For one afternoon, the Jets’ offense looked like the thing people kept waiting for it to become.
Against the Raiders, New York rolled up 10 drives, 439 total yards, 26 first downs and 33 points. That’s not empty noise.
That’s an offense moving with purpose, stacking plays, and actually cashing in. In a league where scoring is the whole point, the Jets finally did it at a level that jumps off the page.
And Geno Smith was right in the middle of it.
After six weeks of short throws and hesitation, Smith has started to look like a quarterback willing to push the ball the way this offense needs him to. Against Las Vegas, he posted the highest ADOT of any quarterback this season at 15.58 yards, according to Lindsay Rhodes via SumerSports.
Through the first seven weeks, his ADOT ranked 29th in the NFL. That’s a pretty clean before-and-after picture of what changed.
The bigger story, though, is that the passing game has come alive over the last two weeks. Smith finally seems to have gotten the message, and the numbers back that up.
Frank Reich deserves his share of credit, too.
Throughout this series, I’ve defended Reich while plenty of people around the sport were quick to blame him for the offense’s issues. If this latest passing output doesn’t make it clear that Smith was the one holding things back, then there’s probably a deeper Reich problem at play.
Offensive coordinators are there to put players in position to succeed. They can’t take the snaps themselves, no matter how much they might want to. And Reich has done that better than anyone in the NFL this season, at least if you look at one very specific stat: the Jets lead the league in the number of different receivers with a 100-yard game.
Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, Omar Cooper Jr., and Kenyon Sadiq have all hit that mark. That’s not a quarterback stat.
That’s a coordinator stat. It says the offense is getting people open and getting them the ball in ways that matter.
So yes, if someone still wants to pin this on Reich, that’s a separate issue.
There’s also a broader point here for Jets fans who have spent all season picking through scraps and silver linings. This one was easy to read.
Las Vegas’ defense isn’t some unbeatable monster, but New York still produced more yards than the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Los Angeles Rams did against that unit. And aside from the New England Patriots and Rams by two, the Jets also piled up the most points anyone has managed against the Raiders this year.
That’s the kind of performance you can actually point to and say the offense did its job.
The one wrinkle comes with the trade deadline, and it centers on Garrett Wilson.
Wilson was targeted heavily, but he finished behind Mitchell in relative production. He’s also been listed as being in concussion protocol and unavailable for New York’s next matchup with the Chiefs. For a team that’s been publicly linked to wanting a WR1, that’s not nothing.
Wilson has said he’s not looking to be traded, but recency bias can do funny things. If you’re supposed to be the centerpiece and you keep getting outpaced by the supporting cast, the noise around you only gets louder.
In Other News...
Jets Still See Value In Geno Smith For A Bigger Reason
With the Jets sitting at 2-6 and the playoff picture fading fast, there is still a reason to keep Geno Smith in the building beyond whatever happens this season. The veteran quarterback has become part of the teams evaluation process, giving the staff a steadier reference point as it looks at the younger pieces around him and tries to sort out what actually works.
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 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 🡒]
Aaron Glenn Is Facing The Jets Debate Fans Dread Most
The early returns on Aaron Glenns time as Jets head coach have put him in an uncomfortable spot, especially when the conversation around Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions keeps circling back to what a rebuild is supposed to look like. Glenn came to New York after serving as Detroits defensive coordinator, and a year and a half into the job, the Jets are still searching for traction at 5-20. For a fan base that has heard plenty about patience before, the comparison game has not been kind.
Campbells latest praise for another young team only sharpens the contrast, because it highlights the kind of competitiveness and identity he sees in a rising roster. The Jets, meanwhile, are left to answer the harder question: whether Glenn is building toward something recognizable or simply enduring the same old drift that has followed this franchise for too long. It is the sort of debate teams dread because it does not hinge on one bad Sunday, but on whether the bigger picture is coming into focus at all. [Read more 🡒]