in the league in EPA/play over the past two weeks, while the defense sits 30th in the NFL.
The encouraging part for New York is that the offensive talent is there. The problem is that this isn’t something the Jets can patch together in the middle of the season. The fix, as the reporting points to, will have to come through the right coaching hire, plus spending and drafting on the defensive side.
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Jets Still See Value In Geno Smith For A Bigger Reason
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For now, Smiths value appears tied less to the trade market and more to what he can do for the rosters development. New York seems intent on using his presence to help gauge and grow young talent such as Allen, Adonai Mitchell, Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper Jr., which makes his role a little bigger than a short-term asset at the deadline. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Offense Finally Showed Life As One New Concern Emerged
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Garrett Wilsons recent production has become the new concern, especially with the trade deadline approaching and the Jets trying to figure out how much help this passing game still needs. Even with the offense showing more life, Wilsons status looms large because he remains one of the key pieces in any long-term answer for Smith and the rest of the passing attack. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Pressure Just Spiked Around Garrett Wilson And The Chiefs
Garrett Wilsons week took an unwelcome turn when Aaron Glenn ruled him out for Week 9 after the concussion he sustained in Week 8. The timing is rough for a Jets offense already trying to find its footing, and it leaves New York heading into a matchup with the Chiefs without its most important receiver available to help stretch the field and steady the passing game.
Wilsons absence also lands at a moment when the conversation around him is starting to pick up again ahead of the NFL trade deadline. For a Jets team still sorting through its direction, losing a player of Wilsons caliber only adds another layer to a situation that already had plenty of moving parts. [Read more 🡒]